All Over Albany

Massive fire in Cohoes, absentee ballot allegations in Albany, layoffs at GE, so many apartments planned

Massive fire in downtown Cohoes
+ That huge fire on Remsen Street in downtown Cohoes Thursday afternoon and evening destroyed or damaged more 20 buildings. A resident told WNYT that the wind-blown fire looked like "a tornado fire" jumping from building to building. [TU] [WNYT]
+ Officials say no one was seriously injured, but approximately 20 people are thought to have been displaced by the fire. [News10] [Troy Record]
+ Crews totally more than 100 firefighters from fire departments around the Capital Region responded to the fire. [Spectrum]
+ A Cohoes man is accused of causing fire, and has been arraigned on arson and reckless endangerment charges. Authorities allege he was trying to bend metal for a sword in a fire in a barrel in his backyard and the fire got away from him. An assistant police chief called the fire "reckless arson." [Spectrum [WNYT] [TU]
+ Among the buildings affected is the historic Smith's Restaurant, which suffered heavy water damage. [Daily Gazette]

Rensselaer County DA
Some sort of charges are expected to be unsealed Friday afternoon in the grand jury review of Rensselaer County DA Joel Abelove's handling of a fatal shooting by Troy police. [TU]

Albany absentee ballot accusations
The accusations of improper absentee ballot use in Albany have spread to the 10th ward, where a group of residents is asking the Albany County DA's office to investigate. [TU]

Bookkeeper sentenced
The bookkeeper who pled guilty to stealing $800k from an Albany marketing firm was sentenced to 2-6 years in prison. [TU]

Layoffs at GE
"A source" tells the Daily Gazette that the latest round of layoffs at the GE Schenectady campus will include approximately 75 salaried employees. [Daily Gazette]

The Capital Region and the Cuomo admin
Mike Hendricks: "The governor's seeming deliberate neglect has stalled the growth and also jeopardized the future of nanotech, which has been flourishing here for the past two decades." [Biz Review]

Albany ambulance service
The city of Albany has a committee looking at whether the city should start a city-run ambulance service. [TU]

Apartments in Albany
There are more than 1,900 apartment units in the pipeline for the city of Albany, as counted by the Biz Review. [Biz Review]

Hats Off, off
The annual Hats Off festival in downtown Saratoga Springs won't return next year in part because of security concerns. [TU]

The humanities and policing
A new program at SCCC is aimed at using the humanities to help develop empathy criminal justice. [TU]

Rexford Bridge
A before-and-after of the old and new Rexford Bridge. [Daily Gazette]

Market32 Instacart
Price Chopper/Market32 is switching out its "Shops4U" delivery service for Instacart. [Biz Review]