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Author: Kacie Cotter-Harrigan

Spring, Amid Pandemic Heightens the Importance of Farmers

Written by Kacie Cotter-Harrigan on . Posted in Food.

Spring often challenges farmers. As the land springs back to life from winter dormancy, work intensifies. Animals are born; seedlings start to pop up from the soil. Farmers nurture these new fragile beings against gusting winds, chilling rains, momentary patches of sun, sometimes snow.

This year has brought an additional challenge: the COVID-19 outbreak.

Mark Bascom and Lindsay Fisk, of Owl Wood Farm, returned to the Saratoga Farmers’ Market last Saturday, a few weeks ahead of schedule. This was due to an early spring rebound in some overwintered spinach and kale, along with the arrival of two summer interns a month early.

“They were supposed to start on May 1, but they were coming from Kentucky and were worried about state borders closing to keep the virus from spreading,” says Fisk.

Fisk and Bascom had not quite finished work on a house they were building for themselves and were living in the mobile home the interns were to occupy. The interns were willing to live in their van.

“But that would be uncomfortable,” Bascom says, “so we doubled down and pushed twice as hard to get into our home sooner than planned.”

The early arrival turned out to be a blessing. Fisk and Bascom had been trying to work out protocols for social distancing between workers and themselves, and with the interns already on site, some of that concern was eased. 

Pleasant Valley Farm’s Paul and Sandy Arnold began their winter with a world cruise, which COVID-19 cut short. They arrived home a few weeks ago and self-quarantined to ensure they were virus-free.

But quarantine didn’t mean lying low; the couple’s children, who had been running the farm, invited them to get to work! “We chopped wood, tilled the fields, planted many different vegetable crops, helped organize the computer orders, and did what we could to help with other farm work,” says Sandy Arnold. “We just worked on remote areas of the farm, not production, and did not attend the markets until now.”

Farmers, of course, are not immune to the virus itself. But they are accustomed to working alone and outside. This has helped many farmers gained a new appreciation for what they have and do, as a recent Facebook reflection from Mariaville Mushroom Men’s Bobby Chandler illustrates: 

“When I was a kid, I used to sometimes regret the fact that my Rotterdam parents decided to move to a farm when I was three. It wasn’t that I didn’t love all the land and it wasn’t that I didn’t love the animals. It was purely due to being called a ‘smelly, dumb farmer’ by the other kids. I never understood why I was being put down for this.”

Now, Chandler continued, “This is what I have come to realize: “There is a pandemic wreaking havoc on this country. Many people are out of work and are stuck at home with the children bored out of their minds. While most people are dealing with that, I am here in Mariaville, with my three kids playing outside. We are still producing food while many cannot source the simplest of products. We are farmers, we never stop working. The world needs us now more than ever.”

The Saratoga Farmers’ Market is 9:30 a.m.-1:30 p.m. Saturdays outside the Wilton Mall. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram, and check our newsletter for updates.

It’s Time to Talk About How we Recover!

Written by Kacie Cotter-Harrigan on . Posted in Business.

I struggled to write this column more so than any before…maybe ever.

It just seems to me these days that ALL we read and hear about is COVID 19. There are some heroic stories. There are lots of tragic ones too. 

A few in the local media have asked me questions to produce stories meant to provoke fear and anxiety. They ask hypothetic questions where I’m asked to predict the future and to comment on it.  I’ve always said no thanks. I want to talk about facts and actions.

Turn on the television. Turn on the radio. It’s all COVID 19. Even the commercials are about new cleaning products or what this corporation is doing to help during this pandemic.

Check on social media and it’s almost entirely COVID 19 stories and a bunch of people posting photos from their high school yearbooks. 

So I’d really like to write about something else. 

I’ve been telling people that this is the week where the Chamber is transitioning. We’ve gone from near 24/7 triage as we tried to help our members and others in the community with the immediate impact of this attack to now developing a plan for our local recovery.

We may not know when exactly we’ll all start to transition to a new normal but the recovery will come.

