All Over Albany

Guilty verdict in Best murder, Hoosick Falls considers revised PFOA agreement, Stefanik/Faso constituents call for town halls, the choices that led to closure of Troy's pools

Guilty verdict in Best murder
After five hours of deliberations, a Schenectady jury convicted Bloods member Troy Saunders of first-degree murder, robbery and all other charges in the death of Wayne Best Junior. Saunders could face life without parole.[Gazette][TWCN][TU]

Hoosick Falls
Former EPA administrator Judith Enck is urging Hoosick Falls not to accept a
a newly revised settlement from Honeywell and Saint Gobain that would up compensation for contamination by $195 thousand to $1.04 million. [TWCN][Record][TU]

SUNY Poly
Former NYS Budget Director Bob Megan was appointed on Wednesday as the president of SUNY Poly's two nonprofit development arms. [TU]

Town halls
+ Protestors met John Faso outside the Fort Orange Club on Wednesday to demand he attend town hall meetings. Faso has said in the past that he believes the town hall format is "not productive." [TU] [Record]
+ Meanwhile, more than 200 of Elise Stefanik's constituents packed a town hall meeting in Glens Falls, that Stefanik did not attend.[Gazette][Saratogian][TWCN]

Email subpoenaed in Jay Street fire investigation
Schenectady County DA has subpoenaed years worth of email between several fire department employees, and the late city Building Inspector Eric Shilling, as part of a probe into the fatal 2015 Jay Street fire. [TU]

The price of a headhunter
UAlbany is shelling out $245,000 to a NYC headhunting firm in the search for its next president. [TU]

Schneiderman: No voter fraud in NY
In a letter to Democrats in congress on Wednesday, Eric Schneiderman told them that voter fraud is a "non-issue" in New York State.[TU]

Quicker lab results for DWI cases
Over the last two years the State Police forensic lab has cut the evidence testing turnaround time in impaired driving cases by 26 percent.[TU]

Women legislators
Women make up 27.2 percent of New York State's lawmakers -- slightly over the national average. [TU]

Troy swimming pools
Chris Churchill on the importance of public pools in Troy -- and the decisions that led to the planned closure of the pools this year. [TU+]

#Hopefulcases
A Clifton Park native is reverse busking in the NYC subways -- playing his guitar and handing out over $2,000 to homeless people, who come by and take what they need from his guitar case. [TU]

Fallon
Saint Rose alum and Tonight Show host Jimmy Fallon donated $100,000 to arts programs at his high school in Saugerties.[TWCN]

Stuff going on today

The Last Crop
The Madison is screening The Last Crop, a documentary about small family farms. After the screening there will be a Q&A with the doc's director and local family farmers. Thursday 7 pm -- $10 / $8 students and seniors

Modern Living
Choreographers Gerard & Kelly will be at EMPAC to talk about their work in progress, Modern Living, which aims "to explore themes of queer intimacy and domestic space within legacies of modernist architecture." Thursday 7 pm -- free

Bill Engvall

Comedian Bill Engvall will be at Proctors for a stand-up show. Thursday 8 pm -- $35 and up

Music

Young the Giant at The Palace
Alt rock. With: Lewis Del Mar. 8 pm -- $24.50 and up

TroyBoi at Upstate Concert Hall
Electronic. With: Ekali, Morillo. 8 pm -- $18 ahead / $20 day of

Glen David Andrews at Parish Public House
New Orleans jazz/funk trombonist -- "The Crown Prince of Treme." 8 pm -- $20

John Doe at Helsinki Hudson
Performing songs from this "psychedelic soul" album. 8 pm -- $20

The McKrells at Caffe Lena
Celtic. 7 pm -- $18