All Over Albany

Public meeting heats up over Ladder No. 1, AG's office says many Airbnb listings in NYC are illegal, Rembrandt uncovered at The Clark

Albany mayor Kathy Sheehan is standing by the decision in proposed budget to cut Ladder No. 1 from the South End fire station. Residents turned out at a public meeting to protest the move. The meeting was cut short by councilwoman Vivian Kornegay, who said the gathering was too unproductive to go on.[WNYT][News10][TWCN]

Cecilia Tkaczyk and George Amedore squared off in a debate for the 46th state Senate seat on Wednesday in Altamont, at which they discussed jobs, school funding and the NY SAFE Act.[TU]

Chris Gibson and Sean Eldridge will debate Thursday night on WMHT.[TU]

Land banks in Troy and Schenectady have received grants totaling $4 million to help rehab or demolish buildings. [TU][Gazette][WNYT]

Saratoga Springs mayor Joanne Yepsen wants the state comptroller's office to review water connection fees that were waived by the city's DPW for developers after it was revealed that more than $900k in fees were waived over the last four years. [Gazette]

A report from the state attorney general's office concludes, among other things, that up to 72% of Airbnb listings in New York City are illegal. [TU]

Voters in the 46th state Senate district are being inundated with political mail from the Amedore Tkaczyk campaigns. [TU]

The state Assembly has spent $700k for legal representation in the Vito Lopez sexual harassment case$700,000.[ Daily News]

Guilderland elementary school officials are struggling to help children deal with the murders of two or their classmates in the recent quadruple homicide. [TU]

Skidmore College expects to meet 18 percent of its electricity needs with hydroelectric power from an aging hydro plant in Columbia County. [TU]

Monolith Solar will build its new headquarters in the Vista Technology Campus in Slingerlands.[WNYT]

A Clifton Park man will spend 10 years in jail for having more than 4,000 images of child porn and 800 videos.[WNYT]

A Coeymans man is facing a rape charge for allegedly having sex with a 14-year-old he met on Facebook. [News10]

A Malta man was arrested three times in the same week. [TU]

Schoharie County wants FEMA funding to help build a new jail outside the flood zone. [News 10]

Tax rebates as Novocaine. [TU]

A middle school survey planned for Bethlehem asks questions about the students' faith -- and has some parents concerned. [TU]

Efforts to help the little girl who was injured in the fire that claimed the lives of her father and siblings in Schenectady last year. [Gazette]

A group of California-based developers was awarded $30,000 by New York's Health Innovation Challenge for a service aimed at making newly released data on doctors useful to the public. [TU]

A Rembrandt scholar has confirmed that a painting at the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute is, in fact, a work of the Dutch Renaissance master. [TU]