All Over Albany

It's cold, North Colonie schools building plan rejected, stabilizing the Church of the Holy Innocents, "food rage," remembering Betty Flood

It's cold
As you know, temps were in the single digits this morning and the projected high for Friday is 17, with sub-zero wind chills. [NWS]

Homeless in the cold
The at the near-capacity Saratoga Springs Code Blue shelter Thursday evening. And riding along with the Homeless Action Committee van during a Code Blue night in Albany. [Daily Gazette] [WNYT]

North Colonie school building plan rejected
Voters in the North Colonie school district rejected the district's $194.6 million building plan 54-46. There were more than 4,000 votes cast, which the district said was the highest turnout in decades for a school vote. Supporters of the plan cited overcrowded, and opponents cited the cost and tax burden. And some voters continued the criticism of the unusual date and single-location format of the vote. The district says it had scheduled the vote now in order to have contracts in place to meet a 2018 deadline for securing a higher level of state aid. [North Colonie CSD] [WNYT] [TWCN] [TU]

Electoral College
Checking to see which of New York State's electors in the Electoral College will actually be showing up to cast their vote for Hillary Clinton. [TU+]

Indictments handed up by whom?
The attorney for Johnny Oquendo -- accused of killing Noel Alkaramla -- is arguing his client's indictment should be in question because the indictment was delivered to the judge not by the grand jury foreperson (as instructed in state law), but rather by an assistant district attorney. [TU+]

How Saratoga Springs is run
The Saratoga Springs Charter Commission has proposed two options for reconfiguring how the city is run: either a strong mayor + council setup, or a city manager + council arrangement. [TU] [Daily Gazette]

Albany County child and family caseload overload
Caseworkers for Albany County's Department for Children Youth and Families carry more than twice the preferred number of cases at a time -- the hope is addition of new caseworkers will ease the loads. [TU+]

Nipper Building tax breaks
The Nipper Building residential conversion has gotten $600k in tax breaks from the Albany IDA. (It's also up for property tax exemptions through a state program.) [TU+] [Biz Review earlier this week]

Church of the Holy Innocents
The Church of the Holy Innocents in Albany has a new owners who say they're working to stabilize the historic property. [TU+]

Zim Smith Trail
Reviewing the plans for extending the Zim Smith Trail to Mechanicville -- the project recently got funding through the state REDC process. [Saratogian]

Mumps
A handful of SUNY campuses have seen an outbreak of mumps recently. [Politico NY]

Hash brown rage
East Greenbush police say a woman was arrested following an alleged "food rage" incident at the McDonald's on Troy Road: "Employees at the Troy Road restaurant called police to report that the woman had just left after going berserk because her hash brown food order was not hot enough, and that she had intentionally smashed the glass counter at the walk-up food service window." [EGPD press release]

Betty Flood
Remember longtime state Capitol journalist Betty Flood, who died this week at age 83. [TU]