Issue: August 2023
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Closed to deliveries? Community rallies to save birthing center
Community rallies to save Rensselaer County’s last birthing center Emily Steinbach, right, her wife, Michele, and daughter Eleanor take part in a rally last month against the proposed closing of Burdett Birth Center, the only remaining medical facility in Rensselaer County where expectant mothers can give birth. Victoria Kereszi photo By TRACY FRISCHContributing… read more
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Flooding shapes debate over climate policies
Advocates turn focus to land-use patterns, better infrastructure By MAURY THOMPSONContributing writer Last month’s severe floods in Vermont and New York will have long-term public policy implications in areas ranging from infrastructure and community planning to environmental and insurance rules, government officials and advocates say. “Make no mistake, the devastation and flooding we are… read more
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Local shop, global connections — Fair-trade boutique boosts women artists
Fair-trade boutique boosts women artists, makers from near and far Dayanis Bowie, owner of the DB Trends boutique in Ballston Spa, shows customers Jude Hughes of Amherst, Mass., and Sandy Staniec of Syracuse an “air plant” from Guatemala that grows without soil. Joan K. Lentini photo By STACEY MORRISContributing writer BALLSTON SPA, N.Y.… read more
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A county judge, a campaign attack and a con artist
This gift to a sitting judge did not appear to raise any red flags from 19th century ethics watchdogs. “County Judge Whitman returned yesterday from Whitehall with a nice mess of frogs’ legs, which were presented him,” The Washington County Advertiser reported on June 15, 1887. Later in the year, however, as Whitman, a Democrat… read more