Albany

Female Democrats in Albany County are calling on their party to narrow the gender gap between men and women in powerful, policymaking roles.

Historically those conversations have often occurred behind close doors, but recently some women have turned to not-so-subtle means to make sure their message is heard.

Amy Joyce, a law clerk and the daughter of a former Albany County Democratic chair, sent a letter last month to more than 600 members of the Albany County Democratic Committee asking that she be considered as a candidate for state Supreme Court in the 3rd Judicial District.

She noted in the letter that all 10 judges elected to the court are men, and that this "lack of diversity" is a "well-recognized concern."

Around the same time, Democrat Mary Lou Connolly, an Albany County lawmaker for 20 years, addressed the County Legislature with a similar observation.

"Once again, besides (Republican) Christine Benedict, there is no woman on this," Connolly said at a recent meeting after no female Democrats were appointed to a new committee tasked with examining recommendations for the charter, including whether to downsize the legislature.

"I have voiced my opinion for years about the lack of leadership for the women in this body," Connolly said to her colleagues and attending members of the public. "The Republicans keep moving their women up... but we haven't done so in our leadership."

Since the Albany County Legislature was formed in 1968, no female Democrat has ever held a leadership role beyond chair of a standing committee, while Republicans have nominated females to serve as minority whip and minority leader.

The gender disparities persist despite women holding high-ranking positions within the Albany County Democratic party.

Carolyn McLaughlin, president of the Albany Common Council and secretary of the Albany County Democratic Committee, said she identifies with the concerns raised by Joyce and others.

"The system does not work in favor of women," said McLaughlin. "And anybody who thinks it is is deluding themselves."

And while the number of women in politics continues to inch forward, and election wins like that of Albany Mayor Kathy Sheehan make history, many people are bothered by the process, or seeming lack thereof, in the party's early considerations for a candidate to fill the vacancy created when Albany-based state Supreme Court Justice Joseph Teresi retires in June.

For weeks, the word circulating among Democrats was that Albany County Legislator Justin Corcoran had already been chosen as the preferred candidate for the judgeship. Many also confirmed they heard that the party's law committee, a group that makes recommendations to the party leadership, would not be conducting interviews.

The Supreme Court trial bench is the only court in the state in which political parties, through a judicial-convention nominating process, have complete control over who appears on the ballot.

In the 3rd Judicial District, which includes Albany, Columbia, Greene, Rensselaer, Schoharie, Sullivan and Ulster counties, parties in each county take turns nominating candidates, and Democratic Committee Chairman Matt Clyne said this year it's Albany's turn.

Unlike municipal judgeships, aspiring judges do not have the option to square off in primaries for a Supreme Court nomination, and in the 3rd Judicial District, where the majority of registered voters are enrolled Democrats, a nomination by the Democratic convention virtually assures election victory.

There is more diversity among those holding judgeships where the party has less control over the election process, as is shown in the Capital Region's city and county courts.

Joyce, the principal law clerk for Albany-based state Supreme Court Justice Michael Lynch, said Clyne told her he was "undecided" about whether candidates would be interviewed. She said she decided to write the letter after a week went by and she didn't hear back from Clyne.

Joyce is also the daughter of former Albany County Democratic Committee Chairman Harold L. Joyce.

Clyne said Corcoran "is certainly the odds-on favorite" because of his trial experience, "and because he knows other delegates and attorneys throughout the district."

Clyne denied that the party did not intend to interview candidates.

"I wanted to see if there was anybody actually going to come forward, and they did, so we're having interviews... No one was trying to exclude anybody," Clyne said. "At the end of the day, it's the resume that's going to be the determining factor."

Interviews for candidates have been scheduled for May 31.

Family Court Judge Margaret Walsh, who has served as an acting Supreme Court justice for the past five years, is also pursuing the Democratic nomination for Supreme Court justice. She said she is "pleased to know that the chairman has now decided to open the process."

Virginia Maffia-Tobler is the only woman in the Albany County Legislature to chair one of the body's 10 standing committees (social services) and she is the only female on its most powerful committee, audit and finance.

For Maffia-Tobler, the influence of gender on politics in the legislature isn't clear cut.

"You can't ignore the old boy network, but you can't say that's the reason for everything," she said. "I've never been passed over for something I felt I wanted."

Mary Lou Connolly and Lucille McKnight see it differently.

Both have been in the legislature for 20 years. Both claim they lost their positions as committee chairs after disagreements with party leadership.

And both have tried and failed to win more powerful roles.

"They have no intention of working with a woman in a leadership role," McKnight said. She has attempted to run for chair of the legislature twice. "I think they feel comfortable just three men in the room."

"It's still the boys club," Connolly said. She also tried to run for chair.

Both legislative Chairman Shawn Morse, who appoints committee chairs, and Majority Leader Frank Commisso, who appoints Democrats to committees, strongly disagree with their female colleagues' claim the lack of women in power positions has anything to do with gender.

Both the legislature's chair and majority leader positions are elected based on a vote from their fellow caucus members.

"What seems to be the problem? I don't quite understand. It's open for anyone to run ... You either have the votes of the members or you don't," Commisso said.

"And to go one step further, Shawn (Morse) and I purposefully removed ourselves from being on any committees to give females more representation."

And since there are only six female Democrats out of 29 total, about 21 percent, Commisso said the numbers make it difficult.

"We only have so many females, unfortunately, and we try our best to put them into different roles."

Studies tracking women in government show that despite making up 51 percent of the population, females, like minorities, are underrepresented in positions of political and policymaking power.

In recent decades, the pressure to have a government that reflects the demographics of the people it serves has increased.

The importance of diversity is a subject Justice Karen Peters, the presiding justice of the Appellate Division, 3rd Department, has spent decades discussing. In 1992, she became the first woman to be elected to the Supreme Court's trial bench in the 3rd Judicial District, and said the way candidates are selected hinders integration.

"Part of it is that historically, the political process... was ground upon people who knew each other nominating each other, and it was very hard to break into that circle," Peters said.

Barriers to inclusion were also noticed by Albany's first female mayor, Kathy Sheehan, who said after she won her first race for treasurer in 2009, she found navigating the party's structure to be challenging.

"I was never involved with the Democratic Party because it seemed impenetrable... 'Old boys club' is not necessarily the way I would view it, because there were women on the committees. But certainly male dominated," Sheehan said.

"And really, it was just very insular."

asanto@timesunion.com • 518-454-5008 • @alysiasanto

Milton

The U.S. government will provide an extra $24 million that will prevent the shutting down of a nuclear reactor at the Knolls Atomic Power Laboratory's Kesselring site, U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer said Wednesday.

The Navy will provide $16 million so that sailor training can continue at the site, and the Department of Energy will provide $8 million for the operation of a Connecticut-based computer system necessary to keep the reactor running, he said.

"It was a tightrope walk, and fortunately we succeeded," Schumer said. "This is hundreds of jobs for the Capital Region, and it's important for the security of our nation."

Closing the reactor would cause hundreds of sailors and about 100 employees to be reassigned outside the region or laid off, federal officials have said.

