ESD getting new CEO
Patrick Foye has been named the interim CEO and president of Empire State Development, the state’s economic development arm, the Albany Business Journal says. Currently the chairman and CEO of the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, he has served as the CEO of the ESD before. As part of the pandemic economic help, the ESD is overseeing projects, including an $800 million Pandemic Small Business Recovery Grant Program and the annual Regional Economic Development Council competition which has been expanded to allow some projects to get money throughout the year instead of in December, the story says.
Shepard Park is getting cameras
Shepard Park is getting cameras to deter vandalism, the Post-Star is reporting. The Village will spend about $6,000 to Integrated Control Systems to install the high-resolution video equipment that will run day and night and tie into the village’s current network, the story says.
Football merger is over
The Times-Union reported yesterday that football players in Lake George High School did not support a merger with Hadley-Luzerne and Corinth schools, and that they would stay home rather than play. The Post-Star has the story that the merger is off. Lake George and Hadley-Luzerne had been merged since 2014, but they are no longer, so school board officials are cautioning that Lake George may end up with no football program at all, though they voted to pull out of the merger.
Dan Stec and GOP: take away Cuomo's powers
The Adirondack Daily Enterprise has the story that state Republicans, including North Country senator Dan Stec, are pushing to remove Governor Andrew Cuomo's emergency powers before the end of the legislative session this week. "The days when New York needed a central authority to make all key decisions in response to the pandemic 'have been in the rearview mirror for a long time,'” Stec is quoted in the story.
Bachelorette tours on Lake George
Tour boat operators are reporting a banner year already, according to a story in the Times-Union. Bachelorette parties are driving some of the business. It’s a mix of a continuing “staycation” mentality keeping people from travelling far and a need to get back outside and get married after the pandemic shut down last year’s wedding season, the story says.