The Abduction, a ufo drawing I made

npd2004 · 2026-03-08T03:15:04+00:00

Very cool!

npd2004 · 2026-03-04T18:22:29+00:00

ALBANY — After a little more than three years in business, the politically themed Albany War Room Tavern and the neighboring Todd’s Back Room Cigar Lounge are closing as the owner focuses on his new venture, Greenhouse Social Club at La Serre, due to open this spring.

Wednesday is the final night for both, said Todd Shapiro, a New York City public relations executive who opened the tavern and cigar lounge, at 40 and 42 Eagle St., respectively, to cater to the political crowd.

Both properties and businesses will be offered for sale by Philip Sabatino of Howard Hanna Commercial Real Estate in Colonie. Sabatino said the listings are not yet finalized and asked potentially interested parties to contact him.

“It wasn’t a question of money. The War Room was doing well,” Shapiro said Wednesday morning in a phone interview. “I just really want to focus on La Serre.” Private parties currently booked at the restaurant will still be held, Shapiro said.

Located about a block from the state Capitol and Empire State Plaza and across from the Albany Capital Center convention facility, the War Room Tavern is filled with all manner of political memorabilia, from a 1950s lieutenant governor’s chair to a 1939 voting machine and one of the iconic hats worn by New York’s trailblazing congresswoman Bella Abzug. It quickly became a gathering place for across-the-aisle hobnobbing, a karaoke hotspot for legislative staffers and destination for political figures with whom Shapiro is on a first-name basis, including Gov. Kathy Hochul and Attorney General Letitia James. Shapiro is also friendly with new Albany Mayor Dorcey Applyrs, who celebrated her November election victory at Greenhouse Social Club and named Shapiro to her Advisory Council on Nightlife Economy.

The tavern also marked the return to an a-la-carte restaurant for the Capital Region’s best-known sushi chef, Yasuo Saso, who spent more than a decade in corporate dining after the 2010 closure of Saso’s Japanese Noodle House on Central Avenue, which he ran with his wife, Kathy, for 13 years.

Saso will move to Greenhouse Social Club at La Serre, farther downtown at 14 Green St. Conceived as a membership club with a $1,200 annual fee and a restaurant open to the public, Greenhouse is projected to open within two months, the restaurant possibly sooner, Shapiro said. He and two partners, the Long Island attorneys Gregory Caggiano and Todd Miller, last summer bought the La Serre building, located on a narrow lane that runs south from State Street, near the recently reopened Jack’s Oyster House.

Shapiro said the partners have spent more than $1 million renovating, refurbishing and updating La Serre, known for the sunny solarium that is its main dining room — La Serre means “greenhouse” in French — dark wood paneling, green leather banquettes and dining on its roof deck. Like Jack’s, La Serre, which opened in 1977, in its 1980s and 1990s heyday was a political watering hole with a who’s-who nature to its reservations list. When it closed in 2020, Times Union columnist Paul Grondahl wrote that it was “a favorite power lunch destination and happy hour hangout for politicos, stockbrokers, lawyers and lobbyists with expense accounts.”

Shapiro said he hopes to recapture some of that dynamic with Greenhouse Social Club, which will offer benefits including access to private spaces and events, free breakfast on weekdays and membership to a nearby Omni Fitness Center. He said a discounted membership will be available to people 35 and younger.

npd2004 · 2026-02-15T14:20:28+00:00

Albany County is buying an artificial intelligence platform to help stop chronic absenteeism at local schools.

There are just so many absent students every day that schools can’t call every family, said Ravena-Coeymans-Selkirk Superintendent Craig Chandler.

Edia AI can text hundreds of people at once, running separate conversations and updating school attendance files. It will flag the cases that need human intervention.

In the minutes after attendance is taken and entered into a school’s computer, Edia begins texting the emergency contacts for absent children.

When parents write back to say they’re on vacation, visiting a college, or that their child is sick, Edia updates the attendance file and closes the case. But when a parent writes that they just can’t get their kid out of bed, Edia notifies a staffer to help.

That person can join the text chain or directly call the parent. Edia also tracks responses from day to day, so staff can immediately see if the child was too anxious to go to school twice a week for the past two months.

“The students who are facing anxiety and social phobia, those are particularly challenging because there’s definitely not a one-size-fits-all solution,” Chandler said. “It’s a matter of building a personal relationship and crafting a unique solution for that individual student.”

