Albany NY

Albany County won’t release the report on the rail trail pedestrian bridge failure “over concerns of potential litigation.”

https://www.timesunion.com/news/article/albany-county-won-t-say-rail-trail-bridge-failed-18289238.php

Two protests in Saratoga last weekend: one for tolerance in response to a Proud Boys gathering, one in opposition to the track and the animal cruelty inherent in horseracing.

(Saratoga Springs mayor Kim made a jab at the city’s public safety commissioner (Montagnino), who in turn blamed commissioner of accounts Moran for not signing an affidavit he says he needs to prosecute. All three have had a lot of drama surrounding them and their interactions in the past year.)

https://www.timesunion.com/news/article/progressives-gather-anti-proud-boys-rally-saratoga-18291215.php

https://www.timesunion.com/news/article/photos-protest-horse-deaths-saratoga-race-course-18293882.php

Howard Hubbard, molester abettor, denier of women’s bodily autonomy, and former Catholic bishop, has died.

https://www.timesunion.com/news/article/former-bishop-howard-hubbard-dies-84-18303838.php

Meanwhile, Catholic Central School is spending millions to expand, instead of recognizing that all the money associated with the Catholic Church should go to people the church harmed.

https://www.timesunion.com/faith/article/catholic-central-school-expanding-campus-building-18287256.php

A federal disaster declaration will allow farmers affected by the freeze in May to receive low-interest loans.

https://www.timesunion.com/capitol/article/upstate-ny-gets-federal-disaster-declaration-18302980.php

The NLRB dismissed a complaint filed against SEIU which alleged the union failed to bargain in good faith. The SEIU complaint against Capital Roots will be heard in February.

https://www.timesunion.com/business/article/nlrb-dismisses-complaint-seiu-18289237.php

Someone tampered with a scenic railroad track in Corinth to try to derail a train.

https://www.timesunion.com/news/article/reward-tampering-railroad-corinth-18298582.php

The DEC is still accepting written comments about renewing the permit for the landfill in Rensselaer.

https://www.timesunion.com/news/article/rensselaer-foes-dec-don-t-make-mistake-dump-18280077.php

Oh yay, a new invasive pest! The elm zigzag sawfly has arrived, and the DEC would appreciate it if you report sightings.

https://www.timesunion.com/hudsonvalley/outdoors/article/elm-zigzag-sawfly-invasive-pest-18283307.php

NYISO says there may be power interruptions in NYC if “peaker” plants are phased out as quickly as planned.

https://www.timesunion.com/capitol/article/report-predicts-possible-power-shortage-plants-18201162.php

The hydropower plant on Great Sacandaga Lake wants to reduce the fees it pays the regulating district from $1.5 million per year to $250,000.

https://www.timesunion.com/business/article/hydropower-plant-great-sacandaga-disputes-state-18269642.php

In my neighborhood, there were more fireflies than average this year, but light pollution, pesticides, and habitat loss threaten their existence. You can help by minimizing use of outdoor lighting and skipping the manicured lawn thing.

https://www.timesunion.com/news/article/light-pollution-habitat-loss-threaten-firefly-18272350.php

The DEC is using planes to track areas being harmed by spongy moth caterpillars.

https://www.timesunion.com/news/article/dec-uses-plane-get-birds-eye-view-spongy-moth-18210967.php

DocGo, the nonprofit ostensibly responsible for the needs of migrants relocated from NYC, is continuing to drop the ball: failing to provide information to school districts, dropping off migrants at community organizations without notice and failing to provide transportation back, and failing to provide adequate food and clothing.

https://www.timesunion.com/news/article/capital-region-official-demand-changes-migrant-18283826.php

Corey Ellis, Albany Common Council president and frequent mayoral candidate, proposes developing the Hotspot Elimination, Assessment and Tracking program, which would engage community organizations to increase attention to high crime areas. The current mayor’s staff notes that the city is already doing that.

https://www.timesunion.com/news/article/albany-common-council-president-proposes-hot-18282758.php

Nursing home operators under investigation for fraud and neglect donated money to Hochul.

https://www.timesunion.com/state/article/ag-sues-nursing-home-operators-donate-hochul-18280307.php

The federal American Rescue Plan will bail out the pension fund for union workers at Tops grocery stores. Reduced union participation makes it hard for union pension funds to remain solvent.

https://www.timesunion.com/business/article/food-commercial-workers-pensions-bailed-federal-18283331.php

The Spotlight just finished a three-part series on local restorative justice/ diversion programs.

https://spotlightnews.com/news/2023/07/26/albany-county-drug-court-practicing-restorative-justice/

Windham Mountain is proposing an expansion.

https://www.timesunion.com/hudsonvalley/catskills/article/windham-mountain-plans-giant-expansion-attract-18282961.php

Well there’s a lede: “Timothy Taylor set his sights on his ex-wife and the mother of his two children after beginning to feel bad about killing his pregnant wife in Brooklyn weeks earlier.”

https://www.timesunion.com/news/article/da-man-stabbed-former-wife-22-times-breaking-home-18285319.php

Hopefully the image upload works!

