All Over Albany

Reports of shots fired and suspicious death in Mechanicville, questioning Cuomo's political prospects, Siena adjuncts push for contract

Suspicious death in Mechanicville
Police say officers responding to a home in Mechanicville Monday night for a shots fired called found a man dead in the driveway. But they've yet to release many details, including whether the man in the driveway had been shot. Police are calling the death suspicious. [News10] [CBS6] [Spectrum]

Albany County jail death autopsy
Sheriff Craig Apple says an autopsy of the woman who died in the Albany County jail in June concluded that she had been on a "deadly cocktail" of cocaine and fentanyl. [TU]

Andrew Cuomo, 2018, and 2020
+ Chris Churchill: "The potential [gubernatorial] challengers realize something about Gov. Andrew Cuomo. They realize the Democrat is vulnerable." [TU]
+ Jimmy Vielkind: "If Cuomo is serious about running for president in 2020, as many in New York political circles think, would he be better off not running for a third term of his own next year?" [Politico]

Schenectady bank robbery
Police say they arrested a man shortly after he allegedly robbed the Citizens Bank in downtown Schenectady Monday morning. [Daily Gazette]

Schenectady carjacking
State Police say they arrested a man Friday for allegedly hopping onto the bed of woman's pickup truck on I-890 near the east on-ramp from Broadway and carjacking the vehicle. They say the man crashed the vehicle into a garbage truck, and then a parked car, nearby and was found on foot. [NYSP] [Daily Gazette]

Troy attack
The mother of one of the women police say were attacked by a man near the Poestenkill gorge last week described the incident to WNYT: "The guy came chasing after them, running after them with a huge stick, with big rocks in his hand. And he started pelting them with rocks and trying to hit my daughter's legs with the stick." Troy police say they're looking for the man in connection with this incident and one downtown in the early morning of July 29. [WNYT] [Troy Record]

Window smashed at Saratoga Hospital
Saratoga Springs police say former Albany police officer William Bonanni was arrested for allegedly throwing a chair and smashing at window at Saratoga Hospital Friday. [TU]

Schenectady city administration
Brett Samuels: "A string of recent departures by management-level city employees may be an indicator of broader dysfunction within City Hall, according to interviews with current and former staffers." [Daily Gazette]

Albany County budget
Albany County is about $2 million (1.5 percent) behind projections for sales tax revenue for the first half of 2017. [TU]

Siena contingent faculty
Contingent faculty at Siena -- adjuncts and visiting faculty -- rallied outside the college as their union is still without a contract, more two years after they voted to unionize. The school has offered a 32-percent per-course raise, but it's more than a thousand dollars short of the number the union's been seeking. [Daily Gazette] [TU]

Emma Willard
Emma Willard alumnae say a new document released by the attorneys investigating allegations of abuse at the school -- which includes an allegation of a relationship between an administrator and a student in the 2014-2015 school year -- raises more questions. [Troy Record] [TU]

North Greenbush traffic
The major point of discussion at a North Greenbush planning meeting for a new 102-unit townhouse development near HVCC: concerns about traffic. [TU]

Saratoga Race Course
+ Eleven horses have now died during the current seasons at the track. [WNYT]
+ Fans in the grandstand and clubhouse say they're unhappy with NYRA's decision to rotate the "white cap" ushers through various sections, instead of having the same usher work the same section, which they say allows people to develop relationships. [Daily Gazette]

George Bundy Smith
George Bundy Smith -- the third African American to serve on New York's highest court, and a Freedom Rider during the 1960s -- died this past weekend at age 80.

Stuff going on today

Front Parlor
Tuesday: The Front Parlor storytelling series is back at The Ale House in Troy. This month's theme is "Irrational Fears." Tuesday 7:30 pm

Capital Rep
Tuesday-Sunday: This is the last week for Capital Rep's production of Mamma Mia!. Tuesday-Sunday various times -- $20 and up

Park Playhouse
Tuesday-Saturday: The Park Playhouse in Albany's Washington Park just opened its youth production of The Music Man. Tuesday-Saturday 7:30 pm -- $16 and up / free lawn seating