All Over Albany

Rally at UAlbany in response to bus incident, guilty plea in death of Skidmore student, she was born when Taft was president

Incident on bus at UAlbany
A rally at UAlbany Monday evening to support the three African-American women who say they were attacked on a CDTA bus by a group using racial slurs drew hundreds of people to the uptown campus center. One of the women, Asha Burwell, told the crowd: "We are shocked, upset, but we will remain unbroken. We stand here with strength because we value our worth as black women and as human beings in general. I would like everyone to understand that more violence will not solve anything. It will not make us feel any better nor will it result in any justice for us." [TU] [News10]

Monday afternoon University Police Department chief J. Frank Wiley said in a statement that UPD has used video from CDTA and other sources to identify 34 persons of interest -- 16 of whom have been interviewed, with more interviews planned. TWCN has posted interview clips with an anonymous person who says she was on the bus early Saturday morning -- and she says her recollection of events differs from the details that have been made public so far. The bus was one of CDTA's new "accordion" busses -- and the transit org says the driver didn't know what was happening in the back of the bus. [UPD] [TWCN] [WNYT]

Hoosick Falls water
In Latham Monday, Chuck Schumer said of the situation in Hoosick Falls the public efforts say far by the company Saint-Gobain: "They've got to do more. Expressing sympathy and giving out filters is not enough. There's a cloud of fear and uncertainty hanging over Hoosick Falls." Residents of the village have been signing up for testing of their wells and blood, and some have already installed filtering systems in their houses. Said Brian Bushner, a village resident who's decided to run for the village board of trustees because of the situation, to the Troy Record: "What infuriated me the most -- and I think I speak for a lot of people here when I say this -- is the mayor saying it was a personal choice to drink the water until after the EPA said to stop drinking it. Think about that phrase for just a second. You can't live without water. Water, beside air, is the most basic thing you need to live. You're saying it's a personal choice to do the most basic thing for survival." [TU] [WNYT] [Biz Review] [Troy Record]

Guilty plea in pedestrian death
The man who hit three Skidmore students who were walking along a road in Greenfield last Halloween -- killing one of the students -- has pleaded guilty to charges that include vehicular manslaughter. He also admitted to driving drunk -- with a .20 blood alcohol level. He now faces up to 15 years in prison. [Daily Gazette] [WNYT] [Saratogian]

Investigation into Schenectady fatal shooting
Schenectady police say they've yet to make an arrest in the fatal shooting in Hamilton Hill over the weekend, the city's first homicide of 2016. [Daily Gazette]

Guilderland apartment fire
A 14 year old is being credited with first noticing the fire the destroyed a block of apartments in Guilderland over the weekend -- she woke her mom and they alerted the rest of the building in the building. The mother and daughter said they didn't hear smoke detectors go off -- though an "official close to the investigation" tells the Times Union some residents did. [TWCN] [TU]

Infrastructure repair
The mayors of Albany, Schenectady, and Troy told a state Assembly committee Monday that the challenge of repairing and replacing critical infrastructure -- like water mains -- is a pressing issue for their cities. [Daily Gazette] [News10]

SUNY admin salaries
In response to new state salary data, Andrew Cuomo is pushing SUNY and CUNY to cut administrate overhead. [TU]

$15 minimum wage
Poking at Andrew Cuomo's assertion that the minimum wage now would be $15/hour if it had followed the path of inflation since the 1970s. [TU+]

Zika virus
State health officials conducted an online seminar for doctors in the state about the threat posed by the Zika virus. [TU]

Lifted
A recent state legislature resolution to honor David Bowie appears to have lifted significant portions of text from Wikipedia. [TU]

105
A Watervliet woman turned 105 years old today -- she remembers fireman going down the street on horse and buggy. [Troy Record]

Stuff going on today

Work by African-American artists in the ESP collection
The Empire State Plaza will be hosting a panel discussion about works by African-American artists that are in the ESP's art collection. Tuesday 6 pm, concourse near the Madison Ave entrance - free

Illustrating comics
Local illustrator Ira Marcks will be at the Opalka Gallery on the Sage Albany campus for a talk about illustrating comics. Tuesday 6:30 pm - free

Groundhog Day
Today is Groundhog Day, so the It Came From Schenectady series at Proctors is showing Groundhog Day in the GE Theater. Tuesday 7 pm - $9 / $6 students

Music: The Candlebox Acoustic show at The Egg is sold out.