Police say medical condition may have disoriented wrong way driver, Paterson pegs layoff number at 1000+, more funny money
State Police say the man who drove the wrong way on 787 and died in a crash with an oncoming tractor trailer may have been disoriented because of a medical condition. They say it appears the man entered the interstate at Exit 2 and headed north in the southbound lanes all the way past I-90 overpass (that's about 3 miles). They say about 80 calls were made to 911 reporting the wrong-way driver. The tractor trailer was carrying almost 20 tons of paper products -- and burst into in a flames. Said the driver of the truck, who was not seriously hurt: I don't think I will function correctly for a while." [Troy Record] [TU] [YNN] [Fox23] [CBS6] [Daily Gazette] [WTEN]
David Paterson said yesterday there will be "at least 1000" state employee layoffs. [TU CapCon]
One of the big holdups on finishing the state budget is ongoing struggle among Democrats in the legislature over the proposal to allow SUNY campuses to set their own tuititons (with limits). One of the meetings about the issue yesterday reportedly included a senator storming out of the room. [TU [State of Politics]
A state Supreme Court jude has tossed AEC's challenge to the Aqueduct racino bidding process. For now, that leaves a Malaysian firm as the sole remaining bidder for the project. The state Lottery Division is expected to make a recommendation next week. Money from the deal will be used to prop up NYRA, which runs the Saratoga Race Course. [TU] [Saratogian] [Daily Gazette]
GlobalFoundries is taking its Town of Malta property tax assessment challenge to state court. The company says the project should be assessed based on what it would currently sell for, not how much has been spent on construction. GloFo and Malta are separated by $104 million. [TU] [Post-Star] [Saratogian]
Court documents reveal more details in the alleged voter fraud scheme in Troy. [Troy Record]
A bus carrying summer campers and counselors from the Southern Saratoga YMCA to Cooperstown ran into a ditch in Otsego County yesterday. There are conflicting reports on what exactly happened. One of the kids on the bus told Fox23 that counselors told them not to call their parents after the accident. [TU] [CBS6] [Fox23]
Six people were injured after a driver lost control of his car in the parking lot of the Watervliet Price Chopper yesterday. "It was like a pinball machine," said a witness. [Fox23] [Troy Record]
Police say it appears someone is using spoofed caller ID to play a disgusting "prank" on an Albany family. [WTEN]
A Troy city councilman has proposed looking at the Daisy Baker's building as a possible site for the new city hall. Bill Dunne says the city could get the building for $1.5 million by forgiving the $700k in back taxes owed by the owner. [Troy Record] [TU]
An Albany County legislator is proposing restaurants be given A, B or C grades based on their health inspections. [TU]
The Albany County jail is hoping to cut its food costs in half by getting pre-prepared meals from a state facility in Rome. [TU]
The state Racing and Waging Board has revoked the racing license of a horse trainer for ignoring a state Labor Department order to pay more than $5,000 in overtime underpayments, interest and penalties. The trainer had been caught two years ago in an investigation that found many trainers weren't paying their backstretch workers at Saratoga minimum wage or overtime. He doesn't have any stalls assigned to him at NYRA tracks this year. [TU] [Saratogian] [Daily Gazette]
Guilderland's town supervisor says there's a "low level" investigation into four police officers' use of the their mobile computer terminals for non-work-related chatting. [TU] [YNN]
The Albany County DA's office says the area has seen an increase counterfeit bills. [YNN]
Albany police say there were two muggings this week in the area around the downtown end of Washington Park. [TU]
There are now three cloth diaper services in the Capital Region. [TU]
The Emmy-nominated hair stylist for Glee is from Rensselaer County. [Fox23]
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Not to quibble, but I think the police are saying that Schissler entered at the southern terminus of 787 (near the corner of Hoffman and McCarty) and was seen near Exit 2, not that he entered at Exit 2. The YNN article is vague but the TU article seems more clear on the issue.
Exit 2 is the Port of Albany, and to get on there going in the wrong direction you'd have to already be going the wrong way on Green Street (which is one way). Here's a Google Street View of the turn he'd have had to make: http://is.gd/dTcDM
On the other hand, the 787 terminus (which has no exit number) is much closer to a residential area and it's easy to see how someone who was disoriented, with no cues from other traffic at that time of day, could accidentally get on going in the wrong direction - the on-ramp and off-ramp are initially separated only by a double yellow line. Here's a view of that intersection: http://is.gd/dTbKq
... said Patrick on Jul 30, 2010 at 12:23 PM | link