Albany judge OKs parking lot destruction
A two-year process of eminent domain nearly ended Friday with both a judge’s ruling that 11 parking lots in Albany could be condemned for future economic development, and with the owner's agreement to accept $2.65 million in compensation for them, the Albany Business Journal says. Although the price was agreed to on both sides, the owner can seek more money under New York's eminent domain procedure law, the story says. The Liberty Park area where the lots are has languished for a couple decades.
Merger has been good for Broadview Federal Credit Union
Broadview Federal Credit Union, the area’s largest after the merger of two large credit unions, is finding savings through a newly combined insurance payment, lowered debit card program costs, and in negotiations with vendors. Those savings could hit $100 million or more in the next seven years, the Albany Business Journal says. The credit union is the fifth-largest in New York with 1,400 employees.
Five arrested in gun theft
Washington County sheriff's deputies made five arrests on Saturday in connection with a break-in and theft of the Calamity Jane’s Fire Arms and Fine Shoe store on Dix Avenue in Kingsbury, the Times Union is reporting. The theft occurred on Friday Oct. 21. The charges among the five include grand larceny, criminal possession of a weapon, burglary, criminal possession of stolen property, and criminal possession of a controlled substance, the story reports.
$4.6M to get guns out of at-risk hands
The Office of Attorney General has another $4.6 million to seize firearms from individuals that a court has determined are at-risk and believed to be dangerous. Gov. Kathy Hochul announced the funding on Monday, the Times-Union is reporting. The announcement was made two weeks before the election, as the race for governor tightens and crime elevates as a top issue, and as the state police are having a harder time processing the cases, the story says.
More groups file briefs against Saranac Lake marina project
Three environmental groups say the state should have studied the plan for a Lower Saranac Lake marina expansion before approving it in 2020, the Adirondack Explorer says. In court filings, the groups say the Adirondack Park Agency Act and State Land Master Plan force state agencies to conduct comprehensive environmental analyses before permitting certain projects on private land. “Carrying capacity,” or the amount of human activity that a lake or pond can handle, has emerged as a central question in a case, the story says. Protect the Adirondacks; Adirondack Wild: Friends of the Forest Preserve; and the Sierra Club filed amicus briefs in the appeals case.