ALBANY — New York’s property taxes are not only among the highest in the nation, but they’re also complicated. This year, they are becoming even more complex, due to new wrinkles in the state’s school tax rebate (STAR) program for homeowners that were stitched into the state ...

The tax levy increase for AuSable Valley Central School’s 2019-20 budget came in under the state cap, but not without some struggle. “This was definitely a very difficult year to develop a budget as our planned revenues (the total tax levy and state aid to be received) were much less ...

ALBANY — New York’s Democrat-controlled state Senate approved legislation Monday that would require addiction treatment providers to contact predesignated loved ones when someone undergoing treatment shows potentially life-threatening behavior, such as relapse. The bill’s sponsor, ...

WASHINGTON — It was the peak week for cherry blossoms. During the first week of April, while the North Country was barely beginning to bud, the trees around Capitol Hill were resplendent in pink and white blooms. Outside, tourists posed for just the right Instagram photo. Inside, U.S. ...

North Country Congresswoman Elise Stefanik was profiled in Time magazine this week on her efforts to recruit more Republican women to run for Congress. As recruitment chair for the National Republican Congressional Committee, Stefanik, R-Schuylerville, is working to counter the outcome ...

ELIZABETHTOWN — The Essex County Board of Supervisors on Monday approved a resolution opposing a state Assembly bill that would prohibit guns from being raffled off or awarded as prizes in games of chance. The legislation, proposed by Assemblywoman Jo Anne Simon, D-Brooklyn, seeks to ban ...

RAY BROOK — After taking the month of April off, the state Adirondack Park Agency board will convene next week and take on a couple of high-profile agenda items. Starting at 9 a.m. Thursday, May 16, the Regulatory Programs Committee will convene and vote on approval of a permit for zip ...

LAKE PLACID — A local civil rights group is attempting to shore up support for the so-called “Green Light” bill. Area lawmakers aren’t so sure it’s a good idea. The bill would restore the ability of undocumented immigrants to apply for standard driver’s licenses in New York ...

TUPPER LAKE — Tupper Lake Central School District Business Administrator Dan Bower presented the proposed 2019-20 budget to the public in a low-attendance hearing on Tuesday. The budget includes funds for two school resource officers and a new Zamboni. The public will vote on the ...

WASHINGTON — U.S. Rep. Elise Stefanik co-sponsored an amendment to the Stronger Child Abuse Prevention and Treatment Act to fund a national hotline to prevent child abuse in a Wednesday hearing marking up the bill, also known as CAPTA. Stefanik, R-Schuylerville, said the overall bill ...

TUPPER LAKE — This village passed its $3 million budget for 2019-20 last week, with no numerical changes from the proposed budget that was released last month. The budget stays below the 2% tax cap by $58, raising the tax levy by 1.976%, the tax rate by 1.78% and spending by 2.79%. ...

Legislators on a state and federal level are growing increasingly impatient with the increasing problem of robocalls. According to the office of U.S. Sen. Charles E. Schumer, D-N.Y., Americans received 47.7 billion robocalls last year, a 57 percent increase from the year before. On ...

North Country Congresswoman Elise Stefanik has a new chief of staff after losing her most recent one to the private sector. Patrick Hester has worked for Stefanik, R-Schuylerville, since her first term in 2015-16 and was most recently her deputy legislative director. The news of his ...

U.S. Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-Schuylerville, voted in four roll call votes this past week, including breaking from most of her Republican colleagues to support H.R. 9, the Climate Action Now Act. The act directs the president to develop a plan to meet the United States’ obligations to ...

TUPPER LAKE — The Tupper Lake Central School District board on April 23 adopted a $19,432,445 budget for 2019-20 that includes two resource officers — village police officers stationed at L.P. Quinn Elementary School and Tupper Lake Middle-High School. The budget being presented to ...

The proposed budget for AuSable Valley Central School District would increase the tax levy by 2.62%, to $14,168,500. This is below the 2.69% allowable state tax cap for AVCS. The district will hold a public hearing on the proposed budget at 6 p.m. Tuesday, May 14 at the AuSable Valley ...

U.S. Rep. Elise Stefanik, R-Schuylerville, said she would reach her 1,000th public event sometime in the summer. Stefanik, who has been in office since 2015, said she is currently at around 950, which does not include meeting with individual constituents. Stefanik said Congress had ...

BLOOMINGDALE — The St. Armand Town Council appointed a new supervisor on Thursday night. Davina Winemiller, a 25-year resident of the town, is replacing Dean Montroy as supervisor. Winemiller was appointed unanimously by the four-person council: Donald Amell, Jennifer L. Fuller, Karl ...

A state law requiring boaters to take “reasonable” care not to spread invasive species is set to expire June 1, and the Adirondack Council wants to not only see it renewed but wants state legislators to require mandatory boat washing across the Adirondack Park. Some local lawmakers, ...

After Monday’s public hearing, the Essex County Board of Supervisors got a little closer to finalizing a law that would govern how the county coroners operate. Many policies pertaining to coroner training, dispatch, stipends, documentation and body removal were already outlined in a ...