Paterson admin says no decision on furlough, Wash Ave Y transferred to church, county expands sex offender website, armed robber chased off with stick
A spokesman for David Paterson says "no final decision has been made" on whether the governor will include the proposed state worker furlough in the next emergency budget bill. Yesterday, Richard Ravitch said the administration is trying to get people to focus on how serious the budget situation is -- or as he put it, the state has "no fairy godmother." Ravitch also said the soda tax is dead (unless it's not). [TU] [State of Politics] [YNN]
John Sweeney was scheduled to be released today from jail this morning. He'll have served 17 days of his 30 day sentence. [CBS6] [Saratogian]
The state attorney general's office has accused a former state Department of Health mailroom supervisor from Delmar of stealing more than $16k in postage to mail items he sold on eBay. If convicted, he could get up to seven years in prison. [Fox23] [TU]
State police say the former head of the scandal-plagued state Institute for Entrepreneurship tried to pass himself off as a state official while allegedly trying to get out of a speeding ticket in Colonie. [TU] [CBS6]
The Washington Ave YMCA in Albany is now closed -- and the building is being transferred to the First Israel AME Church on Hamilton Street. The church's pastor says the building will be turned into a community center for kids. Jerry Jennings had been trying to work out a deal to turn the building over the Albany Police Athletic League. [CBS6] [WNYT] [TU]
Albany common councilman Anton Konev is pushing a measure that would ban entertainment acts using exotic animals (for example, the circus). Animal advocates such acts are cruel. [TU]
One of Andrew Cuomo's closest political advisors is also a top lobbyist for the powerful health care workers union 1199 SEIU. [NYT]
The chair of the National Republican Senatorial Committee says Kirsten Gillibrand's seat is "extraordinarily vulnerable." [NYDN]
Saratoga supervisor Joanne Yepsen (a Democrat) officially announced that she's challenging Roy McDonald for 43rd state Senate seat. [Saratogian]
Albany County has expanded its OffenderWatch site. The program had previously only tracked sex offenders in the City of Albany. The site includes maps and email notifications. [TU] [Fox23] [WNYT]
The Historic Albany Foundation says the two buildings the Fort Orange Club wants knocked down should be saved because they were once the residence of labor leader and women's rights activist. The club contends there's very little about the buildings that actually historic. [TU] [YNN]
The Rotterdam town council has bounced an application to build a halfway house for federal prison inmates. [TU]
The Capital Region had a pretty good return rate for census mailers. [TU]
An already-closed section of the Lillian's parking lot on Broadway in downtown Saratoga Springs collapsed yesterday. The entire lot has now been closed. The lot is slated to be sold to developer Sonny Bonacio -- and he tells WNYT that he was planning to rip out the lot anyway. [Saratogian] [CBS6] [TU] [WNYT]
Albany police say a shop owner on North Allen chased off an armed robber with a stick. [Fox23]
Schenectady County officials say someone has been trying to scam elderly people by posing as a county inspector looking to do carbon monoxide detector checks. [WTEN]
The developer who knocked down a historic Clifton Park home against the town's wishes will settle the case for $40k. [Daily Gazette $]
The "net win" at the Saratoga racino was up just one percent the last fiscal year. [Saratogian]
The Schenectady school district budget would cut "family and consumer science" (home ec) from the high school curriculum. [TU]
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Comments
Color me skeptical that this church is going to be able to turn that Y around. This looks to be just a slow slide into blight and eventual demolition.
They see it as a place for kids only? That's great, but none of those kids have MONEY. There were hundreds of adults paying memberships, now there's none.
I'm sure they're well intentioned, but I would be shocked if they had the resources...and turning it into a place where multiple non-profits can use space just means they want to defer responsibility. None of these non-profit users are going to spend significant money in keeping up a ramshackle facility they have no ownership interest in.
It's hard to believe, but I think that the better option would have been to let the Y turn it into a parking ramp or whatever.
... said ike on Apr 30, 2010 at 10:35 AM | link
Does anyone know how to get involved locally in protesting the circus? I don't always agree with PETA, but I do think that it is wrong to include elephants in a traveling circus for entertainment and I don't care how much money the area stands to lose becasue of it.
... said aavp77 on Apr 30, 2010 at 10:43 AM | link