All Over Albany

Accomplice sentenced in "death ray" case, New York to reform solitary confinement rules, longtime Capital Region broadcaster Ralph Vartigan dies

Eight years for death-ray accomplice
Eric Feight, the man convicted of assisting KKK member Glendon Scott Crawford in a failed plot to kill muslims with an "x-ray death machine" was sentenced Wednesday to eight years in prison. [TU][Gazette][TWCN]

New York to reform solitary confinement
As the result of an NYCLU lawsuit over the treatments of inmates, New York has agreed to overhaul the way it administers solitary confinement in state prisons.
[NYT][TU]

Sentencing in SCCC student stabbing
The former Schenectady County Community College Student
charged with stabbing two fellow students in a fight over a stolen banana earlier this year will was sentenced to ten years in state prison. [TU]

Prosecutors seek hundreds of years in Amish kidnapping
Prosecutors are asking for a maximum 580 year sentence for the man who kidnapped two Amish girls last year, and a 300 year sentence for the woman who assisted him. [TU]

Mount Pleasant Middle School lockdown
Schenectady's Mont Pleasant Middle School went into lockdown for part of Wednesday after someone who identified her self as a parent who was upset about her child being suspended threated to blow up the school. [TWCN][Gazette][WNYT]

Troy pedestrian dies
The 75-year-old man struck by a car at Hoosick and 15th streets in Troy on Monday night, has died. [WNYT]

Silver's son-in-law sentenced in ponzi scheme
Sheldon Silver's son-in-law has been sentenced to two years in prison for his role in a $6 million ponzi scheme. [TU][NYT]

Cohoes resignation letters
"I don't want people who are in total conflict with me over politics," Incoming Cohoes Mayor Shawn Morse said on why he sent some blunt letters asking for the resignations of volunteer board committee members throughout Cohoes. [TU]

Wilton man presumed killed in avalanche
A Wilton anesthesiologist who went missing on a trip to Alaska, is now believed to have died in an avalanche. [TU]

DWI suspect drives to jail drunk
A Mechanicville man was charged with DWI after police say he drove himself to the Saratoga County Jail while drunk -- 3 times the legal limit drunk -- to visit an inmate. [Gazette][TU]

Church to restaurant?
The owner of the former Sacred Heart Church in Cohoes is seeking a variance to allow a restaurant and bar in the building. [TU]

Crowd funding company comes to Schenectady
Fundabilities - a crowd funding start-up company - is moving into the New York BizLab on Stat Street in Schenectady and plans to ire 11 employees.

Adelphi to bring new restaurants to Saratoga
The new Adelphi Hotel owners are working to develop three new restaurants in the Spa City. [Business Review]

Jackson says RPI will expand undergraduate enrollment
Dr. Shirley Ann Jackson said Wednesday that RPI is expecting to expand undergraduate enrollment with summer and study abroad programs. [TU]

Remembering Iwo Jima
"I left Iwo Jima, but Iwo Jima never left me" : one of a handful Capital Region Iwo Jima veterans who remembered the battle this week. [TU]

Ralph Vartigan
Long time Capital Region broadcaster Ralph Vartigan died this week at 80. [Gazette]

Happening today

A Christmas Story, The Musical
Today-Sunday: Capital Rep's production of A Christmas Story, The Musical continues this week. It's a stage adaptation of the movie. Tuesday-Sunday various times - $20 and up

License to Quill
Albany-based writer Giacomo Calabria -- AKA, Jacopo della Quercia -- will be at the Albany Institute to read from and talk about his new book License to Quill, "a page-turning James Bond-esque spy thriller starring William Shakespeare and Christopher Marlowe during history's real life Gunpowder Plot." Thursday 6 pm - free admission

Earlier on AOA: Altering history with Jacopo Della Quercia

Thursday-Sunday: Melodies of Christmas at Proctors
Annual holiday concerts featuring the Empire State Youth Orchestra and Youth Chorale. various times - $15 and up

Elise Testone at The Hollow
From American Idol. With: Brian Lapoint and the Joints. 9 pm - $12 ahead / $15 day of

Fuel at Upstate Concert Hall
Alt rock. With: Red Sun Rising. 8 pm - $15 ahead / $18 day of