Wall Street meltdown could hit NYS even harder, local unemployment rate up, bomb threat at supermarket, graduation crasher writes more sincere apology letter
A not-officially-released projection concludes that the Wall Street meltdown could now cost New York State as much as $3 billion in revenue over the next two years. David Paterson had predicted earlier this week that the hit could be as much as $1 billion over the next year. [AP]
With Wall Street institutions crumbling, local Capital Region banks say they're seeing an influx of deposits as people look to keep their money closer to home. [Daily Gazette]
The total number of jobs in the Capital Region is at its highest-ever point, but the unemployment rate still hit 5 percent last month. The highest the rate has been here in 16 years (it was 3.7 percent a year ago). Analysts say the picture isn't really all that bad and the area is doing better than a lot of other places. [TU] [Daily Gazette]
Among the recently unemployed: eight Daily Gazette staffers. It's the second job cut this year for the paper. [Daily Gazette]
CDTA is facing a budget gap and a 50 cent fare increase might be one of the ways to cover it. [TU]
The City of Rensselaer is getting $500,000 from the state to help with flood damage recovery. [TU]
There was a bomb threat yesterday at the Hannaford on Central Ave in Albany. No bomb was found. [TU]
The guy who was convicted of using a hot fork to burn the ear of a grand jury witness told a judge yesterday that he didn't believe the victim "suffered substantial pain." The guy was sentenced to seven years anyway. [TU]
The Lafarge cement plant, the state's biggest emitter of mercury, has decided not to sue for a tax re-assessment after all. The plant had been looking to cut its taxes by $2 million a year. [TU]
The Troy city council gave the OK for the city to move ahead with the purchase of the ShotSpotter, a system that uses microphones placed around the city to locate where shots are fired. The city will use money seized from drug dealers to pay for the equipment. [Troy Record]
Round Lake is getting a helicopter pad. The village currently uses an office parking lot to land helicopters for emergency medical transport. [Daily Gazette]
Calvin Morett, the teen who ran across the Saratoga Springs High School graduation stage in a penis costume this year, has written another letter of apology. His first letter was rejected for including too much sarcasm and too many puns. [Saratogian]
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I'm not sure how I feel about the ShotSpotter. Guns are small, those who shoot them can hide, and a perpetrator can travel a long distance in the amount of time it takes the first-responding officer to get to the scene of the shot.
Besides, Troy has some violence but not a lot of it is gun-related and not a lot of it is random. Seems it would be better to spend the $600,000 on chasing down the drug trade than to triangulate gunfire.
... said James Cronen on Sep 19, 2008 at 10:19 AM | link
James, it doesn't sound like they plan on using this as a tool to catch criminals red-handed. The article mentioned its use as evidence in court during disputes. Also, giving officers a quicker and more accurate idea of where shots were fired can get medical help to any victims faster, and the aggregate data this system picks up can help them plan areawide coverage in the future.
... said B on Sep 19, 2008 at 11:37 AM | link
@B: I understand your points. But it doesn't seem like it would be much help in court to constructively prove that a specific person fired a gun, only that someone fired a gun at a location at a specific time.
How many gunshots result in a person being hit and injured? Rather few, I'd imagine. A couple of wolf-cries by this system and eventually it will be deemed too costly (and maybe even risky) to automatically send an ambulance to the location of every gunshot.
Besides, the unfortunate person who happens to be on the business end of a bullet won't necessarily be near the spot where the gun was fired. Just ask Kathina Thomas.
Rather than seeing an improved response after gunshots, I'd rather see the money spent to provide additional policing and improve community involvement, taking guns off the streets before they can be fired.
... said James Cronen on Sep 19, 2008 at 1:26 PM | link
Two weeks ago, waiting outside Mary Jane's for my Western Ave No.10 bus, I overheard a woman talking about how hard it was on her pocketbook taking her kids to school on the bus. "It costs me $50/ week," she continued, "they have got to do something about this!"
I have the feeling a 50% increase per ride, is not the "something" she had in mind.
If the suggested increase is approved, and there isn't something new put in place to assist folks in her situation, it will cost $75/ per week on bus fare to get her kids to and from their "neighborhood" school.
Ouch.
... said ThisQualityLife on Sep 20, 2008 at 6:18 AM | link