Government, Law and Legal Services
Ben Lapham is running for Glens Falls City Council. He’s running in the 4th Ward. He lost a previous election in 2017, the Post-Star says. He is seeking the Democratic party endorsement and has worked on sustainability issues with the city, the story says.
Warren County supervisors are worried there will not be enough hotel rooms available in September if both the Americade and the Adirondack Hot Air Balloon Festival overlap on the same weekend. They hope Americade can change the date, but it’s unlikely, one supervisor said, because late September is already a bit cold for motorcycle rides and similar rallies throughout the country and region blocked other dates, a story in the Post-Star says.
The Saratoga YMCA released a teacher from her position, calling it an “abandonment” of her job, but the teacher claims they effectively fired her from a job she was trying to keep. The story is in the Times-Union. The trouble was caused by the coronavirus pandemic when the single mother’s young daughter needed to be home from school during remote learning, and the YMCA teacher had no childcare available, the story says.
Columnist Chris Churchill in the Times-Union over the weekend excoriated Gov. Andrew Cuomo and his administration’s handling of deaths from COVID in nursing homes. The revelation that Cuomo purposefully buried statistics about the deaths has leaders in both parties on the attack, Churchill writes.
Retail and eCommerce
The Barber Lounge in Wilton is looking to offer an old-school and new approach, according to a story in the Saratogian. The 2,000 square foot space has three master barbers and room for more, the story reports. It has lounge space, and the owner hopes to make clients feel comfy.
Financial Services, Insurance and Banking
The accounting firm of businessman Michael Mann, who pleaded guilty last year to fraud, says Pioneer Bank’s systemic failures did not catch the fraud and abuse that it should have, the Times-Union reported over the weekend. The bank first sued the Albany-based CPA firm, Teal, Becker & Chiaramonte, for professional malpractice when it created reports on Mann’s businesses. However, the firm said that the bank did not do enough of its own due diligence when it received the reports from Mann, which the CPA firm claims he doctored to make his businesses look healthy. The CPAs have the proof in the original documents, which the bank could have requested, the story says.
Travel, Tourism and Recreation
Five to six feet of new snow in the Adirondack High Peaks brought a caution from the Department of Environmental Conservation: beware of avalanches. The story was reported in the Times-Union and elsewhere over the weekend. The layers of snow, semi-melted and repacked, can create conditions ripe for collapse.