The reactor is one of two operated by Knolls Atomic Power Laboratory at the Kenneth Kesselring site in West Milton. About 1,000 Navy cadets attend Kesselring each year to learn to operate the 97 nuclear reactors that power aircraft carriers and submarines. Some 450 sailors train at any one time.

Schumer had called Navy Secretary Ray Mabus Jr. and Energy Secretary Ernest Moniz to ask for funding needed to keep the Naval Nuclear Propulsion Program at the Kesselring site operating at full capacity.

"When things fall between two agencies, each wants the other to take responsibility," Schumer said.

Last month, the senator said this year's funding gap had to be closed by July to avoid an Oct. 1 shutdown of the one reactor. He asked the Department of Energy to free up $24 million from its budget or the Defense Department that oversees the Navy's budget to transfer the needed funds to the Energy Department.

Schumer said closing one of the reactors used for training could force up to 700 personnel to relocate out of the area.

"Our nuclear submarines and our nuclear vessels are very important," he said. "If we don't have adequate Navy training for them, we have big trouble. We were in danger of losing half the program."

Earlier this year, Congress reduced funding for the naval propulsion program by $151 million in its bill that pays for federal government operations through September. That led the Bechtel Marine Propulsion Corp., which manages Knolls, to threaten to shut down a reactor at Kesselring if it did not obtain at least $24 million in funding for deferred maintenance.

Sen. Kirsten Gillibrand and U.S. Reps. Paul D. Tonko, D-Amsterdam, Chris Gibson, R-Kinderhook, and Bill Owens, D-Plattsburgh also had called for the reactor to be kept on line.

"This is a great relief to the hundreds of families affected by this decision," Gillibrand said in a statement from her office. "The Kesselring site is vital to our national security and we must continue to ensure that appropriate funding remains in place to maintain our military readiness. I applaud the Navy for their willingness to deliver this funding and ensure this facility will continue to serve our strategic purposes and continue its role in the regional economy."

Schumer said he is committed to continue fighting so the program remains in place in future years.

"We are going to have to work very hard," he said.

tobrien@timesunion.com • 518-454-5092 • @timobrientu

Albany

The retrial of former Senate Majority Leader Joseph L. Bruno is in the hands of a federal jury.

The panel of nine women and three men began deliberations around 3:15 p.m. following instructions from U.S. District Court Chief Judge Gary L. Sharpe. They broke for the day after two hours and are scheduled to return at 9 a.m. Friday.

Bruno, 85, a Brunswick Republican who served as the leader of the GOP-controlled Senate from Jan. 1 1995 to June 24, 2008, faces a potential sentence ranging from probation to multiple years in prison if convicted on two counts of honest services fraud.

"I have a lot of faith in the good Lord and the jury system," Bruno said as he left the James T. Foley U.S. Courthouse in the rain late Thursday afternoon.

Earlier, the one-time political powerhouse sat and listened as his co-defense attorney, E. Stewart Jones of Troy, delivered an emotional closing argument to jurors in which he blasted the government's case as a "blood lust" he said was eight years in the making.

"They don't care about the truth. They want Senator Bruno's scalp. Truth be damned," Jones told the jury in a booming voice.

Placing his hands on Bruno's shoulders, Jones said: "Do not let your verdict convict an innocent man by wrongful conviction."

Federal prosecutors countered that Bruno knowingly received bribes and kickbacks when he was paid $360,000 in consulting fees by Loudonville businessman Jared E. Abbruzzese between 2004 and 2006. The payments were made at a time when Abbruzzese had a stake in Bruno's legislative authority. Prosecutors said the payoffs included Abbruzzese's additional $80,000 purchase from Bruno of a race horse described by government experts as "worthless." The senator received a $40,000 payment for the horse and the remaining $40,000 was forgiven due to a debt with Abbruzzese. The horse, which Abbruzzese later gave away, was insured for $10,000.

A federal jury convicted Bruno on the same charges in December 2009, but the conviction was vacated after the U.S. Supreme Court ruling retooled the "honest services" law in an unrelated case. The ruling found the charge of honest services must include proof of a kickback or bribe. Federal prosecutors obtained permission to retry Bruno from a mid-level federal appeals court that determined there was enough evidence to support a second trial under the new standards.

Assistant U.S, Attorney Elizabeth Coombe, who prosecuted the case with Assistant U.S. Attorney William Pericak, showed the jury a color-coded chart to illustrate details of Bruno's alleged crimes.

Abbruzzese testified that he hired Bruno as a consultant for "stature" to attend dinners and make introductions to important people, such as Donald Trump. But Coombe said most of those activities — including the meeting with Trump — took place in 2006, months after the consulting agreement ended.

"There's no evidence of any consulting work the defendant did," she told the jury, suggesting the real reason for Bruno's payments were aimed at giving Abbruzzese an advantage in his interests in state government matters, including his efforts to win the franchise to operate New York's thoroughbred race tracks.

Abbruzzese also held an eight percent stake in Evident Technologies, a Troy nanotechnology company that was in line to receive $1.5 million in state aid under a commitment Bruno made in September 2002. The funding was expected to arrive in three installments of $500,000. Abbruzzese helped Evident secure the grants in return for his company, Niskayuna Development, being allowed to buy 85,423 shares of Evident stock. The shares were to be purchased in three installments that coincided with the delivery of the state grants.

Coombe said by February 2004, Evident had still not received a $250,000 grant which was the second half of the first $500,000 installment. She said Abbruzzese was frustrated and unsuccessful in getting Bruno to release the money until February 2004, after Abbruzzese took the senator on his private jet on a trip to Palm Beach, Fla., that included pricey restaurant outings and rounds of golf at exclusive clubs.

On the flight back to New York, Bruno suggested he go to work for Abbruzzese as a consultant. Coombe told the jury the offer by Bruno on the jet was "so unexpected that even Jared Abbruzzese said it was inappropriate."

Abbruzzese was not a cooperating government witness. He testified under a court order that granted him testimonial immunity that prevented him from invoking his constitutional right against self-incrimination.

Jones, who is Bruno's co-counsel with Albany attorney William J. Dreyer, told jurors Bruno was "available to do as Jared Abbruzzese saw fit to use him as a consultant."

Jones slammed federal prosecutors for never asking Abbruzzese whether or not he bribed Bruno. And, borrowing a famous line uttered by Jack Nicholson in the film "A Few Good Men," he said the federal government cannot handle the truth.

"They never asked the question," Jones said. "If you don't ask those questions, it's because you don't want to know the answers."

A central part of the government's allegations are that Bruno tried to remove past-New York Racing Association co-chairmen Steve Duncker and Peter Karches because they opposed privatization and arguably stood in the way of Abbruzzese's plan to privatize the operation of horse racing in New York. Jones countered that it was a good plan at the time as he characterized NYRA as a "criminal organization." He also said that Bruno's concern over NYRA in 2005 was fueled by the scandal-scarred racing association's well-documented financial woes — not because Abbruzzese was tied to a group that wanted to replace it.

"Thank God Senator Bruno wanted horse-racing to continue in the state of New York," Jones said. "Senator Bruno wanted Saratoga to survive."

Jones skewered the prosecution's case while dropping references to U.S. presidents Abraham Lincoln and Andrew Jackson — and Bruno's ties to the refurbished Albany International Airport, an upgraded Amtrak station and GlobalFoundries in Malta. He told jurors Bruno "is the embodiment of our community!"

