$88M for cannabis company
The lawsuits are over, and Ascend Wellness Holdings will buy MedMen’s marijuana operations in New York, the Albany Business Journal says. With the deal comes MedMen’s medical marijuana business and the ability to grow, process and sell pot. MedMen already owned four dispensaries in Manhattan, Lake Success, Syracuse and Buffalo, the story says. The lawsuit stemmed from a deal-and-pullback that started before New York legalized recreational marijuana.
Continuing Ed at SUNY ADK in Wilton and Saratoga Springs schools
SUNY Adirondack and Saratoga Springs City School District are working together to offer continuing education classes face-to-face in both facilities, the Daily Gazette is reporting. Continuing Ed classes tend not to be for-credit courses, but the cooking, health-and-wellness, and arts-and-crafts variety. They also offer certifications through their continuing education programs.
NYS may stop using out-of-state aversion therapy facility
Electric shock therapy that is meant to train a person away from bad behavior — they get a shock or some discomfort when they do something wrong — was banned by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 2020 and by New York State in 2005, but New York sometimes sends people to a facility outside Boston which successfully appealed the FDA ban in court, the Times Union says. A bill that is moving to the full Senate would no longer allow the practice. Some parents say the facility offers treatment other than the shock therapy, and their children, who have neurological disorders that create situations of self harm and violence, have benefited from it. The parents say New York does not offer sufficient care.
Lake Placid and the Short-Term-Rental moratorium
The Village of Lake Placid and the Town of North Elba have placed a moratorium on short-term rental permits inside their municipalities while they revise their regulations, but two applications for exemptions will go before a town board next week, claiming the moratorium is causing them financial hardship, the Adirondack Daily Enterprise says. Applicants who seek the exemption must claim “practical difficulties or extraordinary hardship” under the rules of the moratorium, if they hope to be granted a waiver. Short-term rentals are usually single-family homes that are rented for less than one month at a time, generally using apps such as Vrbo or Airbnb.
Essex County’s Cornell Building: Raze or rehab?
A report before an Essex County Board of Supervisors committee says the historic Cornell Building at the county fairgrounds could be rehabilitated for $1.8 million, about the same price or lower as building new, but county supervisors are not sure if that is the way to go. Grant money could be used in the rehabilitation. The latest report says the building can be brought to full function, a story in the Adirondack Sun says. Advocates for new construction say that function is one thing, but they must consider if a renovated building could hold the programs and events they county needs.