All Over Albany

Final guilty plea in Takim Smith murder, survey: Capital Region has some of state's wealthiest & poorest school districts, Moreland Commission may disband

Ninteen-year-old Eric Aaron "Boogz" Mallard -- the final defendant in the Takim Smith murder trial -- admitted in Rensselaer County Court on Tuesday that he fatally stabbed Smith while attempting to rob him. [Record][TU]

A new survey reports the Capital Region has some of the wealthiest (Niskayuna, Guilderlsnd, Voorheesville, Bethlehem and Shen) and poorest (Schenectady, Watervliet , Albany, Hudson and Troy) school districts in New York State. [TU]

Can you be too drunk to commit murder? In an effort to reduce their clients' driving-under-the-influence convictions from murder to manslaughter, attorneys for three drivers argued before New York's highest court on Tuesday that their clients were too drunk or drugged to be guilty of murder. [WNYT][TU]

Andrew Cuomo's Moreland Act commission may disband and suggest a constitutional amendment to allow public financing of New York political campaigns.[TU][CNY]

Police have arrested the man who allegedly attempted to abduct two women -- one of them at knifepoint -- near UAlbany's downtown campus on Friday. [WNYT][YNN]

The proposed Albany County Budget would raise taxes by 1.6 percent and calls for the county to spend $16.6 million to fund the county nursing home for six months before turning them over to a local development corporation (county exec Dan McCoy has been pushing for the county offload the nursing home onto some other sort of entity). [WNYT][TU]

Schenectady county legislators unanimously approved the $299 million 2014 budget that will increase taxes by 0.74 percent.[YNN]

Troy police say two men barged into a first floor apartment on First Street in the city on Monday then demanded property, fired a shotgun, and assaulted a woman. [Record][TU]

Brandon Burritt pleaded guilty in Albany County Court to the stabbing death of his former roommate David Hochsprung in Watervliet this past April. [WNYT]

A Queensbury man was arrested on Monday for allegedly trafficking heroin in Saratoga County. [Saratogian]

The names of the two firefighters murdered last Christmas eve as they responded to a fire in Webster, New York were added to the New York State Fallen Firefighters Memorial at the ESP on Tuesday.[TU]

State Police say an employee at the Edinburg highway garage in Saratoga County died after being run over by a town pick up truck driven by the Highway Superintendent while they were working on a paving job. [NYSP] [WNYT] [TU]

Investigators say new damage reported at former NFL player Brian Holoway's home appears to be accidental. [TU]

Troy's Catholic Central High School got a $100,000 donation from alum and former state Supreme Court justice James Canfield.[Record]

A 100-year-old Canadian woman who moved to Guilderland in 1936 says the secret to her longevity is to "work hard and eat well."[TU]