Photo by Fernando Zhiminaicela I’m a science writer by training and a local disaster reporter by choice. Since March, I’ve been covering the pandemic’s impacts on the Hudson Valley and Catskills for
The River,
Chronogram’s more news-oriented online sibling, with thrice-weekly updates on local and state numbers, news, and public policy. It’s fast-paced work, and it has been accelerating as New York’s second wave has picked up in earnest. This month, we’re trying something new: Taking a moment to slow down to the pace of print, look at where we are as a region, and think about what might lie ahead.
Last Updated: 02/17/2021 12:34 pm After three years of wading through red tape, Donna Norman finally opened the doors of Calyx Berkshire Dispensary in Great Barrington this November. As a small business owner entering the recreational cannabis space without outside investors or an existing medical license, she had been caught unexpectedly in an endless bureaucratic loop with Massachusetts s Cannabis Control Commission (CCC). Since Calyx is a woman-owned business, Norman s path to a recreational license was supposed to be expedited. To prove to the CCC that Calyx was woman-owned however, it had to be third-party certified through an on-site visit to the store made impossible without the license to open from the CCC. Norman eventually brought the unrealistic hurdle to CCC Commissioner Shaleen Title, which prompted the CCC to change its requirements. For three years, I ve had paper on my windows, and I honestly couldn t blame the