Items tagged with 'guilderland'
APD reviews shooting, Schenectady getting a new police chief, luxury condos planned for Union St, SPAC still trying to revise stack of pancakes, legendary Cohoes restaurant sold
The two Albany police officers who fired three shots at a suspect Tuesday night are now on administrative leave while the APD investigates the episode. The department says a loaded gun and some crack were found in the alley where the shooting went down. Police chief James Tuffey says it appears the officers followed protocol. It's the first time the APD has fired shots on duty since a bystander was killed by a stray police bullet on New Year's Eve in 2003. [TU] [CapNews9]
A report from the Troy Police Department has criticized a "no-knock" police raid that busted down the door of an innocent women this summer and tossed a "flash bang" grenade into her apartment. The woman's attorney says the raid "scared the hell out of her." The report recommends re-organizing the unit that conducted the raid. [Troy Record] [Troy Record]
Mark Chaires will reportedly become the next police chief in Schenectady. He'll be the first African-American to hold the post. His father, Arthur Chaires, was the city's first African-American officer. The soon-to-be chief has a masters in criminology and is working toward a PhD. [Daily Gazette] [TU]
The principal of Guilderland High School has resigned. He had been on leave after accusations he had made inappropriate jokes about sexual-orientation and race. He'll be paid through the end of the year. [TU]
Primary election results, state police show off a bunch of weed, SUNY officials get swank stays for cheap, another horse sculpture vandalized in Saratoga
Paul Tonko won the Democratic primary yesterday for NY's 21st Congressional District (McNulty's seat). He'll face James Buhrmaster, who won the Republican primary, in November. Tracey Brooks was the runner-up to Tonko by about 3,000 votes -- she said "The glass ceiling got a little bit thinner today but not quite thin enough this time." Phil Steck finished third among Democrats and Darius Shahinfar fourth. [TU] [Daily Gazette] [Troy Record]
Roy McDonald won the Republic primary for Joe Bruno's state Senate seat. He'll face Mike Russo, who beat out Brian Premo in the Democratic primary. [Daily Gazette]
Incumbent Neil Breslin easily won the Democratic primary for the state Senate's 46th District. There are no Republicans up for that spot. [Daily Gazette]
Elections officials said local voter turnout yesterday was moderate. [TU]
Kaz, a company that makes vaporizers, says it will be closing its plant in Hudson and letting 300 people go. The company is outsourcing its manufacturing to another company with plants in Mexico. [TU]
The Butterfly Station
One of the butterfly house's inhabitants.
Here's something different to do if the kids in your life have gotten a little bored with the usual summer lineup of activities. The Butterfly Station at Farnsworth Middle School in Guilderland is a student-run butterfly house, native plant garden, and organic community garden. Here's how the school describes it:
Besides walking among butterflies, visitors can watch how butterflies are raised in the metamorphosis room or make free butterfly projects in the craft room. Community members of all ages will enjoy the many interactive butterfly exhibits in the museum room.
We stopped by last week. We're guessing it's probably good for somewhere between a half-hour and hour with younger kids.
The Butterfly Station is open Monday-Friday 10 am to 1 pm until August 15. It's free.
A few more pics after the jump.
