Albany Times Union Local News

COLONIE — Add literature to the arts and sculpture highlighted at Albany International Airport.

In recent weeks, the former Departures museum store on the terminal's first floor has been converted to an inviting reading nook that highlights many of the 2,000 writers who have appeared at the New York State Writers Institute since its founding by Albany's William Kennedy 36 years ago.

While travelers rush by outside, readers can relax with works by writers ranging from Salman Rushdie, Philip Roth or Toni Morrison to Bill Nye, Roz Chast or John Updike.

LAKE GEORGE – An unresponsive 19-year-old New Jersey man was pulled from Lake George off Shepard Park Beach Saturday, the Warren County Sheriff’s Office said.

SCHAGHTICOKE – The owners of Liberty Ridge Farm announced Saturday that they were cancelling their Independence Day event and fireworks show as a result of being told by the state that they couldn’t proceed.

“Last night at 10pm NYS came knocking at our door and informed us we are to shut down the celebration, due to a “new” NYS directive,” Robert and Cynthia Gifford said in a posting on the farm website.

TROY – The city is making three minor adjustments to its street grid that its traffic engineers say will improve traffic flow to support three major activities.

TROY – The Hart Cluett Museum and the Schenectady County Historical Society have set opening dates with plans to protect their visitors from the coronavirus as they open their doors after being shut since mid-March.

The Schenectady County Historical Society will go first with plans to resume visits on Monday July 6. The Hart Cluett Museum will reopen its galleries at to the public on Wednesday Aug. 5 and its research library on Thursday Aug. 6.

by Robert Gavin

ALBANY— The FBI traced fingerprints found on a note to a Saugerties man who they say aided a Catskill woman charged with throwing a Molotov cocktail at an occupied New York City police vehicle at a protest in Brooklyn.

A criminal complaint submitted by federal prosecutors in Brooklyn led to the arrest of Timothy Amerman, 29, a painter who is expected to be arraigned in U.S. District Court in Albany. The case is being brought by the U.S. Attorney’s office in Brooklyn’s Eastern District.

Amerman is accused of conspiring with Samantha Shader, who was charged with throwing the explosive at the NYPD vehicle at a May 29 protest over the Minneapolis police killing of George Floyd days earlier. She allegedly threw the explosive at a police vehicle near Eastern Parkway and Washington Avenue in the Crown Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn.

In searching a vehicle that Shader and others drove to the protest, investigators found a note that stated: “I found a few more glass bottles Than I thought I had, Though still not many. I’m giving you my mask in hopes That helps. Wish I had more. There’s also a bag in here for you. BE SAFE Please. Really[.] Good Luck, - Love Tim,” the complaint said.

An FBI forensic examiner from the bureau’s latent print unit in Quantico, Va.  examined the note for latent fingerprints.  The examiner found one palm print on it that matched Shader and nine latent fingerprints matching Amerman.

Agents looked at Facebook and saw that on May 28, Amerman had posted: “[b]lack people have every right to burn down a country they built for free.”

He also reposted words stating:” riots DO work. riots ARE rational.
riots ARE NOT evidence of us being unorganized in our demands but evidence of us being profoundly human and tired.
rioting, rebellion, and revolution all look the same ... especially at the beginning.“

Amerman told investigators, the complaint said, that Shader asked him on Facebook if he wanted to join her and others for the protest in Brooklyn to “cause some hell” but he declined.

The complaint said Amerman told investigators that Shader asked him if he could provide her with bottles — which are needed for Molotov cocktails — and he agreed.

He said he left Shader the bottles, two cans of paint, rope, plastic bags and some pot. Amerman told investigators, when asked what he thought Shader would do, that he believed she “planned to use them as projectiles to throw at police and counter-protesters at the protest march in New York City,” the complaint said.

Amerman also said he didn’t think Shader would use the bottles to create Molotov cocktails to kill police officers but admitted he gave her $10 for
“gas,” the complaint said.

In addition to Shader, Brooklyn residents Colinford Mattis, 32, and Urooj Rahman, 31, were arrested for a similar attack. Rahman was accused of throwing  a Molotov cocktail at an NYPD car before fleeing with Mattis in a minivan.

The criminal complaint said that after her arrest, Shader told investigators she possessed the Molotov cocktail and threw it — but denied she had constructed it, claiming she received it from a black male on the street.

Shader said she picked up a hammer off the ground during the march and carried it because people were being “nasty” and she “did not have anything else.”

Shader told investigators, according to the complaint, that the man who gave her the bottle told her that they were going to prove a point. She said she felt important at the time that she take the bottle because she was the only white person in the area.

Amerman is charged with civil disorder and civil disorder conspiracy. He was expected to be arraigned by Skype.

The case is being prosecuted by Brookyln-based Assistant U.S. Attorneys Ian Richardson, Jonathan Algor and Phil Selden.

BETHLEHEM -- Two different and very vocal points of view played out at the intersection of Delaware and Kenwood avenues in Delmar on Saturday afternoon.

One side of the street participants with Back the Blue/Support the Police rally sang "God Bless America." And in response those on the other side chanted “Black Lives Matter.”

TAGHKANIC -- A 75-year-old Columbia County man is accused of trying to drown his victim in a pond during a domestic incident on Friday, State Police said.

Troopers arrested Joseph Macri of Taghkanic on an attempted murder charge.

President Donald Trump’s ship is sinking, and Elise Stefanik is standing on deck, watching as the water begins to tickle her feet.

Polls say that Trump would lose by double digits to presumptive Democratic nominee Joe Biden if the election were today. The president is well behind in all the usual battleground states (Michigan, Wisconsin, Florida, etc.) and polls even show the him in a dead heat in states, such as Texas, where Republicans always win.

After 6 days of scattered showers and thunderstorms, we're taking things down a few pegs this weekend. Still will have a couple of specks on the radar but it'll be much less active than it has been all week. One brief shot of "cooler" air comes in Monday before we crank up the heat and humidity through the first full week of July. Once that gets going, so too shall some more summertime storms.

During the pandemic, Adam Favro, a chiropractor in Saratoga Springs, watched his patient caseload drop from about 100 patients a week to roughly 20, as he changed operations to maintain social distancing and hygiene.

He limited the amount of staff at his practice, Turning Point Chiropractic, and had to furlough his associate doctor. When a check arrived in April with federal funds meant to help keep physicians afloat, Favro received $87.

ALBANY - Congressional candidate Liz Joy says she is once again being harassed, this time due to illegal contributions that were made in her name to left-leaning causes.

Joy, who is challenging U.S. Rep Paul Tonko for New York’s 20th district on the Republican line in November, said that donations were made in her name to the Counsel on American-Islamic Relations, Black Lives Matter and Act-Blue, a fundraising site for democratic campaigns and progressive causes.

Ronald Moore, a point guard who is Siena's all-time leader with 823 assists, is playing for Men of Mackey in the $1 million, winner-take-all tournament. His team is scheduled to play Heartfire (featuring former Schenectady star Mark Lyons) in the first round at 7 p.m. Sunday on ESPN2.