All Over Albany

Legislative session ends with whimper after fireworks, Keehn to run for Bruno's seat?, American to stop flight to ALB, Peerless Pool opening delayed

All the drama aside, this state legislative ended this week with most of the big issues -- including the state's ballooning budget deficit -- unresolved. [NYT]

One bill that did make it through: a measure that would have the state pay the City of Albany $5.5 million dollars this year as a sort of tax payment on the Harriman office campus (the technical term is payment in lieu of taxes). The city could use the money -- it's facing an $8 million budget gap. David Paterson is expected to sign the bill. [TU]

One of the issues lost, or whacked, in the legislative shuffle: Colonie's special mid-year deficit reduction tax. Town officials say they can't figure out why it failed in the Senate. Sen. Neil Breslin, a Democrat, says it died because town Republicans asked party members in the Senate to block it. [TU]

Former Saratoga Springs mayor Valerie Keehn says she's "considering the possibilities" of a run for Joe Bruno's soon-to-be-former state Senate seat. The Saratoga County Democratic Chair says Keehn has already decided to run. [Saratogian] [WNYT]

American Eagle, the regional carrier for American Airlines, will stop service to ALB on November 1. American and its predecessors had been serving the airport since 1929. American Eagle carries only three percent of the passengers in and out of ALB. [Daily Gazette]

The Troy Housing Authority is moving to kick out six tenants who haven't performed the required eight hours of community service. [TU]

The Fort Orange Club plan to demolish two buildings along Washington Ave in downtown Albany continues to draw criticism from neighbors and preservationists. The plan is now in front of the city's Board of Zoning and Appeals. [TU]

The pipe organ at the Round Lake Auditorium could be named a national landmark by the feds. [Daily Gazette]

The Peerless Pool at Spa State Park will not be opening this weekend as planned. Rain has kept a sealant from setting up. Victoira Pool will open, though. [TU]

The Siena men's basketball team will be playing at Kansas this coming season. The Jayhawks are the defending national champion. [Daily Gazette]

State workers nabbed for snooping, trucker protest rolling, how much college basketball is too much?, burglar might consider going barefoot next time

Three state workers -- all of them from around here -- have been accused of accessing confidential child abuse files and then using that information for personal purposes. [TU]

It looks like that big rig protest planned for later this month at the Capitol will go ahead now after the truckers worked out a deal with the Albany PD to provide them with an escort. The organizer of the protest say the APD are "good people." [TU]

As you might expect, the HR discussions in drug operations tend to get a little extreme. [Daily Gazette]

The MAAC -- that's Siena's conference -- is moving its 2009 basketball tournament to the TU Center after the conference couldn't work out details with the previously scheduled site. That means both the MAAC and America East (UAlbany's conference) will be holding their basketball tournaments in Albany on the same weekend. [Daily Gazette]

The Fourth of July fireworks in Watervliet have been canceled. City officials say the display cost too much -- and most of the people who watched them weren't city residents. [Troy Record]

A Dunkin Donuts, Subway or Bruegger's could be landing at ALB. [Business Review]

After muddy footprints led to his conviction for an earlier burglary, it looks like a guy in New Scotland tried to avoid the same fate on a second job by leaving his shoes outside the house. One problem: he forgot to take the shoes with him and police used DNA evidence from the footwear to nab him. [TU]

Siena vs. Vanderbilt fast break

Woof.

Here are few details and tidbits to get you up to speed before the Saints' NCAA tournament game tonight.

(Tip time is scheduled for 7:10 pm. CBS6 will have the game on TV.)

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Does Siena have a chance Friday against Vandy?

Well, it depends on whom you ask. Are you a wisdom-of-the-crowds kind of person, or do you put your trust in the experts? Because there's some disagreement about the Saints' chances.

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MAAC Tournament fast break

This weekend at the TU Center, the Metro Atlantic Athletic Conference -- that's Siena's conference -- is holding its tournament to decide who's headed to the NCAA basketball tournament. This is a huge event for mid-major teams like Siena because a spot in "The Dance" would be a career highlight for pretty much everyone involved with the team -- not to mention the publicity it earns for the school.