Pericak, in his rebuttal, compared Abbruzzese to Pinnocchio — saying his nose could reach the back of the room due to lies.

The annual White Tea and nursing pinning ceremony was held at Maria College on Thursday in Albany.

East Nassau

A family on Cold Water Tavern Road is mourning the loss of a son with a zest for life that knew no bounds, a smile that could light up a room and thousands of adoring Capital Region fans who never knew his name.

A couple of times a week between October and April, Alexander Held's hair was red, his eyes black and big as plates, his horns were white, shoe size was 18 and his favorite song was "Who Let the Dogs Out."

The 22-year-old, who was the man who portrayed the Albany Devils hockey team mascot Devil Dawg, died Saturday at his home after an accidental fall, his family said.

Maria Maloney of Ballston Lake, an Albany hockey fan since the 1980s and Devils season ticket holder, knew Devil Dawg well. "He was like part of our family and under that suit was a wonderful person we never saw or knew but, oh, the kids loved him. We all did," she said.

Maloney regularly takes her children, grandchildren and nieces and nephews to the games at the Times Union Center. "Devil Dawg was always there for us, ready with a handshake and a hug or high-five for the kids. We did not know who was in there but we knew he was truly a good soul."

Held's family said he was attending Hudson Valley Community College, that he was a hard worker, sometimes holding down three jobs, and a fanatic Boston Bruins, Red Sox and, especially, New England Patriots fan.

His mother, Jackie Held, said her son likely got the mascot bug when he won an opportunity to participate in a halftime event in 2010 at the 68,000-plus-seat Gillette Stadium in Foxborough, Mass., during a Patriots game.

"I swear, we had to tie him down to his seat he was so excited," Jackie Held said.

Held started to don the mascot suit just past the halfway mark of the 2012-13 season and was in it for the entire 2013-14 season that ended last month.

"He only missed one game this past season — to go to see the Red Sox," said Kevin Zalaznik, senior director of public relations for the Devils. "Alex knew how to skate in that suit, which is not easy. He really practiced at it. I had to get into that thing once and did not like it, but Alex loved it and really put his heart into that character."

Maloney and her family knew something was amiss at the game Held missed.

"We knew something was wrong because Devil Dawg just walked past us and the kids like we were not there," Maloney said. "We knew there had to be someone else inside there and asked, but they keep that stuff confidential so we never got an answer. We knew, though."

Held was the first Dawg who could skate.

"A big thrill for Alex was when he got to go out and skate across the ice in the Dawg suit, and knowing that he was the first Devil Dawg to do so," said his father, Bill Held. "Alex also understood the roll of the Dawg was to make the game fun for the kids. He always had time for shaking hands and taking pictures with the kids. He never forgot the character of the Dawg, which was to be slightly devilish."

"It's hard when you realize how many people he touched who are finding out who he really was in this way," Jackie Held said. "We sometimes have to have our quiet time to think of him and help his younger sister, Mackenzie, who is devastated. They were very close."

Maloney said her family wishes they could have met the man behind the mask but got an idea of his age at one game. She said Dawg would hug all her family but one younger female member.

"He seemed nervous around her and would just shake her hand," Maloney said. "Then, at one game, he sidled up to her and gently patted her on the arm with his big paw. We knew then he was a nice young man."

Donations in Held's memory may be made to the other love of his life, the Boy Scouts of America Troop 166, 5220 N.Y. 203, Nassau, NY 12123.

bgardinier@timesunion.com • 518-454-5696 • @BobGardinier

Albany

Sandra Goldstein gashed her leg in a freak accident, it was bleeding profusely and throbbing in pain as she leaned on her shopping cart, alone in the produce aisle at the Price Chopper on Madison Avenue.

"It was gushing. Pools of blood. It was horrible. I was going into shock," recalled Goldstein, a senior who walks with a cane.

It was Friday night, the grocery store was largely empty and she started yelling. "Help! Oh my God! I'm hurt! Somebody help me!"

A man in his early 20s appeared, pulled off his T-shirt, twisted it into a tourniquet and tied it snugly over the long, deep cut on Goldstein's left shin to stanch the heavy flow of blood.

The good Samaritan, who stuck around with his girlfriend and comforted Goldstein until paramedics arrived, did not provide his name. Now, Goldstein is trying to find the mystery man so she can thank him for his uncommon kindness and give him a gift.

Store employees who assisted Goldstein also did not get the young man's name and his face was obscured in surveillance camera footage, making it difficult to identify him, said Mona Golub, the Price Chopper spokeswoman.

"We can appreciate her wanting to thank that person, but we have no way of knowing who he is," Golub said. "It's wonderful whenever someone takes action to help someone else."

Neither Goldstein nor Golub could explain how she cut her leg on the edge of a display case that had a plastic cover around the sharp edges, according to Golub. An incident report has been filed as standard procedure, Golub said.

Goldstein hoped that by sharing her story, somebody who was at the store Friday night at about 8:10 p.m. when the accident occurred might know who he is and could encourage him to come forward.

Goldstein's sister, Marcia, had just finished paying for her groceries at the checkout line when she heard her sister's screams in the back of the store. She and a cashier went to her aid.

"It was horrible. There was so much blood and she was in a lot of pain," her sister said.

She described the good Samaritan as Caucasian, about 6 feet tall, with light brown hair. Shirtless, he wore a beige Army-style fatigue jacket. His girlfriend was a tall, attractive blonde woman also white and in her early 20s. "She was movie-star pretty," Marcia Goldstein said. "They were both so nice and wonderful. That's why we want to find them. A lot of people wouldn't have done anything."

In fact, her sister recalled that a middle-aged woman who was shopping blithely walked past her at the end of the aisle as she was bleeding and calling for help.

Goldstein was treated in the emergency department at St. Peter's Hospital for a four-inch gash on her shin. She did not receive stitches because the skin around the shin was deemed too thin.

Goldstein visited an Urgent Care on Thursday to check on pain and swelling of her shin and to have the bandage changed.

Goldstein is very sensitive about her age and declined to disclose it, but she made a reference to taking good care of her legs, "even if they're not Betty Grable legs."

The senior sisters live together in their parents' house on Madison Avenue in Pine Hills and they are regular customers at the Price Chopper, a few blocks away.

"I would like to express my gratitude for that young man's kindness," Sandra Goldstein said. "It renewed my faith in people, especially young people."

She quoted Blanche DuBois in "A Streetcar Named Desire."

"I have always depended on the kindness of strangers," she said.

pgrondahl@timesunion.com • 518-454-5623 • @PaulGrondahl

Former Rensselaerville Town Supervisor Marie Dermody put out only two issues of her new community newsletter before she received a "cease and desist" letter from the town.

The "R'ville Community Newsletter" is filled with mostly meeting minutes and community event listings, but there are also sections where Dermody is critical of the town she once presided over.

But that was not the issue raised by Rensselaerville's attorney, Thomas Fallati.

The problem, Fallati wrote, is the publication's title, which "creates a substantial likelihood of confusion because residents might think it's affiliated with town government."

The town is demanding that she either add a disclaimer to the front page telling readers that the town does not publish it, or halt publication, and Dermody says she won't be doing either of those things.

