All Over Albany

Call for special prosecutor for Occupy arrests, nanotech wants to take over old train station, mall accused of allowing "suburban slum," two banks robbed

Occupy Albany protestors say the crackdown on Occupy sites across the country has only strengthened their resolve to stay through the winter. There was another round of arrests last night in Lafayette Park. Said the head of the Albany County Republican Party yesterday of David Soares' decision to not prosecute people arrested for breaking curfew in the park: "The State Police are being basically laughed at by the local DA. We have a curfew, we have a set of laws, and we should abide by it." The party chairman is calling for a special prosecutor. [Daily Gazette] [Fox23] [TU] [AP/WNYT]

UAlbany's College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering wants to use the former train station in downtown Albany -- now called Kiernan Plaza -- as incubator space for startups. [TU]

The sixteen state Office of Family Services employees who are accused of spying on their co-worker after she was arrested say they wanted to know if she had been placed on a register for suspected abusers. [TU]

The Saratoga Race Track brought between $186 million and $213 million into the regional economy, but that number is down from the impact the track had in 2006. [WNYT] [TU]

Residents of a Guilderland neighborhood where many of the houses are owned by Crossgates say dilapidated and deteriorating vacant houses owned by the mall have turned the area into a "suburban slum." [TU]

Four attorneys will spend today scrutinizing the absentee ballots sent in for Schenectady mayor. The results of that race may not be known until around Thanksgiving. [Daily Gazette]

They finally started counting the absentee ballots in the Colonie town supervisor race, too. [YNN] [Fox23]

A Schenectady man who left three cats in an apartment to starve -- two died and the other survived by eating their carcasses -- has been sentenced to three years probation. [Daily Gazette]

Bethlehem police say a man who had a raspy voice and smelled like cigarettes robbed the TD Bank on Delaware Avenue in Delmar yesterday. And in Colonie, police say the Bank of America on Troy Schenectady Road was knocked over late yesterday afternoon. [YNN] [YNN]

The winner of the 2011 Breeders Cup is partly owned by a North Greenbush man, who was surprised that his horse won the race. [Troy Record]

USDA Wildlife specialists will be in Albany for the next few days to try to scare off the roosting crows that arrive here every fall and winter. Earlier: Begun again the War on Crows has [YNN]