Let’s talk about and write about what we’d like to see our communities do and be when we recover.

I love the fact that Saratoga’s theme is “Health. History. Horses.” I love that in Saratoga HEALTH has always come first here. But do we need to settle any longer for just three words to describe us. Could we add a fourth word – Arts! 

That’s something worth talking and writing about.

After living through this pandemic, I’d like to talk about and write about and listen to ideas about how we really make HEALTH number one.

If we do this, we WILL attract new people and new businesses to our City and Saratoga County.

I think we’re all going to pay way more attention to our personal and our economic health than we have in a long time.

Talent is going to go where it’s healthy to live. Where the talent goes so will the companies or maybe they’ll let us live here while working remotely. 

Many of us have learned to work remotely. Our children have learned to learn remotely too. So this could be a game changer for a generation. 

Let’s talk about and write about and figure out how we can locally source more of the things we really need. 

Let’s not run out of toilet paper again. Let’s not have to beg people for masks to protect our health care workers and essential workers. 

Let’s make sure our local farms survive so we have local food whenever we need it.

Things are going to change for sure. And we’re learning how to adapt.

So let’s write about and talk about our future. What can we do better? What should we do differently? What will make Saratoga Springs and Saratoga County an even better place to live, work and play?

Right now, I have more questions than answers. 

So send me your answers to these questions. Share with me your thoughts and ideas. I need some good ones as we start to plan our local recovery effort.

And I’m hoping you’d also like to write and read and talk more about our future and our recovery than what we’ve been seeing and hearing for the last four weeks.

Saratoga Couple Look to Turn Collection into Pop Culture Museum

Written by Kacie Cotter-Harrigan on . Posted in Entertainment.

Jim Thornton glanced across his living space filled with a variety of office furniture first seen on TV. There are side-desks and tables. There is an alien cryo-pod chamber that climbs six-feet high. “It’s all in our house,” said the man behind an extensive collection of X-Files props, memorabilia, and commercial pieces. “We have no room.”

When asked what initially drew him to the show, Thornton’s response was simple: “It was a creepy show. I’m a horror fan.” But it’s evidently clear how deep this rings true when he lifts up his paint-covered t-shirt to reveal an arm full of horror movie inspired tattoos.

His collection of X-Files goods began in stages, going from commercial, mass-produced items like trading cards, to promotional pieces and then to gifts crew members received. His first official prop was a camera battery. 

“When I got a binder of trading cards, it felt like I owned part of the show,” he says. “From there, I just had to have more. The battery, it was the same feeling — but a little different. It felt more like the real deal, like this was touched by an actor, by a camera guy.”

It’s safe to say Thornton, and his wife Kelly Anthony, have moved far beyond a single camera battery. In fact, most of their house is dominated by the props. This includes an alien cryo-pod chamber from the Fight the Future film, which is about six and a half feet tall, four and a half feet wide. He also owns a good handful of office furniture from the show, like side desks and tables.

This past year the couple rented a moving truck, piled much of their collection in, and drove to Chicago for X-Fest, an X-Files convention. Once they arrived and set up, fans were blown away — and so were the stars. It was here that people encouraged the couple to open a museum.

Since then, Karen Connavol, who acted in a few episodes, has contributed to the couple’s museum fund-raiser. Frank Spotnitz, an executive producer, made a donation of his own personal merchandise. And on Feb. 27, TMZ mentioned that a Saratoga couple is looking for a museum and that they caught up with David Duchovny who gave his blessings. 

And now, Thornton feels a sort of responsibility to put this into motion. Although, he does hesitate to use the term “museum,” for its connotations of stuffy, classical art that visitors look at but don’t interact with.

“I have to put a spin on it,” he says. “You can call it a museum, but it’s pop-culture. It’s got to be more hands-on, more visual.”

The plan is to bring back what Thornton refers to as “old-school stuff.” He wants to have Windows 95 computers available for visitors to play X-Files computer games, and have original PS1 games as well. Everywhere in the room, of course, will be televisions screening episodes.