"I cannot allow myself to be bullied," she said.

She started the publication this March, about a year after Rensselaerville's official newsletter was suspended for financial reasons. It had been a town tradition, sent in the mail to residents for more than 20 years.

Georgette Koenig and Nancy Class joined Dermody in the new project; all three women edited the now-defunct town newsletter when Dermody was supervisor.

Fallati, who is retained as an attorney for the town but works for an Albany law firm, responded to an interview request with a statement from the town:

"The authors of the unofficial newsletter have an absolute right to publish a newsletter, but not an absolute right to use any name or format, particularly when Town residents find the name confusing. Indeed, Town residents have confused the unofficial newsletter as being an official Town newsletter."

Those who are confused might not be reading very carefully.

All of the issues contain disclaimers, like this one from the April edition:

"Some people are under the misunderstanding that this publication is a revival of the Town's newsletter of the past. Nothing could be further from the truth. This newsletter represents a community effort by the people for the people" (emphasis in original).

That was on the last page, but anyone who actually read all 22 pages of that edition might have already gathered that when they came across the "Did you know..." sections where the publication digs at elected officials, such as when it highlights that the town paid $250 to a town councilman for his used paper shredder. It also claims the highest-paid elected official "earns a full-time salary while only working part-time."

Neither employee is named. Both challenged her claims at a recent Town Board meeting.

Dermody says the information is true. "We're trying very hard to be non-political, factual, and truthful."

Being non-political, or at least maintaining that perception, will be difficult to pull off given Dermody's history. She's a Democrat who resigned as town supervisor in 2012 because "the political balance on the board reversed" to the Republicans, she said, and she felt she was no longer going to be able to get what she wanted done.

None of this kerfuffle makes it into that cease-and-desist letter, though.

After it came in the mail, she contacted attorneys, including Bob Freeman, the executive director of the Committee on Open Government, who advised her she wasn't doing anything wrong.

Dermody has opted to not respond to the town directly, but rather, through the newsletter. The May issue contains the attorney's letter, printed in full, alongside a message from Freeman:

"I congratulate you... on your courage and for standing up to the effort to censor you and your colleagues. Often, the government wants to manage the news, and that is why what you do is so important."

In an interview, Freeman said the letter was "heavy handed" and "intended to intimidate."

The newsletter is sent by email to 124 residents of the 1,800-person town, but Dermody supposes it has more readers than that. Criticism of the town government aside, Dermody said all she really wants is the old newsletter back.

If the town resumes publishing a newsletter "in the format we're used to, we'll stop publication," said Dermody.

"It's a lot of work putting this all together... We don't feel we want to do this for the rest of our lives."

Saratoga Springs

A plan to build a hotel and other attractions at Saratoga Casino and Raceway gained some traction this week as the state began a 30-day public comment period and horsemen publicly backed the project.

In letters sent Wednesday to state and local agencies, the New York State Gaming Commission named itself and the state Office of General Services lead agencies in a required environmental impact review of the racino's $30 million expansion project. The commission designated the state Department of Environmental Conservation as an involved agency, meaning it, too, has jurisdictional control. It listed the city, Saratoga County and others as interested agencies that can comment.

Receipt of the letters kick off a month-long process in which interested parties can challenge the commission's lead agency status or submit concerns about the two-phase, 134,000-square-foot expansion. The racino filed plans with the commission to construct a 108-room hotel, pool, spa and fitness center, 137-seat steakhouse and 28-seat coffeehouse, and then a 2,000-seat event center. While some have urged city leaders to legally challenge the state's control over the project, Mark Schachner, a city attorney who specializes in the state Environmental Quality Review Act (SEQRA), said last week that would not be an efficient use of city resources.

The state asserts its tax law preempts local control over the construction, improvements and operation of video lottery gaming facilities. That's been upheld twice, including in 2005-06, when the city forced and lost a lead agency dispute over a previous Saratoga Casino and Raceway expansion project. Lead agency disputes are settled by the state DEC commissioner, and, if anything, recent modifications to state law have firmed up the state's preemption, Schachner said Thursday.

Yepsen said Thursday that a majority of the City Council did not believe it would be prudent to challenge the gaming commission for "lead agency" status. "Over the next 30 days, we look forward to listening to our citizens' thoughts on this project, and we will be relaying public comments to the New York State Gaming Commission and Saratoga Casino and Raceway," Yepsen said.

Saratoga Casino and Raceway representatives are seeking advisory opinions from city officials.

They spoke before the City Council last week and the Planning Board on Wednesday. At this week's meeting, Thomas McTygue, secretary of the Saratoga Harness Horsepersons Association, said the group supported the racino's expansion, part of which would be built on a training track at the site.

The group's backing is necessary for the racino to move the project forward under state Racing, Pari-Mutuel Wagering and Breeding Law. In a letter sent to the state gaming commission last week, President Barry Segel said the association's board did not oppose the project or the loss of the track. "This support is based on management of Saratoga Casino and Raceway committing to keeping the main track open year-round with additional training hours and maintaining the sand track in the backstretch on a year-round basis," Segel wrote.

The gaming commission also named the Saratoga Springs Preservation Foundation, Saratoga County Sewer District, state Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation, and state Transportation Department as interested agencies. The racino would make utility and storm water management upgrades as part of the expansion.

"I think we're starting to move in a positive direction," racino Vice President Skip Carlson said Thursday.

Saratoga Casino and Raceway estimates it could lose 30 to 40 percent of its business and about 250 of its 630 employees when a casino with table games opens in the region. That could happen by November 2016.

The company that owns the racino has applied for a license from the state to open a full-scale casino in East Greenbush. If it wins the license, that could help save about 175 to 200 jobs in Saratoga, Carlson said.

"I really think this is an important project for us at this time," he said. "I feel like it can give this property a shot in the arm."

Saratoga Springs City Center President Mark Baker, who last week asked the city council to use all "legal, legislative or civil" remedies to gain local control over the project, declined comment.

dyusko@timesunion.com • 518-454-5353 • @DAYusko

In advance of Friday's National Bike to Work Day, five Times Union reporters and editors rode to work to get a firsthand view of the benefits and challenges.

Arts Editor Gary Hahn is a regular bike commuter with experience under his wheels. Times Union Editor Rex Smith is an avid cyclist but had never tried riding to work before. Staff writers Tim O'Brien and Cathleen F. Crowley had little experience with bike commuting and were nervous about taking the trip. All emerged with the same reaction: They'd love to bike commute more often if their work days were more conducive to it — except State Editor Casey Seiler, whose work days often keep him at the Capitol and who realized his commute could be shorter if he parked the car.

Here are their accounts of their experiences:

RIDER: Tim O'Brien, transportation writer

BIKED FROM: West Albany to Colonie

DISTANCE: 3 miles (one way)

KEY FINDING: Please don't toss trash at the side of the road.

It had been two years since I'd been on a bike (ironically, since buying a helmet) and I'll admit to being a bit nervous about managing Albany Shaker Road and the Maxwell Road roundabout.