But, what? You haven't been following the MAAC regular season? Worry not. We'll get you in the game. So when you're co-worker says something like "How about Edwin Ubiles last night!" (that's Edwin to the right), you'll be able to grab the ball and take the conversation the other way. We got the scoop from our good friend Robert Lee, voice of the Siena Saints...

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Check the rep on your legislator, less $ expected for NY budget, take that Walgreens, man arrested for ramming patrol car

With about a month left until the budget deadline, New York legislators are looking at less money to divvy up than previously expected. Assembly Minority Leader Jim Tedisco says legislators should think of it as an opportunity. [NYT] [Capital News 9]

Attorney General Andrew Cuomo wants to shed a little light on the reputations of NY state and local government officials. Project Sunlight is a website designed to make it easier for New York voters to find out about campaign finances, lobbying activities and voting records of their elected officials. [Troy Record]

Gas station owners say more people are filling up and taking off without paying. [TU]

Rite Aid has blocked Walgreens from putting up a store in Schenectady. The pharmacy chain bought the Brandywine Ave. lot where Walgreens was planning to put a new drug store. [Daily Gazette]

Voters in the North Colonie school district will decide on a 7 million dollar capital construction project today.

Warren County sheriffs officers arrested a man after he rammed their police car Sunday night. [Post Star]

The Siena men's hoops team beat St. Peter's 77-64 and won the MAAC regular season title, which assures them of a spot in the NIT. (To the make the NCAA tournament, they'll have to win the MAAC tournament.) [TU]

The UAlbany men's basketball team topped BU 76-64. The Danes will have the #3 seed in the America East conference tournament. [TU]

State politicians focus on... Oswego, another knifing at UAlbany, the bus to Saratoga is hot, Siena makes a stop in South Dakota

The focus of state politics is not on Albany this week, but rather the area around... Oswego. A special election there tomorrow for the 48th State Senate District has political types hopped up because the outcome could go a long way toward determing whether Republicans retain control of the state senate. [NYT]

Schenectady is looking to increase penalties for landlords who keep rental properties vacant. Albany passed a similar ordinance last month. [TU]

There was another fight between UAlbany students that involved a knife over the weekend. That makes two student-on-student stabbings or slashings in the last month. [TU] [Capital News 9]

The post office in downtown Saratoga Springs, described as a "treasure," will be getting some rehab, including a new skylight. [Saratogian]

The hot way to get to and from Saratoga? The bus. Yeah, CDTA was surprised, too. [TU]

If you can figure out who broke into the home of a Glen's Falls man, he'll give you a Corvette convertible. [Troy Record]

The Siena men's hoops team won its Bracket Busters game at Boise State on Saturday 93-70. The trip home wasn't so easy. The Saints made an unscheduled stop in South Dakota. [TU]

The 11th ranked UAlbany men's lacrosse team lost to No. 1 Johns Hopkins 10-5 Saturday in Baltimore. [TU]

Hard billing legislators, McCain pretty popular here, new security for Amtrak, phone trouble for Saratoga cops, Corning Estate for sale, Saints lose

Congratulations Assemblywoman Earlene Hooper (D-Long Island), you're the winner of this year's "Who among legislators can log the most in per diem expenses" contest! This year's winning total: $36,452. [NYT]

A Siena poll reports that both Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama are leading John McCain in New York -- but not by as much as you might have thought. [Troy Record]

Warren Redlich, one-time Congressional candidate and current Guilderland town board member, stirred the pot recently after he called two candidate's for the town's police chief job "political flunkies" in a comment on a TU blog. It turns his comments may be a violation of state law. [TU]

Amtrak will start randomly searching passenger bags this week. Also coming to train platforms this week: officers with automatic weapons and bomb-sniffing dogs. [AP]

Apparently the phones at police headquarters in Saratoga Springs have a problem: they sometimes just don't work. At all. [Saratogian]

The Corning Estate is up for sale. It can be yours for $2.2 million. [TU]

The Siena men's hoops team lost on the road to Manhattan 73-72. A win would have put the Saints in first place in the MAAC. [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]

How far is Boise, exactly? Siena's checking the map

One of the problems with college basketball over the last few years has been that a lot of good teams from conferences that aren't traditional powers have had trouble getting good games. And without a slate of quality opponents, it's harder to get a good seed in the NCAA tournament. So someone came up with the idea of all these good "mid-major" teams playing each other in a series of games called the "Bracket Buster" (you know, like busting the NCAA tournament bracket) -- and to make it even better, a lot of the games get shown on one of ESPN's many channels.

