All Over Albany

Fight over funds for homeless in Troy, Ellis to continue mayoral run, attempted abduction reported in Schenectady, Cohoes goes flashy

A spokesman for Harry Tutunjian says the Troy mayor's move to turn down $845k in federal money aimed at helping the homeless was "politically courageous." The mayor's administration has said the city doesn't have the money necessary to hire someone to administer the funding -- though critics have suggested the move is political payback. [TU] [Troy Record]

It appears that Corey Ellis will continue his Albany mayoral campaign on the Working Families in the general election. Ellis lost the Democratic primary to Jerry Jennings 56-44. [TU]

Leif Engstrom has come out as the winner the Democratic primary for the newly created job of Albany city auditor. There's no general election opponent, so the job is his. [TU]

A Marist poll reports that a majority of New Yorkers don't want David Paterson to run for governor -- but they also would rather not have Barack Obama be the one to push Paterson out. [Marist] [Daily Politics] [PolitickerNY]

In a radio interview yesterday David Paterson basically said that Andrew Cuomo would have bad poll numbers, too, if he were governor right now. [PolitickerNY]

PEF -- one of the two biggest state worker unions -- says it will be lobbying David Paterson to approve more $20k buyouts for its members. [TU]

RPI says it now appears five students have come down with the H1N1 influenza. The school has set up 90 isolation rooms to handle a potential flu outbreak. In an email, the school's medical director said "the number of cases could change very quickly." Sage also reported this week that two of its students have H1N1. [CapNews9] [Troy Record] [RPInsider] [CBS6]

Kirsten Gillibrand is co-sponsoring legislation that would extend the $8,000 first-time homebuyer tax credit another six months. The program ends December 1. [KG press release] [Daily Gazette $]

The City of Rensselaer is getting $1 million from the state to help prevent the kind of flooding that swamped parts of the city in August 2008. [Troy Record]

Officials in Saratoga report that merging Saratoga Springs' emergency dispatch center with the county's system probably wouldn't result in "substantial" savings. [Saratogian]

The EPA says the Hudson River dredging project has turned up more PCB-contaiminated sediment than expected -- and that could extend the project. [Post-Star]

Schenectady police say a 12-year-old girl reported an attempted abduction yesterday morning (map). They're now looking for a white Dodge Neon that was spotted on a surveillance camera. [TU] [Fox23]

New York State Police say they were able to get Nelson Costello, the man accused of a murder in Waterford 40 years ago, to come in for questioning in Arizona by telling him he had been the victim of identity theft. [TU]

Averill Park High School has closed down one its building's wings because of mold contamination. [WTEN]

A handful of local high schools ranked on a national list of high schools that offer advance placement courses. Albany High scored the highest ranking among local schools -- #1112. [Newsweek] [TU]

SCCC says it's no longer interested in buying the Schenectady Armory -- and the building will now go up for auction. [Daily Gazette $]

Cohoes will be changing many of its downtown traffic lights to flashing reds or yellows during the night. [TU]

Former Troy High School basketball star Tiki Mayben was kicked off the Binghamton University basketball team yesterday because of his arrest for cocaine possession in Troy. Mayben was once ranked as the nation's top high school freshman basketball player. [CapNews9] [TU]