Construction worker buried alive, UAlbany student shot in the head, falling oil prices a sting for some, forced time off for city employees?
A construction worker died yesterday in Clifton Park after the walls of a ditch collapsed on him, burying him alive. Co-workers didn't notice the mishap at first, thinking the man might have gone inside to have coffee. The man had been digging the 8-foot-deep ditch for a home addition (pictures of the site). An OSHA official says there "clearly" were violations of safety regulations at the site. [TU] [Daily Gazette] [Saratogian] [Troy Record] [TU]
A UAlbany student was shot in the head last night at the intersection of South Lake and Yates St in Albany (map). He's on life support at Albany Med. Police are looking for the shooter -- they say a motive isn't apparent right now. [CBS6] [TU]
It seems absentee ballots in Albany County were more screwed up than originally thought. Not only was David Soares not listed on all the appropriate lines, but neither were assemblyman Jack McEneny and state senator Neil Breslin. Also, some ballots apparently listed the wrong assemblyman for the district to which they were sent. One of the county's elections commissioners say the board is understaffed. [TU]
Both Governor Paterson's top advisor, Charles O'Byrne, and the state's top cop, Harry Corbitt, have yet to get security clearances from the FBI -- even though their applications have been in for six months. That means the two officials aren't allowed to view or handle secret intelligence from the federal Department of Homeland Security. [TU]
Falling oil prices have caused an unexpected headache: people who locked in a heating oil price this summer could be paying much more than if they had bought this winter. One local heating oil company says prices have dropped as much as $2 per gallon. [Saratogian]
Albany common councilman Glen Casey is proposing the city save money by forcing non-union employees making at least $55,000 per year to take a mandatory 10 days of extra, non-paid vacation next year. [CBS6]
The City of Albany is looking at building a new parking garage in the city's Park South neighborhood. The garage would provide spaces for new office buildings going up in the area. [TU]
The Newspaper Guild is offering a $1000 reward for info leading to the arrest and conviction of the people who attacked Steve Barnes and a friend Friday night at Stuyvesant Plaza. [Troy Record]
Cohoes mayor John McDonald says his city is working with RPI's lighting research center to possibly light the Cohoes Falls. The project could come together next year, though McDonald says a "strategic partner" is need to make it happen. [Daily Gazette]
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I'm concerned about the shooting on S Lake and Yates not because it's on the end of my block, near where I parked my car last night, but because it's not like the "usual" crime near the student ghetto on Quail which is a block away. Usually people are mugged on weekends, between midnight and 4am, while drunk. Not at 11:15 on a weeknight near a well light, well travelled intersection. I hope this horrible act of violence isn't indicative of the spread of random violence in Albany's residential neighborhoods previously considered safe. That young man is in my thoughts and prayers. It could easily have been me.
... said Katherine on Oct 21, 2008 at 10:42 AM | link
Dang, this is a depressing day. I'm going to go google "unicorns and rainbows" in order to cheer myself up.
... said Pantaloons on Oct 21, 2008 at 11:14 AM | link
apparently right after the shooting, at approximately 11:30pm another UAlbany student was hit on the head and mugged at the corner of State and Ontario.
What is going on?!!?!?!!? I moved out of the student ghetto to Center Square after college to escape the muggings and meth labs (YES there was a meth lab on the corner of Hamilton and Partridge, but the police downgraded it to just a "drug lab" and the incident did not appear in any news media reports).
Then I moved from Center Square to off S. Lake to escape muggings and break-ins.
NOW I have to worry about being shot?! Which neighborhood should I move to now?!
... said ellie on Oct 21, 2008 at 2:56 PM | link