All Over Albany

Cousin admits to Kenneth White murder, police search for missing Troy woman, Silver deliberation gets weird, Collar City boom

Van Alstyne admits to Kenneth White murder
Tiffany Van Alstyne plead guilty on Tuesday to the murder of her 5-year-old cousin Kenneth White. The 20-year old will face 18 years to life when she is sentenced - if she had been convicted by a jury that sentence would have been 25 years to life. Albany County Sheriff Craig Apple says he believes the boys death could have been prevented if Child Protective diagnosed problems in the family sooner. An advocacy group formed in Kenneth White's memory wants to see charges filed against Kenneth White's aunt, Brenda Van Alstyne. [News 10][TU][TWCN][Gazette]

Missing Troy Woman
Police are searching for a Troy woman who went missing after a co-worker drove her home from her shift as a hostes on Sunday. Documents with Noel Alkaramla's personal information on them were found in the street near her home on Washington Street in Troy.[Record][WNYT][TU]

Silver deliberation gets weird
A juror in the Sheldon Silver trial asked to be excused from further deliberations because she was "very, very uncomfortable" with the fact that the other jurors didn't agree with her , and other reportedly accused her of failing to use her common sense. A second note from another unnamed juror claimed one juror " was having difficulty distinguishing whether or not giving New York State funds for "something in return is illegal.". The judge is not excusing any jurors so far and told the jury that a respectable exchange of views is the essence of jury duty.[TU][NYT][WNYT]

Libous sentenced
Former Republican State Senator Tom Libous was sentenced to six months house arrest and a $50,000 fine for lying to federal investigators about his role in getting a legal job and perks for his son. [TU]

Schenectady pays $1 million in lawsuits
Schenectady will pay out a total of about $1 million in two unrelated lawsuits - a gender discrimination suit by a former fire department member and a police brutality case involving a Union College student. [TU][Gazette]

Oil truck overturns
A Main-Care Energy truck rolled over on Melrose Avenue in Albany on Tuesday , shutting down some streets in the area for a short time. Fire officials suspect the driver may have had a health related incident that led to the crash. [News 10][TU]

Support for fired Wal Mart employee
Capital Region leaders from a variety of political backgrounds and perspectives are slamming Wal Mart as a corporate bully after the East Greenbush store fired a man for redeeming $2 worth of empty cans he'd found in an unattended shopping cart. Two Capital Region assembly members have written the company asking them to investigate the incident. [TU][WNYT][TU]

Utica Word of Life beatings
Eight people, including a pastor, have been indicted for allegedly beating a teenage boy to death and injuring his younger brother. [NYT]

Hiking the age for cigarettes
An Albany County legislator wants to raise the age for purchasing cigarettes to 21.[WNYT]

GlobalFoundries for sale
GlobalFoundries and its Fab 8 factory in Malta are for sale in a deal valued between $15 and $20 billion. [TU]

Unemployment
Unemployment is down again, from 4.4 percent to 4.1 percent in the Albany/Schenectady/Troy region. [TU]

Construction season
Road construction on Erie Boulevard has wrapped up for the winter and is expected to begin again in March. [Gazette]

DWI patrols
State police are cracking down on DWI over the holiday weekend.[Gazette]

Yarn bomb
Yarn bombs for the homeless. [WNYT]

Boom
Troys holiday shopping season will begin with a bang today. [TU]

Happening today

Stellar Young at The Hollow
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Hamell on Trial at The Low Beat
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