As of right now, they are looking for a space in Saratoga. Despite finding the rent to be extremely high, they are adamant to stay in this area because “One, it’s Saratoga. You have the track, you have SPAC, you have the tourists.”

The point for the museum — and the reason why Thornton and Anthony find it so important — is so “[The fans] have a space where they can all get together and enjoy the show they all love. They’re going to see props from their favorite episodes that everyone thought would be gone.”

If any readers have leads on available spaces for Kelly and Jim’s collection, the couple urges you to contact them at Twitter, Facebook, and/or  XFilesPreservationCollection@gmail.com.

Shared Meaning in Times of Crisis

Written by Kacie Cotter-Harrigan on . Posted in News.

My daughter beat us in Rummikub again. As she ran to increase her tally on our scoreboard, my husband and I exchanged proud, defeated smiles. We all laughed. This new daily reprieve might just be keeping us sane.

Psychiatrist and Holocaust survivor Viktor Frankl’s 1946 book Man’s Search for Meaning said we must find a sense of purpose to navigate hardship. Dr. John Gottman later applied Frankl’s work to relationships, explaining that shared meaning often sustains couples, even when relationships face challenges.

Working both as a therapist and in public service, I have been thinking about how shared meaning and how Frankl’s work may offer guidance in such challenging times.

Dr. Gottman says shared meaning includes four basic elements – rituals of connection, symbols, roles, and goals. The idea is that because each of us is unique, we create small microcultures existing nowhere else when we form relationships. That culture, made up of shared meaning, is what we would lose if the relationship ends. Like an inside joke, it’s just not as funny if the other person who gets it isn’t around.

We also have shared meaning in communities. We walk our kids to school, follow sports teams (rituals of connection) and wear school colors or fly flags (symbols). We work, volunteer, or raise families in ways that contribute to our communities (roles), and plan for our financial futures, hoping for good lives for our children (goals).

For many of us, that normal sense of meaning has been shattered. It is up to us to find a new normal, with a sense of shared meaning that rises to the occasion. As Frankl said, “when we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves.”

FDR gave his first fireside chats during the Great Depression, increasing them in frequency after the country went to war. During national uncertainty, that new ritual provided comfort and brought Americans together around their radios. While the term “potluck” existed long before the depression, the tradition of sharing a communal meal with everyone pitching in helped people stay connected and stretched what little they had during times of scarcity.

Rituals of connection during this time of quarantine include people going outside to clap at the same time to honor first responders, and virtual social hours, religious services, and classroom meetings are keeping us connected. In my family, we have started a fierce daily rummikub competition that is part of our new evening routine.

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The rainbows coloring our neighborhood’s windows symbolize shared meaning. The candles on our porches symbolize gratitude. During World War II, the “V” for victory hand gesture, made famous by Churchill, was created as a symbol for resistance fighters. Rosie the Riveter appeared on posters as a rallying cry for women to help the war effort.

Rosie the Riveter also represented changing roles during wartime. With soldiers away, many women trained for new jobs. During the depression, many who lost jobs found new roles through WPA projects. According to the New York Times, during the 1918 flu epidemic, even Boy Scouts became enforcers of health protocols, issuing warnings to people who spit in public and violated sanitary codes.

Today, how many of us are learning the new roles of homeschool teacher or remote worker? Healthcare providers serve where the need is greatest. Businesses have become mask, sanitizer, and medical device manufacturers. Essential workers have become our heroes.

The last element of Gottman’s shared meaning is goals. During the energy crisis, President Carter wore a sweater, asking people to conserve. During the depression, banks began to recover when people answered FDR’s call to redeposit their savings. We are truly dependent on each other now, making shared goals more important than ever.

We must develop the shared goals of staying home and practicing social distancing to protect ourselves, loved ones, essential workers and our community. We must embrace supporting our local businesses now when they need it most. We must resist the urge to hoard. We must win at least one rummikub game!

