Items tagged with 'spac'
Tens of thousands still without power, Paterson to propose "obesity tax," friend says Bruno indictment likely, SPAC renovation on ice
As of this morning, 75,000 homes in the Capital Region were still without power. National Grid says homes are being returned to the grid "every minute of every day." The utility company says it could be Wednesday before all the repairs are made -- and now there's concern that high winds today will set things back. [Daily Gazette] [Troy Record] [TU]
A married couple in Glenville died this weekend from carbon monoxide fumes produced by their generator. At least 15 other people around the region were taken to hospitals for carbon monoxide poisoning caused by using grills inside. [Daily Gazette] [TU]
With no power at home, people flocked to stores and restaurants this weekend. An Italian restaurant in Schenectady was so busy it ran out of spaghetti. [TU] [Saratogian] [Daily Gazette]
Many of the Amtrak trains running between Rensselaer and NYC are still canceled. [CapNews9]
Record voter turnout expected, ballet season shortened, flooding in Monument Square, airport getting new eateries
Boards of election around the region say they're expecting record voter turnout today. One of the Albany Count election commissioners says he expects between 75 and 88 percent of registered voters to cast a vote. [Daily Gazette] [Troy Record]
David Paterson says he's worried that if Barack Obama becomes president, he will ignore the needs of New York because he coasted to such an easy victory in the state. [AP/TU]
Paterson says borrowing money to cover the state's $12.5 billion project budget gap next year is "off the table." [Newsday]
An Albany man has pleaded guilty to torching two apartment buildings he owned this past summer in order to get the insurance money. But wait, there's more -- the guy is a former Trustco bank manager who needed the money to pay restitution on $40k he had stolen from the bank. [TU]
The New York City Ballet's residency at SPAC next summer will be two weeks long, instead of the usual three weeks. The shortened schedule is expected to save about $800,000 -- SPAC and the ballet lost a combined $2.3 million on the three week schedule last summer. Officials hope the shortened schedule will increase attendance at each performance. SPAC says another dance company might be brought in for what would have been the ballet's third week. [Daily Gazette] [TU] [Saratogian]
Investigation into Obama-Osama mixup, enrollment surges for local community colleges, fire wood in high demand, opossum knocks out power in Troy
The Rensselaer County legislature has decided to investigate how absentee ballots in the county ended up listing Barack Obama as Barack Osama. [TU]
Albany County's proposed 2009 budget includes a 4 percent property tax increase, the first in four years. [TU]
Malta, Malta, Malta:
+ The transfer of AMD's state incentive package to its spinoff depends on a vote by the Empire State Development Corp. And that spin-off company will be organized in the Cayman Islands -- though it will pay US taxes on operations in this country. [TU]
+ AMD doesn't think its technology sharing agreement with Intel will pose any problem. At all.
+ The new chip fab won't be turning chips until 2012. [Daily Gazette]
+ Malta has a couple of "new urbanist" developments in the works for its downtown -- but some, including the town supervisor, worry the developments will be too dense. [TU]
Both HVCC and SCCC are reporting surges in enrollment, probably because of the weakening economy. Hot program of study at HVCC: overhead electric line worker. [TU]
Money reportedly missing from DA's safe, Malta roundabout accidents up, mystery illness killing off local bats, libraries are hot
An audit by the Albany County comptroller has reportedly concluded that as much as $7,000 is missing from a safe in the Albany County DA's office. A 2005 audit of this same safe reported $25k missing -- but it later turned up in a safe deposit box. [TU]
A survey of residents in Albany's West Hill neighborhood, where Kathina Thomas was shot earlier this year, reports that more than half of the people there believe the area is unsafe and growing more violent. Seventy-five percent of the people surveyed had lived in the neighborhood less than three years. [TU]
The number of accidents along the stretch of five roundabouts in Malta is up, according to the state department of transportation. The number of serious injuries is down, though -- and rush hour travel times are a third of what they had been. A DOT official attributed the rise in accidents to people adjusting to the circles. [Daily Gazette]
Attendance for the ballet and orchestra at SPAC this past summer was down 9 percent, leaving the org $375,000 short of its budgeted goal for those performances. (Pop music attendance was up 27 percent.) Ticket sales for the ballet and orchestra don't even cover half the expense of hosting the two series. SPAC did end the season in the black, though, thanks to advertising and endowments. [TU] [Daily Gazette]
Track numbers a little damp, two homicides over the weekend, Live Nation blames the fans, Rt 7 construction gearing up, Albany TV market slips
Attendance at The Track this year was down almost 10 percent from last year and the amount bet was down a little more than 7 percent. [Daily Gazette]
There were two homicides over the holiday weekend. On Saturday, a 17-year-old was fatally stabbed near Beverwyck Park in Albany. It was Albany's eighth homicide of the year. On Monday, a Schenectady man was shot and killed inside a house. It was Schenectady's sixth homicide of the year. [TU] [Daily Gazette]
Live Nation, the company that runs the pop music shows at SPAC, says fans are partly to blame for miserable conditions on the lawn there. Live Nation's last concert of the year at SPAC was Crue Fest on Friday -- four people were arrested being a bit too motley. [TU] [Daily Gazette]
The Philadelphia Orchestra at SPAC
Bring a picnic, the lawn is waiting.
