All Over Albany

Senate approves DNA samples for all convicted criminals, DOT moves 240 workers from Schenectady to Colonie, Jar of bed bugs at housing authority workshop,voters testify in Troy ballot fraud, national show features Rainwalker case tonight

The Senate has approved Governor Cuomo's proposal to require everyone convicted of a crime -- from felonies to misdemeanors -- to submit a DNA sample. Currently the law only requires DNA samples from those convicted of felonies and certain violent misdemeanors. A similar bill died in the legislature last year over democrats demand for a stipulation that would make it easier for defendants to get access to the information. [YNN] [Reuters] [NYT]

Senate Democrats filed suit yesterday in an effort to block the newly proposed legislative redistricting plan. [Newsday]

The Chairman of the board of commissioners of the Saratoga Springs Housing Committee said Tuesday that the Authority's embattled executive was doing the work of three people and tripled his salary through merit raises. The city held two meetings yesterday to look into allegations of mismanagment and a bedbug problem in the city's public housing. At a public workshop, residents spoke out in favor and against Spychalski -- and one Stonquist resident showed up with a jar of dead bedbugs he collected from his apartment. [Gazette] [TU] [Saratogian]

240 DOT workers will be moving from their offices in Schenectady to the DOT headquarters in Colonie as part of a cost saving "restacking" plan. Schenectady city officials are hoping another state department will move into the offices. [Gazette] [TU] [YNN]

A dozen voters testified in the Troy ballot fraud trial of Ed McDonough and Michel LoPorto yesterday, some claiming they were asked to fill out absentee ballot info, others claiming signatures on ballots with their names were not theirs. [Record]
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Testimony has begun four weeks early in The Matthew Slocum murder trial. The gravely ill grandmother of one of the victims in the case was allowed to submit her testimony yesterday. Slocum is charged with murdering his mother, step-father and step-brother and setting fire to their home. [YNN] [WNYT] [Fox23]

One of defendants charged in the fatal stabbing of Tammi Washington in Schenectady on Monday served 60 days in jail for stabbing someone with a steak knife in Downtown Schenectady 3 years ago. [TU]

Police are searching for the man who robbed the Sunoco station across from UAlbany's downtown campus at gunpoint Monday night. [TU]

18 year old Michael Capers was sentenced to 14 years in Prison Tuesday for his part in the 2010 shooting death ofAlphanzo Pittman and Virgil Terry. [TU]

A well known Saratoga home builder is facing tax fraud charges for allegedly not paying taxes on over $100 thousand.

A new plan to purchase a rival company will make catheter manufacturer AngioDynamics "one of the largest publicly -held employers in Tech Valley." The company is expect to double its 80 member workforce as part of the $372 million deal. [Record]

The Empire State Pride Agenda, New York's largest gay rights group, wants Albany County Executive Daniel McCoy to withdraw his nomination of Thomas Marcelle for county attorney, claiming his ties to a conservative organization would pose "an insult and a grave danger to LGBT New Yorkers." [TU]

The TV show featuring the Jaliek Rainwalker disappearance case is slated to air tonight.[YNN]

National Grid has given the city of Albany $1 million for additional improvements to the State Street renovation project. [YNN]

A report in the New York Daily News claims a former Syracuse ball boy stated in an affidavit that Bernie Fine's wife had sex with S.U. basketball players. [TU]

A former Rensselaer County Sheriff who died this week at the age of 80 is being remembered as a man who "loved the idea of protecting his neighbors as a member of law enforcement."[Record]

A lack of ice + a visit from The Discovery Channel is putting pressure on organizers of the Lake George Winter Carnival .

Derek Jeter will bop in on a Tri City Valley Cats game this summer -- so to speak.

Capes, Zorro masks and Pick Boy at a "zany" Super Bowl Media Day.[TU]