All Over Albany

Breaking the bank at local colleges

An expensive path to take.

According to a list compiled by a site called College Grotto (new to us, too), Skidmore and Union are among the 20 most expensive colleges in the nation. Skidmore's total cost weighs in at $49,266 per year (#13) and Union's at $48,552 (#19).

Of course, caveats do apply. At many schools -- and we're guessing this includes Skidmore and Union -- very few students pay full price. But even at a discount, that's still some serious coin. Just for perspective, the median household income in the US is $50,233, according to the census bureau.

Earlier on AOA: What students say about local colleges

photo: Flickr user saibotregeel

What students say about local colleges

Alas, no one reviewed UAlbany's new walk-through fountain.

Unigo, a new site aimed at giving prospective college students the scoop on schools, debuted this week. It uses a sort of Zagat-style approach in which students already at the schools write reviews.

So what were the reviews like for local colleges? We picked out some highlights (and lowlights).

(there's more)

Girl Talk at Skidmore

Girl Talk in Columbus, Ohio.

Gregg Gillis, the mashup artist who makes geeks cheer and copyright lawyers cringe, will be at Skidmore Friday night. The show's $20 for non-students. It starts at 8 pm at the campus sports center.

Gillis is an interesting guy (Girl Talk is the stage name he uses). He had been studying biomedical engineering until he dropped out of grad school recently to focus on music. His mashups are crazily omnivorous, like someone dumped everything out of the musical refrigerator into a pot.

photo: Flickr user marit79

Schools crunched by costs, Saratoga cops ticked off at Skidmore students, Rock Hill Bakehouse temporarily out of commission, Little Miss Albany

Most local school districts are back in session this week and they're dealing with rising costs for everything from lunches to field trips. [TU] [Saratogian]

Albany police say the suspect in last weekend's Washington Ave homicide told them he was provoked by the victim staring at him. The suspect did not admit to stabbing the victim, though. [TU]

The shots that killed a Schenectady man this past weekend were apparently fired through a door. The Schenectady PD says it isn't sure whether the victim was the intended target or not. [Daily Gazette]

A Saratoga Springs cop was injured while trying to break up a Skidmore student party Monday night. It's the second time in a year that an officer has gotten hurt on such a call. The Saratoga PD says Skidmore needs to bring the hammer down on underage student drinking. [Saratogian] [TU]

(there's more)

Colonel John wins Travers, Democratic candidates for McNulty's nod heads, local sewer systems need help, California produce shipments to start soon, Round Lake protects its organ

Colonel John won the Travers this past weekend, beating out Mambo in Seattle by a nose. The canoe in the infield pond has already been painted the colors of Colonel John's silks, green and white. Almost 41,000 people showed up for the Travers this year, and bet almost $8.3 million (the total with off-track betting $37 million). [TU] [Saratogian] [CBS6]

The Saratoga PD had double the normal number of cops on the street Saturday night to handle the post-Travers crowd, in fine form after 12 hours of drinking. One guy pushed a police horse several times before being arrested for disorderly conduct and resisting arrest. [Daily Gazette]

The Democratic candidates for the 21st Congressional District (McNulty's seat) agreed on many topics last night at a debate: opposition to off-shore drilling, investment in renewable energy, sign stealing is bad. They disagreed on: a carbon tax, whether Tonko supported energy deregulation, whether Tracey Brooks was a lobbyist. [TU] [Daily Gazette]

The US Olympic synchronized swimming team, co-captained by Troy's Kim Probst, finished fifth in Beijing. [Troy Record]

(there's more)

Soares says DWIs should lead to Alive at Five re-evaluation, charity shipments ripped off, CDTA has big plans for Schenectady, more people deciding pet care too expensive, Knicks going to Skidmore, how Marylou exercises

David Soares says Albany should "re-evaluate" the Alive at Five events after a bunch of people were arrested for DWI following last week's event. Thirty-two people were arrested during a four hour sweep following the Thursday night concert. A state police deputy says that's the highest number of arrests he can remember in such a short period of time. [TU] [Daily Gazette]

The CEO of Ellis Hospital says his org wasn't prepared for St. Clare's to be shut down two months ago. The lack of readiness has led to long waits in Ellis' emergency department. [Daily Gazette]

Three men have been charged with ripping off charity shipments from the Target in Wilton that were intended for volunteer fire companies and charitable organizations. [Daily Gazette]

CDTA says it has a plan to revamp service in Schenectady pretty much all ready to go, but it needs about $3 million from the state to make it happen. The transit org figures the expanded service will increase ridership about 40 percent. [TU]

(there's more)

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]

10-year-old shot and killed, Skidmore students busted for drugs, Bruno is running again, money for hybrid buses

A 10-year-old girl was killed last night in Albany by what looks like a stray bullet. A ward leader from the neighbhorhood (the area around Bleecker Stadium) says she hears about shots being fired "every night." [TU]

