All Over Albany

Silver proposes minimum wage hike, Common Cause proposes alternative redistricting plan,Saratoga Mayor calls for state audit of City Housing Authority, murder/suicide in Saratoga County, suspects arrested in fatal Schenectady stabbing

Assembly speaker Sheldon Silver says his proposal to raise the minimum wage from $7.25 to $8.50 is "a matter of human dignity." Silver proposed the minimum wage hike yesterday, but not everyone is happy about it. [Capitol Confidential] [WNYT] [YNN]

The group Common Cause New York has proposed an alternative legislative redistricting map. Assemblyman Jack McEneney says the former is being called the "incumbant protection program" and the later "the incumbent destruction program." [Common Cause][WNYT]

Spa City mayor Scott Johnson has asked the New York State comptroller to audit the city housing authority. A public hearing is slated for tonight
about concerns of nepotism and questionable financial practices in the housing authority.
[Saratogian]

Two people have been arrested in connection with the fatal stabbing of a woman in broad daylight in downtown Schenectady yesterday. [ YNN] [TU]

Saratoga County Sheriff's deputies are investigating a murder/suicide. An 85 year old man apparently shot and killed his wife, and then himself on Sunday in their Porters Corners home. [YNN] [TU]

A 19 year old Albany man who passed the exam the Albany police officer exam last spring has been charged in the murder of Albany High School Student Tyler Rhodes. [TU]

A State Police investigator testifying in the Troy ballot fraud trial says former City Clerk William McInerney admitted to forging absentee ballots in the 2009 primary when he was questioned over the summer. Later, Working Party members whose absentee ballots were turned in to the County Board of Elections testified that they never cast ballots [TU] [Record]

East Greenbush police arrested three teengers for stealing purses from shopping carts at local stores. [TU]

A suspected drug dealer is in jail after leading police on a long car chase into Albany. [TU]

Albany police found a loaded gun when they pulled a city man over for a routine traffic infraction at Morris and Ontario Streets.[Record]

The owner of Blue Spice Thai restaurants on Central Ave. in Albany, Clifton Country Road in Clifton Park and Delaware Avenue in Delmar is one of eight Albany residents charged with welfare fraud. [TU]

Police say the driver of an 18 wheeler that was picked up for DWI on Sunday had a blood alcohol level of .35 -- more than eight times the legal limit for a commercial driver.[TU]

Eeyore, the big gray great dane found tied to a tree behind Schenectady Community College on Friday, was reunited with his owners yesterday. [TU]
More local whooping cough cases confirmed -- this time in Saratoga County [WNYT]

A tourettes-like illness that has affected a number of teenage girls in Western New York, has been found in two young women in Corinth. [TU]

Odd Fellows Hall is "a strong little structure" -- which makes tearing it down a challenge. [Gazette]

DWI patrols will be in full force on Super Bowl weekend. [Fox23]

Paladino and Pataki have hugged it out. [State of Politics]

Grammy winning Jazz Vocalist and Shaker High School alum Kim Nazarian will perform at her Alma Mater this week. [TU]