WAMC Northeast Report

County executives from around New York held a media call Thursday to talk about impacts from the proposed state budget; federal COVID-19 relief bill negotiations; vaccine distribution and more.

The town of Colonie in Albany County is accepting public comment on its draft police reform report, as the deadline for communities to submit reports to the state is approaching.

An outside audit of the Schenectady County Town of Niskayuna’s police department has been released. The audit reveals a racial disparity in arrests in the mostly white community.

New York political leaders on both sides of the aisle are calling for actions, including a criminal investigation of Governor Andrew Cuomo and his top aides, and an end to the Democrat’s emergency powers during the COVID-19 pandemic. The outcry follows a New York Post report that the governor’s chief of staff said during a private meeting that the administration deliberately withheld key data on COVID-19 nursing home deaths.

The appropriations committees of the Vermont Legislature took testimony this week on Governor Phil Scott’s proposed 2022 state budget.

Advocates are challenging the findings of a 2019 New York State Department of Health assessment of cancer patterns in Warren County.

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo says more than 260 acres of open space in the Hudson Valley have been added to three state parks.

Already under intense scrutiny from environmental advocates and local elected officials, the Norlite plant in Cohoes is facing new clean air violations from the New York State Department of Environmental Conservation. But environmentalists are also taking aim at the DEC.

The North Adams, Massachusetts city council has rejected a proposal to turn a former school building into 75 units of affordable and market rate housing.

Many states and communities are working to adapt their infrastructure to carbon free technologies including electric vehicles.  A recently released report ranks states on how well they are enabling the use and building infrastructure for EV’s.

   After a slow start, Massachusetts officials are accelerating efforts to get COVID-19 vaccines into the arms of people across the state. 

A city council COVID-19 briefing by Pittsfield, Massachusetts Mayor Linda Tyer Tuesday led to some confusion over the city’s total confirmed death toll from the pandemic.

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo and officials from President Joe Biden’s administration say they will open mass COVID-19 vaccination sites in medically underserved areas, beginning in Queens and Brooklyn, and later upstate.

    The top election official in Massachusetts says many of the changes made in 2020 to make voting during the pandemic safer should become permanent fixtures.

The Chancellor of the SUNY system was in New York’s North Country on Monday. Chancellor Jim Malatras visited SUNY Plattsburgh’s COVID-19 testing site and discussed requirements that have been put in place to stem the spread of the virus on campuses.

The New York State Senate has advanced several bills that would address problems in the state’s nursing homes during the COVID-19 pandemic, as outlined in a recent Attorney General’s report which also found that Democratic Governor Andrew Cuomo’s administration undercounted nursing home deaths.

       After a summer barrage of complaints about illegal fireworks, there is a move to toughen a local law in the largest city in western Massachusetts. 

A software company is partnering with the Schenectady Police Department and community leaders to develop a virtual reality training program to mitigate real-life police community interaction.

Massachusetts Governor Charlie Baker and Congressman Richard Neal held a joint press conference at the State House today calling for additional federal COVID-19 response aid.

Governor Andrew Cuomo says state-run COVID-19 vaccination sites will begin accepting appointments for immune-compromised New Yorkers, beginning February 14.

       As vaccination efforts continue, the winter surge in coronavirus infections appears to be retreating in the largest city in western Massachusetts.