Menands is fighting hard against a methadone clinic.

https://www.timesunion.com/state/article/albany-county-legislator-voracious-fight-18277895.php

In more evidence that the state should own the means of production, wind developers are threatening to renege on their contract because it won’t give their investors high enough returns.

https://www.timesunion.com/business/article/offshore-wind-developers-ask-new-york-higher-18274217.php

The Albany Civilian Police Review Board remains frustrated by its lack of power.

https://www.timesunion.com/news/article/albany-s-community-police-review-board-isn-t-18270145.php

Kingston is one of the first cities in the country to replace its zoning with a form-based code, focused on the built environment’s physical form rather than its uses. It ends minimum parking requirements, legalizes ADUs (such as mother-in-law cottages), legalizes multifamily development, and streamlines approvals processes. It will hopefully contribute to increasing affordable housing and walkability.

https://www.timesunion.com/hudsonvalley/news/article/kingston-new-zoning-code-18274465.php

A grade 6-12 charter school is being proposed in Schenectady. Charter schools can provide better choices when public schools aren’t meeting a student’s needs, but they tend to bleed money from the public school system because the highest needs students are left in public schools, they’re often run by for-profit companies who don’t have student interests at heart, and they often rely on a lower-paid non-unionized workforce.

https://www.timesunion.com/education/article/group-proposes-schenectady-charter-school-grades-18277342.php

Health officials advise beginning HPV vaccination at age 9 because it leads to better immune response ad requires fewer shots than if you start later. (Adults, if you never got the vaccine, you probably should too. The article implies that it only is for those under 26, but if you do not stay in the same mutually monogamous relationship after that time, you can and should get it up to age 45.)

https://www.timesunion.com/news/article/new-york-health-officials-urge-hpv-shots-age-9-18274607.php

Albany County Executive Dan McCoy has over $300K and Sheriff Craig Apple over $600K in campaign fund accounts, even though they haven’t faced challengers in years. (Maybe he should have used THAT money to build the field he named after himself, instead of stealing it from forfeitures.)

https://www.timesunion.com/news/article/mccoy-apple-campaign-coffers-swell-opponents-18204647.php

https://www.timesunion.com/news/article/sheriff-federal-review-shows-300-000-misspent-18275074.php

Sounds like the developers are running into a few issues that will complicate the planned renovation of the building.

With the history of failed attempts it’s hard to be optimistic, the developers seem to want to do the right thing but it’s definitely going to cost them more than they expected and that’s a hard pill to swallow.

A Schenectady woman stole over $150K in unemployment benefits by “helping” her father’s tenants apply for pandemic benefits and then having the money deposited into her accounts. She’s getting 1-3 years in prison.

https://www.timesunion.com/news/article/woman-admits-150-000-pandemic-scam-18264776.php

The Lake Placid emergency room may be closing, with the next nearest one 11 miles away. Like the Burdett Birth Center, they filed the request to DOH just before they would be mandated to conduct a community impact study. Adirondack Health also recently closed the only dental clinic in the area serving Medicaid patients.

https://www.timesunion.com/health/article/concerns-raised-planned-closure-lake-placid-18192876.php

Mohonasen will likely serve the 68 immigrant children staying at the Rotterdam Super 8. It sounds like the nonprofit managing their stay has been unresponsive to the superintendent’s attempts to meet and assess them; he doesn’t even know their ages and languages.

https://www.timesunion.com/education/article/mohonasen-welcoming-68-migrant-children-18262389.php

A drunk driver who killed a man on the Northway last year is going to prison for up to 25 years. His license had been previously permanently revoked for drunk driving and people begged him not to drive that day. Sadly this stuff happens all the time, but I’m including it here (1) because it frustrates me that there seems to be no way other than permanent confinement to keep some people from driving dangerously, and (2) because I’d never before heard of the charge of “depraved indifference murder.”

https://www.timesunion.com/news/article/driver-convicted-manslaughter-wilton-crash-18264877.php

The South End Grocery is close to reopening three weeks after a fire extinguisher was accidentally discharged. It’s a darn shame that something so relatively small set them back so far.

https://www.timesunion.com/news/article/south-end-grocery-nears-reopening-temporary-18264948.php

A jail guard was arrested in Saratoga Springs for having an illegal gun.

https://www.timesunion.com/news/article/ghost-gun-allegedly-found-outside-saratoga-18259403.php

Bethlehem folks, provide feedback on future use of the Heath Farm and on the library building. https://bethlehempubliclibrary.us16.list-manage.com/track/click?u=239acbd6f7030221d35995c80&id=524098fa16&e=f9f2e4f2c9

https://storymaps.arcgis.com/stories/5192236578df41e89c73e90a4f09cdd1

I was driving on I-87 yesterday near the airport and noticed what seemed to be a much larger plane than usual landing, so when I got home I looked up the flights using flightaware.com and noticed it was a Boeing 767 from Nice, France that had been diverted from Newark due to the weather. Some domestic flights bound for Boston were also diverted here but were more typical for Albany (Boeing 737s and Airbus A321s).

Since the TU paywalls everything, the text is below:

COLONIE - Thunderstorms along the East Coast resulted in at least five flights including one from Nice, France to be diverted to Albany International Airport on Tuesday.

The United Airlines flight from France was heading toward Newark and was on the ground for about two hours. It departed for Newark by 6 p.m.

Albany is a diversionary airport for flights unable to land at Newark, LaGuardia, JFK, Boston and Philadelphia airports when there are storms or other disruptions there. As of 6:30 p,m. Tuesday, four flights to Newark and one heading to Boston had been diverted.

The fights began arriving in Albany at 3:35 p.m. Tuesday.

The diversions take on additional fuel at Albany and then await Federal Aviation Administration clearance to head toward their original destinations.

According to an FAA bulletin the storms caused many arriving flights going to Newark to face delays.

This has been a difficult summer for air travel, with pilot shortages, an uptick in flying after the pandemic and several bad storms causing delays at major airports.

One month left to visit all 36 UHLS libraries!

We’re having so much fun touring - each library has its own character and charm.

It’s not too late to start!