If we absorb these lessons from history, we can see that Frankl was right. Our rituals may have to change, but we can still connect. We may be called to stretch into new roles, but we can adapt. We will find symbols of hope and aspire to be part of the solution.  Frankl said “Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.” If we choose to respond by embracing a shared sense of purpose and meaning, we will get through this together.

Diana Palmer is a therapist in private practice and past president of the New York Association for Marriage and Family Therapy Albany- Hudson Valley Chapter. She is the 3rd Ward Councilwoman for the City of Glens Falls and a Doctoral Candidate in Law And Policy at Northeastern University.

Shared Meaning in Times of Crisis

Written by Kacie Cotter-Harrigan on . Posted in News.

My daughter beat us in Rummikub again. As she ran to increase her tally on our scoreboard, my husband and I exchanged proud, defeated smiles. We all laughed. This new daily reprieve might just be keeping us sane.

Psychiatrist and Holocaust survivor Viktor Frankl’s 1946 book Man’s Search for Meaning said we must find a sense of purpose to navigate hardship. Dr. John Gottman later applied Frankl’s work to relationships, explaining that shared meaning often sustains couples, even when relationships face challenges.

Working both as a therapist and in public service, I have been thinking about how shared meaning and how Frankl’s work may offer guidance in such challenging times.

Dr. Gottman says shared meaning includes four basic elements – rituals of connection, symbols, roles, and goals. The idea is that because each of us is unique, we create small microcultures existing nowhere else when we form relationships. That culture, made up of shared meaning, is what we would lose if the relationship ends. Like an inside joke, it’s just not as funny if the other person who gets it isn’t around.

We also have shared meaning in communities. We walk our kids to school, follow sports teams (rituals of connection) and wear school colors or fly flags (symbols). We work, volunteer, or raise families in ways that contribute to our communities (roles), and plan for our financial futures, hoping for good lives for our children (goals).

For many of us, that normal sense of meaning has been shattered. It is up to us to find a new normal, with a sense of shared meaning that rises to the occasion. As Frankl said, “when we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves.”

FDR gave his first fireside chats during the Great Depression, increasing them in frequency after the country went to war. During national uncertainty, that new ritual provided comfort and brought Americans together around their radios. While the term “potluck” existed long before the depression, the tradition of sharing a communal meal with everyone pitching in helped people stay connected and stretched what little they had during times of scarcity.

Rituals of connection during this time of quarantine include people going outside to clap at the same time to honor first responders, and virtual social hours, religious services, and classroom meetings are keeping us connected. In my family, we have started a fierce daily rummikub competition that is part of our new evening routine.

The rainbows coloring our neighborhood’s windows symbolize shared meaning. The candles on our porches symbolize gratitude. During World War II, the “V” for victory hand gesture, made famous by Churchill, was created as a symbol for resistance fighters. Rosie the Riveter appeared on posters as a rallying cry for women to help the war effort.

Rosie the Riveter also represented changing roles during wartime. With soldiers away, many women trained for new jobs. During the depression, many who lost jobs found new roles through WPA projects. According to the New York Times, during the 1918 flu epidemic, even Boy Scouts became enforcers of health protocols, issuing warnings to people who spit in public and violated sanitary codes.

Today, how many of us are learning the new roles of homeschool teacher or remote worker? Healthcare providers serve where the need is greatest. Businesses have become mask, sanitizer, and medical device manufacturers. Essential workers have become our heroes.

The last element of Gottman’s shared meaning is goals. During the energy crisis, President Carter wore a sweater, asking people to conserve. During the depression, banks began to recover when people answered FDR’s call to redeposit their savings. We are truly dependent on each other now, making shared goals more important than ever.

We must develop the shared goals of staying home and practicing social distancing to protect ourselves, loved ones, essential workers and our community. We must embrace supporting our local businesses now when they need it most. We must resist the urge to hoard. We must win at least one rummikub game!

If we absorb these lessons from history, we can see that Frankl was right. Our rituals may have to change, but we can still connect. We may be called to stretch into new roles, but we can adapt. We will find symbols of hope and aspire to be part of the solution.  Frankl said “Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.” If we choose to respond by embracing a shared sense of purpose and meaning, we will get through this together.

