All Over Albany

Budget drama in Troy, charges against Schenectady cops dismissed, Smith's leadership of Senate off to weird start, NYRA forecasts finish in the money

Troy mayor Harry Tutunjian has vetoed the 2009 budget passed by the city council. He says the council unlawfully shifted money into a contingency fund at the last moment. The council president says the shift was made to provide "oversight" of the contingency money. [TU] [Troy Record]

The Albany County legislature approved its 2009 budget, which includes a four percent tax increase. [TU]

A Schenectady County Court judge dismissed official misconduct charges against three Schenectady police officers yesterday. The trio had been charged with not turning on their patrol car's video camera and failing to fill out the proper paperwork following a DWI stop last December in which the suspect accused the officers of using excessive force. The officers have been on paid leave since then. [Daily Gazette]

A grand jury found that two Albany police officers were justified in firing their guns during a chase in September. Police say the suspect in the case pointed a gun at them. [TU]

(there's more)

Cops crack down on another Albany HS brawl, NYRA bankruptcy ending, airport asks if you're experienced, Alive at Five alcohol ban proposed, something stinks at Yaddo

There was another throwdown among Albany High School students yesterday along Quail Street. The cops were waiting this time -- with pepper spray, batons and horses. It looked like a crazy scene. (AOA's gotten email from witnesses that this is the third time this week these fights have erupted.) So what's going on? "It's a little bit of everything," one teen told the TU. [CBS6] [CBS6] [TU]

It looks like NYRA will emerge from bankruptcy today. New York State will be giving the racing org $105 million in return for the deeds to the Saratoga, Belmont and Aqueduct tracks. [Saratogian] [TU]

There's a new color-coded security line set-up at the airport, with separate lanes for families, "casual" travelers and "expert" travelers. The sorting is supposed to help move people through the security line faster. [Daily Gazette] [TU]

Remember that big steroids investigation being prosecuted by David Soares and Albany County prosecutors? Seventeen people have pled guilty in that investigation, but yesterday a judge tossed the indictments of five people at the center of the drug ring. [TU]

(there's more)

State budget still stuck, extreme fighting in NY?, potato gun cop, Saratoga seating lottery

The state budget is still not finished and it looks like today's legislative action (or lack thereof) will center around congestion pricing for New York City. [TU]

Extreme fighting -- or mixed martial arts -- has been banned in New York since 1997, but now there's a push at the capitol to repeal the ban. Said one legislator to the NY Post, "Initially, I thought it was gross. But I've learned that they are regulating themselves, so perhaps it's not as barbaric as it had been." Among the new safety regulations: no groin kicks. [NYP]

A Glenville cop has been charged with using a potato gun to shoot out a streetlight at department headquarters. He's also accused of setting a box of road flares on fire in the parking lot. [TU]

NYRA is opening applications today for the Saratoga seating lottery. [Daily Gazette]

A few of UAlbany's graduate programs ranked in the top 10 of their respective categories in U.S. News and World Report's annual rankings. [Business Review]

DNA testing for Menands body, cigarette tax increase, Ashcroft gets big crowd, teaching Arabic in Schenectady, a plan to stop to the phone books

Investigators say it could take two weeks for DNA testing to provide more info about the dismembered body found in Menands on Tuesday. They do know from an autopsy that it belonged to an African-American woman. [TU]

A state investigation has concluded that NYRA broke the law when it hired a firm to perform integrity reviews for $125,000 per month -- without bidding out the job. It doesn't look like there will be any consequences for the race track operator, though. [Saratogian]

It looks like that cigarette tax increase will go through. At $2.75-per-pack, New York will have the highest cigarette tax in the nation. [AP/Daily Gazette]

John Ashcroft drew a big crowd for his lecture at Skidmore. He seemed to welcome critical questions from students, "I'm in a target-rich environment. Take advantage of it." He also, seemingly by mistake, referred to Barack Obama as "Osama." And, unfortunately, he didn't serenade the crowd. [TU] [Saratogian] [Daily Gazette]

The Schenectady school district will start offering Arabic classes next year. [TU]

Saratoga Springs' school district proposed budget has been chopped by $1 million. Among the cuts: an expanded foreign language program. [Daily Gazette]

An Albany common councilman is pushing a measure that could possibly slow the barrage of phone books. [TU] (AOA item about how to stop the phone book deliveries)

State budget cuts proposed, Patersons talk about affairs, protest in Troy, water park illness

Governor Paterson has proposed a two percent cut at all state agencies plus another $800 million from the Spitzer budget proposal because of budget deficit concerns. [Daily Gazette]

Paterson and his wife addressed the story around their affairs. The governor says there were multiple women -- one of whom worked for the state. He also said the delay in him taking office was partially the result of him needing time to figure out how to address this issue. [NYT]

