Albany | featured news

COLONIE - Charles Carletta, the longtime general counsel at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, has been named chief of staff at Siena College in Loudonville.

SCHENECTADY - Transfinder and the New York BizLab are hosting the first-ever Hack Tech Valley, a 24-hour software coding hack-a-thon Feb. 10 to Feb. 11 at Schenectady County Community College that will have $5,000 in prizes.

HUDSON — A man who appeared to be extremely intoxicated tried to make his escape from police by spraying them with a fire extinguisher, according to police.

The former head of Buffalo's Department of Social Services is expected to be taken into custody on rape and criminal sex act charges Monday afternoon in Albany County Court, according to multiple reports.Al Dirschberger was ordered to resign on Dec. 28 and will turn himself in on Monday, according to WIVB.

Vintage, a new, large wine bar in Albany's warehouse district that is owned by Mike Graney of Graney's sports bar on New Scotland Avenue in Albany and Graney's Stout, across the street from Vintage, is due to open later this week. The official corporate name is Vintage House, but management is simply calling it Vintage.It is located at 897 Broadway, next to Wolff's Biergarten, in what was the longtime home of a moving company and, before that, a repair facility for commercial trucks.

WASHINGTON _ The Senate voted Monday 81-18 to reopen the government after a 60-hour-plus shutdown, approving a resolution that expires Feb. 8 and guarantees a Senate vote on immigration issues including the border wall and continued legal status for young immigrant Dreamers.

A man was taken into custody on Monday afternoon after emergency personnel were unable to stop him from crossing the icy Mohawk River, officials said.Schenectady police and fire personnel tried to help the man, who police did not identify, get off the river between Schenectady and Glenville, Assistant Fire Chief Mike Gillespie said.

SCHENECTADY — A man who poured gasoline on his stepfather and then used a lighter to ignite it received a sentence of 25 years to life in prison Monday morning in state Supreme Court.

ALBANY — In her first annual address to the State University of New York community, new Chancellor Kristina Johnson pledged to boost the public system's reputation on the national stage as a leader in innovation, entrepreneurship and sustainability.

ALBANY - National Grid's proposed new rate plan - which will add about $3.50 this spring to the average monthly gas and electric bill - was crafted by a wide variety of business, environmental and government groups, including Tesla, the Elon Musk owned electric car company, and Walmart.