Paterson budget has everyone complaining, RPI layoffs start, Caroline headed upstate, student found dead, penis guy arrested again

It seems you can't throw a snow ball and not hit someone who's upset in some way about David Paterson's proposed budget. Everyone from hospital groups to beverage companies to county DAs to salon owners to environmentalists to unions to the suburbs took issue yesterday with some aspect of the budget. (A quick read of the proposed budget.) [TU] [TU] [Saratogian] [CapNews9] [Biz Review] [NYT] [NYDN]

About 10,000 homes in the Capital Region are still without power. National Grid is asking people still in the dark to call them. [Daily Gazette] [TU]

The RPI layoffs started yesterday. It's unclear how many people have been let go. The school reported to the state Department of Labor that it would be eliminating 98 jobs -- but a source told the Troy Record the number is somewhere between 100 and 170. A hundred jobs would be about 5 percent of RPI's workforce. The layoffs have been sparking harsh comments about RPI president Shirley Jackson. [TU] [Troy Record] [AOA comments]

Caroline Kennedy will reportedly be in Syracuse today as part of a sort of upstate campaign for Hillary Clinton's Senate seat. [Syracuse Post-Standard] [NY Mag]

An RPI student was found dead in his Troy apartment Tuesday morning. Police say they're not sure what happened and aren't ruling anything out. Police say the student was found after his parents called the department asking them check on him. [Troy Record] [TU]

SCCC has selected a new president: Quintin Bullock, who's currently a provost at Tidewater Community College in Virginia. The school is also getting a new professor: Schenectady County sheriff Harry Buffardi, who will be resigning to teach at the school full-time. [Daily Gazette] [Daily Gazette]

It appears that another pizza delivery person was set up for a robbery this week in Albany. Police say a pizza delivery person was robbed last week after being similarly set up. [CapNews9] [TU]

The pastor who runs the Albany Gun Buyback says they're getting "a ton of guns right now because of Christmas" and "good ones, too." The program trades gift cards for guns. [TU]

Schenectady police say the driver of the pickup truck that hit a family of pedestrians as it crossed State Street broke no laws. [Daily Gazette]

The City of Schenectady estimates it lost 2,000 trees in the ice storm -- and it could take 10 years to replace them. [Daily Gazette]

GE Energy, which is headquartered in Schenectady, just signed a $3 billion deal to build wind turbines in Iraq. [TU]

Calvin Morett, the guy who ran across the stage at the Saratoga Springs High School graduation wearing a penis costume, was arrested this week on charges that he stole a pickup truck. [Daily Gazette]

Comments

Great. Now nobody will be able to wear a giant penis costume without being suspected of car-jacking. Thank you for ruining it, Calvin!

I grew up in an area where there was a fatal school shooting, and I'm always happy to hear about no-questions-asked buy-back programs. Yes, there will always be black market dealers, people who shoot guns, and responsible owners (did I cover all of the exceptions?), but I'd like to think that the people dropping off the guns are the potentially irresponsible ones. Way to go, Reverend!

The Budget really makes me mad. Here are the three things that should be done before anymore fees or taxes

#1. Streamline and lean out all the different departments the state has. There are too many wasteful steps in different processes and too many employees/contractors who are just duplicating efforts. This means embrace computers and digital paper.

#2. They say there is a hiring freeze and that is correct. They are not hiring (most) state workers. But they are still hiring contractors to do work. Instead of hiring contractors make current state employees do some of it.

#3. Reduce the number of state employees. How much of the budget goes to State Employees. Sure they will complain that with less workers the residents of the state won't get good service. My reponse to that, See #1 and "We get good service now?" Civil Servants should not be in unions, they should be serving the interests of the residents of the state, not union interests. I'm all for unions, just not for civil servants.

Instead of those things we get more taxes and fees, and how do we process those taxes and fees?? Do we do it electronically? NO, we create more paper, and need to hire more employees/contractors

lol, this is the most unique headline i've seen today!


dan,
Graduation Stoles

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