All Over Albany

Storms cause damage and power outages, another shooting in Troy, Albany charter school closing, fishermen help save woman from Mohawk, spelling runs in the family

Yesterday's violent thunderstorms knocked down power lines and trees, and stranded motorists around the Capital District. More than 21,000 National Grid customers were affected by power outages. [TU] [WNYT]

Troy police are looking for a suspect in a shooting on 10th Street on Tuesday night. A man was shot in the leg. The shooting occurred while power was out in the neighborhood. Troy Councilman Mark McGrath used the incident to again call for the city to renew is street crimes unit. [WNYT] [Fox23] [@kimmieoftroy] [Troy Record]

Katherine Seeber was sentenced to 14.5 years in prison for manslaughter in connection with the murder of her step-great-grandmother twelve years ago in Saratoga. This is Seeber's second conviction for the crime -- her original conviction was tossed by an appeals court -- and with time already served, she could be released as soon as July. [WNYT] [Saratogian] [TU]

Schenectady police have arrested a 15 year old for allegedly setting two fires on Monday. The SPD is looking into whether the teen is connected other recent suspicious fires. [Daily Gazette] [TU]

Joe Bruno is scheduled to be retried on fraud charges on February 4, 2013. [AP/Saratogian]

New York State has been granted a waiver from some requirements of the No Child Left Behind law. [TU CapCon]

Activists were back at the Capitol Tuesday pushing for a minimum wage increase. [TU CapCon]

Smoking restrictions in NYS parks, pools and historic sites are being temporarily eased after complaints from smokers rights groups. [WNYT/AP]

A federal court of appeals has ruled to uphold last year's Albany County legislature elections in the face of a lawsuit alleging the county's redistricting violated the Voting Rights Act by not doing enough to create a new majority minority district. [TU]

The Brighter Choice-backed Albany Preparatory Charter School is being closed (or "a cessation of operations") because of poor academic performance. [TU]

An Amsterdam teen is believed to have died while swimming in the Mohawk on Tuesday in an area that is closed to the public due to damage from Irene. The search is expected to resume today. [WNYT] [YNN]

Two men out fishing helped save a woman from from drowning in the Mohawk River just after midnight early Tuesday morning. [WNYT]

Former Schenectady High School basketball player Raquan Banks pleaded guilty to manslaughter in connection with the fatal shooting of a Schenectady teen four years ago. [TU]

The Saratoga Nissan dealership, under investigation by the state attorney general, is being sued by two people for allegedly forging signatures on contracts and other fraudulent business practices. [Saratogian]

A Stillwater contractor accused of underpaying his employees to get government contracts was indicted by a grand jury on 152 counts. [Saratogian]

Police in Hoosick Falls are searching for a man and woman who allegedly committed credit card fraud at a Cumberland farms this weekend by using a card that somehow bypassed the store's computer.[WNYT]

In an effort to reduce the number of uninsured people using the emergency room for non-critical issues, Saratoga Hospital is making plans for a facility for the uninsured and those who don't know how to navigate the health care system. [Saratogian]

Schenectady is considering legislation requiring dog owners to have $50,000 in limited liability insurance. [TU]

A confirmed case of MRSA turned up last week at Mechanicville Elementary School. [YNN]

The Kesselring site in West Milton has graduated 50,000 nuclear-trained sailors for the US Navy. [Saratogian]

A former Goodrich Elementary School student who got his PhD in mathematics at MIT and now heads up an academic text book company gave a $30,000 donation to the North Colonie school district in honor of the second grade teacher who believed in him when he said other teachers doubted his ability to succeed in school. [WNYT]

The Capital Region's representative at the National Spelling Bee is Massoud S. Sharif, whose brother competed in the bee last year. (By the way: despite what that story says, Farnsworth Middle School isn't Albany -- it's Guilderland.) [TU]