New York

As a Dec. 23 enrollment deadline for health insurance that starts Jan. 1 looms, New York state is staffing up its call center and smoothing out the rough spots on its application to meet growing demand. As time runs down, the state is trying to fix technical and design issues that came up when the site debuted in October.

In the unregulated heyday before Prohibition, distilleries in New York produced whiskey, gin, rum and other spirits. Then the industry was all but wiped out for the next 80 years. But state laws regulating distilling have been loosened and now dozens of new distilleries have sprung up.

This summer, New York City is expanding food waste recycling into more neighborhoods, with an eye toward eventually making the program mandatory. Officials are hoping the changes will help improve on the city's dismal recycling rate, which remains stuck at 15 percent.