All Over Albany

APD investigating death of woman at senior apartment building, father charges at suspect accused of killing his daughter, Cuomo admin trying re-classify a thousand PEF employees

Albany police say a 56-year-old woman was found dead, with stab wounds, in an apartment at the Parkview Apts senior housing (map) Sunday evening. APD says a suspect is in custody, and as of yesterday the suspect was admitted at Albany Med for non-life-threatening injuries -- investigators are trying to figure out if the injuries were sustained during the same incident in which the woman died. APD says the woman and suspect knew each other, but the nature of the relationship is unclear. Tenants tell TWCN that the two had been in a relationship. Another neighbor told WNYT that the suspect had talked about the "rocky" relationship: "He kept coming to my apartment and talking about it. Harping on two subjects, sex and betrayal and I just told him let it go and he didn't listen to me." [APD FB] [News10] [TU] [TWCN] [WNYT]

In court Monday the father of the Markia Booth/Harris, found shot to death in Schenectady Saturday afternoon, charged at Jamell Modest, the man accused of killing his daughter -- he was tackled by court officers and hit with pepper spray. After order was restored, Modest pleaded not guilty to the charges against him, including second-degree murder. (Also: The Times Union is now referring to Booth/Harris as "Markida" -- other outlets are continuing to identify her as "Markia.") [Daily Gazette] [WNYT] [TU]

Among the groups pushing for a piece of the state's $5 billion surplus: a coalition called Rebuild New York Now, which includes leaders from the Capital Region, wants the money put toward fixing infrastructure such as roads and bridges. And the state Board of Regents is looking for more than $300 million of the surplus for a range of programs. [TWCN] [TU x2]

Andrew Cuomo said in a statement released Monday that the state's targeted inspection program of oil trains and rail continues to find "critical safety defects that put New Yorkers at risk." Among the most recent batch of identified problems: a faulty switch on a line at the Northeast Industrial Park near Vorheesville. [Cuomo admin] [TU]

Schenectady police have yet to make an arrest in the death of Wayne L. Best Jr., shot December 9 on Parkwood Blvd. [Daily Gazette]

Glenville police say the driver in the hit-and-run Sunday that injured a 15 year old has turned himself in. The driver's been charged with leaving the scene of an accident. [Daily Gazette] [TWCN]

Albany police say it appears the same suspect has robbed the Subway on New Scotland Ave near Madison Ave twice in the past month. [APD FB]

The Rensselaer rape case that involved two immigrants from Myanmar, and was complicated by translation issues, has ended in a plea deal for a lesser charge. [TU]

The SUNY Research Foundation is paying $3.75 million as part of a settlement with the feds over a monitoring program it ran for the state Department of Health to audit Medicaid eligiblity -- the feds say the monitoring program submitted false statements about eligibility error rates and managers retaliated against employees who pushed back about the false statements. [US DOJ] [TU]

The Cuomo admin is trying to re-classify 1,000 PEF members, across many different agencies, as managemen/confidential employees. [TU]

With oil prices dropping, Chuck Schumer wants an investigation into why airfare prices aren't following the same arc. [TU]

Troy has finally worked out deal to free up space for the second city court that's being added. [TU]

Saratoga Springs public safety commissioner Chris Mathiesen says it will cost the city $39k in legal services to respond to the lawsuit over the Collamer lot on Broadway. [Daily Gazette]

Next year's budget already passed, the Albany Common Council approved a series of budget transfers totally more than $900k. [TU]

Joe Bruno, speaking at a Rensselaer County Regional Chamber of Commerce event Monday: "They spent $30 million trying to put a nice guy like me in prison ... What the hell did I do? Did I blow up any buildings or murder anybody? They thought I was not qualified to charge consulting fees. Wait until you read my book to see how qualified I was." [Troy Record] [Daily Gazette]

At a retirement community in East Greenbush, two veterans of WWII -- one who fought for the Americans, one for the Germans -- live down the hall from each other. [TU]

Headline of the day, from the NYDN: "Gov. Cuomo's inauguration will have no balls." [NYDN]