All Over Albany

Albany red light cameras activated, casino job fair draws more than 1,000 people, Metroland for sale

Albany red light cameras
Albany police said red light cameras were set to become active at the system's first two intersections Monday morning: the eastbound approach of Shaker Road and Northern Boulevard, and the westbound approach of Washington Avenue and Quail Street. Warning letters will be issued for violations during the next days -- and after that period, a $50 fine. [APD FB]

Fatal crash in Albany
Albany police say they're investigating a crash at Henry Johnson Blvd and First Street in which one person died early Sunday morning. APD says a vehicle had struck several parked cars on First Street and failed to stop at a stop sign at Henry Johnson before striking a vehicle traveling along Henry Johnson -- the driver of that second vehicle died. APD says charges are pending. [APD FB] [News10]

$15 fast food wage?
"A person familiar with the board's plans" tells the Wall Street Journal that the state's fast food wage board is "expected" to recommend a $15/hour minimum wage for fast food workers at its meeting this Wednesday. (The state's current minimum wage is $8.75/hour, and is scheduled to increase to $9 at the end of the year.) [WSJ]

Hackett Middle School
The state has tagged Albany's Hacket Middle School as a "persistently struggling" school, which places the school under the receivership of the district superintendent (now given wider powers to change things) -- and if school doesn't show improvement over the next year, it could be taken out of the district's hands. [TU]

Troy gun violence
An outreach program aimed at stemming gun violence in Troy starts today -- it's based on the SNUG model, of which there's a similar program in Albany (it's now called Cure Violence). [TU]

Prison system
A Saratoga Springs man on his time spent in a state psychiatric prison, to the Times Union: "I saw a lot of terrible things there ... it was pretty much torture." (A jury recent decided he should be released.) [TU+]

Casino jobs
More than 1,000 people showed up for the Rivers Casino job fair in Schenectady. About 200 vendors attended an event about possibly doing business with the casino. [Daily Gazette] [TU]

Cuomo campaign cash
Though he's not yet declared whether he intends to run for governor again, the campaign contributions keep flowing toward Andrew Cuomo -- often in big chunks from orgs with business before the state. [TU+]

Saratoga PAC
A group of high-profile Saratoga Springs business leaders have raised more than $45k for a political action committee in about a month -- positioning it to be a possibly significant influence in city elections. [TU+] [Daily Gazette]

Quirky
The CEO of Quirky -- the crowd-sourced consumer electronics company that opened a call center in downtown Schenectady to much fanfare -- told a conference in Aspen last week that the company is almost out of money. Metroplex chair Ray Gillen on whether he's worried about the company's Schenectady office, to the Daily Gazette: "No, no, no, no. Not at all." [TU+] [Daily Gazette]

Metroland for sale
Metroland's ownership group has put the alt-weekly up for sale. [TU]

Stuff going on today

Front Parlor
The Front Parlor storytelling series is at the Olde English in Albany. The theme is "Crisis Situation." Monday 7:30 pm

NYS Writers Institute
The last week of the NYS Summer Writers Institute at Skidmore starts. This week's schedule includes readings by Cristina Garcia, Wayne Koestenbaum, Russell Banks, Chase Twichell, Laura Kipnis, Jim Miller, Jamaica Kincaid, Henri Cole, Paul Harding, and Binnie Kirshenbaum. Monday-Friday 8 pm, Palamountain Hall - free