All Over Albany

Flooding forecasted, state Senator allegedly piled up $1 million in bribes, man guilty of harassment via IM, laptop explodes

Elsewhere: A huge earthquake, and resulting tsunami, hit Japan today. A tsunami warning has been issued for a long list of nations that border the Pacific, including the the west coast of the US and Hawaii. Photos from Japan. [NYT] [CNN] [The Atlantic]

The Mohawk River is expected to hit flood stage at Schenectady late tonight or tomorrow morning. [Daily Gazette]

In the complaint against Carl Kruger, federal prosecutors allege the Democratic state Senator piled up at least $1 million in return for political favors. Said the federal prosecutor in a statement about the charges against Kruger, state Assemblyman William Boyland and others: "Every single time we arrest a state senator or assemblyman, it should be a jarring wake-up call. Instead, it seems that no matter how many times the alarm goes off, Albany just hits the snooze button. Maybe this time they will get the message." [NYT] [TU]

Andrew Cuomo used the accusations against Kruger to again push for ethics reform. Sheldon Silver called the charges the "deplorable" actions of "a few bad apples." And the head of the state Republican Party, who apparently has a selective memory, called corruption "definitely a Democratic problem". Kruger has already been crossed out of his position in Senate minority leadership. [State of Politics] [TU] [State of Politics] [State of Politics] [Daily Politics]

A man who says he was abused by convicted priest Gary Mercure is pushing for the elimination of the state's statute of limitations for sexual abuse. He also criticized the New York public policy arm of the Catholic church working to keep the statute of limitations in place. [TU] [YNN]

A former Rensselaer County corrections officer was convicted of hitting a handcuffed inmate and then lying to investigators about the incident. [Troy Record]

A man pleaded guilty to repeatedly harassing a Guilderland woman via IM. The woman is now a reporter with WTEN. [Fox23] [WTEN]

The state attorney general's office has filed a lawsuit against a formerly Troy-based wedding photographer for allegedly taking clients' money and failing to deliver promised photo albums. The AG's office says it got complaints from about 30 couples. [NYS AG] [TU]

The Cohoes school district is considering layoffs to close it budget gap. And the Niskayuna school district is the latest district to ask its employees for a salary freeze. [Troy Record] [Daily Gazette]

Troy has issued an RFP for development of the former city hall site. [Troy Record]

Troy has reached at tentative franchise agreement with Time Warner Cable that would provide money for a digital technology lab at the Arts Center of the Capital Region and equipment for televising city council meetings. [Troy Record]

Lee Kindlon, the son of the Terry Kindlon, is considering a primary run against Albany County DA David Soares. [TU]

The board of ALB is looking at how it might entice airlines to offer more non-stop flights to places such as LA. [TU]

A laptop exploded yesterday afternoon while a woman was using it at a Loudonville sub shop. [Fox23]

An Albany couple says their dog woke them from their sleep after a carbon monoxide detector in their basement registered unsafe CO levels. [WTEN]

A 90-year-old Rotterdam woman is not only still skiing, she's teaching lessons. [CBS6]