December 23, 2009
State comptroller says Medicaid is "leaking" millions, 89-year-old accused of attempted murder-suicide, electricity rates going up, The Missile pleads guilty
State comptroller Tom DiNapoli reported yesterday that New York's Medicaid system is "leaking" millions of dollars. He says the program lost $92 million over the last five years to errors, improper payments and poor record keeping. Among the improper payments cited by the comptroller: $196,000 in cab rides for a woman to travel daily from Dutchess County to Albany to visit her son. [NYS OSC] [NYT] [TU]
The Troy city council and mayor Harry Tutunjian were in court yesterday in an attempt to resolve their budget dispute. They didn't -- and now a judge will rule. [Troy Record] [TU]
Niskayuna police say an 89-year-old man tried to kill his 87-year-old sister as part of an attempted murder-suicide last week. He's been charged with attempted murder. [TU] [CapNews9]
Real estate agents say the federal first-time home buyer tax credit led to a surge in closed sales in the Capital Region last month (up 36 percent from last year, though only about 2 percent from 2007). There's still a lot of inventory. [TU] [AOA]
Christmas weather forecast
It looks like getting to wherever you're going for Christmas should be fine. The getting back? Maybe not so easy.
Here's the paraphrased forecast from the National Weather Service:
Thursday: Warmer, with some sun
Thursday night: Cold, but not too bad
Friday: Another (relatively) warm day -- temps in the upper 30s
Friday night: Chance of freezing rain and sleet
Saturday: Highs in the upper 30s -- but freezing rain and sleet "likely"
Saturday night: Still with the freezing rain
Sunday: Still warm, but chance of rain, freezing rain and snow.
Updated at 12:10 pm on Wednesday: Or, it could snow. As it is right now.
What's up in the Neighborhood
Among the topics in this most recent spin around the Capital Region's online neighborhood: dog poop, a hawk, marzipan, buckets, servers, cupcakes, Utica, Vermont, ice, reasons, railroad tracks, toys and a house in Colonie.
Unglamorous
In naming up-and-coming star chef Emma Hearst one of 2010' "insurgents," the New York Observer notes that she "grew up in unglamorous Albany." (Those were NYO's words.) Hearst's restaurant, Sorella, has been much buzzed about this year in NYC. And Hearst herself was named NYC's "hottest" chef by Eater.
New York's still #3
New York is still the country's third most populous state, according to new estimates out from the Census Bureau (it's the last estimate before next year's census).
The Empire State was estimated to have 19,541,453 people in July 2009. That's .4 percent more than July 2008.
The bureau reports that population growth in many Sun Belt states slowed considerably during the past year (a demographer says the recession probably played role in the slowdown). That helped keep Florida behind New York at #4. The top two continued to be California and Texas.
The breakdown on New York's population growth last year (births, deaths, migration) is after the jump.
Earlier on AOA: Where's everybody going?
Santa Claus and Troy
Recycled from last year: Melissa told us about how the modern image of Santa Claus (belly like a bowl full of jelly, eight tiny reindeer, and so on) first appeared... in Troy.
Winterfest photos
Lots of elves with painted faces.
Update: Sebastien's added more photos
Sebastien is posting a lot of fun pics in a photo set from Winterfest this past weekend.
The set already includes some (super cute) face painting, extreme trampolining and fire juggling. He says there's more to come.
photo: Sebastien B
... said KGB about Drawing: What's something that brought you joy this year?