All Over Albany

That (anti) fracking rally in downtown Albany

A crowd of about 1,000 people showed up in downtown Albany Monday to rally against hydrofracking. The crowd gathered in the Corning Preserve, then filled the block on Broadway in front of the the DEC building, moved up the middle of State Street, and finally to Capitol Park for a lineup speakers. [LoHud Albany Watch] [@JonCampbellGAN] [@JonCampbellGAN] [@_1134] [@AmandaSavarese]

The anti-fracking movement is fired up right now because the Cuomo administration's decision on whether to allow the natural gas extraction method is reportedly near -- and the word circulating is that the admin will allow some fracking in the state. (Cuomo played down those rumors recently.) Not surprisingly, much of the anti-fracking message today was directed at Andrew Cuomo. [CBS News] [TU] [Reuters]

The decision -- whenever it comes out -- will be a big deal.

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Poll: New Yorkers continue to support medical marijuana, not sure about fracking and MMA

New Yorkers support the legalization of medical marijuana 57-33, according to the Siena poll out today.

That result isn't really surprising -- a few other polls in recent years have also registered support for medical marijuana. The only subgroups in this new Siena poll not responding with majority support: Republicans and conservatives. Also, the income group registering the most support for it: $100k+ at 68 percent.

There have been bills in the legislature over the last few years that would legalize medical marijuana. And state Senator Diane Savino has picked the issue up again this year. But the chances of a bill making it through are probably small without support from Andrew Cuomo -- and he appeared to indicate last month he's not on board. [WSJ] [State of Politics]

We're curious to see the results if people were asked about straight out legalization or decriminalization of pot.

A few other bits from the poll...

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The story behind the little anti-frackers

A rally of little anti-frackers.

After tracking the spread of the little anti-fracking protests from Schenectady to Albany to Troy, we now know who's behind the tiny campaign.

Her name's Nancy. She's from Schenectady. She outed herself in a comment last week -- and we followed up with a few questions...

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More little anti-frackers

They get around.

Spotted in Troy this weekend around the River Street Festival: yet more of the tiny anti-fracking protestors.

So, that makes Schenectady, Albany, and now Troy. Sebastien also spotted one. So did Abby.

After Abby first spotted these in Schenectady, we thought it was kind of cute. Now we're curious. Who's behind this?

If you have details -- please share! Either in the comments, or via email.

The tiny anti-frackers have migrated

Hmmm...

Remember those tiny fracking protests Abby spotted in Schenectady last weekend? We happened upon this one at Manning and New Scotland in uptown Albany this week.

It's starting to make us wonder about what other tiny things have been lurking about unnoticed.

Tiny protests against fracking

Abby was in Schenectady Sunday for the Greenmarket and noticed these tiny fracking protestors. She says there were dozens of them hiding around the State Street/Jay Street area.

A bunch of the tiny anti-frackers are after the jump.

As Abby said in an email: "Yes, had too much fun finding these..."

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What the frack is going on?

In the event you were holding out on learning about hydrofracking until it was all set to music, your moment has arrived. The video embedded above was produced by NYU students as part of a collaboration with the journalism org Pro Publica.

Hydrofracking is potentially one of the biggest environmental issues facing the state. A rather large deposit of hard-to-reach natural gas runs through the state. And energy companies are reportedly eager to give it a good fracking. That could mean significant economic gain -- and significant environmental problems.

Pro Publica has been all over the issue. Oh, and that part about flammable water -- true, in some cases.