Rebekah F. Ward reports in the Times Union that a federal appeals court on March 29 overturned part of an injunction that had temporarily blocked New York cannabis regulators from issuing retail licenses for the Hudson Valley and three other regions in the state. The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit will now allow the state to resume licensing cannabis stores in central and western New York, the Mid-Hudson Valley and Brooklyn, while the injunction remains in place in the Finger Lakes. A federal lawsuit filed in November in Albany challenged the state's decision declaring the proposed Variscite NY One store was ineligible for a retail license because one of the owners — a Michigan resident — lacked "a significant New York state presence." The company with the Michigan owner had picked the Finger Lakes as its first choice to open a shop, followed by the other regions. "It's just this big sigh of relief, like a big exhale," said Venus Rodriguez, a Mid-Hudson applicant from Rockland County who wanted to open a shop last summer. So far only five stores have been opened in the state, even though recreational cannabis has been legal for two years. Read more about this story in the Times Union.