Springs Retail Plaza sells
The Fresh Market retail plaza on Route 50 in Saratoga Springs sold for $16 million, to a company with the same address as Aker Cos., a regional developer, a story in the Albany Business Journal says. It is not clear if Aker is the buyer. Two buildings on the 3.4 acre property were sold, totaling 45,000 square feet, the story says. Prime Cos., of Cohoes, had developed the property.
Town of Lake George’s new EMS
The Town of Lake George has its own EMS company after a couple years of using volunteers or part-time employees to react to emergency calls. In that time, the town relied too heavily on other local EMS services to step in when needed, the Post-Star is reporting.
Nursing home shortages continue
Gov. Kathy Hochul has signed an executive order delaying to the end of the month a law that was designed to increase nursing home staffing, a story in the Daily Gazette says. The law required nursing homes to provide 3.5 hours of direct care per resident per day, and to pay 40% of their income to staff that give the care. The law was set for Jan. 1, but Hochul’s order will delay it to Jan. 30 because of the widespread shortage of healthcare workers in New York. At the same time, nursing homes are suing the state in federal court to stop the measures altogether. At least one union, 1199SEIU United Healthcare Workers East, is pushing the governor to lock the regulations in place.
Saratoga County Board re-picks Kusnierz
The Saratoga County Board of Supervisors picked Moreau Supervisor Todd Kusnierz to chair for the second year in a row, the Times Union reported last week. Assigning supervisors to most committees has been delayed, the story says, because Kusnierz waited to make sure he was reelected and that the board would agree with him shrinking the size of a couple committees. The county's most powerful committee, Law and Finance, will be chaired by Clifton Park Supervisor Jonathan Schopf who chaired it last year, the story says. Saratoga Springs Supervisor Tara Gaston, one of two Democrats on the board, said the delays are unnecessary and will mean a slow start to committee work, the story says.
Hochul’s approach to gun violence
The state freed tens of millions of dollars in funding when it declared gun violence during the COVID-19 pandemic a public health crisis and an epidemic, the Times Union is reporting. The money was put toward programs and organizations that work to stem gun violence. The funding is set to end, but Gov. Kathy Hochul’s “policy book” says she will work on a plan to cut violent crime through a mix of programming and law enforcement initiatives, keeping the money in the local organizations and adding to local government and law enforcement at the same time, the story says.