All Over Albany

More allegations prompt call for Morse to step down, fatal shooting at downtown Albany venue, a year after an Adirondack rescue, UAlbany tops Siena in Albany Cup

Abuse allegations against Shawn Morse
+ Citing "three people with knowledge of the matter," the Times Union reports there are domestic abuse allegations against Cohoes mayor Shawn Morse that date back to the 1990s -- Morse did not comment on the allegations via an attorney, and his attorney said "it will be evident that the mayor did not engage in any wrongdoing or criminal conduct" in the recent incident involving his wife. [TU]
+ State Assembly member Pat Fahy on Twitter: "These are disturbing revelations from the @timesunion about a history of domestic violence and unacceptable behavior not becoming of the title "Honorable" from an elected official. Time for Cohoes Mayor Shawn Morse to make an honorable move and step aside." Said Fahy to WNYT: "It is very upsetting and what bothered me the most is to see there's been such a strong history and such a disturbing disturbing pattern of violence and abuse." [@PatriciaFahy109] [WNYT]
+ Albany County Democratic Committee chair Jack Flynn to the TU: "If in fact, the allegations are found to be true, we ask that Mayor Morse resign from office immediately." [TU]

Fatal shooting in downtown Albany
Albany police say a man was fatally shot early Saturday morning at the Levels Banquet Hall on North Pearl Street. APD is asking anyone with information contact the department. (Steve Barnes on the backstory of the venue.) [APD] [TU]

FBI investigation in Cuomo admin hiring
From Friday: The Times Union reported the FBI is investigating how the Cuomo administration has been hiring people to work for the governor's office on lines that belong to agencies or authorities. That hiring practice dates back many years, across multiple administrations. [TU] [State of Politics]

Albany High School fights
The Albany school district says at least 28 students have been suspended for the fighting last Thursday that prompted the closure of Albany High School on Friday. [TU]

Mental health professional charged
The Saratoga County Sheriff's Office say a mental health professional working Malta is facing a group of charges for alleged sexual contact with a person he was counseling. [Post-Star]

Questions about Albany County land sale
A group of Albany County legislators is pushing Dan McCoy to veto the county sale of a piece of land in Knox to a former county legislator, citing questions about how the sales process. [TU]

Albany mayoral race spending
Kathy Sheehan's campaign spent almost $634k -- $387k of which she loaned to to the campaign. [TU]

Neighbor rescues man from fire
The Colonie village fire chief says a man saw a neighbor's house was on fire, called 911, and then helped the neighbor -- who's blind -- out of the house; they were both taken to the hospital for treatment. [News10]

Adirondack rescue, a year later
Checking in with Maddie Popolizio and Blake Alois a year after their rescue from Wright Peak -- Alois: "If we were prepared, we wouldn't have been in that situation ... We should have made ourselves prepared for the unthinkable." [Daily Gazette]

"I just had a sense that the military was for me."
Talking with Command Chief Master Sgt. Amy Giaquinto of Ballston Spa, the first woman and first Air National Guard member to serve as the top enlisted advisor to the head of the New York National Guard. [Daily Gazette]

UAlbany-Siena
UAlbany swept the men's and women's basketball games against Siena on Saturday. It could be the last such matchup for a while because of friction between the programs about where the annual games should be played. [News10] [TU]

Stuff going on today

Die Hard
Monday: The Palace is showing Die Hard -- which is, or is not, a Christmas movie depending on who you're to talking to. Monday 7 pm -- $5