Diana Palmer is a therapist in private practice and past president of the New York Association for Marriage and Family Therapy Albany- Hudson Valley Chapter. She is the 3rd Ward Councilwoman for the City of Glens Falls and a Doctoral Candidate in Law And Policy at Northeastern University.

Shared Meaning in Times of Crisis

Written by Kacie Cotter-Harrigan on . Posted in News.

My daughter beat us in Rummikub again. As she ran to increase her tally on our scoreboard, my husband and I exchanged proud, defeated smiles. We all laughed. This new daily reprieve might just be keeping us sane.

Psychiatrist and Holocaust survivor Viktor Frankl’s 1946 book Man’s Search for Meaning said we must find a sense of purpose to navigate hardship. Dr. John Gottman later applied Frankl’s work to relationships, explaining that shared meaning often sustains couples, even when relationships face challenges.

Working both as a therapist and in public service, I have been thinking about how shared meaning and how Frankl’s work may offer guidance in such challenging times.

Dr. Gottman says shared meaning includes four basic elements – rituals of connection, symbols, roles, and goals. The idea is that because each of us is unique, we create small microcultures existing nowhere else when we form relationships. That culture, made up of shared meaning, is what we would lose if the relationship ends. Like an inside joke, it’s just not as funny if the other person who gets it isn’t around.

We also have shared meaning in communities. We walk our kids to school, follow sports teams (rituals of connection) and wear school colors or fly flags (symbols). We work, volunteer, or raise families in ways that contribute to our communities (roles), and plan for our financial futures, hoping for good lives for our children (goals).

For many of us, that normal sense of meaning has been shattered. It is up to us to find a new normal, with a sense of shared meaning that rises to the occasion. As Frankl said, “when we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves.”

FDR gave his first fireside chats during the Great Depression, increasing them in frequency after the country went to war. During national uncertainty, that new ritual provided comfort and brought Americans together around their radios. While the term “potluck” existed long before the depression, the tradition of sharing a communal meal with everyone pitching in helped people stay connected and stretched what little they had during times of scarcity.

Rituals of connection during this time of quarantine include people going outside to clap at the same time to honor first responders, and virtual social hours, religious services, and classroom meetings are keeping us connected. In my family, we have started a fierce daily rummikub competition that is part of our new evening routine.

The rainbows coloring our neighborhood’s windows symbolize shared meaning. The candles on our porches symbolize gratitude. During World War II, the “V” for victory hand gesture, made famous by Churchill, was created as a symbol for resistance fighters. Rosie the Riveter appeared on posters as a rallying cry for women to help the war effort.

Rosie the Riveter also represented changing roles during wartime. With soldiers away, many women trained for new jobs. During the depression, many who lost jobs found new roles through WPA projects. According to the New York Times, during the 1918 flu epidemic, even Boy Scouts became enforcers of health protocols, issuing warnings to people who spit in public and violated sanitary codes.

Today, how many of us are learning the new roles of homeschool teacher or remote worker? Healthcare providers serve where the need is greatest. Businesses have become mask, sanitizer, and medical device manufacturers. Essential workers have become our heroes.

The last element of Gottman’s shared meaning is goals. During the energy crisis, President Carter wore a sweater, asking people to conserve. During the depression, banks began to recover when people answered FDR’s call to redeposit their savings. We are truly dependent on each other now, making shared goals more important than ever.

We must develop the shared goals of staying home and practicing social distancing to protect ourselves, loved ones, essential workers and our community. We must embrace supporting our local businesses now when they need it most. We must resist the urge to hoard. We must win at least one rummikub game!

If we absorb these lessons from history, we can see that Frankl was right. Our rituals may have to change, but we can still connect. We may be called to stretch into new roles, but we can adapt. We will find symbols of hope and aspire to be part of the solution.  Frankl said “Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.” If we choose to respond by embracing a shared sense of purpose and meaning, we will get through this together.