So, the Siena's men's hoops team is taking part in the Bracket Buster and it recently found out that its game will be one of the ESPNs (hopefully not the "Ocho"). That's the upside. The downside? The Saints have to travel all the way out to Idaho to play Boise State for their February 23 game.

According to Google Maps, that's a trip of roughly 2,500 miles (just 1 day and 12 hours of driving straight through). And in case you're wondering, no, there is no good way to get from Albany to Boise. A Kayak search for airfare reports the cheapest day-before/day-after fare as of this morning was a United flight for $520 -- that is, if you don't mind leaving Boise around 7:30pm the day after the game, making two connections, and arriving at ALB around 11 am the next morning.

But, hey, the Saints are getting a good game on TV. Better make sure the iPod is charged.

map: Google Maps

Stolen state artifacts on EBay, local film wins at Sundance, Thruway Authority scolded, the oldest house in Saratoga

An employee from the state department of education has been arrested on the accusation that she stole hundreds of artifacts from then New York State Cultural Education Center -- and then sold them on EBay. [CBS6]

"Frozen River," a film written and directed by Chatham's Courtney Hunt -- and shot in Plattsburgh, took the top prize at Sundance. It's already been picked up by Sony Pictures Classics. [TU]

The state comptroller says the NYS Thruway Authority shouldn't be raising tolls and that it "could manage its finances a whole lot better." [Business Review]

The McCain campaign has opened an office in Waterford. [Fox23]

The oldest house in Saratoga Springs is up for sale. The current owners say they'd like to find someone who will preserve the house. [Saratogian]

Siena came back from 14 to beat Iona 64-51 on the road. The men's hoops team is now 13-7, 8-2 in the MAAC. [Daily Gazette]

Presidential campaigns set up here, big development planned for Slingerlands, pay raises for legislators, the wrong campus

The Clinton and Obama campaigns have opened local offices as they look ahead to the February 5 NY primary. The Clinton camp set up on South Pearl in Albany, while Obama's people are in West Hill. Said Clinton supporter Mike Breslin: "This is not ceremonial; this is business, baby." [Daily Gazette]

Work could start as soon as this summer on a mixed-use development just of Rt. 85 near the Price Chopper in Slingerlands. Offices, banks, coffee places, a high-end restaurant, condos and an organic food store are all in the plans. [TU]

Word around the campfire at the state capitol is that that Governor Spitzer has agreed to support a pay raise for legislators. NY currently has the third-highest legislator salaries in the nation. Base pay is $79,500, but some earn more than $100,000. [NYT]

Spamalot didn't just draw big crowds to Proctor's -- it drew record-breaking crowds. The Monty Python musical sold more than $1.1 million in tickets. [Daily Gazette]

Siena got thwacked last night at Loyola 85-56. The Saints are now 12-7 and 7-2 in the MAAC. [TU]

Coming home from drinking downtown, a completely bombed UAlbany student smashed through a door at the Harriman state office campus and ended up sleeping in a second-floor hallway of the Department of Taxation and Finance Building. Police say the student was trying to get back to his dorm. [TU]

Albany DA to investigate Troy cops, the budget flu shot, easy win for Siena

David Soares' office says it will into the alleged use of excessive force by Troy police in Menands. The two men arrested Friday night are now being represented by Terry Kindlon, who calls the situation "a Rodney King-type incident." Kindlon asked Soares to get involved because of says he doesn't trust the Troy PD and, in a letter, called its investigation a "charade." [TU] [Record]

Governor Spitzer compares his proposed budget, which is out today, to a flu shot: "You know there's a momentary sting, but it's good for you in the long run." [WXXI Public Radio]

Siena took it to Canisus last night in a 77-49 win at home. The Saints are now 7-1 in the MAAC. [Daily Gazette]