If congress doesn't act, the interest rate for Stafford loans will double from 3.4 percent to 6.8 percent.

New York’s senior senator, Chuck Schumer says that's unacceptable.

Schumer is pushing for legislation extending the 3.4 percent rate for one year and hopes to make it permanent.

A vote on the issue is scheduled in the house on Friday.

Local schools can participate in the Department of Environmental Conservation’s (DEC) Green School program.

According to the DEC, schools across New York are making a difference in their communities with programs that help recycle, reduce waste, save energy and conserve resources.

The DEC has outlined benefits of becoming a green school:

• Prepare students to understand and act on the current and future environmental challenges that face all New Yorkers.
• Model environmental and conservation best management practices in their building and in landscape design and maintenance can reduce costs.
• Build partnerships with the local community to design and implement projects and programs that will result in a healthier environment and safer school.

The DEC has dedicated a website that details green schools and what they do.

On Thursday, April 19, members from 18 college teams that participated in the Adirondack Cup will come to the Capital Region where the Adirondack Small Cap Fund will name the winner of the first Adirondack Cup. Awards will be presented between 5:30 to 5:45 p.m.

According to a statement, students from 18 colleges across the Northeast participated in a competition managing a hypothetical small cap portfolio of stocks valued at $1 million each.

Team members and faculty advisors from Binghamton University, Clarkson University, Hofstra University, Ithaca College, Siena College, Simon School at Rochester, Skidmore College, St. John Fisher College, St. Lawrence University, SUNY Brockport, SUNY Geneseo, SUNY Plattsburgh, Stony Brook University, Union Graduate College, University at Albany, University at Buffalo (with an undergraduate and a graduate team) and Wesleyan University will be in attendance.