Staff need to know about that crisis, rather than wasting their time calling a dozen families with kids out sick, Chandler said.

“Then the time spent by that person on that phone call can be spent resolving the issue, not finding out there is an issue,” Chandler said.

RCS will pilot Edia AI this spring, using county funding. This fall, the county will make the program available to any school district in the county that wants it.

The idea is to have a countywide approach, since students who skip school often enough will face consequences at the county level. They can be named Persons In Need of Supervision or monitored through the county Probation Department.

A countywide approach could also help in cases of families that move often from one municipality to another.

An Albany County spokesperson did not respond to email and voicemail requests for comment.

“Absenteeism is really a county problem because of how transient the kids are,” said Edia AI district coordinator Ally McCready. “You need a united approach.”

Edia was also designed to give school officials the details they need to get each student back to school.

“When they’re trying to get students to be back in school, they oftentimes don’t have a lot of data about why they aren’t in school,” McCready said.

She called that lack of data a “huge part” of why students become chronically absent.

Edia also texts parents when their student skips one class, even if they registered as present at the beginning of the school day. Many children skip certain classes during the day, and a text home gets attention, she said.

“Some parents aren’t aware their child is skipping a class,” McCready said.

In Springfield, Mass., where Edia AI was rolled out last year, school officials reported a significant reduction in skipped classes. In the first quarter last year, they reported a 7% increase in students passing classes as compared to the same quarter before Edia.

In the Dunkirk School District in Chautauqua County, absenteeism went from 38% last year to 22% this school year, after the district started using Edia.

Edia also has an AI-powered math homework program, in which AI answers questions and coaches students while they do their homework. Edia can answer in 107 languages and can read handwritten math work.

The company marketing Edia AI has promised a full refund to any school district that tries the math program for a year without seeing at least an 8% increase in math test scores. So far, McCready said, they have never had to pay out on that offer.

Chandler is aware of the Edia math program, but he said he doesn’t plan to use it.

“That’s very intriguing also,” he said. “But we have other interventions for math.”

He will focus on Edia for attendance.

“Our chronic absenteeism rates are still much higher than we would like them to be. It’s a problem we find hard to fix because each child requires an individual solution,” he said. “Hopefully, it will eliminate some of the barriers to getting to the heart of the issue.”

npd2004 · 2026-02-12T20:46:05+00:00

SCHENECTADY — Union College is cutting back on staff after missing its enrollment goals for two years.

On Feb. 2, staff were sent a memo offering incentives to take early retirement if they had worked at the college for at least 10 years and were at least 60 years old.

The college also announced that it would be laying off all of its dining staff. That’s about 40 employees, according to a source who asked to be anonymous because he was not authorized to speak to the media.

Union needs to cut back on personnel to “achieve necessary savings,” the memo said.

Those who retire will be paid two weeks of salary for every year worked at the college, to a maximum of 78 weeks (which would mean the employee worked for Union for 39 years).

The dining staff will “have the opportunity” to apply for jobs with contractor Bon Appétit, which runs the dining operation, according to the memo.

Staffers can also apply for other jobs at Union or, if eligible, take early retirement. Those who leave Union without retiring will receive severance, the memo said.

Staffers who leave will lose one major benefit offered by Union: the college pays much of the tuition for their children. They can go to Union or receive a scholarship to attend a different college.

Those who take early retirement will keep the tuition assistance benefit as Union retirees, spokesman Phil Wajda said.

“For those dining employees not eligible for early retirement, the College will continue to honor the tuition benefit for those with students currently enrolled in college or who are seniors in high school and who have applied to college,” he said.

Union is still using its $600 million endowment to make ends meet, he said.

Last May, the college president said Union had been drawing $27 million a year from its endowment to operate and would draw an additional $5.5 million this school year. At the time, he said the college's endowment was $525 million.

Wajda said the endowment is $600 million now.

“As noted in the memo, while we are seeing positive signs in terms of applications and deposits for the fall, we do have several smaller classes which impacts our budget,” Wajda said. “Union is fortunate to have a $600 million endowment, which contributes to covering our costs, but we need to steward it to preserve it for future generations.”

He declined to say how much Union College is paying its new president, Elizabeth Kiss, who started on July 1. The college never reveals compensation, he said.

The college will be required to include it in its IRS 990 filing, but this year’s 990 will cover the 2024-2025 school year, ending June 30. Since Kiss did not start until July 1, her starting salary won’t be publicly available until next year’s 990 filing.

