Steve Thurston (2021)
A sign on the City Hall front door in Glens Falls.
Cap Region Chamber says “wear masks” [Add Saratoga Springs and Glens Falls City Hall to that list.]
As the delta variant of COVID-19 spreads, the Capital Region Chamber of Commerce is asking businesses to mandate masks indoors, the Albany Business Journal is reporting. Also: get vaccinated, the Chamber says.
Sidebar: The Glens Falls City Hall posted signs earlier this week mandating masks inside the building. Last evening, the Public Safety Office in Saratoga Springs confirmed that the city agrees with the recommendation of the Saratoga County Public Health Office: wear masks indoors or in crowded areas outdoors. “Right now we need to protect one another and the best way to do that is to get vaccinated and for everyone to mask up, one layer of protection is not enough,” Commissioner Robin Dalton said in the statement. [Read more here.]
Lake Luzerne auditing payments
The Town of Lake Luzerne is eyeing what believes may be improper behavior of Supervisor, Gene Merlino, the Post-Star is reporting. They have brought in the state’s Comptroller’s Office to audit the town’s books for possible improper overtime payments and purchases without board approval. This comes in the wake of a no-confidence vote of Merlino that collected the keys to his office and directed him to allow all access to records in his office, the story says. At the June meeting when the vote was taken, Merlino became ill and was taken from the meeting via ambulance.
Hochul will fill the role then run next year
Lt. Gov. Kathy Hochul confirmed she intends to run for governor next year. She made the announcement on Good Morning America, a Times-Union story says. But first: actual governing. She will be governor starting Aug. 24 after the current Governor, Andrew Cuomo, steps down in the wake of reported sexual improprieties that threatened to have him impeached. She has pledged to remove the "toxic work environment" that Cuomo is leaving behind, the story says. [Editor's note: we wrote in headlines and emails that she will run in 2021. She will run in 2022.]
Unblock River Walk, judge says
A section of the River Walk that passes over private property in the Village of Saranac Lake has been blocked by the landowner, and a judge has told the owner to unblock it, at least for now, a story in the Adirondack Daily Enterprise is reporting. This is a preliminary injunction, meaning the judge likely believes that the village will win in court. The 160-foot-long section was blocked by the owners in 2019, but the village has an easement allowing public access to that section of the landowners’ property, the story says.