All Over Albany

10,000 mourn Shen students at vigil, Cuomo reserves comment on Senate power sharing arrangement, Siena Poll reports New Yorkers would put Cuomo back in Governors Mansion but Hillary in the White House

In an unprecedented move, the NYS Senate will operate with two conference leaders heading up the chamber instead of a single majority leader. Republican Dean Skelos will share the responsibility with Jeff Klein, leader of the five-member Democratic Independent Conference. Angry Democrats, who could have majority of Senate seats, are calling the deal between Republicans and the new IDC a "coup" and a power grab. A spokesperson for Andrew Cuomo says the issue is an internal legislative matter" and says the governor will withhold judgement until he sees how it will affect how the Senate funtctions. [AOA][WNYT][NYT][Capitol Confidential]

According to a new Siena poll, NY voters seem to be OK with the Senate leadership arrangement. That poll also shows New York voters would re-elect Andrew Cuomo governor, but would prefer Hillary Clinton as the next president.[Capitol Confidential] [NYT] [Capitol Tonight]

An estimated 10,000 people turned out at a candlight vigil on Tuesday for the two Shenendahowa students killed in a car crash over the weekend. A meeting between prosecutors and the families of the students who were victims of the crash has been indefinitely postponed. The other driver in the crash, 22-year-old Dennis Drue, has been identified as a Siena College student with a difficult and somewhat traumatic past. Prosecutors are waiting for toxicology test results before they determine the charges he'll face.[Gazette] [TU] [YNN][WNYT] [TU][YNN]

The court battle over the 46th Senate seat continues as lawyers for Cecial Tkaczyk and George Amedore argue 887 disputed ballots. [WNYT][Capitol Confidential]

State Police are looking into a 38-year-old unsolved murder. They're offering a reward for information leading to the killer of Kathleen Kolodziej [WNYT] [TU]

The 26-year-old Mechanicville Marine killed in combat in Afghanistan this week will be buried with full honors. [TU]

A home health aide from Wilton will serve three to nine years in state prison for stealing more thatn $300,000 from an 82-year-old blind woman she was caring for. [TU]

The flu has arrived early in the Capital Region.[Gazette]

The president of the Ravena Coeymans Selkirk school district is one of two people petitioning to remove a school board member for allegedly not paying more than $56,000 in school taxes. [TU]

Green space, a "park district," and tax incentives for businesses are part of a proposal to redevelop and create an new identity for South Broadway in Saratoga.[Saratogian]

A decision on the long deliberated fate of the Winans-Crippen House on Franklin Street in Saratoga Springs is expected on Monday evening. The owner wants the home -- which is currently on the National Register of Historic Places -- demolished.[Saratogian]

The 20-year-old "ambassador" of the Albany Ronald McDonald house who talked his way into a job as a ticket taker at Regal Cinema in Colonie, just wanted to be treated "like a normal kid."[TU]

The Albany Bicycle Coalition will set up a ghost bike at Roosevelt and Manning Boulevard in memory of Paul Merges, killed last week wen he was dragged by a truck that was being chased by police . [TU]

Albany Molecular will get $50 million in state funding to open a drug discovery research and development center in Buffalo.[WNYT]

A U.S. District Judge has exonerated the former Troy Corporation Council David Mitchell of wrongdoing in a lawsuit by the city PBA president Bob Fitzgerald which claimed Mitchell and former Mayor Harry Tutujian deprived Fitzgerald of his rights when they placed him on paid administrative leave pending an internal investigation of his conduct. [Record]

Wagering was up 14 percent in New York State horse racing in the third quarter compared to the same period last year.[Saratogian]

The director of the Albany Institute of History and Art is stepping down after just over one year on the job. [TU]

Troy's Doyle Middle School, named for former assistant superintendent Kenneth Doyle, will be renamed Troy Middle School once renovations are completed.[Record]

Longtime Capital Region news director Don Decker -- the man who helped launch the careers of anchors like Ed Dauge and Liz Bishop and medical correspondant Dr. Tim Johnson, and countless other local news anchors and reporters -- has died.[Saratogian] [News 10]

New York State has more apple trees than it did a few years ago.[News10]

At least half the trees in Saratoga Springs are maples.[Gazette]