I did not want to make a left at the busy corner of Albany Shaker and Osborne roads, as I do when driving, so I figured out a way to ride through side streets and come out half a mile closer to work. I discovered Albany Shaker does have wide shoulders except coming back to Albany Shaker and Osborne when you near that intersection. (I have no qualms about making a right there coming home, though in the end I chose to cut through The Crossings.)

Other than a bug that flew in my mouth during a practice ride (Pa-too!), the commute was easy. No cars honked, people gave me room, and even the roundabout was effortless. It helped I was not riding at rush hour.

You do notice things riding a bike you don't in a car: a normally invisible incline suddenly makes you pedal harder. Those sewer grates by the side of the road are no fun to ride over but sometimes it's better than moving into the lane. The dirt swept to the side of the road makes it slippery, and people who throw junk at the side of the road are inconsiderate jerks. Hey, I'm riding there!

RIDER: Cathleen F. Crowley, reporter

BIKED FROM: Guilderland to Colonie

DISTANCE: 5.6 miles (one way)

KEY FINDING: Roundabouts are scary.

I biked to work, once. I quit because my trip (at least the quickest route) took me up Fuller Road, across Central Avenue and then the length of Wolf Road to the Times Union. Cars came too close and a bus almost nicked me taking a right turn onto Wolf from Central.

This time, I mapped out a route that traveled mostly quiet residential roads and a bike path in The Crossings. That part was delightful, especially on the sunny morning I chose to ride.

But there was no avoiding the three roundabouts on Fuller Road. As I approached each rotary, the bike lanes – if you can really call them that – disappeared. The little white line painted on the pavement a few feet away from the edge of the road slanted quickly toward the curb, forcing me into traffic. I know state law allows bicyclists to ride in the middle of a car lane when the road is too narrow for a car and bikers to ride side by side, but few motorists know that. Inside the rotary, I used my Superman stare to catch the eye of drivers trying to enter in front of me. It was truly uncomfortable. I love to drive through roundabouts, but biking through them feels life-threatening.

RIDER: Rex Smith, editor

ROUTE: From Brunswick, through Troy and Watervliet, to Colonie

DISTANCE: 11.6 miles (one way)

KEY FINDING: It's better if you don't have to work afterward.

I love biking, but I had never ridden to work before because of what happens after the ride — you know, work.

I ride in workout gear, because if I'm doing it right I sweat. But my usual workday uniform is a suit and tie. Bicycle commuting challenges that crisp-and-pressed thing. And what about out-of-office meetings, sometimes over lunch? Do I change into my gear again for an hour's ride to Jack's for crabcakes?

But one gorgeous morning last week I carefully loaded office clothes into a backpack and headed west. I glided downhill and then pedaled back up again to the Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute campus, then cruised down the steep slope into Troy and across the Green Island Bridge. I wound my way through Watervliet's side streets, climbed a wicked hill on Troy-Schenectady Road (Route 2) to Delatour Road, where I cut south and into a leafy area of Colonie. It was easy from there on in.

I often wished for wider shoulders on the roads. But my only moment of panic came as darkness fell on the trip home: I had gotten held up at work, and the eastbound climb took longer than I expected. I made it just at sunset.

It was fun. I had been so pumped from the ride that I probably doubled my usual daily work output. Based on corporate mileage rates, I saved more than 10 bucks. So if I had a stationary job and no commitment to starched shirts, I could get into the bike commuting habit.

RIDER: Gary Hahn, arts editor

ROUTE: From Albany's Pine Hills neighborhood to Colonie

DISTANCE: 8 miles (one way)

KEY FINDING: Stay in touch with your Spidey-sense.

Here's how I keep alert when I'm biking to work: Everyone I see behind the wheel of a car is a drunken texter who cheated to pass the eye exam on their last trip to the DMV.

I've been biking to the Times Union for years, and up until recently, I would have to bike home in the wee hours of the morning. The good news is there is less traffic. The bad news is all traffic is suspect. You can arrive home at 2 a.m. with enough leftover adrenaline to begin house projects.

I know that even when I get behind the wheel of a car, I often do not think of "cyclist" first, so I can only imagine what non-cyclists must not be thinking about.

Here's my mea culpa. I am not one of those cyclists who adhere to every driving rule. I sometimes jump onto a sidewalk when I see road-work messiness ahead. I occasionally bike on the left-hand side of the road to avoid crossing and re-crossing. And when I'm at an intersection where there is no traffic in any direction, etc.

Now you, the driver, might say that after the above admissions I should recuse myself from climbing onto any high horse and complaining about driving habits, and you would be right. I came of biking age in the no-helmet era, and I have spent years being mostly successful in removing any bad biking habits from my repertoire. That said, if we are all to share the road, I have to do my share in following rules. What I do know is that any action I take will most likely cost me more dearly than the guy driving a Humvee.

RIDER: Casey Seiler, state editor

ROUTE: From Pine Hills neighborhood to the Capitol

DISTANCE: 2 miles (one way)

KEY FINDING: I could get there quicker on two wheels.

I'm a regular bike rider, but not to or from work — a great waste during the most pleasant weeks of spring and fall, when you don't have to worry about freezing to death or sweating through business attire.

Tie tucked into shirt, I pedaled on Madison Avenue, although narrow Myrtle Avenue just two blocks south offers a one-way eastbound alternative. The greatest challenge was faced alongside Washington Park, where the pavement in the biker's margin is pocked and treacherous, a problem amplified by sewer covers that seem to be set about an inch below street level.

It is with shame I admit to arriving at the Empire State Plaza just 12 minutes after leaving home. Most days, it takes me longer to drive the same stretch.

For those who'd rather not lock their bikes outdoors at the Capitol complex, there's a little-known locked enclosure next to the bus turnaround near the midpoint of the underground concourse. The state Office of General Services provides keys for a nominal fee.

Which leaves me — at least on sunny days — fresh out of excuses.

Cohoes

The Cohoes Music Hall reopened for its performance Friday night, a day after city officials closed the theater amid safety concerns about electrical work in the building.

Jim Charles, the artistic director for C-R Productions, met patrons arriving for Thursday's performance of "Little Shop of Horrors" to advise them it had been canceled.

The city posted a warning sign on the 58 Remsen St. building declaring it unsafe Thursday afternoon.

Charles questioned why the city took so long to act. Repairs were being made Friday.

Mayor George Primeau said Thursday a city inspection last week raised issues about how the stage lights were wired in the historic building. He indicated that the setup was "jury rigged."

"They've got a serious problem over there," Primeau said. He said the city could not get its outside underwriters in until this week.

The mayor said he didn't want to shut down the performance, particularly after illness among the performers had canceled shows last week, but there was a major safety concern.

Other organizations that use the building, the RiverSpark state Heritage Area and the Cohoes Historical Society, were temporarily without a home.

Albany

The first time a federal jury weighed the fate of former Senate Majority Leader Joseph L. Bruno on political corruption charges, the panel deliberated for 55 hours over seven days before convicting the charismatic Brunswick Republican of two counts of "honest services" mail fraud.

On Friday, a second jury cleared him of those same charges after just four hours behind closed doors.

