All Over Albany

Closing arguments in Jay St fire inspection trial, Washington Ave Armory suing Migos, CommerceHub acquired in billion dollar deal, pushback on Troy church conversion

Jay Street fire inspection trial
The trial of former Schenectady inspector Kenneth Tyree had closing arguments Monday. The prosecution argued Tyree didn't put in the necessary effort to do his job correctly and, if he had, the four deaths in the fire could have been prevented. The defense said that Tyree told his supervisor what he saw and argued Tyree is being scapegoated for the fire. [Spectrum] [TU] [Daily Gazette]

Guns
The state Senate passed a group of bills Monday backers said would increase safety for schools from gun violence -- including allowing retired police officers to earn more as school resource officers without a waiver, requiring schools to hold two active shooter drills a year, and Jim Tedisco's vanity license plate for funding armed guards in schools. None of the bills deals directly with gun laws, which prompted sharp criticism from Democrats in the chamber. And Tedisco's bill in particular was mocked. [News10] [TU] [Daily Gazette]

Washington Ave Armory suing Migos
The company that owns the Washington Ave Armory is suing Migos, alleging the hip hop group's actions encouraged and incited the brawling at their 2015 concert there. (The incident led to the venue being hit with a nuisance abatement order and it ended up surrendering its liquor license.) And a person who says he was seriously injured at the concert has also filed a suit against Migos and the Armory. [The Alt] [TU]

Move over
In light of this past weekend's crash on I-90 that seriously injured two state troopers and tow truck operator, two truck driver say the state's "move over" law should have increased penalties for not complying. [News10]

Plastic bag ban
The Cuomo admin says it's looking at the possibility of a ban on plastic shopping bags -- which, based on support/opposition in the legislature, is probably more a possibility in NYC than statewide. [NYDN]

Bank robberies
Police say a former Trustco employee arrested for a bank robbery in Kingston in January is a suspect in a string of bank robberies in the Capital Region. [TU]

NY-21
The field of Democrats vying for the chance to challenge Elise Stefanik for the 21st Congressional District is now 7 after Ron Kim dropped out. [Daily Gazette]

CommerceHub
CommerceHub -- the online shopping logistic company headquartered on the SUNY Poly campus in Albany -- has been acquired by a private equity firm for $1.1 billion. [Biz Review]

Pushback on conversion of Troy church
Residents of Troy's Hillside neighborhood are trying to stop the approval of a plan to convert a former church building into eight apartments. [TU]

SCCC faculty union deal
SCCC and its full-time faculty union have reached a tentative three-year deal. [Daily Gazette]

Spectrum
Spectrum has been testing a new, lower-priced streaming TV option -- but it's apparently not keen on its current customers getting it. [TU]

Adelphi Hotel
Touring the swank, tech-infused renovations of the Adelphi Hotel in Saratoga Springs. [Biz Review]

High tunnel
Talking with two Saratoga County farmers who have been local pioneers in growing crops during the cold-weather months. [Saratogian]

Stuff going on today

Joachim Frank
Tuesday: Joachim Frank -- co-winner of the the 2017 Nobel Prize in Chemistry -- will be at the State Museum as part of the NYS Writers Institute visiting writers series. Frank, a former UAlbany professor, is also a poet and fiction writer. Tuesday 7:30 pm, Huxley Theater -- free

The Humans
Tuesday-Sunday: A touring production of the Broadway play The Humans will be at Proctors. It won the 2016 Tony for best play. Tuesday-Sunday various times -- $20 and up

Dublin Irish Dance Company
Tuesday: The Dublin Irish Dance Company will be at The Egg. "Choreographers Ciarán Connolly and Alan Scariff unites world champion step dancers, with an accomplished band of Celtic musicians, to journey from rural Ireland to America where ancient Celtic melodies fuse with African rhythms, to create the foundation for tap dance and early roots music." Tuesday 7 pm -- $34

Nitty Gritty
Tuesday: The Nitty Gritty poetry slam series is back at The Low Beat. Tuesday 7 pm

Rocks
Tuesday: The Brainfood for the Curious series of short lunchtime talks at the State Museum continues with museum geologist Chuck Ver Straeten talking about the challenges of sampling underground rock in the Catskills. Tuesday 12:10-12:30 pm, Huxley Theater -- free

Music: Bombay Rickey at Troy Music Hall
"The group plays both covers and original music that borrow equally from the worlds of surf rock, cumbia, spaghetti-Western, and Bollywood, balanced out with soaring operatic vocals." 7:30 pm -- $20

Music: Aaron Carter at Lucky Strike Jupiter Hall
Pop. 7 pm -- $15