All Over Albany

Apparent murder-suicide in Schenectady, Albany council passes ban on smoking in playgrounds, Campbell Ave in Troy closed again, early start for maple syrup season

Schenectady police are investigating what apparently was a murder-suicide in the Vale neighborhood (map). It appears that a man stabbed a woman and then hanged himself. The woman's ex-husband says he had talked to her that morning and she had been fighting with the man, with whom she had been in a relationship. Neighbors say the man had threatened to hurt the woman last week. [TU] [Daily Gazette] [Fox23] [WNYT]

Former Troy city clerk William McInerney testified during the ballot fraud trial yesterday about his role in the alleged scheme to control the Working Families Party line via forged absentee ballots. He admitted to forging many of the ballots himself. [Troy Record] [WNYT]

The Albany Common Council passed a ban on smoking in city playgrounds. The measure's sponsor, James Sano, says it could be a step toward banning smoking in all parts of city parks. Said a woman opposing the measure during a public comment: "You're trying to put us in a corner where we can't move, we can't breathe ... Every time you look around, there is a law for this and a law for that." [TU] [Fox23] [WTEN]

State Police say a man used an ID with his brother's name when he was pulled over for DWI last May in Halfmoon -- and was processed through the Saratoga County system under that name. [Saratogian]

The Cuomo admin is pushing not just for an on-time state budget, but an early budget. Unless things get tangled in the fight over the new public employee pension tier. [TU] [YNN]

Anonymous parole officers says prison inmates are learning how to game the algorithm the state is using to assess whether inmates should be paroled. [TU]

Chuck Schumer was in Albany yesterday pushing for a national ban on the sale of "synthetic marijuana." Schumer and local officials say the substance is being sold openly in local stores. [TU] [Troy Record]

During the press conference with Schumer, Albany County exec Dan McCoy used an often derogatory ethnic term for convenience stores -- and then apologized on Twitter. [TU] [@McCoyCountyExec] [@McCoyCountyExec]

Gasoline prices in the Capital Region have hit $4/gallon. [YNN]

A section of Campbell Avenue in Troy has been closed again because of soil instability caused by Irene (map). Repairs could take three months and cost $1 million. Troy's city engineer says the entire width of the road is in danger, and it threatens gas and water lines. The road was also closed in January because of a water main problem. [Troy Record] [TU] [Fox23] [WTEN]

Two men were rescued from the ice on the Saratoga Lake yesterday after the ice they used to walk out onto the lake melted behind them. They men say the lake "totally frozen" when they first walked out onto it. [TU] [Saratogian] [WNYT]

Northeast Parent & Child Society in Schenectady and The Parsons Center in Albany are merging. [Daily Gazette]

The Saratoga Springs city council voted to raise the rental fees for the Canfield Cansino. [Saratogian]

The mild winter has prompted an early start to the maple syrup season. [Saratogian]

An Albany couple, married for 65 years, died two days apart this week. [TU]