Diana Palmer is a therapist in private practice and past president of the New York Association for Marriage and Family Therapy Albany- Hudson Valley Chapter. She is the 3rd Ward Councilwoman for the City of Glens Falls and a Doctoral Candidate in Law And Policy at Northeastern University.

Shared Meaning in Times of Crisis

Written by Kacie Cotter-Harrigan on . Posted in News.

My daughter beat us in Rummikub again. As she ran to increase her tally on our scoreboard, my husband and I exchanged proud, defeated smiles. We all laughed. This new daily reprieve might just be keeping us sane.

Psychiatrist and Holocaust survivor Viktor Frankl’s 1946 book Man’s Search for Meaning said we must find a sense of purpose to navigate hardship. Dr. John Gottman later applied Frankl’s work to relationships, explaining that shared meaning often sustains couples, even when relationships face challenges.

Working both as a therapist and in public service, I have been thinking about how shared meaning and how Frankl’s work may offer guidance in such challenging times.

Dr. Gottman says shared meaning includes four basic elements – rituals of connection, symbols, roles, and goals. The idea is that because each of us is unique, we create small microcultures existing nowhere else when we form relationships. That culture, made up of shared meaning, is what we would lose if the relationship ends. Like an inside joke, it’s just not as funny if the other person who gets it isn’t around.

We also have shared meaning in communities. We walk our kids to school, follow sports teams (rituals of connection) and wear school colors or fly flags (symbols). We work, volunteer, or raise families in ways that contribute to our communities (roles), and plan for our financial futures, hoping for good lives for our children (goals).

For many of us, that normal sense of meaning has been shattered. It is up to us to find a new normal, with a sense of shared meaning that rises to the occasion. As Frankl said, “when we are no longer able to change a situation, we are challenged to change ourselves.”

FDR gave his first fireside chats during the Great Depression, increasing them in frequency after the country went to war. During national uncertainty, that new ritual provided comfort and brought Americans together around their radios. While the term “potluck” existed long before the depression, the tradition of sharing a communal meal with everyone pitching in helped people stay connected and stretched what little they had during times of scarcity.

Rituals of connection during this time of quarantine include people going outside to clap at the same time to honor first responders, and virtual social hours, religious services, and classroom meetings are keeping us connected. In my family, we have started a fierce daily rummikub competition that is part of our new evening routine.

The rainbows coloring our neighborhood’s windows symbolize shared meaning. The candles on our porches symbolize gratitude. During World War II, the “V” for victory hand gesture, made famous by Churchill, was created as a symbol for resistance fighters. Rosie the Riveter appeared on posters as a rallying cry for women to help the war effort.

Rosie the Riveter also represented changing roles during wartime. With soldiers away, many women trained for new jobs. During the depression, many who lost jobs found new roles through WPA projects. According to the New York Times, during the 1918 flu epidemic, even Boy Scouts became enforcers of health protocols, issuing warnings to people who spit in public and violated sanitary codes.

Today, how many of us are learning the new roles of homeschool teacher or remote worker? Healthcare providers serve where the need is greatest. Businesses have become mask, sanitizer, and medical device manufacturers. Essential workers have become our heroes.

The last element of Gottman’s shared meaning is goals. During the energy crisis, President Carter wore a sweater, asking people to conserve. During the depression, banks began to recover when people answered FDR’s call to redeposit their savings. We are truly dependent on each other now, making shared goals more important than ever.

We must develop the shared goals of staying home and practicing social distancing to protect ourselves, loved ones, essential workers and our community. We must embrace supporting our local businesses now when they need it most. We must resist the urge to hoard. We must win at least one rummikub game!

If we absorb these lessons from history, we can see that Frankl was right. Our rituals may have to change, but we can still connect. We may be called to stretch into new roles, but we can adapt. We will find symbols of hope and aspire to be part of the solution.  Frankl said “Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom.” If we choose to respond by embracing a shared sense of purpose and meaning, we will get through this together.

