All Over Albany

Union wins hockey national title, Troy police treating death of pregnant woman as a double homicide, second spike of flu season

The Union men's hockey team won the national title this past weekend with a 7-4 victory over Minnesota. It's the school's first hockey national title. The team returned to a cheering crowd at Messa Rink Sunday afternoon, and Schenectady mayor Gary McCarthy says a parade is in the works. [NCAA] [Daily Gazette x2]

After the team's victory Saturday night, Schenectady police say a crowd of about 400-500 people on Union Avenue got out of hand and some people threw beer cans and glass bottles at an officer. Five students ended up getting arrested. [Daily Gazette] [TU]

Troy police say the death of Vanessa Milligan, the pregnant woman whose body was found in the Lansingburgh fire April 4, is being investigated as a double homicide. TPD hasn't released details about how or when Milligan died, but "a person familiar with the case" tells the Times Union the woman was murdered and the fire was set in an attempt to cover it up. [Troy Record] [TU]

The E23 casino proposal in Albany includes Capital OTB as some sort of partner -- but the nature of that partnership is unclear, as is the question of whether an OTB can be involved with a casino. [TU]

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My Exit: Tabitha Clancy

Monday is My Exit day at WEXT -- the day someone from the Capital Region shares an hour of their favorite music with the rest of us. It's a fun way to discover new, or new to you music, and rediscover some old favorites.

Tonight, music reviewer Tabitha Clancy shares pieces from some of her favorite singer/songwriters, from Johnny Cash to Ryan Adams.

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Queens of the Stone Age at The Palace

QOTSA

Rock band Queens of the Stone Age is set to play a show at The Palace July 13. Tickets go on sale this Saturday (April 19) -- they're $39.50 and up. (There's also a presale starting Wednesday.)

The band is touring in support of the album is released last year, ...Like Clockwork, which included contributions from Dave Grohl, Alex Turner, Trent Reznor, and... Elton John. The album got very good reviews.

Lucinda Williams
Also announced: Lucinda Williams at The Egg June 17. Tickets go on sale this Friday (April 18) -- they're $35 and up.

photo: Nora Lezano

AOA birthday drawing: Lark Street prize

Celebrate AOA's birthday with cupcakes (or something equally delicious) from Crisan.

Drawing is closed, but feel free to add your gift ideas for the Capital Region.

This week AOA celebrates our 6th birthday, but we're giving you the presents. Each day we'll have a drawing for some fun Capital Region stuff. You can enter to win a new "present" every day.

Today's drawing is a package of great gift certificates to Lark Street businesses:

+ A $100 gift certificate to Spa Virgo on Lark Street
+ Two $25 gift certificates to The Wine Bar and Bistro on Lark
+ One bottle of sparkling wine and a $50 gift certificate to Capital Wine (Must be 21 or older.)
+ A $25 gift certificate to Crisan Bakery on Lark.

To enter the drawing, please answer this question in the comments

If you could gift one thing to the Capital Region, what would it be?

Maybe it's an indoor water park, maybe it's peace -- whatever you'd like to give the region if you had the ability.

We'll draw one winner at random.

Important: All comments must be submitted by noon on Tuesday, April 15, 2014 to be entered in the drawing. You must answer the question to be part of the drawing. (Normal commenting guidelines apply.) One entry per person, please. You must enter a valid email address (that you check regularly) with your comment. The winner will be notified via email by 5 pm on Wednesday, April 16 and must respond by 5 pm on Thursday, April 17.

Saint Rose names college's next president

The College of Saint Rose announced today that its next president will be Carolyn Stefanco, who's currently the vice president for academic affairs and dean of the college at Agnes Scott College in Decatur, Georgia.

Stefanco is scheduled to start the position July 1. Her selection caps an unusual transition at the college. In a surprise announcement last summer the school and former president David Szczerbacki parted ways after he had spent just one year in the role, with no mention about what caused the split. Margaret Kirwin, the school's VP for academic affairs, has been serving as interim president.

Stefanco has a PhD in history from Duke, an MA in women's history from Binghamton, and an undergrad history degree from the University of Colorado at Boulder. Her scholarly focus has been American women's history, higher education, and international education.

Agnes Scott College, Stefanco's current school, is a private 900-student women's undergraduate liberal arts college in Decatur, which is just east of Atlanta. Prior to Agnes Scott, she was the founding dean of the College of Humanities and Social Sciences at California State University, Stanislaus, and she held teaching positions at Oklahoma State, Cal Poly (a handful of student reviews) and Wheaton College in Massachusetts.

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A company for installing house insulation?

Anon emails:

I'm looking for a competent, reasonably-priced spray foam insulation contractor for my home. I need to have old cellulose insulation removed from parts of my basement, and spray foam installed throughout the basement. Thank you

Based on what we've seen on, um, HGTV and a little bit of what we've read, spray foam insulation is said to do the job very well, better than other types of insulation. It also looks like it's a whole process, with installers wearing ventilated suits and whatnot.

Got a suggestion for Anon? Please share!

photo: Flickr user dunktanktechnician (cc)

AOA Startup Grant 2014 finalists

There were a lot of good entries.

The pool of entries for this year's AOA Startup Grant was very strong. Many of the applications of would have made very fine finalists. But there can only be three, two chosen by crowd voting last week, and one chosen by the Editors.

Here they are...

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