"I put my head down when I heard 'not guilty, not guilty' because I was kind of trying to comprehend what I just heard," a jubilant Bruno, 85, told the Times Union, celebrating the verdict with a glass of wine inside a private room at Jack's Oyster House, a short walk from the U.S. District Courthouse. "It was totally unexpected that they were going to give a verdict. Nobody thought they would give a verdict. It almost sets a record. But that makes me feel good. Honest to God, I dedicated my adult life to public service."

In a chaotic conclusion to a nine-year-old case, the jury initially delivered a note to U.S. District Court Chief Judge Gary L. Sharpe before noon reporting that one juror had mentioned her involvement on the trial to her boss. The juror stayed on, but neither she — nor her 11 fellow jurors — were there for long.

About 12:15 p.m., the panel of nine women and three men delivered its verdict — not guilty on all counts.

It still had not sunk in, Bruno said at Jack's. He was flocked by his lawyers, partner Kay Stafford, daughters, son Kenneth and supporters, who included New York Post columnist Fred Dicker.

"No one can imagine, unless you have experienced it, to have the government, the United States of America, trying to put you in prison, for the rest of your life probably in my case," Bruno said.

"We are totally vindicated," he said, praising God and his attorneys.

Bruno, a Glens Falls native who built a successful telecommunications business before being elected to the state Senate in 1976, led the Republican-controlled state Senate for more than 13 years after a successful coup to topple then-Senate Majority Leader Ralph Marino in 1994. Bruno, a Korean War veteran and one-time boxer, became a favorite of the state Capitol press corps with his charisma and talkative nature.

Bruno was convicted of the fraud charges in 2009 in a trial at which jurors acquitted him of five other fraud counts and could not decide on a sixth count.

Sharpe, who presided over that trial, sentenced Bruno to two years in prison but the conviction was thrown out when the Supreme Court ruled in another case that honest services must include proof of a kickback or bribe. Federal prosecutors received permission to retry Bruno when a mid-level appeals court found sufficient evidence existed to support another trial under the new standards.

"There should never have been a retrial. Never," Bruno said of the federal government's effort to convict him. "That was persecution, not prosecution. That never, never, never should have happened — and the tragedy is, it's all at the taxpayers expense."

Bruno attorney William Dreyer argued the case was not a retrial, but a second case against a man whose conviction had been vacated.

"That's got to be clarified," Bruno said. "I was never truly convicted of anything wrong. Ever!"

During an impassioned closing argument Thursday, Bruno attorney E. Stewart Jones suggested that federal prosecutors were out for blood.

"They don't care about the truth. They want Senator Bruno's scalp. Truth be damned," Jones told the jury.

U.S. Attorney Richard Hartunian told reporters: "We don't seek people's scalps ... we bring cases without fear or favor."

He defended the decision on a second trial. He disagreed with the notion that Bruno was not initially convicted.

"At the end of the day the jury felt, obviously, that we did not meet our burden of proof," Hartunian told reporters, joined by Assistant U.S. Attorneys Elizabeth Coombe and William Pericak, who tried the case. In a rarity, his office issued a news release for an acquittal.

He said justice was served and his office respected the verdict.

Bruno is so popular, the minor league stadium in Troy — "The Joe" — bears his name, and there's a bust of him in Albany International Airport. Hartunian said Bruno's contributions to the area would have been something for the judge to consider at sentencing, if he was convicted, but should have had no influence on the jury. But he acknowledged he could not get in jurors' heads.

One juror, Ann Loughman of Albany, said no one overriding factor ultimately swayed the panel for acquittal.

"There was a lot of discussion back and forth that went into things," said Loughman, adding that jurors were respectful to each other. "Every voice was heard."

The heart of the case were allegations he accepted $360,000 in consulting payments that federal prosecutors alleged were just a cover for bribes and kickbacks in exchange for his political influence as one of the state government's three most powerful politicians.

The man paying him $20,000 a month to be a consultant, Jared Abbruzzese, 59, who now lives in Jupiter, Fla., also paid Bruno for a horse the federal prosecutors said was "worthless." The official sale price of the horse — which was insured for $10,000 — was $80,000. Abbruzzese hired Bruno in February 2004 after failing to convince the state Senate to release a $250,000 grant it had promised to Evident Technologies, a Troy-based company in which Abbruzzese held a stake. Evident had been expected to receive a total of $1.5 million in state aid under a commitment Bruno made in September 2002. The dollars were to arrive in three installments of $500,000.

As compensation for his help, Abbruzzese's firm, Niskayuna Development, would buy 85,423 shares of Evident stock to coincide with the state grants. By February 2004, when Abbruzzese was admittedly frustrated the money had not arrived, he invited Bruno aboard his private jet for a weekend in Palm Beach, Fla. On the flight back, Bruno suggested he work for Abbruzzese as a consultant; he began working for Abbruzzese that month. Within five days, Bruno ordered the grant be moved to Evident. The FBI began investigating Bruno in December 2005 after learning of flights Bruno took in a jet supplied by Abbruzzese.

Bruno said he would at long last be able to sleep.

"It's behind us for the first time in nine years," he said. "It's like the first day of the rest of my life, Kay's life, my family's life, the first day of the rest of our lives."

rgavin@timesunion.com • 518-434-2403 • @RobertGavinTU

Albany

More people could face charges for taking part in a scheme to use identities stolen from patients at Albany Medical Center, Sheriff Craig Apple said Friday.

Suzette Guzman-Moore, 45, a nurse at Albany Med since 2010, and her boyfriend, Emmett Woods, 25, were arrested May 7 on charges of criminal possession of forged instruments and stolen property, identity theft and scheming to defraud, all felonies. Both remain in the county jail.

No other Albany Medical Center employees are suspected to be involved, Apple said, but there may be people who became involved in using the identities once they were stolen.

"We're finding we may be able to pinpoint a couple more people who were attached to this," he said.

The sheriff has said Guzman-Moore recorded names and information from labels on patient folders, then found their Social Security numbers on a hospital computer. Using that information, Guzman-Moore and Woods were then able to apply for credit cards and create phony checks.

The number of confirmed victims continues to grow, Apple said.

"We are up to over 100," he said. "We've also got a couple dozen of deceased (victims). People who passed away, their Social Security numbers were used on other people's tax returns."

Fraudulent tax returns were filed in the deceased victims' names, Apple said, in an attempt to get refunds from the Internal Revenue Service, Apple said. Relatives who had legitimate reasons to claim the deceased on their tax forms then had their returns questioned by the IRS because their Social Security numbers were showing up as still active.

The case includes an almost overwhelming amount of data that investigators are combing through, Apple said.

"We're getting so much information, so many applications for credit," he said. "I can't say it all came from the hospital."

So far, 50 of the identities were stolen from the hospital, he said. His agency is preparing a list of additional victims' names to run by Albany Medical Center to see if they too were patients.

tobrien@timesunion.com • 518-454-5092 • @timobrientu

Schenectady

After weeks of cleaning every charred surface from a fire in March, the walls of St. Anthony's Church are finally gleaming with promise.

On March 7, flames and smoke from a furnace malfunction in the basement and water used to fight the fire damaged the Roman Catholic church at Nott Street and Seward Place.

The fire damaged the altar, paintings, statues and stained- glass windows.

The parish has made extensive plans for restoration with its contractor, Legere Restorations, over the past two months, but it has a long way to go. The church is launching a capital campaign this weekend to raise $250,000 to fix the foundation and drainage and make other improvements not covered by insurance.

