All Over Albany

Piecing together fatal incident in Albany, standoff in Schenectady, tax breaks for Troy projects, cheese war, remembering RFK

Fatal incident near Erie Blvd in Albany
Albany police say they're working alongside State Police to figure out what happened Sunday during the incident -- or incidents -- near Erie Blvd and I-90 in North Albany that ended with two people dead. Acting Albany police chief Robert Sears says police found a gun on I-90 near the site of a crash. And police are waiting on autopsy results. [WNYT] [Spectrum] [TU]

Schenectady standoff
Schenectady police took a man into custody after a standoff at a home in the Vale neighborhood that lasted more than five hours and involved a police negotiator. Police say the man was taken to a hospital for evaluation, and they found weapons inside the home. [Daily Gazette] [Spectrum] [WNYT]

Health care
+ A look at the proposed increases in local premiums for health insurance on the individual market -- many insurers say the increases are prompted in part by the effects of the repeal of the Affordable Care Act's individual coverage mandate. [TU]
+ The Poor People's Campaign again rallied in Albany Monday, focused on environmental health and people who don't have health care coverage. [TU]

Body found in Schenectady
Schenectady police say an autopsy revealed no signs of trauma in the body found in a boarded up building last Friday in the Vale neighborhood, and they're now waiting on toxicology results. [Daily Gazette]

Gun violence
An event at Albany City Hall Monday commemorated the death of Kathina Thomas 10 years ago, and city leaders designated June as Gun Violence Awareness Month. [WNYT] [TU]

Saratoga Springs gun buyback
The Saratoga Springs gun buyback collected 75 guns, more than organizers had expected. [Daily Gazette]

Child labor investigation
The state Department of Labor says it's investigating allegations of child labor at an operation in Washington County following a report on the TV program Inside Edition. [TU] [Inside Edition]

State Senate jam
The state Senate got unstuck Monday, at least temporarily, and passed a handful of bills. [TU]

Gubernatorial election
+ In Albany Monday Cynthia Nixon said she supports the 2-percent property tax cap for school districts, but would like to see a mechanism by which school boards could override it with a 60 percent vote of their members. Currently an override requires a 60 percent vote of the public. (The Nixon and Cuomo campaigns have been going back and forth over this issue, and Nixon says her earlier critical comments were about the Cuomo admin's two percent cap on increases in state spending.) [TU] [Spectrum]
+ A look at how Andrew Cuomo has gathered up union support after tension with unions in his first term. [NYT]

Rensselaer County DA election
A survey of the party and election politics surrounding Democrats backing Mary Pat Donnelly as the challenger to incumbent Republican DA Joel Abelove. [TU]

Radioactive waste
The feds say a backlog at a facility in New Mexico is prompting them to seek permission from New York state to store high-level radioactive waste at the Knolls Atomic Power Labs. [TU]

Cheese fight
Headline of the day: "Schumer, Gillibrand defend generic cheese names in fight with EU" [TU]

Tax breaks
+ The Rosenblum Companies is seeking additional sales tax and mortgage recording tax breaks from the Rensselaer County IDA for its News Apartments project in Troy, which it says has faced additional costs due to issues such as an underground electrical line. [Biz Review]
+ Sam Judge is seeking a PILOT and tax breaks for a mixed-use redevelopment of 255 River St in downtown Troy. The project would include 19 apartments. [Biz Review] [The Alt]

RFK
Talking with local people about their recollections of Robert F. Kennedy's visits to the Capital Region, 50 years after his assassination. [TU] [Daily Gazette]

Stuff going on today

Tri-County Trivia
Tuesday: The historical societies of Albany, Rensselaer, and Schenectady counties are teaming up for a Tri-County Trivia tournament at Zaloga American Legion Post on Everett Road. The questions will touch on the histories of all three counties, along with more general New York State and United States history. Also: a few pop culture bonus questions. There will prizes, along with a cash bar and food. Teams can include up to six people. Tuesday 6:30 pm -- $25 per person / $125 per team

Music: Nathaniel Rateliff & The Night Sweats + The Head and the Heart at Ommegang
Soul/blues/Americana + folk rock. With: Brent Cowles. 7 pm -- $45