All Over Albany

Nearly all Capital Region school budgets approved, DEC preparing to remove bear from North Greenbush,Silver seeks public support for min wage, last call in Toga won't change for now

Nearly all of the Capital region school budgets that went before voters on Tuesday passed. Stillwater's $21.2 million spending plan, which would have decreased spending, needed a 60 percent super-majority because it exceeded the state budget cap, but only got 56 percent.[Record] [Post Star]

Albany voters also approved the more than $9 million library plan. [TU]

Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver is calling for public pressure to persuade members of the State Senate to pass the minimum wage increase. Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos blasted the $1.25 raise at a press conference on Tuesday, but refused to rule out an increase altogether. [News10] [Capital Confidential]

Mark Ruffalo, Melissa Leo, Natalie Merchant, Jon Sebastian and other famous names performed at last night's Anti-Fracking concert at The Egg, following a New Yorkers Against Fracking rally on the grand staircase at the Capitol. [News 10]

DEC officials are preparing to remove a bear from a tree on Meadow Drive in North Greenbush. [TU]

NYRA's Chief operating officer Ellen McClain was named the organization's president . McClain succeeds Charlie Hayward who was fired after an investigation by the state comptrollers office discovered unpaid winnings. But New York State says the appointments are inappropriate because of unanswered questions about which NYRA board members and executives may have been involved with the scandal. The state is withholding casino revenue due to New York and is considering revoking its franchise to run Aqueduct, Saratoga and Belmont. [TU] [Gazette] [Saratogian]

The Newly formed Joint commission on Public Ethics will begin its first preliminary investigation of a state senator today. The committee is investigating a claim that State Senator Tom Libous -- the senate's second highest ranking member -- allegedly used his office to try to secure a job in the city for his son. [TU] [NYT]

New York's Democratic party chair is stepping down a few months before his term runs out in July, so Governor Cuomo can nominate a successor before the presidential election heats up. [NYT]

The legislature will consider a medical marijuana law today that, if passed, would be one of the strictest in the nation. [NYT]

A Schenectady police sergeant who pleaded guilty to DWI following an off duty hit-and-run accident will not be fired, but he'll get a demotion and have to blow into an ignition locking deice before he starts his car for the next six months. His attorney claimed he's a "stand up guy who made a mistake, and deserves a second chance." [YNN] [Gazette] [TU]

A Schoharie County man will serve the maximum of seven years in prison after confessing to the rape of a minor in Saratoga. [TU]

The 19 year old Schenectady man who pleaded guilty to gunning down another teen in 2010 will serve 20 years to life in prison. [TU]

Watervliet Deputy General Manager Rosemary Nichols claims a decision to suspend her without pay is retaliation for her complaint about a hostile work environment and her opposition to tearing down the old St. Patrick's Church. The city isn't saying why Nichols has been put on leave. [WNYT] [TU] [Record]

Saratoga's last call will remain at 4AM for now , after a vote to roll it back to 3AM was tabled by the city council. Earlier this year city officials learned that any change to last call would have to be countywide, but a liquor authority spokesperson says the county legislature could vote to make a law specific to the city. [TU] [Saratogian]

In November Saratoga voters will decide whether to change the city's 97 year old commission form of government. [Saratogian]

An 82 year old former medical director of the Albany County Jail has lost his license and faces five years probation after admitting to providing prescriptions for Lortab and Vicodin without examining patients. [TU]

Schenectady Police Chief Mark Chaires claims irresponsible budgeting is responsible for the city's police department spending more than twice what it was allotted for overtime in 2011. [Gazette]

Fourteen Schenectady police officers received citations for bravery at a ceremony a t Proctors on Tuesday. [Gazette]

Nearly 4,000 people in Saratoga were without power Tuesday night after a tractor trailer struck a until it pole on Route 9. [Saratogian]

SUNY Adirondack broke ground yesterday on its first student housing facility. [Post Star]

A bettor at the Saratoga Casino and Raceway was scolded by the management after using an iPhone to prove a malfunctioning machine was cheating her. [WNYT]

Last month the casino brought in $14.3 million and in the last 12 months it made more that $155 million. [WNYT]

Members of RPI's student group Engineers for a Sustainable World converted a 20 foot steel shipping container into a bedroom for orphaned Haitian children . [YNN]

America's Next Top Model star Laura LaFrate of Scotia will be one of the models at Friday's Electric City Couture show at Proctors. [YNN]