Schumer says flood recovery money held up by Congress, Saratoga WWII hero remembered, Albany considering ban on playground smoking, student accused of backing over safety officer
Chuck Schumer says $200 million in federal aid for Irene flood recovery is stuck in Congressional committees. He pushing members of the committees to move the money along. Paul Tonko says it's been difficult getting members of the House to approve flood recovery money because they've demanded budget cuts to balance the disaster aid spending. [WTEN] [TU] [Daily Gazette]
Albany County DA candidate Lee Kindlon is pushing for an investigation of why David Soares' office allegedly allowed a top NXVIM aide to work with the DA's office in compiling a case against a NXVIM critic. Kindlon alleges the NXVIM aide "manipulated the grand jury process for her own ends." [TU] [Fox23]
Saratoga Springs public safety commissioner Chris Mathiesen is continuing the push for an earlier last call in the city to curb violence downtown. Says Mathiesen of the situation on Caroline Street around closing time: "It's out of control ... People have the right to feel safe on the streets 24/7, and that is not the situation right now." [Daily Gazette] [Saratogian]
Clarence Dart, one of the famed Tuskegee Airmen and a Saratoga Springs resident, died Friday -- he was 91. He flew 95 missions during WWII -- and was shot down twice -- earning numerous honors. But one of his sons said Dart didn't talk much about the war: "He was a quiet, humble guy. He didn't brag about the things he did, he just did them." And said one of his daughters: "I said, 'dad I heard you got shot down twice and he said yea I got shot down twice,' and that's all he said." Said Congressman Chris Gibson of Dart: "Here is truly an American hero." [TU] [WNYT] [Saratogian] [WTEN] [Daily Gazette]
PEF is threatening to throw a wrench into the state budget process over the proposed Tier VI pension tier. [TU] [State of Politics]
The state's racinos -- including the one in Saratoga -- are arguing they should be the only facilities in the state to get full casino gambling. [Saratogian]
The place in the state with the highest poverty rate among families with children: Gloversville. [Daily Gazette]
The Albany Common Council is considering a ban on smoking in city playgrounds. [TU]
Watervliet and Cohoes say they'll get significant savings by transferring the dispatch of their police, fire, and EMS to Albany County. [TU]
The Scotia board of trustees voted to override the tax cap. [Daily Gazette]
The Schenectady city council has cooled on the idea of cutting off water and trash pickup to properties with owners who are delinquent on their taxes because of concerns from tenants. [Daily Gazette]
The town of Bethlehem is posting video of its town board meetings that is synced with the agendas for those meetings. [TU]
Troy police allege a student intentionally backed her car into a campus public safety officer. The officer had minor injuries. The student is also an actress, who's appeared in a few movies. [Troy Record] [Fox23] [TU]
Rotterdam police say a man held up the pharmacy counter at the CVS at Five Corners late Sunday afternoon in an effort to get drugs. [YNN] [CBS6]
Albany County sheriff Craig Apple says the man who died in the fiery crash in Knox last week -- the one in which the body was so badly burned that officials had trouble identifying it -- had been kicked out of two bars for being too drunk, one of which faked closing so that the man would leave. [TU]
Enrollment growth at Tech Valley High School has slowed in part because districts don't want to cover the cost of sending students there. [Daily Gazette]
The new Schenectady schools superintendent is described as a data-driven policy wonk. [Daily Gazette]
Some background on the Clifton Park-based group that backs the charter school effort in Albany. [TU]
The owner of the Flavour Cafe, still trying to recover from a fire, says his business has been broken into three times since the fire. [CBS6]
The owners of the Ruck in Troy say they're trying to make the bar into "a destination for craft beer lovers." [Troy Record]
Those anti-cheese billboards have been replaced -- by a pro-dairy campaign. [WNYT]
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I can't read the story about Tech Valley since I'm not a Gazette subscriber, but hopefully other news outlets will pick it up. The whole Tech Valley thing is very frustrating, our district will only allow one child to attend, and there seems to be no way around it even if we want to kick in the tuition ourselves.
Given the push by the President as well as the Governor toward getting kids a 21st century skills education, the lack of funding from BOCES/Questar to the home districts seems like a really stupid move. What's more frustrating is that I'm not seeing anything to show that the districts themselves are working to become more like TVHS either, so if you want your child to have a project-based, tech savvy education you are really dependent on the luck of the draw. Lame.
... said Gina on Feb 21, 2012 at 11:26 AM | link
Definitely read the TU article, then go here for more of the TRUTH about privatized, publicly funded FOR-PROFIT, non-inclusive, discriminatory "education." What? You have an ESL or special-needs child? Sorry, we don't want your kind (except for a token few, of course, to quell those nasty criticisms from parents and community members).
http://issuu.com/gdusa/docs/gem
... said Kim D. on Feb 21, 2012 at 1:06 PM | link
Woo - Bethlehem enters the 21st century! Online video of Town Board (and even Planning Board) meetings is available in many areas of the country - just not the Capital Region. C'mon, Colonie - I dare you. (It took HOW many years to get the town to hire a stenographer to take minutes at Planning Board meetings?!)
... said Ellen on Feb 21, 2012 at 4:43 PM | link
@Kim D., I'm not sure what TU article you reference, do you have a link?
I also think you may be confused about TVHS - as I understand it, it's not a charter school like Kipp
Tech Valley, it's a totally different animal. I wonder if you may be confusing it with Kipp Tech Valley, which is a totally different school, not to mention it's a middle school and not a high school. Tech Valley High School, on the other hand, is kind of a weird hybrid of public school plus a BOCES/Questar vocational education, and it's not a for-profit charter like the other ones plaguing Albany.
The application process at TVHS is not arduous. There's literally one form, with name, address, grade/age of the kid and you meet with a school guidance counselor to do an interview.
The basic requirement is that you do have to be on track to complete 8th grade. That's pretty wide open. Granted, if your kid can't read or do basic math by age 13, or has severe mental or emotional disabilities, TVHS probably wouldn't be a good fit. Of course, neither would a conventional BOCES or Questar career education, yet no one gets bent out of shape about students having that option.
... said Gina on Feb 21, 2012 at 5:19 PM | link
Pretty sure Kim was commenting on this article about charter schools.
... said B on Feb 22, 2012 at 10:59 AM | link