Frank Ranucci, St. Anthony's office manager, has met with Legere representatives every day after attending morning Mass.

"I used to go to Mass once a week like everyone else, but since the fire, I've started to go every day," Ranucci said. "The tragedy was difficult, but it energized my faith."

While the church is being restored, services and events are at to St. John the Evangelist Church on Union Street.

At each service this weekend, St. Anthony's will show a four-minute video presentation.

"The video is very powerful," Ranucci said. "We tell the story of the church and fire with stills and music, and hope we can make people feel the sorrow they felt in their hearts when the fire happened. I want them to accept some ownership in restoring the church the way previous generations did."

St. Anthony's was founded in 1901 and built in 1921.

"Thousands of families have come through this church," Ranucci said. "Many have had their children baptized here, their parents were married here and their grandparents were buried out of here."

The video will be posted online at www.stanthonys.net early next week, and several benefit dinners and events will occur throughout the year.

Donations may be made to St. Anthony's Church Restoration Fund, 331 Seward Place, Schenectady, NY 12305.

The parish hopes to return to St. Anthony's in late fall.

Ranucci, a lifelong member of St. Anthony's, said the people at St. John's have been wonderful, but he is eager to return to St. Anthony's with the rest of his parish family.

"As Dorothy said in the Wizard of Oz, 'There's no place like home,'" Ranucci said.

kseckinger@timesunion.com • 518-454-5387

Albany

The city's economic development arm could reap more than $1 million by helping the College of Nanoscale Science and Engineering finance its new $191 million hub for renewable energy and clean-technology research, officials said Friday.

Under the proposed arrangement, neither the city nor its Capital Resource Corp., would fund construction of the six-story Zero Energy Nanotechnology building planned for the college's Fuller Road campus.

But in exchange for a transaction fee estimated between $1.4 million and $1.5 million, the CRC would grant the college access to its borrowing power and an estimated $2.3 million break on mortgage taxes, which are split between the state, county, city and Capital District Transportation Authority.

The mortgage tax is 1.25 percent, with one-fifth going to the city. That means a roughly $465,000 mortgage tax break would net Albany about $1 million if the deal is approved, city officials said.

Though the CRC is providing access to the financing, neither it nor the city would be on hook for the $186 million debt should the college default, Mayor Kathy Sheehan said.

"It's really a win all the way around for taxpayers," Sheehan said, noting such transaction fees are one of the city's main sources of development money. "This is a pretty straightforward transaction that results in a significant fee that the city can use for economic development."

Sheehan, who served on the CRC's board as city treasurer, also noted the college is projecting a "pretty remarkable" 1,150 jobs at the site within five years.

The college's application says it will seek bonds that would be subject to income taxes but notes it "may request conversion" to tax-free status in the future.

NanoCollege spokesman Jerry Gretzinger said whether the bonds are taxable depends on whether any of the space is leased to private companies, as the NanoCollege sometimes does.

The college, a source of national prestige for the city, is part of the State University of New York. But its tax-free real-estate, managed by the nonprofit Fuller Road Management Corp., is also home to major tech companies conducting research.

The city's inability to siphon tax revenue from the for-profit tenants has been a sore point. While the scale of the project is not unprecedented for the city, it underscores the NanoCollege's complex relationship with Albany.

"People will rightfully question what does an additional Nanotech building offer to the city in terms of long-range benefits?" said Common Councilman Frank Commisso Jr, who chairs the finance committee.

County Comptroller Michael Conners said the deal might be good for Albany but questioned how the county and CDTA would be compensated for their share of the mortgage tax.

"The upshot is that it's a million dollars less for Fuller Road Management Corp.," Conners said. "If the 800-pound gorilla wants to pay a million less, then they pay a million dollars less."

City Treasurer Darius Shahinfar, a member of the CRC board that will vet the request, noted Albany could get nothing if the college were to finance the project another way.

"If this thing is going to get built and we have no say over it anyway," Shahinfar said, "we might as well get our cut -— for lack of a better word."

jcarleo-evangelist@timesunion.com • 518-454-5445 • @JCEvangelist_TU

Albany Law School

Date: Friday

Venue: Saratoga Performing Arts Center

Degrees awarded: 195 juris doctorates, 3 master of laws

Featured speaker: U.S. Secretary of Agriculture Tom Vilsack, class of 1975

Notable: The Class of 2014 joins an alumni body that includes a U.S. president (William McKinley), two U.S. Supreme Court justices (David Brewer, Robert H. Jackson), and more recently, the governor of New York (Andrew Cuomo) — not to mention the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture.

Albany

U.S. Sen. Chuck Schumer held up a packet of Kool-Aid to illustrate his latest fear and target:

Powdered alcohol sold in pouches similar to the sugary drink mix — easy to carry, conceal and abuse.

Palcohol, as it's already marketed, could be available for purchase by fall if a federal regulator approves its labeling. Schumer has asked the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to step in first and ban the product before any sales take place. The senator — and other government leaders, law enforcement and substance abuse experts at a press event at the Boys & Girls Club of Albany Friday — fear the product will be attractive and dangerous to young people. The powder is intended to be added to liquid to create a drink, according to its manufacturer. But it can also be snorted or sprinkled onto food.

"Palcohol would soon become the Kool-Aid of teenage binge drinking," Schumer said.

Palcohol is a freeze-dried version of vodka, rum and four cocktails. A privately held company, Lipsmark, is awaiting a patent on the product. The federal Alcohol and Tobacco Tax and Trade Bureau (known as TTB) last month granted the product "label approval," -but then retracted it within a couple of weeks due to a discrepancy over the amount of powder in the pouches, according to Schumer.

The company says TTB's request for voluntary withdrawal of its labels was due to political backlash.

Lipsmark has reapplied for label approval and could have it by fall, Schumer said.

Unless the FDA steps in, that would be all the company needs to sell Palcohol. TTB monitors what manufacturers say about the contents of their alcohol and tobacco products, but has no jurisdiction over the actual contents. The FDA is authorized to consider a product's safety.

"We want the FDA to ban it and ban it ahead of time, so we know it will never see the light," Schumer said. Though the FDA is widely criticized for the snail's pace of its regulatory actions, Schumer said he is confident the agency is capable of acting swiftly on Palcohol. It acted within four months to ban a line of beverages called Four Loko that combined alcohol with caffeine, Schumer said. (The malt beverage is still sold, but without the caffeine.)

Lipsmark takes issue with Schumer's contentions about Palcohol, which the senator made public earlier this month. In a response to Schumer, Lipsmark stated on the Palcohol website, "Palcohol has many positive uses and shouldn't be banned. Rather it should be approved, taxed and regulated just like liquid alcohol."

The company's website promotes Palcohol's use by campers, hikers and other travelers who might want to carry a lightweight version of alcoholic beverages. And the product has industrial applications, the company says, including for medical applications in remote areas, where liquid alcohol is either inaccessible or difficult to transport.

"The portability and lightness that Palcohol provides will revolutionize the alcohol industry and provide countless benefits," the company states.

