Federal prosecutor and Cuomo trading comments over corruption panel, new Albany Catholic bishop ordained, dogs accused of killing chickens, CDTA pay-by-smartphone on the way

US Attorney Preet Bharara, about how the state's Moreland Commission ended: "The sequence of these events gives the appearance that investigations potentially significant to the public interest have been bargained away as part of the negotiated arrangement between legislative and executive leaders." Andrew Cuomo pushing back on Thursday: "I don't believe we needed another bureaucracy for enforcement ... We needed laws changed and that's what Moreland was about." [TU] [State of Politics]

The Troy police department says the FBI has decided not to take action on alleged civil rights violations involving a TPD officer accused of brutality. This week TPD chief John Tedesco detailed some of the ways he says the department is changing how it handles incidents involving the use of force and its review of them. [TU] [Troy Record]

Edward Scharfenberger was ordained as the bishop of the Albany Roman Catholic Diocese Thursday at the Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception in Albany. He replaces Howard Hubbard, a Troy native, who had been bishop since 1977. [Daily Gazette] [Troy Record]

The man accused of robbing a Slingerlands bank at gunpoint while dressed in a construction vest last summer has pleaded guilty. [WNYT] [TU]

An Albany County Court jury acquitted the man accused of making a "terrorist threat" when, prosecutors say, he threatened to the bomb the call center at the state Department of Taxation and Finance at the Harriman campus. [TU]

Said the attorney for a Wilton woman charged with endangering the welfare of a child for allegedly leaving her three kids in the car while she went into Target: "It's being blown out of proportion." [Daily Gazette]

The Saratoga County Sheriff's Office is warning people about counterfeit $20 bills in circulation. [Daily Gazette]

A Ballston man says a neighbors' two dogs got loose and killed 41 of his chickens. [WNYT]

The Capital Region is getting more than $2 million from the state in what will probably end up being pothole aid. [TU]

The Rotterdam town supervisor and the town's ambulance provider are at odds over a contract. [Daily Gazette]

CDTA says it expects to have a pay-by-smartphone system running by next year. [TU]

The proposed expansion of a scrap metal recycling operation at the Port of Albany has prompted some concern from neighbors. [TU]

Troy's planning commission approved the expansion of a Stewart's in Lansingburgh, a project that had become a point of contention within the neighborhood. [Troy Record]

Jerry Jennings' pension: $101k per year. [TU]

Andrew Cuomo is lobbying for CBS to keep the Late Show in NYC after Stephen Colbert takes over. [State of Politics]

Comments

I guess the US Attorney just doesn't get how "we" do things here in NYS. It's always a "deal".

And about Colbert - see previous comment. There's always a "deal". From the linked source:
"Cuomo last year proposed an expansion of the state’s film-tax credit, which the Legislature approved. At the same time, the spending plan proposed a tax credit aimed at bringing The Tonight Show franchise back to New York City under the new host, Jimmy Fallon. The credit provides a 30 percent tax break to “a television production that is a talk or variety program” that moves to New York."

So CBS, which probably wasn't going to move the Late Show (Colbert Report is already in the City, and CBS will have a vacant theatre otherwise) now has leverage to say, we'll move unless you lower OUR taxes, too.

Hate to sound like a TU commenter, but man, it's hard not to be cynical/downtrodden about this stuff.

Albany needs a Museum of Political Corruption. Ethics commissions and scandal headlines will come and go. But The Museum of Political Corruption, located on State Street, will serve as a permanent reminder to state officials of the very public ridicule they will face if they dishonor their position and Albany's name. The headline yesterday in Newsday was the "Albany Punts on Corruption." Albany does not punt on matters of ethics. It's the state leaders of Albany that punt (but our city's name gets kicked around like a football). We can do something about it. We, the community of Albany can build The Museum of Political Corruption, and profits from the museum (think tourist dollars) can go to beautiful our city. I hope all that are interested in NY State ethics and in reclaiming our city's name will join me in building this museum. Help build this--the tourists will come, and the corrupt pols will go.
Bruce C. Roter, Founder
The Museum of Political Corruption, Albany, NY

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