All Over Albany

Response to Hurricane Irma, Habitat looking at West Hill project, state's highest court rules against assisted suicide, Amtrak upgrades

Hurricanes
+ Talking with local members of a New York State urban search and rescue team that's headed to Florida ahead of Hurricane Irma. [WNYT] [Spectrum]
+ A New York Air National Guard air rescue wing based on Long Island is headed to the Caribbean to assist with hurricane recovery. [Daily Gazette]
+ Direct flights from Florida to ALB are sold out through Sunday. [TU]
+ The Mohawk Hudson Humane Society has taken in a group of dogs from Texas to help open up room in shelters following Hurricane Harvey. [WNYT]

Rensselaer County exec election
The recently surfaced recordings of an argument between Steve McLaughlin and a member of his state Assembly staff were one of the big topics during a Spectrum-hosted Rensselaer County executive Republican primary debate between McLaughlin and deputy county exec Christopher Meyer. Other topics: infrastructure, Hoosick Falls and Petersburgh, the SAFE Act, and opioids. [TU] [Spectrum] [Troy Record]

Habitat looking at West Hill
Habitat for Humanity Capital District is looking at the possibility of a large mixed-use project in Albany's West Hill neighborhood similar to the recent Habitat project in Sheridan Hollow. [TU]

State's high court rules on assisted suicide
New York's highest court ruled Thursday that people do not have a constitutionally-protected right to physician-assisted suicide. And the state legislature "has a rational basis for criminalizing assisted suicide." [Politico NY] [TU]

Sentencing in fatal Albany crash
The driver who pleaded guilty to charges that included second-degree manslaughter and DWI in the Western Ave crash this past January in which William Yager IV was killed was sentenced to 6-12 years in prison. [TU] [Albany County DA]

Conviction in Schenectady shooting
The man accused of firing a gun in the direction of his girlfriend and leading police on a chase through Hamilton Hill in January that prompted the lockdown of multiple schools was convicted on weapons and endangerment charges. [Daily Gazette]

Lake George BWI
There were 19 boating while intoxicated arrests this summer on Lake George -- there had been six total across the previous three summers. [Daily Gazette]

Vehicle in Central Park lake
Schenectady police say they're still not sure exactly how a minivan ended up in the Central Park's Iroquois Lake this week, but no charges are expected. [Daily Gazette]

Milton supervisor election updated
The Times Union originally reported that the New York Department of State confirmed that Milton supervisor candidate Scott Ostrander's security firm does not have a required license -- Ostrander disagrees the business needs the license -- but the TU updated its story Friday afternoon to report it's "unclear whether the business needs one." [TU]

Schenectady city employee background checks
The city of Schenectady is looking at doing background checks on prospective employees -- it came out recently that two city employees had undisclosed criminal records. [Daily Gazette]

Amtrak
The trains that Amtrak runs between NYC and Albany are in line for interior upgrades. [TU]

Beer and farms
A new grain hub in Saratoga County wants to be a link between breweries in the state and farmers growing grains. [TU]