Diana Palmer is a therapist in private practice and past president of the New York Association for Marriage and Family Therapy Albany- Hudson Valley Chapter. She is the 3rd Ward Councilwoman for the City of Glens Falls and a Doctoral Candidate in Law And Policy at Northeastern University.

Important Economic Stimulus Provision to Help You Weather the Storm

Written by Kacie Cotter-Harrigan on . Posted in Families Today.

At the end of March Congress passed the CARES (Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security) Act, which is a $2.2 trillion life support bill to help the economy survive the duration of the government-imposed shutdown. While the bill is extremely wide-ranging, and many provisions may not apply to you, there are some items in the Act which you should at least be aware of. 

Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA) is included in the Act and provides extended eligibility for individuals who are traditionally ineligible for unemployment benefits, including the self-employed and independent contractors. It also provides an additional $600 on top of regular benefits, each week for up to 39 weeks. You are encouraged to check the New York State unemployment insurance website at www.labor.ny.gov for details and read the Frequently Asked Questions page to help determine your eligibility.

The CARES Act also includes a provision to temporarily suspend most Required Minimum Distributions from IRAs and retirement plans. People who were 70 ½ before January 1, 2020, or who turn 72 this year, would otherwise be required to withdraw a portion of their accounts and pay taxes on the distribution. The Act suspends this requirement through the end of 2020, resuming again next year. 

Recovery Rebates, which are direct payments from the government to individuals, have also been approved as part of the Act. These one-time  payments will include $1,200 for each adult plus an additional $500 per qualifying child, however there is a caveat. Individuals with income higher the $75,000, and joint filers with incomes great than $150,000 will have their rebates gradually reduced, and eliminated for those individuals with income great than $99,000 and joint filers with incomes greater than $198,000. These payments will be automatic, and should require no action on your part. 

For people under that age of 59 ½, who qualify, the government is allowing access to up to $100,000 of your IRA or certain retirement plans without the usual 10% early withdrawal penalty. In addition to waiving the penalty, the government is allowing the income to be recognized over three years which would help most individuals remain in a relatively lower tax bracket than they would be in, had they recognized all of the income in just one year. For those who only need to take the withdrawal as a short-term financial bridge, the Act also allows repayment of the distribution within three years of receipt which would avoid the income recognition altogether!

For small business owners, it is important to note that the ACT makes loans and grants available through the Small Business Administration (SBA). Contact the SBA directly for details on these programs.

While not technically part of the CARES Act, it is worth mentioning that the IRS has postponed the tax filing deadline for individuals from April 15, 2020 to July 15, 2020. They tax payment date has also been delayed. According to the IRS, this extension is automatic, and does not require you to file any forms. 

While nobody knows the depth or duration of the economic impact from the Coronavirus and the subsequent government-mandated economic shutdown, the CARES Act is a huge step, at least in the short-term, toward providing resources to help individuals and families weather the storm.

Like any piece of legislation, the CARES Act is convoluted and contains a myriad of provisions. Work directly with your Certified Financial Planner® professional and your CPA to help determine which provisions may apply to you, and how best to use them to benefit you and your family. 

Stephen Kyne, CFP® is a Partner at Sterling Manor Financial in Saratoga Springs and Rhinebeck. Securities offered through Cadaret, Grant & Co., Inc. Member FINRA/SIPC. Advisory services offered through Sterling Manor Financial, LLC, an SEC registered investment advisor or Cadaret Grant & Co., Inc. Sterling Manor Financial and Cadaret, Grant are separate entities.

Stay Healthy, Saratoga: Let’s Work on That Core!

Written by Kacie Cotter-Harrigan on . Posted in Sports.

Core training has become an extremely popular phrase lately but I’m not sure people truly understand what the actual function of the core is. So when I ask people what they feel they need the most work on, I will typically get the response that they have a weak core and need to strengthen it. And if I was to ask that same person how they would strengthen their core, they usually say something like sit-ups (which drives me crazy!). Now I’m not saying that sit-ups won’t get you stronger or work your core, but I will say that I don’t believe that it is the best way to train the core, because it isn’t how our core is designed to function. 

