All Over Albany

Sentencing in murder of Troy official, fatal fire in Saratoga Springs, surge of applications for Excelsior Scholarship, a medium-sized key to the city

Sentencing in murder of Troy official
Joseph Vandenburgh -- convicted of fatally stabbing Troy city offical Bill Chamberlain near his home in North Greenbush -- was sentenced to 35 years to life in prison Friday morning. [TU]

Fatal fire in Saratoga Springs
One woman died, and a man suffered serious injuries, in a fire in a residence in the Geyser Crest section of Saratoga Springs Thursday. A Navy veteran who was staying a nearby home kicked down the door and rescued the man from the fire. The man's wife had a leg injury and had trouble moving. Four dogs also died. [Saratogian] [TU] [Daily Gazette] [Spectrum]

Excelsior Scholarship
The deadline for applying for the new free-tuition Excelsior Scholarship is Friday night, and the state has already gotten more than 75,000 applications -- and more than 40,000 of the applicants have been notified they're eligible. The Cuomo admin budgeted for about 23,000 qualifiers -- and officials say they still think many who are eligible won't end up accepting. [Politico NY] [TU]

The Track
The season opens today at the Saratoga Race Course, and the potential for immigration enforcement raids on backstretch and restaurant workers is apparently something officials don't really want to talk about -- but it's on their minds. [TU]

Hit-and-run suspect fished from river
Law enforcement agencies enlisted the help of two fishermen to get a man out of the Hudson River after he allegedly fled a hit and run in Troy and then tried to swim across the river. "Sources" tell WNYT the hit-and-run crash involved a motorcycle rider who was a retired Troy police officer. The motorcyclist was in critical condition. [TU] [WNYT] [News10]

Scotia business owner arrested
Police say the owner of a Scotia vacuum shop has been arrested on charges that include child pornography and unlawful surveillance. Police allege he was providing alcohol and marijuana to teen boys in an apartment above the shop and secretly recording them in the bathroom. Two nearby business owner say they had noticed something was up years ago and had contacted police. [Daily Gazette [News10] [Spectrum]

Crash involving Schenectady police
Schenectady police say a patrol car was hit while responding to a call Thursday evening in the Central State neighborhood.

Cold case re-opened in Troy
Troy police are asking for help in trying to find two people who may have information about what happened in the homicide of 9-year-old Mei-Ling White in 1989 near the Phelan Court Apartments. [TU] [Troy Record]

SUNY Poly
The recently released details about why SUNY Poly sold a manufacturing facility it owned in the Finger Lakes region to a private company for what appeared to be a discount price don't really provide many details. [TU]

"When you see a kid's (poor) behavior, instead of thinking, 'What's wrong with you?' you should be thinking, 'What happened to you?'"
The Schenectady school district says it's shifting its approach to be more sensitive to the needs of children suffering from trauma. [Daily Gazette]

Alplaus
The hamlet of Alplaus in Glenville has just a few hundred residents -- and they say they're wary of a proposed development that could double the population. [WNYT]

Josephine Sano
Remembering Josephine Sano, a teacher in the Albany school district for many decades, a key figure in the creation of NYSUT, and an activist for labor.

Billy Fuccillo
Schenectady has awarded Billy Fuccillo got a medium-sized key to the city. [Daily Gazette]