Commercial Real Estate
GE is no longer in Fort Edward. The capacitor plant on Route 4 in the village closed five years ago, and the company hired to raze and remove the buildings has about completed its work, the Albany Business Journal is reporting. The plant follows in the footsteps of the Hudson Falls plant, which closed in 1995. The story says GE will continue to own the property but has no plans for it now.
Education and Training
Area schools will get a $35 million boost from the latest federal relief bill, the Post-Star reports this morning. Queensbury will get about $4 million, Glens Falls $3 million, South High $2 million and Lake George $1 million, the story says. The trouble that has some administrators thinking about is the money from the state. Federal money may offset cuts there.
Government, Law and Legal Services
Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s own aides are looking into allegations that the governor groped another aide, the Times-Union is reporting. They are calling this a “parallel review” to the state attorney general’s investigation that is already underway. The name of the woman who is at the center of the investigation has not been released, and she is still working in the governor’s office, the story says. According to the story, she broke down and cried when Cuomo said, during a press conference, that he never touched anyone inappropriately. The attorney general’s office has assigned two private lawyers to the case.
Transportation, Mobility and Commuting
Also in the T-U, an airports group is looking to raise fees to offset costs of the COVID pandemic and the detrimental effects it has had on the industry. Air travel came to a tires-on-the-tarmac searching halt last year, which in turn pushed infrastructure projects into a $115 billion backlog on top of the $40 billion lost so far in the pandemic, the story says. The fee they hope to raise, the Passenger Facility Charge, is currently $4.50 and has not been raised in 20 years, the story says.