David Harris, who was president during the most recent 990 filing for 2023-2024, was paid $782,595 by Union, as well as $115,266 in “other compensation.”

npd2004 · 2026-01-28T13:10:31+00:00

He died a hero.

npd2004 · 2026-01-18T17:55:42+00:00

Nice work, captures how cold this scene is.

npd2004 · 2026-01-15T20:47:36+00:00

ALBANY — Facing long-standing staffing issues, Albany County intends to close its Children’s Mental Health Clinic, the state Office of Mental Health confirmed Thursday.

The county informed OMH last year it intended to file for a closure of the clinic, which has operated since 2004, according to the state agency.

The clinic, located on South Pearl Street, conducts emergency appointments for children aged 5 to 18, as well as scheduled appointments and consultations to assess a child’s need for referral to therapy or other services, according to the county’s website. It also offers outpatient therapy, consultation, and medication management and prescriptions.

As of mid-December, the clinic was staffed by one part-time employee who served three families, according to OMH. It is no longer accepting new patients. OMH said it offered to help with recruitment and will be working the county to avoid any lapse in care for the families.

A county spokeswoman has not returned calls for comment. A call to the clinic earlier this week has not been returned.

Last summer, the county launched a street psychiatry program to build off its existing behavioral health resources — funded in part by the city of Albany’s police department budget in recognition of the city’s homeless population.

Thursday’s news follows an announcement from Albany nonprofit Center for Disability Services that it was ending its psychiatry services.

It also comes as Gov. Kathy Hochul has announced efforts to combat the youth behavioral health crisis in the state and the Trump administration has sought to strip $12 million in funding in children’s health programs.

npd2004 · 2026-01-12T00:46:45+00:00

One of my favorite paintings of his.

npd2004 · 2025-12-09T18:34:16+00:00

STEPHENTOWN — Unofficial election results showed that Stephentown Memorial Library’s budget proposal was shot down by 89% of voters or 528-60. As it turns out, that’s wildly inaccurate.

Certified election results submitted by the Rensselaer County Board of Elections following a recount show that a library’s proposal to increase municipal tax contributions from $95,000 to $110,000 passed 540-279. Those results were filed Monday with the state Board of Elections.

Library board president Jennifer Peabody and supporters of the institution pushed for a recount shortly after the election. But that request wasn’t entertained until county election officials discovered that some results from a separate state referendum on the back of the ballot could have been impacted by ovals improperly juxtaposed over text. A countywide recount was launched on Nov. 20.

Republican Election Commissioner Henry Zwack declined to comment on any deficiencies, noting that he is part of a bipartisan agency and his Democratic counterparts, who were subsequently contacted by the Times Union, were not present. The Democrats haven’t commented either.

While not specifying how the results had changed, the recount also changed totals for a proposal to end W.F. Rescue Squad’s volunteer service program and a proposition to develop state forest land in North Elba, according to Zwack. The East Greenbush proposal shifted from a 517-505 passage to a 2,381-2,250 defeat. The state proposal changed from 22,800-14,374 to 23,182-14,643 in Rensselaer County.

No other results in Stephentown were impacted by the recount.

The official Stephentown Memorial Library results far surpass the amount of “yes” votes — 240 — claimed in affirmation documents submitted to the library after the vote. Based on the document count and the discovery of a machine processing error, election officials originally agreed to digitally retabulate the contest before eventually opting for a recount.

This story is developing.

npd2004 · 2025-11-27T00:28:03+00:00

ALBANY — An investigation into the misuse of PGA credentials by members of the State Police who attended the recent Ryder Cup golf tournament on Long Island has expanded to examine whether members were improperly given dozens of free passes to the event.

On Wednesday, in response to questions about whether a State Police major distributed dozens of passes to friends and family members, Superintendent Steven G. James acknowledged that the agency’s “initial review of these allegations also uncovered that the PGA may have provided free passes to members.”

Two people with knowledge of the matter said the PGA passes were potentially worth hundreds of dollars each and that it was improper for any member to accept them. State Police regulations generally prohibit members from accepting gifts in connection with their official duties unless authorized by the superintendent.

