All Over Albany

Teen's mother says she wanted Albany officer arrested on higher charge, 50 Hudson Ave demolished, Glens Falls wins Capital Region's state downtowns award, assessing Colonie's library

Albany police officer/St. Anne Institute incident
The mother of the teen alleged to have been slammed to the floor at the St. Anne Institute by an Albany police officer says had hoped the officer would have been charged with assault instead of the lesser charge of harassment. The teen also told the Times Union she was choked during the incident. Albany police chief Brendan Cox says the video of the incident doesn't show that, and the evidence didn't add up to an assault charge. [News10] [TU] [WNYT]

Trial in Troy two year old's death
The trail of Michael Davis -- facing manslaughter and child endangerment charges in the February 2015 death of a Troy two year old -- started Thursday with opening statements. The prosecution alleges Davis squeezed the child to death -- the defense argues he found the child unresponsive and tried to revive her. [WNYT] [Troy Record]

50 Hudson Ave
50 Hudson Ave in downtown Albany was demolished Thursday, a process that accelerated because the building started collapsing further on its own. Albany's building and regulatory compliance director says 48 Hudson Ave -- the city's oldest building -- made it through the process OK. [WNYT] [TU]

$10 million for Glens Falls
The Cuomo admin announced that Glens Falls is the winner of the Capital Region's $10 million Downtown Revitalization Initiative award. The money will be put toward revitalization efforts along the city's South Street. [Cuomo admin] [Post-Star]

Victoria Pool money
The Save the Victoria Pool Society and Kathy Marchione are irked that a large majority of $500k in state funding that Marchione and Betty Little had snagged for renovations at the historic Victoria Pool in Saratoga Spa State Park ended up going for work on a nearby restaurant space and not the pool itself. [TU+]

Albany City Court judge's exit
Rob Gavin looks at the resignation of Albany City Court judge Thomas Keefe in the face of allegations of wrongdoing from the state Commission on Judicial Conduct -- and Keefe's effort to frame his exit: "Keefe's tenure as a City Court judge will be remembered by many as disastrous." [TU+]

Glenville ropes course saga
The latest turn in the case of the Glenville ropes course: A town building inspector who retired this summer said he didn't think the ropes course needed an amusement park permit, as the town as argued. [Daily Gazette]

Empty Troy jobs
Is leaving high-level Troy city jobs vacant a prudent cost-saving measure with an eye toward increased flexibility -- or a situation that lacks oversight and accountability? [TU]

Albany moving to drop prior convictions question
Kathy Sheehan says the city of Albany is working to remove the question about prior criminal convictions from some city job applications. (There's been a nationwide "ban the box" campaign, and the issue has recently come up with Albany County.) [TU+]

Troy Fire Department diversity effort
Patrick Madden says his administration is pushing to diversify the workforce of the Troy Fire Department, which currently doesn't have any minority members. Part of the push is a partnership with HVCC to get people certified as EMTs. [TU] [TWCN]

Possible pet limit in Troy
The Troy City Council is considering a code change that limit the number of animals kept in a single housing unit to five. [Troy Record]

Possible Saratoga County tax cap override
Facing a budget crunch, the possibility of overriding the tax cap is circulating with the Saratoga County Board of Supervisors. [TU]

Saratoga Springs donation boxes
Donation drop boxes are being installed around downtown Saratoga Springs as part an effort to diver people from giving money to panhandlers. [Daily Gazette]

Colonie's library
Chris Churchill on the one library for the town of Colonie, population 82,000: "The condition, size and atmosphere of Colonie's William K. Sanford Town Library are so dismal, relative to most other suburban towns, that the building at Albany Shaker-Maxwell roads should be considered nothing short of a civic embarrassment." [TU+]