Former state advisers charged with taking kickbacks, string of robberies in Albany, mother accused of knocking kids off car, the word is "geogenous"
Two advisers to former state comptroller Alan Hevesi were indicted yesterday on charges that they received millions of dollars in kickbacks for directing state pension funds to various investment companies. State AG Andrew Cuomo said the case was one of the "grossest examples of pay to play." [NYT] [TU]
Sheldon Silver says The Three Men in the Room will take budget negotiations to public conference committees "if we have differences." Of course, it could be hard to know if there are differences because all the details are being worked out behind closed doors. [TU]
Albany police say there's been a string of robberies or attempted robberies over the last week. The latest: two teens have been charged with sticking up a St. Rose student and ripping off his iPod. [Fox 23]
Regardless of whether state school aid is restored, it looks like there will be job cuts in the Schenectady School District. The worst-case scenario includes the elimination of the athletic program. [Daily Gazette]
The Albany woman convicted of conspiring to kill her estranged husband got 25 years to life yesterday. [TU]
A Schenectady mother has been charged with assault and reckless endangerment after police say two of the woman's children fell off her car. Police say the children had jumped on the car after the mother refused to take them for ice cream on Tuesday. When the kids wouldn't get off the car, the mother allegedly started moving and then braked hard to knock them off. [TU] [Fox23] [Daily Gazette]
Schenectady County officials say an officer at the county jail has been fired for using a racial slur. [Daily Gazette]
The next mayor of the Saratoga village of Victory is a 26-year-old who says he wants to study dissolving the municipality. [TU]
DEC officials announced yesterday they had used an undercover investigation to break open a black market for smuggled reptiles. Among the 18 people charged is a man from Ballston Spa. [TU] [Saratogian]
Tech Valley High is moving to UAlbany's East Campus. The school, which is funded by a pool of local districts, needed to find more space as it expands to include all four high school grade levels. [TU] [Troy Record]
A Clifton Park couple won $5 million from a scratch-off lottery ticket. [Daily Gazette]
A 7th grader from Farnsworth Middle School in Guilderland won the Greater Capital Region Spelling Bee this week. Luxi Peng correctly spelled "geogenous" for the win. [TU]
J Maxwell, the local chef who's been competing on the Fox show Hell's Kitchen, got booted during the episode that aired last night. [Table Hopping]
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Comments
Re: Mother of the year
Boy, you sure are tough when you happen to be behind the wheel of a moving vehicle & you're arguing with two little girls over ice cream. Man, nobody's gunna question your authority! Although, I'm not so sure this particular strategy will be much help to you when your cell mates decide they want to scratch their names onto your face. So, um, good luck with that mmkay?
... said Pantaloons on Mar 20, 2009 at 12:36 PM | link
Alex Jones at infowars.com on his live program right now is discussing (12:26-12:34):
http://capitalnews9.com/content/top_stories/135887/schenectady-mayor-looking-at-all-options-to-deal-with-police-department/Default.aspx#
He played the audio from the CapNews 9 clip.
This is now a national story. Fear of martial law, using the national guard instead of police, etc. It was stated that Stratton recently met with Obama as well.
The re-broadcast in 3.5 hours will be available to hear it again later today.
... said Jeff Stannard on Mar 20, 2009 at 12:42 PM | link
Alex Jones at infowars.com (@1:03) just read excerpts from this:
http://www.cityofschenectady.com/press%20releases/strattonwhitehouse.pdf
... said Jeff Stannard on Mar 20, 2009 at 1:07 PM | link
Found it. Another offical link for this:
http://www.prisonplanet.com/city-considers-implementing-martial-law-to-clean-up-policing.html
Stratton AFB may be more important than ever.
... said Jeff Stannard on Mar 20, 2009 at 1:28 PM | link
hahaha... yeah, prison violence is so awesome.
... said Smantaloons on Mar 20, 2009 at 2:47 PM | link
@Smantaloons (lame alias btw)
You're so right. I shouldn't joke about karma. I'm sure that mom who brain damaged her daughter over ice cream just needs a good talking to. She seems perfectly rational & kind. Like a Disney Princess.
... said Pantaloons on Mar 20, 2009 at 3:38 PM | link
That story is so awful. I'd guess this women the decision-making tools of a teenager. So now there's 4 more kids in the "system". The crazy thing is, the kids are older, they've been with her this whole time, and if they didn't get hurt in this "horseplay", they probably would have remained in her custody.
... said Lucy on Mar 20, 2009 at 4:19 PM | link
Another follow-up:
Schenectady Mayor Stratton Responds To Prison Planet “Martial Law†Report
http://www.prisonplanet.com/schenectady-mayor-stratton-responds-to-prison-planet-martial-law-report.html
{snip}
Dear Mr. Watson:
Your recent posting of an article on www.prisonplanet.com (“City Considers Martial Law to Clean Up Policingâ€) is misinterpreting the nature and intent of comments I have made to local media regarding the potential use of martial law in the City of Schenectady.
As reported on the local cable news channel, Capital News 9, I have said that martial law might be a necessary but temporary interim measure if in fact our city were to abolish its police department and transition over an extended period to a county-administered force or other option.
The very fact that many officers in our 166-member police department may choose to retire, leave city employment or seek employment elsewhere were the city to plan to ultimately move to that option, could result in a sudden exodus of personnel. Our responsibility to provide continued public safety through adequate numbers of police officers could mean a temporary assignment of State Police, other local law enforcement personnel, or even state militia only as an emergency and temporary measure until such time as a new department is formed and fully staffed.
Contrary to what your readers may believe, the City of Schenectady is not considering the implementation of martial law as a permanent remedy to the ongoing personnel and administrative problems within our police department. We are addressing those challenges internally, as we continue to investigate all realistic, long-term options available should we decide to dissolve or consolidate the department with another non-military law enforcement agency.
I hope that this email will clear any confusion over the recent report on Capital News 9.
Sincerely,
Mayor Brian U. Stratton
Schenectady, New York
{/snip}
Anyway, you can see the genie is out of the bottle, and the words "Schenectady" with "martial law" now appear in over 75 blog posts in the last 2 days.
http://blogsearch.google.com/blogsearch?hl=en&ie=UTF-8&oi=spell&as_drrb=q&as_qdr=w&q=schenectady+martial+law
... said Jeff Stannard on Mar 21, 2009 at 7:05 AM | link
The mother that drove off with her kids on the car was so wrong in so many ways. The girls first off were out of hand, but that is a sign of an uncontrolled child rearing. Although there are times when it crosses every parents mind to do an extreme reaction to bratty unacceptable behavior, it's still important to stay sane and not go over the edge with your reaction to it.
... said Ajlouny on Mar 22, 2009 at 1:07 PM | link