All Over Albany

Local candidates stake out positions, cat found nailed to a tree, the best-dressed panhandler in Albany

Local elections

Schenectady mayoral election
A back-and-forth between incumbent Gary McCarthy and challenger Roger Hull before the Times Union editorial board included how each plans to lift the city's neighborhoods. [TU]

Schenectady City Council elections
Main topics of a Schenectady City Council candidates' forum: downtown development and how to create jobs. [Daily Gazette]

Troy mayoral election
Quick takes from three of the four Troy mayoral candidates on their ideas for economic development. [Troy Record]

Albany's bid for more state aid
"Several people familiar with the meeting" tell Politico that Alain Kaloyeros told Albany's state legislators that the city's request for an extra $12.5 million in state aid to balance its next budget might have a better chance if the city's large educational and medical institutions offered payments of their own. [Politico NY]

Guilty verdict in dorm stabbings
A jury found an SCCC student guilty of second-degree assault for the stabbing of two other students in a private dorm this past February. The prosecution said the incident had been prompted by one of the students taking a banana. [Daily Gazette] [TU]

Cat nailed to tree
Schenectady police say they're investigating a case in which a dead cat was found nailed to a tree in Steinmetz Park. Jim Tedisco pointed the incident as more evidence his push for the state to create an animal abuser offender list. [Daily Gazette] [News10]

The next chief judge
Andrew Cuomo now has seven candidates to consider for the next chief judge of the Court of Appeals. [Politico NY]

SUNY Poly/NYSERDA
The drama over the plan for NYSERDA to transfer the Saratoga Technology + Energy Park to SUNY Poly for $1 continues to turn, this time with word that the NYSERDA had heard about the deal a month before it decided to delay. [TU]

NYRA
John Hendrickson and Saratoga County Chamber of Commerce president Todd Shimkus pushed back on a state comptroller's office report this week that criticized NYRA -- which operates the Saratoga Race Course -- for a lack of longterm planning, arguing the state action to keep the racing org under public control has hampered the ability to make such plans. [Saratogian]

Five Rivers
The Fiver Rivers Environmental Education Center in Delmar is getting a $7 million visitors center. [Cuomo admin]

Coyotes in Troy
Troy police are warning residents of recent coyote sightings on the east side. [Troy Record]

The panhandler in the suit
TWCN's Geoff Redick talks with "the best-dressed panhandler in Albany." [TWCN]