Capital Region’s two largest credit unions working to merge
CAP COM Federal Credit Union members voted to merge with with SEFCU, opening the door to for the two largest credit unions in the region to create a new company, the Albany Business Journal is reporting. They aim to merge by Aug. 1. The combined entity would hold around $8 billion in deposits, have 500,000 members and be the fifth-largest credit union in the state, the story says.
Fundraiser for family in motorcycle accident draws large crowd
The community turned out June 22 for the families who lost loved ones in a recent accident on Route 9 in Lake George, the Post-Star is reporting. Danna Ellsworth, friends of the victims and owner of the Lake George Expedition Park, held the fundraiser that drew hundreds of people to support the family of James A. Persons, 38, and Quinton Delgadillo, 8, who died. They were standing on the Warren County Bikeway just outside the Expedition Park parking lot when a motorcycle lost control and struck three people. Jasmine Luellen, Delgadillo’s mother, was taken to Albany Medical Center, but has been released, the story says.
Busy celebration brings police, shoving
A Juneteenth celebration on Central Avenue in Albany turned into a shoving match between police and organizers. A 12-year-old boy was thrown to the ground by a city police officer. Organizer Charles Whitaker and other small business owners set-up the event, but acknowledged they did not have a permit, the Times Union says. Noise and traffic complaints brought the police who told the organizers they needed to move inside if they were to serve food. When fireworks were about to be set off, the police stepped in to stop it. The shoving started then, and Whitaker's son was thrown to the ground.
Film looks at Champlain
A new film by a new documentarian and outdoors enthusiast Jordan Rowell explores Lake Champlain and its watershed. A natural resources studies major at the University of Vermont at Burlington, Rowell spent two weeks kayaking and camping on the lake last August. He got video help from friend and cinematographer Duane Peterson III and from Ryan Malle. The film not only follows Rowell on this paddle but interviews famous people and locals about the lake’s watershed, a story in the Adirondack Explorer says.
Camp Dudley: An Adirondack space for everyone
Camp Dudley, a 19th-century Adirondack camp, has started work with SUNY Potsdam in an attempt to bring students from New York City and other urban areas into the woods of the Adirondack Park, the Adirondack Explorer is reporting. They do this even though the Adirondack Council has a webpage called “Overuse in the Adirondack Park.” Although the Potsdam students take classes just 20 miles outside the park, many had never heard of it or had been inside the blue line that marks its boundary, the story says. A leader in the Council says that overuse is not coming from minority groups but from nearby residents who “love it to death.”
St. Armand residents and pot
Just 32 St. Armand residents, a town in the Adirondacks of 1,600, took a survey measuring their attitudes toward cannabis. Late last year, the town “opted out” of allowing cannabis dispensaries and cafes within their borders, and the survey was intended to clarify where residents stood, but the low turnout means that the town is putting the issue on the back burner, the Adirondack Daily Enterprise says. If town leadership wants to “opt-in” it would have to put a referendum on the ballot, but the deadline for this year has passed, the story says.