The 4-inch-by-6-inch pouches are larger and more difficult to conceal than 50 mililiter mini liquor bottles, the company claims. And the powder isn't easy to spike a drink with, because it doesn't dissolve instantly in liquid. The website advises against snorting the product or adding it to food.

"We have seen comments about goofballs wanting to snort it. Don't do it!" the website states.

Local leaders at Friday's press event praised Schumer for trying to keep the product from being sold.

Laura Combs, the substance-abuse prevention coordinator for Capital Region BOCES, said she feared Palcohol would increase young people's use of alcohol, already the drug they are most likely to abuse. Albany County Sheriff Craig Apple said if approved, Palcohol would join the list of substances abused by youth and leading to crime.

Bills pending in the state Legislature would place powdered alcohol under the same regulation as the liquid version.

chughes@timesunion.com • 518-454-5417 • @hughesclaire

East Greenbush

A public presentation on the proposed $300 million casino off Thompson Hill Road will be made Monday night, the project's partners announced Thursday night.

Plans for the proposed Casino at East Greenbush project will be presented by representatives of Saratoga Casino and Raceway and Churchill Downs, Inc., followed by a question-and-answer period.

The event is set to run from 7 to 9 p.m., Monday at Columbia High School, 962 Luther Road, East Greenbush. The meeting was announced on the company' Facebook page.

The East Greenbush project is one of five announced casino proposals in the Capital Region. The other sites are at Thruway Exit 23 in Albany, in Schenectady, Howe's Caverns in Schoharie County and in Montgomery County. A Hudson River site in the city of Rensselaer is also under discussion but nothing solid has yet been announced.

The Casino at East Greenbush is touting that its resort facilities "will create thousands of jobs and provide millions in revenue for Rensselaer County and the Town of East Greenbush," according to its promotional flyer for the meeting.

Saratoga

A domestic dispute turned deadly in the small village of Victory, where police say a teenager killed his mother's boyfriend after calling 911 to report that the couple were arguing.

Matthew J. Brown, 18, contacted the Saratoga County Sheriff's 911 line at 11:35 p.m. Friday to report a disagreement between his mother, Heather Brown, 34, and her boyfriend, Derik K. Clark, 32, police said. When state troopers and deputies arrived at the Gates Avenue home the three shared they found Clark upstairs with a knife wound to the neck, law enforcement sources said.

"We have a very difficult situation involving members of the same household that resulted last night in a tragedy," First Assistant District Attorney Karen Heggen said Saturday.

The town does not have a police force, and police responded from an adjoining town. On Saturday, authorities were investigating if Brown stabbed Clark after becoming involved in the argument on behalf of his mother. Attempts to revive Clark failed. Brown was charged with second-degree murder, according to the Saratoga County Sheriff's Office.

Brown is a junior at Schuylerville High School who transferred mid-year from another district. He was arraigned in Stillwater Town Court and sent to the county jail without bail.

"The thoughts and prayers of our entire school community go out to everyone involved in this terrible tragedy," Schuylerville High School Principal Matthew Sickles said.

The homicide would mark the fifth consecutive killing in Saratoga County that involved family members or intimate partners, said Maggie Fronk, executive director of the Domestic Violence and Rape Crisis Services of Saratoga County.

Last year, John Ambrozak, 47, beat, choked and fatally stabbed his mother, Patricia Ambrozak, 75, at their home near Saratoga Lake before taking his own life.

In 2012, Joshua McWain, 28, killed his 59-year-old mother, Carol Stanford, and buried her body under a work shed at their Daniels Road home in Greenfield; he's now serving 19 years to life. The women were killed during arguments with their sons, according to police.

Joey Paul, 27, of Stillwater, was sentenced to 18½ years in prison for shooting her boyfriend, 28-year-old Matthew Furlani, in the head with an AK-47 following an argument in their Schuylerville apartment on July 1, 2012. Paul pleaded guilty to first-degree manslaughter.

In the fifth incident, in August 2011, Robert Monacchio Jr. strangled his wife, Cynthia Monacchio, in the couple's home in Day. He then killed himself with a shotgun.

"I think sometimes our community doesn't realize the extent of domestic violence in the community," Fronk said Saturday.

dyusko@timesunion.com • 518-454-5353 • @DAYusko

The St. Sophia Greek Festival was held Saturday at St. Sophia Greek Orthodox Church in Albany. The event continues from noon to 7 p.m. Sunday. There is free parking and a shuttle from Center for Disability Services on South Manning Boulevard.

Albany

Gambling opponents marshaled a very small army of volunteers Saturday to go door to door in three city wards delivering pamphlets opposing proposals in five regional communities to site a local casino.

"Will there be a casino in Albany?" asked Stephen Hayford talking to volunteers standing around an information table at the edge of Washington Park Saturday. "Not if we have anything to say about it."

Information is still sketchy about a proposal for Albany to get a Las Vegas-style gambling casino. Dubbed the E-23 Casino, the plan by an anonymous developer calls for a casino on property just off the Thruway at Exit 23.

"Only the mayor and the corporation counsel know who the backer is," said Albany Common Council member from Ward 11 Judd Krasher, who attended the event and has opposed the casino plans. "The rest of us on the council, as well as the public, should know what is going on."

Krasher said the majority of residents in his ward voted in favor of the November's proposition to expand gambling, which passed with 57 percent of the statewide vote.

"But, in talking to people now, it has come closer to home and I'm hearing a lot of opposition.

Hayford and other volunteers had amassed a list of 1,400 addresses of homes in three city wards, 6, 8 and 10, and asked workers to go to each of them.

"We want you to take these pamphlets and leave them at people's front doors," Hayford said telling workers not to knock on doors and try to talk to people because it would be too time consuming.

Volunteer Peter Sokaris grabbed a pile of circulars and headed to the Whitehall Road area of the 8th Ward.

"This casino idea is not setting a good example for our kids," Sokaria said. "All sorts of problems come from gambling and only a few will be making money."

Few residents wanted to talk about the casino proposals. One woman said she needed more information on local proposals before she made a decision.

Developers argue the businesses will be a boost to the local economies.

Volunteers also circulated literature announcing a "No Casinos Town Hall Meeting" at 6:45 p.m. Thursday at the First Unitarian Universalist Society of Albany. The speaker will be Robert Steele author of "The Curse: Big-Time Gambling's Seduction of a Small New England Town." The book details the building in the 1990s of both Foxwoods and Mohegan Sun in Steele's native Connecticut.

Besides the E-23 proposal, developers recently proposed a hilltop casino on Thompson Hill near the Thruway in East Greenbush. Backers have teamed with Churchill Downs to be their gaming floor operator, they revealed during a news conference last week. The company is known for its running of the Kentucky Derby.

Earlier this month, it was revealed that two casino operators were taking a hard look at a Hudson River site in the city Rensselaer. The 24-acre riverfront parcel known as De Laet's Landing has its environmental approvals in place, a traffic study and promises of city support.

The former ALCO property, a brownfield site on Nott Street in Schenectady, is also being eyed for a possible casino.

There are also proposal for sitings at Howe's Caverns in Schoharie County and in a 512-acre field at Exit 27 of the Thruway partly in Amsterdam and the town of Florida in Montgomery County.

bgardinier@timesunion.com • 518-454-5696 • @BobGardinier