What’s the ticket to upward mobility for America’s lowest-paid workers without much of an education? Economists have compiled a list of “opportunity occupations” that are attainable to persons without a college degree. Most of the upward moves are modest.
Schoharie Republican leader Chris Tague appears to have scored a narrow victory over Greene County Democratic legislator Aidan O’Connor, Jr. in the April 24 special election to choose a successor to former assemblyman Pete Lopez, now an EPA regional administrator. According to the state elections board website, Tague had 8547 votes, or 45.9% to O’Connor’s 8259, or 44.3%, a thin margin of 288 votes. A third candidate Wesley Laraway tallied 1809 votes, or 9.7%. The unofficial results included totals for all 126 election districts.
The online real-estate platform Zumper ranked the Kingston, NY metro area (aka Ulster County) among the 25 best places for singles to live, citing factors like percentage of unmarried young people, education, restaurants, rental prices and Internet access.
The powder can be easily incorporated into any liquid intended for ingestion, including water, tea, coffee, soup, smoothies, and even chocolate syrup.
Even as their businesses are benefitting from a solid economy, Hudson Valley manufacturers have been having a hard time recruiting talent, especially young talent. Young people growing up in a gig economy don’t take easily to long training periods for what they perceive as repetitive and unchallenging work.
In case you didn’t know it, Tannersville on Greene County’s Mountaintop region now calls itself The Painted Village in the Sky. The transformation from an all-cash business locale which left Main Street a wreck every Sunday morning to a place where family businesses served the whole community was neither fast nor easy. It’s still not complete. But many locals, some of whom were once skeptical, are convinced the achievement is now within grasp.
Lessons learned from last year’s concerts have been incorporated.
With more than 12,000 employees, the resulting health system, expected to become a done deal some time next year, will create an entity of approximately of a similar magnitude to the Westchester Medical Center Health Network (WMC), which two years ago added Kingston-based HealthAlliance of the Hudson Valley to its system.
Even as farming has disappeared from our wallets, it remains strong in our hearts. Very few residents would disagree with the nostalgic role of agriculture found on the Ulster County government’s website. “Abundant farmlands provide Ulster communities with access to fresh local food and economic diversity, preserve the county’s heritage, and offer a beautiful landscape for the enjoyment of residents and visitors alike,” the website says. “Orchards, vineyards, cornfields and pastures of grazing livestock help define Ulster County’s unique sense of place.” Indeed.
Sunday afternoons were made for church discussions of community issues. This Kingston event proved a stimulating contribution not only to the national debate over policing strategies but to the local ones as well.