July 22, 2014
No arrests in suspicious Troy fires, Cuomo continues big lead on Astorino, uproar over coach's firing, another brewery
No arrests have been made in the
Troy police have yet to make an arrest in the fatal stabbing of a teen at a birthday party in Lansinburgh Friday night. A church is offering $1,000 for information leading to an arrest and conviction. [TWCN x2]
Pablo Cruz -- the man accused of drunkenly driving into a cyclist in Albany, killing the man, and leading police on a high-speed chase -- testified Monday: "It wasn't me. I wasn't in that truck on the 24th. They made all this (expletive) up!" Cruz's attorney told the judge his client testified against his advice. [TU] [TWCN]
Continuing nano drama: After NanoCollege allegations of "disgusting politics" and "misinformation" in the media, the city of Albany is apparently now trying to get a financing deal back together with the NanoCollege for the ZEN building -- while the county tries to poach the deal, and the approximately $1.9 million fee that goes along with it. [TU]
The Legend of Major Duncan Campbell
The grave of Duncan Campbell in Washington County (with replica headstone). / photo: John Bulmer Photography
Fun: Duncan Crary will be telling the story of Major Duncan Campbell of the Black Watch -- "New York's first world-famous ghost story" -- this Thursday at the Malt Room in Troy. As the story begins:
The widely circulated legend of Major Duncan Campbell says a desperate man came knocking wildly on the doors of the house of Inverawe one night. He had blood on his hands and kilt, and begged for sanctuary -- a sacred oath of protection granted in the Highlands of Scotland.
Duncan vowed to shelter the man and swore on his dirk, a traditional and ceremonial dagger worn by Highland Scots.
Soon after, a group of men arrived at Inverawe to inform Duncan Campbell that a highwayman had murdered his cousin, Donald Campbell. The men had last seen the murderer heading that way. But Duncan had already given his word that he would shelter the very same bandit, and so he concealed him from the gang.
Campbell later gets dispatched by the British to North America to fight in the French and Indian War in what's now known as New York -- at a place called "Ticonderoga," a word that would haunt Campbell. The story would later become famous thanks to Robert Louis Stevenson.
To go along with the story at the Malt Room, there will be a Scottish-theme menu and a scotch tasting. And bagpipes. (We've been assured they'll be "indoor bagpipes." Maybe that's like bagpipes using their indoor voice.)
The story starts at 6 pm on Thursday, July 24. Admission is free.
As you know, Duncan and AOA have worked together on AOA events, and he occasionally writes for AOA.
Moules Frites at Brewery Ommegang
Ah, summer. What could be more quintessentially American summertime than baseball, beer, and moules frites.
Yep, I said it. Moules. Frites.
Okay, so maybe that's a reach. While baseball and drinking beer are endemic to this country, the fancy title for mussels and French fries is a classic Belgian item.
But there is a place where those three elements -- baseball, beer, and moules frites -- coalesce in harmony, and that's Cooperstown, the site of the Baseball Hall of Fame and the hometown of one of the best examples of Belgian beer and food in America: Brewery Ommegang.
Reaction to the reaction
Over at NYT, Anna Altman looks at the huge response generated by the display of Brenda Ann Kenneally's Troy photos on Slate. Much of the reaction was harsh. Altman talked with Kenneally and Slate's editor, touching on topics of documentary, context, exploitation, and living on social media. [NYT] (Thanks, E)
Report: Pessimism for casinos in the longterm
Because casinos. From the summary of a Fitch Ratings report projecting longterm trends for regional casinos, revenue growth for which Fitch concludes will "remain challenging":
We attribute this pessimism to longer term structural macroeconomic and secular factors. Notable factors include saturation across regional markets; stagnant wages among the lower tier players; reprioritization of disposable income; proliferation of online/social gaming; potentially lower propensity to gamble among younger generations; and lowered preparedness for retirement by baby boomers.
A recent Moody's outlook for the short term came to a similar conclusion.
Also: From a Capital today, a report that some of the applicants for the Hudson Valley casino licenses will be seeking property tax breaks.
Earlier on AOA:
+ A map of where casinos are already located in and around New York State
+ Scanning the summaries of the Capital Region casino applications
photo: Flickr user Håkan Dahlström (cc)
Saratoga Hat Day 2014
Entrants in the "Fashionable Saratoga" category.
Once again the ever-stylish Kaitlin Resler was AOA's representative on the judges' panel for the Saratoga Race Course's hat contest, which was this past Sunday. Here's her recap -- with photos -- of the annual Saratoga event.
I've just started to get those pangs of worry that summer is moving fast, that it's going to be over any minute, and then I realized that track season in Saratoga just started, and there's plenty of time! That's really just the summer activity touchstone that marks the height of summer, mid-July and all.
This past Sunday I got to judge the hat contest again, with a little more insight into what to expect (last year was my first time at the contest, and my first time to the track since I was a little kid!), and yet was still blown away by all the contestants!
The Nina and the Pinta on the Hudson
If you were down by the Hudson River during the first part of this week you may have see these: the Nina and the Pinta (you know, like Christopher Columbus). The replica ships, owned and operated by the Columbus Foundation, are based in the British Virgin Islands.
The ships were in Newburgh over the weekend, sailed by Albany Monday and Tuesday they were in Troy. Crew member Jamie Sanger says they stop in the Collar City for maintenance.
"We stop in Troy every year to have a crane pull the masts out so we can get under the bridges. Then when we get to Oswego we can put them back in. We won't stop in Newburgh again for another few years, but we'll be sailing past Albany and stopping in Troy again sometime around June of next year."
Sanger says the Nina was built first, about 25 years ago, and is an exact replica. About 15 years ago they built the Pinta, which is slightly larger than the original ship.
The most common question he gets is: "Why is there no Santa Maria." The answer: it would be too large and most ports they stop in only have room for two ships.
The ships will be docked in Amsterdam at Lock 12 until 8 am on Wednesday if you're interested in getting a closer look. Then they head to Rochester, where they'll be docked for tours through Sunday.
The photo above is courtesy of Jaime Walton from Silver Fox Salvage in Albany. A few more from him are after the jump.
... said KGB about Drawing: What's something that brought you joy this year?