Police busted a Saratoga Springs drug operation that they say included eight current or former Skidmore students. The college has a bit of a rep as stoner school -- it was 14th in the Princeton Review's "Reefer Madness" rankings and the Saratoga DA says his office had been receiving phone calls from parents concerned about drugs on campus. [Daily Gazette]

It sounds like state Republicans are preparing for a fight with David Paterson over his directive that state agencies recognize same-sex marriages from other states. [NYT]

All but official: Joe Bruno is running for re-election. When asked about it directly, though, Bruno responded with his usual charm. Brian Premo, a Democrat who's been saying he would run against Bruno, is apparently now ready to officially announce next week. [TU] [Daily Gazette]

If you had been waiting for the coveted Ron Paul endorsement before picking your guy in the 21st Congressional District (McNulty's current seat) Republican nomination, wait no longer. The Ron Paul Revolution has gotten behind Steven Vazquez. [TU]

Bethlehem police arrested a man yesterday on charges that he attempted to pay two teenage girls for the chance to smell their feet. [CBS6]

CDTA scored $2 million from the feds to put toward buying diesel-electric hybrid buses. [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)

Budget process goes behind closed doors, investigating the investigations, school district budgets, extra security for Ashcroft

Surprise! The state budget process appears to have gotten stuck. Why? Well, people on the outside aren't exactly sure. One government watchdog said this year's budgetpalooza is the least transparent in 15 years. [TU]

It only sounds like an Onion headline: New York State is now investigating its investigations. [NYT] [NYT]

The Albany School District has proposed a budget that's more than 9.5 percent bigger than last year and includes an almost 2.5 percent property tax increase. Shenendohowa's proposed school district budget includes a tax hike of more than 3.5 percent. [TU] [Daily Gazette]

A study funded by National Grid and a number of economic development groups reports that the state will get a big return on its potential investment in the AMD chip fab plant planned for Malta. [Daily Gazette]

A Schenectady city councilwoman wants the city to use a "grouper" law to crack down on students who go in together to rent houses in the neighborhood around Union. The city's attorney says that won't work because, for example, the Union football team house meets the law's requirements for being considered a family. [Daily Gazette]

Extra security will be in place tonight for John Ashcroft's appearance at Skidmore as officials expect some kind of protest. [Saratogian]

Of the 13,000 state employees who work in or near the ESP, only 40 take part in the carpool program that provides discounted parking spots. More than 2,000 people are on the waiting list for a spot. [TU]

Paterson applauded, Paterson admits to affair, Hannaford credit card breach, another tech park plan, raw sewage is smelly

David Paterson took the oath of office for governor to much applause. Legislators say they're looking forward to working with the new governor. [TU]

Shortly after the swearing-in, Paterson admitted to having an affair earlier this decade. He and his wife say they've dealt with it an moved on. [NYDN]

A security breach has potentially exposed more than 4 million credit cards used at Hannaford stores across the Northeast. The company says every one of its stores has had a compromised card. (Hannaford statement) [Boston Globe]

Chuck Schumer and Mike McNulty are pushing for the Watervliet Arsenal to become... wait for it... a tech park. [TU]

A Democratic challenger is lining up to take on Republican George Amedore for Paul Tonko's old state assembly seat. [Daily Gazette]

A backed up sewer led to raw sewage spilling out into a street in Mechanicville and extreme smelliness ensued. "This is not sanitary," noted one astute resident to the Record. [Troy Record]

Skidmore is moving to close its University Without Walls program. The college says the distance learning program is losing hundreds of thousands of dollars a year. [Saratogian]

New Price Chopper HQ, makeover for Pizza Block, Saratoga mayor asks what's the big deal, Skidmore scored big in 2007

The Golub Corporation got approval to move ahead with its plan to build a new headquarters for Price Chopper across the street from Union College in Schenectady. The $22 million project includes a number of design elements aimed at making it environmentally friendly. [TU] [Daily Gazette]

The infamous "Pizza Block" in Schenectady (just down the street from Proctor's) is getting knocked down in order to build a new string of store fronts. The Pizza King had been the block's only tenant -- The Metroplex authority bought the owner out for $110,000. [Daily Gazette]

An Albany cop injured on the job in 2001 was awarded $3.1 million in a civil suit against the guy who hit his police cruiser and the guy's former employer. [TU]

The mayor of Saratoga Springs questioned why his choice to post bail for a local luxury home builder accused of fraud got so much attention. Scott Johnson told the Saratogian that bailing his family's friend out was "the most decent and compassionate thing to do." [Saratogian]

It looks like the developer behind Harmony Mills condos in Cohoes will get a shot to redevelop the Victory Mills building outside Saratoga. Fun fact about the Victory Mills building: they used to make the wrappers for the old Listerine glass bottles there. [Saratogian]

Skidmore scored almost $57 million in charitable contributions last year. That's tops among colleges and universities in the Capital Region and good for 8th in the nation. The bulk of the money came from a donation by Arthur Zankel. [Business Review]