From a functional standpoint, the joints in our body are either designed to be mobile or stable. If it is mobile (think hips and ankles), then we want to move it freely through different ranges of motion. If it is stable (think knees and lower back/core), then we want to limit movement in that joint as much as possible. So when we think about the core and our lower back, we want to limit the movement, so doing endless amounts of sit-ups (think flexing the low back) and crunches might not be the optimal exercises for functionally strengthening the core. 

The ANTI approach has become a very popular concept (and for good reason) in the health and fitness industry. This approach towards core training is to make people more aware of how the core truly functions by making people look at the core as anti-movement muscles. So we want to do exercises that challenge us to not move those muscles such as planks and avoid exercises where we do move them such as sit-ups. 

Alright everyone, now that I told you how the core actually works, I am going to give you some of our favorite core exercises that we perform at Gunning Elite Training on a regular basis. These exercises follow the principles of the ANTI approach in different planes of motion. I think it is so important to train our bodies the way they are designed to work rather than against, so we can live a long and healthy life. Stay strong and keep GET’n after it!

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Life Online: Virtual PT

Written by Kacie Cotter-Harrigan on . Posted in Families Today.

It’s hard to know what to write today. Things sure have changed since the last article I wrote. At the time my staff and I had been going to Silver Sneakers and the senior centers in Saratoga County performing fall assessments. We had started Osteoporosis programs, hosted running workshops and had just started screening and working with local athletes. Oh yeah and we were seeing patients in the clinic. 

After things started closing down and about a week of trying to get our bearings, we have settled into life online. Every PT at my office is seeing patients virtually.  Starting April 13th we will be seeing patients in the clinic one-on-one…meaning one therapist on-site with one patient. We are doing this because there are people that can’t do virtual therapy due to the nature of their condition. We will be taking all the precautions possible to help keep patients and ourselves safe and healthy. 

I am trying to use this time to reflect and see what was working and what wasn’t working at the office and in my life. I think this pandemic has made me realize how fortunate I am to have enjoyed such good health. After my initial disappointment from watching my business go from busy to empty, I realized that I could still help people…which was the point of getting into PT in the first place. 

Then, a few days ago I was applying for the loan from the government to keep my staff employed, it is a mess for sure, but I encountered good people trying their best to help. I spoke to accountants, bank employees, bank administrators, retirees, and even my older brother that works for one of the big international banks. In every case, I encountered people that were clearly doing their best to help make a difficult time go more smoothly. 

At times the efforts to help me went above and beyond expectations. Local bank officials, in the midst of the chaos around them, called me to offer help. I knew some through physical therapy and some through friends of friends. Over and over again I was offered help or names of someone to help. It helped lift a lot of the stress I was carrying and helped me reset myself and now I want to return the favor!

I would like to offer my expertise to the people working at their desks for extended hours without taking breaks in an effort to help small businesses like mine. So if you know anyone that is doing that, please thank them for me! And share the pictures below with them. And if anyone has a specific question please share my email, I’m happy to offer my help!

In the meantime, here are some thoughts. 

First things first. When sitting make sure you scoot your butt all the way back in the chair and lean back against the chair. I realize that this position is difficult to get used to but sitting forward in a chair puts more strain on the lower back and neck, so whenever possible sit back!

If/when your upper back and neck tense up you will benefit from performing the retraction exercise. This is best done in a conference room chair or a waiting room chair. In other words a chair with a back that goes up to about the shoulder blades. 

If you are not interested in doing any stretches then at very least, stand up every 30-45 minutes to change your position and give your spine some movement. Just because you are able to sit longer does not mean you should. I have found one of the most common problems people with back pain and neck pain face is pain with sitting. 

Once again I would like to say thank you to all the people trying to help in these difficult times. I know my staff and I are appreciative and please know that we are here to help in any way we can. Our number is 518-306-6894 and my email is goodemotept@gmail.com. Reach out anytime!

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