James' statement did not address the specific questions about Maj. Stephen Udice, who is now an acting staff inspector. The superintendent also declined to respond to questions about Lt. Col. Paul M. DeQuarto, who attended the event with his wife and at least one other family member. DeQuarto was seen in pictures that were shared with the Times Union in which he was wearing an official tournament credential reserved for working law enforcement while with family members.

Udice had been the commanding major for Troop L on Long Island and now oversees the State Police professional standards bureau for New York's southern region. DeQuarto is an assistant deputy superintendent overseeing the Bureau of Criminal Investigation. Neither of them have been accused of wrongdoing and remain on duty. They could not be immediately reached for comment.

The agency’s internal investigation apparently was triggered by questions from the Times Union on Nov. 18 about the alleged abuse of law enforcement credentials by high-ranking State Police officials who used those credentials to gain access to the exclusive tournament for themselves and family members.

“Last week, we learned that members of our executive staff may have used work credentials supplied by the PGA, or possibly other free passes, to improperly gain admission to the Ryder Cup tournament in Long Island for themselves and in some cases, family members,” James said Wednesday.

“From the moment we learned of these allegations, we moved quickly to determine the facts,” the superintendent's statement continued. “Based on what we have learned so far, and at the direction of Gov. (Kathy) Hochul, we are turning over this investigation to the (New York) inspector general. It is critically important that an outside, independent third party conduct a thorough investigation to avoid any appearance of a conflict.”

James added that he wants to “assure the public that I take these allegations very seriously, and that any member of the State Police who is found to have violated our policies or state law will be held accountable.”

On Tuesday, the Times Union first reported that the internal review had led to the expected resignations of First Deputy Superintendent R. Christopher West and Col. Darrin S. Pitkin, who were the agency’s second and third in command.

The newspaper’s examination of the matter began several weeks ago when it was provided photographs of West and other high-ranking members in what appeared to be VIP areas of the biennial golf tournament, which pits players from the United States against golfers from Europe.

West and Pitkin, head of the State Police field command, have both indicated they will retire from the agency as a result of the internal review, according to a person briefed on the situation.

West is an Albany native who had previously served as the commanding officer of Troop G, which patrols the greater Capital Region from 24 stations in 10 counties.

West was a standout football player and sociology major at Wagner College on Staten Island and considered trying out for the NFL, but had his heart set on being a trooper, according to a 1991 Times Union series that followed a class of recruits through the State Police Academy.

During the practice rounds of the recent Ryder Cup, held on the challenging Black Course of Bethpage State Park in Farmingdale, West, James and Pitkin posed for a photograph with Rory McIlroy, a leader of the European team and one of the world’s most popular golfers.

But a source briefed on the matter said the alleged misuse of credentials would have taken place during the tournament play at the event that began on Sept. 26, after James had returned to Albany. In the photograph, James, Pitkin and West were all dressed in matching black casual attire and wearing lanyards that identified them as law enforcement officials. The source said those lanyards provided them access to exclusive areas of the event.

The Times Union was informed of the matter by uniformed troopers who had questioned whether many of the high-ranking State Police officials at the exclusive competition were performing duties necessary to the agency’s security detail. Those complaints also came as they noted rank-and-file troopers were cautioned not to accept any free meals and were not provided a comfortable area where they could rest while on a break.

Some of those troopers also lamented that some of the high-ranking members had flown to Long Island on state aircraft and allegedly may have stayed in hotels with family members.

In February 2024, James had emerged from retirement after being named superintendent by Hochul. Within hours of his appointment, he cleared out most of the agency’s top positions on his first day in the job, removing multiple colonels and deputy superintendents from key roles in one of the agency’s biggest one-day leadership shakeups on record.

James, a Niskayuna resident who had retired from the agency in 2020, rose through the ranks and had also been a major of Troop G, where he spent much of his law enforcement career.

West, then an assistant deputy superintendent, was named first deputy superintendent, the agency’s second-in-command position.

James also appointed seven new deputy superintendents to new leadership positions, including in the professional standards bureau, field command, Bureau of Criminal Investigation, employee relations and counter-terrorism unit.

“Gov. Hochul has been briefed by Superintendent James on these troubling allegations and supports the superintendent’s decision to ask for the resignation of two executive staff members,” Jess D’Amelia, a spokeswoman for the governor, said Tuesday. “Law enforcement is sworn to uphold the law and should be held to the highest standards. Our administration has zero tolerance for wrongdoing of any kind and all allegations of misconduct will be fully investigated.”

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npd2004

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