All Over Albany

Officials ask for info about Guilderland quadruple homicide case, wine store alleges state agency is out for it, apology for mascot backstory

Law enforcement officials are asking the public to share any information that might help the investigation into the Guilderland quadruple homicide. Thursday morning police were stopping traffic on Western Ave to ask drivers if they might have seen something. Officials are continuing to hold back many of the details related to the case. Said Albany County DA David Soares: "We are in the infancy state of the investigation ... We don't know what the motives are. However, at this point we don't believe that the neighbors have much to fear." [TU] [News10] [TWCN] [Daily Gazette]

The Cohoes fire chief says his department is investigating the cause of the large fire on Saratoga Street Wednesday night. And Cohoes police are looking for a person in connection with the situation. [Troy Record] [TU]

Among the contentious topics during the NY 20th Congressional District debate between incumbent Paul Tonko (D) and challenger Jim Fischer ( R ): the Affordable Care Act and immigration. Another focus: the economy. [NYSNYS/Saratogian] [Daily Gazette] [TU]

An affidavit accompanying the lawsuit filed by the owner of Empire Wine against the State Liquor Authority over the SLA moving to sanction Empire over out-of-state sales alleges the SLA is coming after the store because "after a prolonged investigation of every facet of Empire's business, SLA could not manage to trump up any other charges against Empire." [TU]

NYSUT is suing the state Education Department over the state asking teachers who scored standardized tests this year to sign an agreement stating that they won't discuss test questions that were not released to the public because the questions could be used again. (NYSED released half the questions from this year's 3-8 ELA and math tests.) The union calls the agreement a "'gag order' to be silent - and that is hurting children." [TU] [State of Politics]

Carmella Mantello has written the state Board of Elections to investigate what she believes to be "numerous irregularities" in the voting for the 2013 Troy City Council seat that she narrowly lost. The county's elections commissioners, a Democrat and a Republican, say Mantello's issues have already been raised and answered. [Troy Record] [TU]

Schenectady's commissioner of general services, Carl Olsen, is leaving for a job as director of operations at the Empire State Plaza. The timing is a bit unfortunate for the city because Olsen was a key part of the city's snow clearing operation. [TU] [Daily Gazette]

Issued surfaced by bills from the city of Schenectady for demolitions after fires: "a lot" of landlords in the city don't have insurance on their properties. [Daily Gazette]

Members of a Schenectady landlords group are at odds over a letter signed by one of the group's directors stating that the group had not taken a position on the Mohawk Harbor casino. [TU]

A Verizon Wireless spokesman on what apparently caused damage to a cable, temporarily affecting 911 service on its network: "Our assumption is that it was some kind of animal that chewed through it." [Daily Gazette]

The proposed parking garage for the Saratoga City Center continues to face opposition. [Daily Gazette]

SPAC says it's taking "an aggressive approach to the lawn restoration process this year." [Saratogian]

The captain of the replica Half Moon says the boat is "financially unsustainable," and could be relocated to the Netherlands. [TU]

Annals of Bad Ideas, Mascot Edition: The mascot for the new Adirondack Flames hockey team in Glens Fall is "Scorch," whose backstory was described as being flame from an 1864 Glens Fall fire who overpowered a firefighter -- complete with skit of a firefighter on the ground. The team has issued an apology. [Post-Star] [Adirondack Flames]