No consensus on how to fix budget gap, NY officially in a recession, Amedore to run again, Guilderland principal put on leave, plastic bag ban proposed, parking harder to find in Saratoga
While most public officials seemed to applaud David Paterson for emphasizing the state's fiscal problems, there isn't consensus about how to cover the budget gap. [TU]
Lunching state workers don't seem too worried about the threat of layoffs. [TU] [Daily Gazette]
And one more thing about the state fiscal situation: Paterson's budget director says the state is officially in a recession. [Biz Review]
The chairman of the SUNY Board of Trustees says the state's financial problems are an opportunity for the university system to "secure a rational tuition policy." And by "rational tuition policy," he means being able to raise tuition regularly. [TU]
George Amedore has officially announced he's running for re-election in the 105th state Assembly District (the city of Schenectady and surrounding areas). The Extreme Makeover home builder, a Republican, replaced Paul Tonko, a Democrat, last year in a special election after Tonko left to head up NYSERDA. [TU]
The woman who accused Albany police of conducting a cavity search on her during a traffic stop earlier this year has been charged with lying about the incident. The woman's friends and family say the APD's story doesn't match up. [TU]
What's going on at Guilderland High School? First the "culture climate inquiry" that led to two popular teachers being re-assigned. And now the school's principal has been put on administrative leave after he allegedly made racist and homophobic comments. [TU]
An Albany Common Councilman has proposed a ban on plastic shopping bags in the city. [TU]
Security cameras recently installed at a soup kitchen in Troy have made some of the regulars nervous. The org that runs the kitchen says the cameras became necessary after attendees were seen passing something other than the salt at meals. [Troy Record]
The number of parking spaces in downtown Saratoga is decreasing -- and it doesn't look like a trend that's going to stop anytime soon. [Daily Gazette]
Three guys were arrested in Cohoes for trying to sell stolen manhole covers and sewer grids for "a lousy $54" at a scrap yard. [Troy Record]
Earthly Delights Natural Foods on Jay Street in Schenectady is closing. The store has been open since 1974. The owners say they can't compete with larger food stores. [Daily Gazette]
Big investments for research facilities, Guilderland teachers' transfers upheld, gun buyback in Troy, Tedisco getting married
An IBM plan to invest $1.6 billion toward chip fab facilities in New York State will reportedly include at least 325 new jobs at the UAlbany nanotech center. [TU]
UAlbany and Albany Med are teaming up to build a new research center in E. Greenbush focused on cancer, cardiology and neurological disorders. The two institutions hope the new center will enable them to attract more money from the National Institutes of Health. The center will be funded by a $42 million slab of pork secured by Joe Bruno. The headed-for-the-door state Senator says another $25 million in state money will go toward building a new neonatal intensive care unit at AMC. [TU] [Daily Gazette]
The Guilderland School Board voted yesterday to uphold the transfer of two popular teachers from the high school to a middle school. The board also released a copy of the "culture climate report" that led to the transfer, though one board member described the released report as "useless" because it had been stripped of many details. One of the two transferred teachers says she's still not sure exactly what she's been accused of doing wrong. The board president says the district will be conducting more such inquiries. [TU]
A $25,000 slice of Bruno bacon will help fund a gun buyback program in Troy. (Earlier on AOA: The Albany gun buyback program: buyer's remorse?) [Troy Record]
Prompted by cases such as that of Jermayne Timmons -- the 15-year-old accused of firing the shot that killed Kathina Thomas -- advocates are arguing that New York State should require that any suspect under the age of 16 have an attorney present during questioning by police. Timmons reportedly confessed to the shooting without representation. [TU]
The Knicks are looking at the possibility of moving their training camp to Skidmore. [Daily Gazette]
The new Hampton Inn on High Rock in Saratoga opened yesterday. Apparently "new hotel smell" is that of "freshly cut lumber." [Saratogian]
Jimmy Tedisco is marrying his long-time lady friend, Mary Song. [Daily Gazette]
Guilderland "culture climate inquiry" to go public, Congressional candidate stops to help, Paterson rakes it in, mega-mansions in Saratoga, urination leads to struck pedestrian
The Guilderland School Board will release the "culture climate inquiry" today that led to the re-assignment of two popular high school teachers to a middle school. The situation has prompted protests by parents and students -- and even led to the school board walking out of an earlier meeting when the topic came up. [TU]
A Schenectady murder suspect led police on a chase from the city into Clifton Park this past weekend. They finally nabbed the suspect after he stopped to eat at a fish fry. [Daily Gazette] [Fox23]
Congressional candidate Michael Rocque was one of a group of people who stopped Saturday night on the Northway to help two people get free from a flipped-over car. Rocque is a Republican in the running for the seat currently held by Kirsten Gillibrand. (Earlier on AOA: A resumé that reads like a character from an action movie.) [CapNews9]
A state legislator is floating the idea of a four-day school week to help school districts save money on heating and transportation costs. Local school officials don't appear to be warm to the idea. [Daily Gazette]
David Paterson has already raised more than $3 million for a potential re-election campaign. Observers say the the haul is a good indicator that Paterson does intend to run in 2010. [AP/TU]
The City of Saratoga Springs is trying to figure out how to tax two "mega-mansions." For at least one of the properties, there's a bit of a gap between the city's assessment and the owner's number -- the city says $25 million, the owner says $6 million. [Saratogian]
See if you can keep this straight: police say a Rotterdam man hit a pedestrian with his car while fleeing from a group of men that had attacked him because he yelled at them for urinating on his grandmother's house. The alleged urinator is still on the lam. [Daily Gazette]
The US Water Ski Show Team (the team that practices by Jumpin' Jacks in Scotia) has had to cut back on the number of boats it uses because of high gasoline prices. The team says it uses about $500 of gas during each show. [Daily Gazette]
The Houston Astros' number one draft pick from this year's draft will make his debut for the ValleyCats tonight. [WTEN]
Field for Bruno's seat coming together, Pataki snubbed, local bankruptcies up, dude - where's her car?
