All Over Albany

Police investigating Schodack fire as a hate crime, Schenectady teen killed in Thruway crash, Capital Rep looking at potential new theater space

Polls are open today for votes on school district budgets, and in some places, also for members of school boards and library budgets. Don't know where to vote? Check with your school district's website.

Police investigating Schodack fire as a hate crime
Schodack police say a detached garage that appears to have been set on fire Sunday night had been spray painted with a swastika and a racial epithet. And the town's police chief says the incident is being investigated as a hate crime. An African-American family lives in the home -- said the father Monday: "It's not going to force me to move."

Death of man in Schenectady police custody
+ State Police say they're reviewing interviews, along with audio and video, from the recent incident in which Andrew Kearse died while in Schenectady police custody. Mayor Gary McCarthy on Monday: "The initial review seems to be that the officers acted appropriately, and (we're) looking to see what the exact cause of death was." [Daily Gazette] [TU]
+ Sara Foss: "One of the reasons Kearse's death deserves extra scrutiny is because there have been a number of troubling allegations of excessive force on the part of the Schenectady police." [Daily Gazette]

Indictment in death of Saratoga County woman
The man accused of killing his wife with an ax in Hadley has been indicted on second-degree murder and other charges. [Daily Gazette]

Schenectady teen killed on Thruway
State Police say a Schenectady teen died after being hit by a tractor trailer while trying to the cross the Thruway in Guilderland Saturday. A State Police investigator said Mariah Surgick had gotten into an argument with her friend in a car stopped along the interstate. Her father said she was set to graduate from Schenectady High School next month. [NYSP] [TU] [Daily Gazette]

American Health Care Act
Healthy policy experts say Elise Stefanik's "Setting the Record Straight on the American Health Care Act" piece includes some assertions that are "technically accurate," but others that are "smoke and mirrors" and "disingenuous." [Medium] [TU]

School aid
Despite a bump in state aid this year, Schenectady's schools superintendent says the district is still being shorted by $50 million. [Daily Gazette] [TU]

Saratoga Springs deficit
Saratoga Springs ended 2016 with a $1 million budget deficit, in part, the city's finance commissioner says, because of a payout as part of a lawsuit. [TU]

Schenectady casino
A look at the revenues at the Rivers Casino in Schenectady -- and payouts to local municipalities -- after the first three months. [Daily Gazette]

Supermarkets
Walmart is closing its Walmart Neighborhood Market supermarket in Niskayuna. [Daily Gazette]

Refugees
A profile of a community health program in Albany that's focused on helping refugee women. [TU]

Capital Rep looking at potential new theater site
Mike DeMasi reports that Capital Rep has been considering an old warehouse at Livingston and North Pearl for a new theater space. [Biz Review]

Google cash
The Troy-based virtual reality company Spaceout.VR changed its named from Daydream.io last year -- and it turns out it did so because it sold the name to Google. [TU]

Film shooting at ALB
A movie starring Maisie Williams and Asa Butterfield is filming at ALB this week, though it's not clear if members of the cast will be there. [TU]

Edmonia Lews
Chris Churchill on the remarkable life of artist Edmonia Lewis and her local roots. [TU+] Earlier: Eight facts about the life of Edmonia Lewis

Stuff going on today

Hedwig and the Angry Inch
Tuesday-Wednesday: A touring production of the Hedwig and the Angry Inch is at Proctors. It's the rock musical that was an off-Broadway production, then adapted as a film, then a Tony-winning Broadway production. Tuesday and Wednesday 7:30 pm -- $20 and up

Some People Hear Thunder
Tuesday-Sunday: This is the last week for Some People Hear Thunder at Capital Rep. Tuesday-Sunday various times -- $20 and up

How To Defuse a Bomb
Tuesday: The Irish American Heritage Museum will be screening How to Defuse a Bomb: The Project Children Story at the AOH hall in Albany (375 Ontario). Documentary blurbage:

In 1975 Irish immigrant Denis Mulcahy of the NYPD bomb squad - gathered a group of family, friends and neighbours to start a program offering children from Northern Ireland a chance to temporarily escape the violent turmoil of their daily lives. From modest beginnings Project Children ultimately brought over 20,000 Catholic and Protestant children to suburban US for summer-long visits where they forged unexpected friendships and found they had more in common with the "enemy" than they thought.

Denis Mulcahy will be at the screening for Q&A afterward. Tuesday 7 pm -- free (registration requested)

Front Parlor Troy
Tuesday: In a rare occurrence, the Front Parlor series is also at The Ale House in Troy this week. The theme: "Long distance." Tuesday 7:30 pm

Nitty Gritty
Tuesday: The Nitty Gritty poetry slam series is back at The Low Beat. Tuesday 7 pm

Music: Seether at Upstate Concert Hall
Alt metal. With: Letters From the Fire. 7:30 pm -- $30 ahead / $33 day of