📆 BETHELEHEM AREA EVENTS

🌡️BETHELEHEM AREA WEATHER

🎓📝 REGENTS EXAMS ARE CHANGING IN NEW YORK — BUT SOME PRIVATE SCHOOLS MAY KEEP THEM

🌱🦋 GET WILD IN GLENMONT! WILDING FEST 2026 BRINGS NATIVE PLANTS, MUSIC, FOOD & FAMILY FUN! 🎶🐝

⚡ FROM SLINGERLANDS TO NEW ZEALAND: PLUG POWER EXPANDS ITS HYDROGEN REACH! 💧🚛

🧩☕ WEDNESDAY MORNING MATH PUZZLER SOLVED! ☕🧩

Introducing the Bethlehem Area Live Community Calendar

September 23th Wednesday

More Events at: https://BethlehemAreaLive.com

A major change is coming to New York high school graduation requirements, but students at some private schools could have a different experience.

The New York State Board of Regents recently authorized the State Education Department to move ahead with its NY Inspires transition. Beginning with students graduating in 2028, passing a prescribed set of Regents exams will no longer be required to earn a New York State high school diploma. Students will still have academic and credit requirements, and Regents exams can continue to play a role in demonstrating achievement.

🏫 But that doesn't necessarily mean Regents exams are disappearing everywhere.

According to the Times Union, some Catholic and other private schools may choose to continue requiring Regents exams as part of their own graduation standards.

At Christian Brothers Academy in Colonie, school leadership sees value in having an outside assessment of student achievement and has not indicated an immediate move away from the exams. Meanwhile, La Salle Institute in Troy stopped using Regents exams years ago, illustrating that private schools can take different approaches.

The Roman Catholic Diocese of Albany has not yet made a final decision about whether its local high schools will continue requiring Regents exams, according to the report. Diocesan school officials are waiting for additional details about New York's new system before determining their approach.

For public-school families in Bethlehem, RCS and Voorheesville, the important takeaway is that the current Regents graduation requirements remain in effect for now. Under the state's transition, students graduating beginning in January 2028 will no longer have to pass the prescribed Regents exams to earn their diploma.

New York is developing a broader system for students to demonstrate proficiency, potentially including options such as projects, research, presentations and assessments, while maintaining required coursework and credits.

📚 So Regents exams aren't simply vanishing overnight. Their role in graduation is changing — and exactly what that looks like may depend on the school a student attends.

Read more from the Times Union.

💬 What do you think about New York moving away from requiring students to pass Regents exams for graduation?

#BethlehemLocalNews #RegentsExams #NYEducation #BethlehemCentral #RCSSchools #VoorheesvilleSchools #BethlehemNY #EducationNews #HighSchool #NYInspires #CapitalRegionNY

Looking for a fun way to celebrate the first weekend of fall while supporting native plants and local community? Wilding Fest & Native Plant Sale 2026 is coming to Glenmont for two full days of fall fun — Saturday, September 26 and Sunday, September 27! 🍂🌿

Hosted by Home Earth Alliance, the festival runs 9 AM–3 PM both days at 71 Retreat House Road in Glenmont and is FREE and open to the community! 💚

Fall is an excellent time to add native perennials to the landscape, and Wilding Fest will feature plenty of locally grown native plants ready for new gardens. Visitors can also get advice and learn more about creating landscapes that support pollinators and the local ecosystem. 🌱🐝🦋

There’s much more than plants! Expect live local music throughout both days, family-friendly activities and food from Chef David of We Chef Feasts. 🍴🎶

🌿 SPECIAL SATURDAY MORNING: From 9 AM–Noon, meet Home Earth Alliance co-founder Kate Brittenham, an ecological landscape designer and co-author of Designing Gardens with Flora of the American East. She’ll be available to talk native plants and help answer gardening questions.