About 100 protesters showed up at Troy City Hall Tuesday evening to protest the code enforcement against the Sanctuary for Independent Media. The city says its enforcement action had nothing to do with the gallery showing Wafaa Bilal's "Virtual Jihadi." [Troy Record]

Hannaford says it's still trying to figure out the extent of the breach of its credit card processing system. Customers have apparently deluged the company with calls about the lapse. [Daily Gazette]

The Spitzer-to-Paterson changeover may have set things back in formalizing the NYRA deal. [Saratogian]

The Albany School District is thinking about plan that would ship at least some of its students on long-term suspension to a farm in Columbia County. [TU]

The state health department says it's gotten reports from 27 people that they suffered vomiting and diarrhea after visiting the Great Escape water park this past weekend. [CBS6]

Report: STAR backfired, NYRA has big plans, watch that purse, lions return to Saratoga, sodium chloride

The STAR program was supposed to help ease the property tax burden on homeowners, but a think tank reports that the program really just kept people from noticing how fast taxes were rising. New York now has the highest per capita property taxes in the country. [Saratogian]

NYRA's planning improvements at New York's three race tracks -- there's just some question as whether it will actually have the money to pursue them. The issue: the when, where and how for those video slot machines. [Troy Record]

East Greenbush cops say there have been a string of purse thefts in supermarkets and big-box discount stores. [Troy Record]

Saratoga Springs' commission of public works has big plans for the front of the city hall -- granite stairs, radiant heat, maybe a bell tower and... lions. [Daily Gazette]

Almost everything you ever wanted to know about road salt. And, yes, it is basically the same stuff that we put on french fries. [TU]

NYRA deal set, road salt supplies low, builder accused of fraud, free wi-fi for Saratoga?

The NYRA deal is set. The state legislature passed a bill yesterday approving it. [TU]

Hillary Clinton helped snag more than $340 million in Congressional "earmarks" last year for New York State, according to a watchdog group. That made her one of the Senate's top 10 earmarkers. [Washington Post]

Road crews around the region report that they're running low on road salt -- and deliveries aren't arriving as expected. [Daily Gazette]

A local luxury homebuilder has been accused of defrauding customers of more than $200,000. [Troy Record]

Saratoga Springs is looking at the possibility of building a free wi-fi network in the city. [Daily Gazette]

On the south side of Troy, residents say they like to keep real estate sales in the neighborhood, somewhat to the chagrin of real estate agents. [TU]

No run for Stratton, NYRA deal stuck again, the Gov's text messages, buried cars could be towed, Danes win on the road

Schenectady mayor Brian Stratton says he won't run for the Congressional seat that Mike McNulty is leaving at the end of this year. Stratton's dad, Sam, had held the seat before McNulty. [Daily Gazette]

NYRA's chairman says negotiations over the racing franchise are now going backward. The racing operator is threatening to stop racing at Aqueduct on Thursday -- and there's some fear the season at Saratoga may now be in jeopardy. [Saratogian]

The New York State archivist worries we're losing out on important historical items by not archiving the governor's emails and text messages. [TU]

Cars buried in snow on Schenectady streets can now be towed -- whether there's a snow emergency or not. A new ordinance allows the city to bring out "the hook" if a care isn't cleared after 48 hours. [Daily Gazette]

UAlbany topped Vermont last night 64-61 in Burlington. The men's hoops team is now 12-12 overall, 7-5 in the America East. [TU]

NYRA deal still not done, Salvation Army kettles empty, eBay buying back stolen state documents, a very wrong number, big win for Siena

The Spitzer budget people are now projecting lower tax revenue for 2008-2009, but NYRA's bailout is still in the mix. Or at least, it's in the mix if they can work out a deal to extend the racing franchise, which apparently they still have not. [TU]

The Salvation Army has closed one of its local soup kitchens after its red kettle holiday fund raising campaign fell short. [TU]

eBay has agreed to buy back -- and then return -- many of the historic documents stolen from the New York State archives. [AP/Troy Record]

When you think a "couple of plants," how many marijuana plants might that be? To a guy in Hudson it means, oh, say... 89 of them. [Capital News 9]

A group in Mechanicville recently took out a newspaper ad with the names of everyone it could find who owes back taxes to the city, including the city's attorney (apparently he owes $129). [Saratogian]

The toll-free New York State Smokers' Quit Line phone number starts with 866. The same number starting with 800 or 888 goes to a phone sex service. As one woman who dialed the wrong number told the Gazette, "I thought New York had a new answer on how to quit smoking." [Daily Gazette]

Siena topped Rider 80-77 yesterday on a last second shot by Josh Duell. The men's hoops team is now 16-8 and 11-3 in the MAAC, which is good enough for a first place tie with Rider. [TU]