GREENFIELD- 2011-2012 marks Greenfield Elementary School’s 50^th school year, and to celebrate, principal Tina Davis has announced that the school is making what many community members feel is a bittersweet change.

SARATOGA SPRINGS – The long-awaited opportunity to expand Saratoga Hospital’s current facility finally seems within reach, but the news is bittersweet to some county residents.

Earlier last month, the county’s outpatient mental health center received an informal verbal notice saying that their lease at the hospital-maintained Cramer House would not be renewed.

SARATOGA SPRINGS – The New York Racing Association (NYRA) President and CEO Charles Hayward has been placed on administrative leave without pay after an ongoing investigation suggested Hayward may have known NYRA was shortchanging customers millions of dollars on certain exotic bets.

The eyes, they turn to Louisville, Kentucky, for the 138^th running of the Kentucky Derby presented by Yum! Brands. Twenty horses will line up for a chance at the $2 million purse and one horse will have a chance to bring to a halt the 34-year Triple Crown drought.

SARATOGA SPRINGS – As soldiers returned home from wars in Korea and Vietnam, many of their stories were swept under the rug. The nation wanted to move on from these difficult and trying conflicts, and so too many tales from the front lines were unheard, unwanted and forgotten.

That was a mistake.

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SARATOGA SPRINGS – Racing has been halted at the Saratoga Casino and Raceway until April 11 due to an outbreak of Streptococcus equi, better known to the horse racing community as “strangles.” The highly contagious infection is believed to have spread to at least 14 horses located in the backstretch of the race course located at the casino. Symptoms for the upper respiratory infection include fever, swollen lymph nodes in the neck, lethargy and substantial nasal discharge.

SARATOGA SPRINGS – The city of Saratoga Springs is looking to improve its website, and they’re looking for your help to do it. If you visit their website right now at www.saratoga-springs.org, you’ll find a link to a short survey of questions aimed at making the website more accessible, while finding out whether or not you found what you might have been looking for. The city hopes to use your input to make their website as user-friendly as possible, while allowing citizens access to the information they want to know.

Saratoga Springs became the 100th community in New York State on March 23 to take the Climate Smart Communities Pledge, in an announcement made at City Hall. A representative from the governor’s office was on hand to congratulate the city on its promise to advance energy and economic benefits for Saratoga Springs. The partnership will bring technical assistance, provide funding through grant money and accomplish specific strategies for “going green.”

SARATOGA COUNTY – This week the Supreme Court heard arguments on the constitutionality of the Affordable Care Act (ACA), and will take into account whether or not all, part or none of the law will stand. While Americans will likely have to wait until at least the summer before the verdict is made public, many health care organizations and hospitals are left wondering how to plan for an uncertain future. For many local hospitals the question remains: how do you prepare for a system where all of the ACA remains intact, where only parts of the ACA remains, or where the ACA is struck down entirely?

MALTA – The recent spell of unseasonably warm weather has a lot of folks thinking summer, even though it hasn’t even been a week since the beginning of spring. The month of March is more often a gray area between the cold of February and the thaw of April. The extended stay of nice weather is starting to accelerate seasonal businesses around the region that might not have even been open for another month.