All Over Albany

Vigil for Kenneth White, developer says de Laet's Landing plans moving ahead, real estate agents report increased interest in Schenectady

There was a vigil honoring Kenneth White at at Berne-Knox-Westerlo Elementary School Monday evening. The school's principal described the boy as "a dear and bubbly little guy." Said the boy's mother, Christine White: "It's hard to grasp the fact that one of my loved ones did this to my precious little boy." Kenneth White had been living in the home of his aunt, Brenda VanAlstyne. She tells WNYT that her daughter -- 19-year-old Tiffany, who's been accused of killing Kenneth White -- had been suffering from mental illness. A fund set up by the Albany County Sheriff's Office is collecting donations for Kenneth White's siblings. [News10] [TU] [WNYT] [WNYT] [TWCN]

The SUNY Charter School Institute has issued a preliminary recommendation that two Albany charter middle schools be closed. [TU]

The president of U.W. Marx Construction says plans for a $20 million, 96-unit luxury apartment development at the de Laet's Landing site on the Hudson River in Rensselaer will move head this spring, even though the site wasn't picked for a casino. [Daily Gazette]

Real estate agents say there's been apparent uptick in interest in Schenectady properties since the casino announcement. [WNYT]

The city of Schenectady started demolition on a series of "the worst of the worst" of vacant/abandoned houses. [Daily Gazette]

Metroplex and Ellis Medicine have worked out a deal that will escalate the annual PILOT payments the medical group is making on the Cushing Center building in Schenectady. [Daily Gazette]

Troy city employees who are members of CSEA rallied outside city offices Monday to protest that they don't have a new contract after three years of negotiations. [Troy Record]

Saratoga Springs officials are hoping to land a National Endowment for the Arts grant to develop a master plan for the city's creative community. The planning process would include taking inventory of existing arts resources and developing ways to better market those resources. [Daily Gazette] [Saratogian] [TU]

Albany mayor Kathy Sheehan is publicly asking the org that runs the Half Moon replica what it would take to keep the ship here. Last week the org's board said there was an agreement in place to move the ship to the Netherlands. [TU x2]

For whatever reason, someone keeps knocking down and vandalizing a community Christmas tree in Lansingburgh -- and community members keep standing it back up. [TU]

There's a new proposal to build a shopping plaza with 100,000 square feet of space at the intersection of routes 146 and 146A in Clifton Park (map). [TU]

State Police say a trooper interrupted an alleged attempt to steal two "very large stone lion statues" from the front of a Rexford residence on Friday. [NYSP]

Andrew Cuomo will be spending New Year's Day -- which is also the inauguration day for his new term -- in New York City and Buffalo. [TU]