Pack your picnic basket, grab a blanket and chill a bottle of chardonnay. The Philadelphia Orchestra returns to SPAC tonight. They'll be in town for three weeks and as usual, the program is varied, so there's something for hard core classical fans and novices alike. Here's a sample of the program, and some of the stuff they're planning to go with it.
McDonald officially in, Lyme disease settling in here, financial trouble ahead for SPAC?, here she is -- Mrs. New York America
Republican Roy McDonald, currently an state assemblyman from Wilton, has officially jumped into the pool for Joe Bruno's state Senate seat -- with Bruno's support. And it looks like Tony Jordan, an attorney from Washington County, will be the Republican candidate for the seat McDonald's vacating. That race already has a Democrat -- Wilton councilman Ian McGaughey. [Daily Gazette] [TU]
A federal court rejected an appeal by Yassin Aref and Mohammed Hossain, the two members of an Albany mosque caught in the federal sting involving a fake plot to buy a shoulder-fired missile. [TU]
A state review of the Albany Police Department has concluded that there is "no evidence of systemic abuse of citizens' rights" by department. The review had come at the request of six Common Council members. [TU]
Lyme disease appears to be establishing itself in the Capital Region and north. [Daily Gazette]
SPAC officials are worried that financial troubles for Live Nation, the company that produces all the pop music concerts there, will end up hurting the venue. SPAC currently gets $1 million a year from Live Nation, but that contract is up next year and officials seem to think renewing the deal for the same amount will be tough. [Saratogian]
The Peerless Pool at Spa State Park still isn't ready to open. Wet weather has kept the pool's new surface from curing properly. Officials hope the pool will be able to open in a week or so. [Daily Gazette]
The new Troy Orchestra debuts tonight with a concert behind city hall. [Troy Record]
The new Mrs. New York America is Kerry Lyn Boettcher, a teacher from Schenectady. She'll go on to compete for Mrs. America in September. [Daily Gazette]
Cracking jokes not a crime, food costs strain charity, ticked off firefighters, combative legislators, senate-raised pork
Legal experts say it's unlikely that former Schenectady police chief Greg Kaczmarek will face charges related to the busted drug operation in which his wife and stepson were allegedly involved. It seems that cracking jokes about your spouse's drug shipments isn't actually a crime. [TU]
A guy in Halfmoon was sentenced to 60 days in jail for neglecting to treat an inch-deep wound around his dog's neck. Apparently one of his children had put a rubber band on the dog, which led to the injury. (PS: Snowball -- a purebred Samoyed -- is now available for adoption.) [TU]
High food costs and slow business have prompted half of the restaurants originally slated to participage in today's Hunger Action Networks' Feast for Famine to back out. [Daily Gazette]
The firefighters union in Troy has asked its members to not work overtime for RPI's commencement ceremony. The union is ticked off that RPI president Shirley Jackson hasn't met with them to discuss concerns about fires that could pontentially involve lab chemicals or tight spaces. [TU]
Local legislators -- they're just like us! They bicker over money! They call each other names! (OK, on second thought, maybe they're not like us.) [Troy Record] [Troy Record]
Pork is being served up this week by the New York Senate. Among the items once described by Eliot Spitzer as "dripping with fat": $4 million for Skidmore's Zankel Music Center and $6 million for semiconductor training at HVCC . [TU]
SPAC is getting a new $2.5 million facade for its ampitheater. [Saratogian]
College fund for girl has money -- but no girl, Northern Lights files for bankruptcy, The Police will play here, return of the flamingos
In 1997 a three-year-old girl saw her mother murdered in Troy. Shocked by how sad the case was, the Troy Police Benevolent Association started a college fund for her. The good news: the fund now has about $50,000. The unfortunate news: the PBA has no idea where the girl is now. [Troy Record]
The New York Department of Environmental Conservation is buying a big chunk of land in the Adirondacks from the Nature Conservancy. The preservation group bought the land last year from a paper company for $110 million. [Post-Star]
The hot amenity for new condos: indoor parking. (By the way, the Mooradian Lofts project -- which didn't have indoor parking -- has been put on hold.) [TU] [Troy Record]
Northern Lights has filed for bankruptcy. The Clifton Park music venue filed Chapter 11 (that's the "reorganization" bankruptcy), so presumably it will try to stay open. [Daily Gazette]
The Police will play a show at SPAC on August 1. The message in the bottle: send money. The cheapest ticket will be $93. [Saratogian]
The carousel has re-opened at the New York State Museum. Four-year-olds voice approval. [Daily Gazette]
The flamingos have returned to Schenectady's Stockade. [Daily Gazette]
The UAlbany men's hoops team topped Maine 74-60 on the road. [TU]
... said Katherine about All hail the great State of Long Island