🎶 LIVE MUSIC — SATURDAY, SEPT. 26:
10 AM — Talespin (David Stein)
11 AM — Jon Boulette
Noon — Joe Koelbl, bringing an acoustic mix inspired by favorites including the Beatles, CCR, Dylan and Prine
1 PM — Mary and Me, featuring doo-wop and old-time favorites
2 PM — Pearl Duo, with jazz standards, blues, humor and sentimental favorites

🎵 LIVE MUSIC — SUNDAY, SEPT. 27:
10 AM — Steve Karpinski, featuring classic and outlaw country, bluegrass and classic rock
11 AM — Talespin
Noon — Eric Washburn
1 PM — Pearl Duo
2 PM — Dave Crump

📅 Saturday & Sunday, September 26–27
⏰ 9 AM–3 PM
📍 71 Retreat House Road, Glenmont
💚 FREE ADMISSION

Come for the native plants, stay for the music, food and family fun, and enjoy a fall weekend celebrating the plants, people and community that make our area special. 🌻🍂🎶

Wilding Fest 2026 Event Details

💬 Who's ready to add a few native plants to the garden this fall? 🌱🦋

#BethlehemLocalNews #WildingFest2026 #HomeEarthAlliance #GlenmontNY #BethlehemNY #NativePlants #NativePlantSale #PollinatorGarden #LiveLocalMusic #FamilyFun #FallEvents #SupportLocal #CapitalRegionNY #Gardening #FallInBethlehem

A company with deep roots right here in Slingerlands is continuing to expand its hydrogen technology around the world.

Plug Power Inc. announced this week that it has shipped a 1-megawatt GenEco PEM electrolyzer to HWR Hydrogen in New Zealand, adding to Plug's growing portfolio of hydrogen projects across New Zealand and Australia.

📍 Why are we sharing this with Bethlehem-area readers? Plug Power is headquartered in Slingerlands, making its international expansion a noteworthy local business story.

The new electrolyzer is headed to Invercargill, New Zealand, where it will be installed at an HWR Hydrogen refueling station. According to Plug, the system will produce hydrogen locally to help fuel a fleet of dual-fuel hydrogen-diesel heavy trucks operated by HWR and other customers in the Southland region.

🚛 The project is designed to demonstrate how locally produced hydrogen can be incorporated into heavy transportation while building refueling infrastructure that could support additional hydrogen-powered vehicles as adoption grows.

Plug's technology is already being used in New Zealand as part of Hiringa Energy's green-hydrogen refueling network. The company also says it was selected to supply a much larger 50 MW GenEco electrolyzer system for Orica's Hunter Valley Hydrogen Hub in Australia.

That Australian project is expected to produce approximately 4,700 metric tons of renewable hydrogen annually, according to Plug.

For a company headquartered in our own backyard, it's another example of how technology being developed and supported from the Capital Region is finding applications thousands of miles away. 🌎➡️🇳🇿

💬 Did you know Plug Power was headquartered right here in Slingerlands?

Source: Plug Power announcement via GlobeNewswire

#BethlehemLocalNews #PlugPower #SlingerlandsNY #BethlehemNY #CapitalRegionNY #Hydrogen #HydrogenEnergy #CleanEnergy #NewZealand #Australia #LocalBusiness #Technology #Innovation #MadeInTheCapitalRegion

Today’s challenge is:

3 × 3 + 3 × 3!

That little ! makes a BIG difference! It means factorial, and factorial is handled before multiplication and addition.

Step 1: Solve the factorial

3! = 3 × 2 × 1 = 6

So our expression becomes:

3 × 3 + 3 × 6

Step 2: Do the multiplication

3 × 3 = 9

3 × 6 = 18

Now we have:

9 + 18

Step 3: Add

9 + 18 = 27

💡 Teaching Tip: The exclamation point isn't punctuation in this problem. In mathematics, 3! means “3 factorial.” Factorials are evaluated before multiplication under the order of operations.

⚠️ Common mistake: Treating 3! as simply 3 would give 18. Remember:

3! = 6, not 3.

💬 Did you get 27 before checking the solution? Tag someone who loves a good morning brain teaser! 🧠👇

#WednesdayMorningMath #MathPuzzler #MathChallenge #Factorial #OrderOfOperations #BrainTeaser #BethlehemLocalNews #BethlehemLocalNewsInsider #BethlehemNY #DelmarNY

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