Mike Russo, who works for Kirsten Gillibrand, has officially announced that he will seek the Democratic nomination in the race for Joe Bruno's state Senate seat. He joins Brian Premo and Saratoga Springs supervisor Joanne Yepsen. The Republicans still don't have any official candidates, but that should change tomorrow when Wilton assemblyman Roy McDonald is expected to officially announce. Ray Seney, a councilman from the town of Nassau, is also circulating petitions in a bid to run. [TU] [Daily Gazette]
George Pataki will not be a delegate at the Republican National Convention later this year, even though the former governor was on John McCain's list of preferred delegates. The dis is apparently payback from state Republican committee chair Joseph Mondello after Pataki pushed to replace him. [AP] [NYDN]
Bankruptcy filings in the Capital Region are up from the same period last year and local bankruptcy lawyers report they're swamped with cases. [TU]
Three weeks ago, Kerri-Ann Vincent drove a stabbing victim to the hospital in Troy. And she hasn't seen her car since. Troy police are holding the vehicle as evidence. Vincent says she can't get to work without her car. The TPD has basically told her to deal. [CBS6]
Two apparently popular Guilderland High School teachers have been relegated to the middle school after a "culture climate inquiry" inquiry. The two teachers, one of whom is out on maternity leave, are accused of contributing to a "locker room" and "boys' club" atmosphere within the school's social studies department. [TU]
The stock of Feldman Mall Properties, one of the co-owners of Colonie Center, has been delisted from the NYSE. The company lost $17 million last year. [Daily Gazette]
How walkable is your neighborhood?
There's this interesting site called Walk Score, which tries to assign walkability scores to neighborhoods. So, we decided to drop 10 Capital Region locations into the site. Here's how they ranked:
(Scale is 1 to 100, the larger number, the more walkable)
10. Guilderland: 25
9. Clifton Park, Clifton Park Center: 25
8. Ballston Spa: 63
7. Delmar, Four Corners: 69
6. Albany, uptown: 71
The top 5 after the jump...
Political antics on the web, probation for pharmacy college, eviction for Golden Fox, the guy in the picture didn't actually do it
Phil Steck, one of the candidates running for the Democratic nomination for the 21st congressional district, is accusing one of his fellow Democrats of "cybersquatting" domains that include his name. Steck says consultants connected with Tracey Brooks have snapped up PhilSteck.org and other similar urls. Apparently Brooks' people have also done this for variations on Paul Tonko's name, too. [WNYT]
Republicans in Guilderland have accused the town's economic development director of "fraud and abuse." Why? They say he posted comments to a TU blog while on the clock. (TU Local Politics has background -- it sounds a little like an outtake from the movie Mean Girls.) [TU]
The amount wagered at Capital OTBs was down about four percent last year from the year before. [TU]
The Albany College of Pharmacy has been put on probation after an accreditation organization said the school isn't moving quickly enough toward an interactive curriculum. (Apparently traditional lecture-type classes are, um, old-school.) [Daily Gazette]
The 10-story office building at 100 State in Albany sold for $3.5 million. The investors behind the deal plan to spend $1.3 million on renovations, including restoration of the building's clock tower. [Business Review] [Daily Gazette]
An eviction notice is on its way to the owner of the Golden Fox restaurant in Troy. The city says the owner is $27,000 behind on his taxes and it wants to secure the building's furnishing to help cover the debt. Apparently the plasma TVs have already found the exit, though. [TU]
A man convicted this week of burglary and menacing in Schenectady County Court tried to pass off the picture that came with a frame as a photo of the "real" perp. Prosecutors were suspicious of the photo, but weren't sure until an employee in the DA's office noticed the exact same picture on the shelf at a Wal-Mart. [TU]
... said B about Morning Blend: Luther Forest chip fab a go