All Over Albany

Investigation of alleged Morse domestic incident turned over to State Police, change in leadership of Schenectady casino, school recess recession

Shawn Morse
Cohoes police say they're turning the investigation of the alleged domestic incident between mayor Shawn Morse and his wife over to State Police. "A person familiar with the case" tells the Times Union that the three Cohoes police officers who originally responded filed a domestic incident report that would theoretically involve statements from the people involved -- that doc has not been made public. From a Facebook post by Morse: "If you believe I'm unfit to be your mayor over this, I will resign." [Troy Record] [TU] [News10]

Saratoga Springs charter vote and absentee ballots
Three members of the Saratoga Springs City Council voted Monday to authorize the city to spend up to $5,000 on an attorney to monitor the counting of absentee ballots for the charter change vote. The commissioners -- John Franck, Michelle Madigan, and Skip Scirocco, who have been opposed to the city changing its form of government -- didn't notify mayor Joanne Yepsen or fellow commissioner Chris Mathiesen of the meeting, and they faced an irked crowd of public commenters at the midday meeting. Bob Turner, who had been chair of the charter review commission, accused the commissioners of using public money to advance their own personal and political interests. The whole charter review process has been an ongoing drama. [Saratogian] [Daily Gazette] [TU] [Spectrum] [Daily Gazette]

Trial in the death of Noel Alkaramla
+ After much deliberation, the judge will allow the prosecution to enter into evidence the suitcase it says Johnny Oquendo used to dispose of Noel Alkaramla's body in the Hudson River -- but not the handle said to have broken off from it. The prosecution struggled to establish chain of the custody for the evidence, with the apparently irked judge Andrew Ceresia at one point saying, "That's not the way this works ... This isn't a mock trial." The defense also got a boost Monday when Ceresia didn't allow a recorded statement from Oquendo to be entered because of an issue with him being read his Miranda rights. [Spectrum] [TU] [Troy Record]

Fatal fire in Clifton Park
Investigators say the fatal fire at a Jonesville home Friday was accidental and started in the bedroom. WNYT reports investiators say it was smoking related. [TU] [WNYT]

Police station as "private property"?
A notice of claim filed against Schenectady police and the city by a man and the company he works for, which specializes in serving legal papers, alleges that when the man tried to serve papers at the Schenectady police station in March, officers wouldn't accept the papers and then he was arrested for trespassing on private property (a charge later dismissed). [TU]

Schenectady Casino
Mary Cheeks -- who had headed up the River Casino in Schenectady since before it opened -- is no longer with the company. The casino's parent company says she left to "pursue other opportunities outside the company." [Biz Review] [TU]

GE in Schenectady
The probably-good news for Schenectady: new GE CEO John Flannery says GE Power, which is headquartered in Schenectady and employs 4,000 people, will be one of the conglomerate's core businesses going forward. The maybe-bad news: Flannery says GE Power has underperformed and needs to cut $1 billion in costs. [TU] [Daily Gazette]

Repubican tax plan and local tax exemption
Mayors from around New York State gathered at Albany City Hall Monday to oppose the Republican tax plan in Congress which, in one version, includes the elimination of the deduction for state and local taxes. [TU]

Gaps in infant mortality
Sara Foss continues her focus on gaps in infant mortality rates in the Capital Region with a look at some programs that could help.

"What has happened to you?"
The Schenectady school district reports that its focus on deadling with student's trauma-related issues has caused disciplinary referrals to drop by half over the course of a year. [TU]

Recess
Some local school districts are now allowing their students as few as 10 minutes of recess a day. Chris Churchill: "[T]he point here isn't to suggest that we should embrace recess and play because they will bring higher test scores, even if that's true. Instead, we should embrace recess and play because it's the right thing to do for children." [TU x2]

Stuff going on today

Contemporary Native American art
Tuesday: The Brain Food for the Curious series of lunchtime talks at the State Museum has a talk from Curator of Ethnology Gwen Saul about recent acquisitions to the collection of contemporary Native American art. Tuesday 12:10 pm, Huxley Theater -- free

Illustrating The Grand Budapest Hotel
Tuesday: Carl Sprague -- who's worked with Wes Anderson on the art direction for films such as The Grand Budapest Hotel, Moonrise Kingdom, and The Royal Tenenbaums -- will be at the Opalka Gallery on the Sage Albany campus for a talk. Tuesday 6:30 pm -- free

The iPhone as a talisman of desire
Tuesday: Photographer/video artist Sara Cwynar will be at the UAlbany Art Museum for a talk about her film Rose Gold. "Focusing on Apple's Rose Gold iPhone, Cywnar tracks how the phone acts as a talisman of desire for objects, people, power, and money and how features such as touch and 3D resonate directly with the user's emotions and imagination." (Here's an interview with The New Yorker about her work.) Tuesday 7 pm -- free

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

Music: The Beach Boys at Proctors
"Captained by Mike Love." 7:30 pm -- $30 and up

Music: Rosanne Cash with John Leventhal at Troy Music Hall
Playing as a duo. 7:30 pm -- $25 and up

Music: Dream Theater at The Palace
"Images, Words & Beyond 25th Anniversary Tour." 8 pm -- $29.75 and up