Two startups find a home in a Schodack middle school basement

Pam Allen

Reporter- The Business Review

The Schodack Central School Districtmoved in its first twostartup companies this fall, and Bob Horan is expanding the reciprocal arrangement.

Horan, Schodack’s superintendent, sees dual benefits to giving free space to the two fledgling energy companies, MICROrganic Technologies and Tumalow.

In exchange for the free space (both companies are miles away from generating revenue yet), the owners will give their time to students, and their expertise to faculty members who will develop curricula and experiments based on the companies’ technologies.

Horan said both companies’ technologies fit well with Schodack’s biotech, semiconductor and energy programs.

“It’s a great trade-off,” said Horan, who is preparing to sign on a third startup. The companies’ first introduction to the school community drew 50 faculty members.

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Wrecks stop Route 7 traffic

GREEN ISLAND — A two-car accident involving a school bus full of football players halted rush-hour traffic leaving Troy on Route 7 westbound Friday evening, officials and a witness said.

Tom Nastars, who drove by the accident just before the exit for Interstate 787, said it appeared that an East Greenbush Central School District bus had been involved in an accident with a car that "looked like it was completely smashed and had spun around" before coming to rest in the middle of the westbound lanes.

The bus was full of Columbia High Schoolfootball players and coaches heading to a game against Shenendehowa, and Nastars said no one appeared to be injured in the accident. A Colonie Emergency Services dispatcher said one minor injury had been reported shortly after the accident.

The bus reportedly arrived at the field shortly before 6:30 p.m., pushing back the start time by one hour.

The Department of Transportation shut down Route 7 westbound shortly after the accident. The road was reopened at 6:40 p.m., with continued delays, according to the DOT.

Nastars said when he passed the accident just before 6 p.m., traffic had come to a standstill.

Meanwhile, Nastars said a fender-bender on the eastbound side of Route 7 across from the westbound accident had slowed traffic to a crawl. The DOT announced at 5:45 p.m. that the eastbound lanes were closed and motorists should expect long delays.

The exhaust pipe of the bus went right through the car!" said one witness.

Word is everyone is fine.  The team made it to the game, just a little late! 

Ariel Castro found dead in prison cell

Tribune staff and wire reports

6:19 a.m. CDT, September 4, 2013

CLEVELAND—

Ariel Castro, sentenced to life in prison for the kidnapping, rape and beatings of three Cleveland women he held captive for years in his house, was found hanged in his prison cell Tuesday night, a state corrections official said.

The former school bus driver, who was under protective custody and isolated from other inmates at the Correctional Reception Center in Orient, Ohio, was found dead at about 9:20 p.m. when prison staff were making their rounds, Rehabilitation and Correction Department spokeswoman JoEllen Smith said.

After prison medical personnel tried to resuscitate him, Castro, 53, was transferred to an area hospital and pronounced dead about 90 minutes later, she said.

Castro was sentenced on Aug. 1 to life plus 1,000 years in prison without the possibility of parole for abducting his three victims and keeping them imprisoned in the dungeon-like confines of his house, where they were starved, beaten and sexually assaulted for about a decade.

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CLEVELAND, Ohio — It's been just four months since Amanda Berry, Gina DeJesus and Michelle Knight were found in the Seymour Avenue home of Ariel Castro.

Now, the swift-moving story that caught the attention of the world has taken another staggering turn. Castro, 53, was found dead in his prison cell Tuesday night at theCorrectional Reception Center in Orient, Ohio, south of Columbus.

Have you been to the Columbia County Fair yet?

School Cafeterias Improved at No Cost to District

School cafeterias are receiving new equipment and improvements this year at no cost to the district thanks to funding received from a settlement between the parent company of Chartwells food services and New York State’s Attorney General Office.

Last year, the state Attorney General announced a settlement with Compass Group USA after the company did not pass on rebates from vendors, manufacturers and distributors. As a result, Schodack CSD was one of dozens of schools to receive part of the settlement. Schodack received $105,000.

“I want to stress that we could not use this money for anything except to improve our food services. The State Attorney General’s Office was very specific about that,” said Superintendent Bob Horan. “We decided the best way to use the money was to improve our facilities for students.”

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The British aren't coming

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WASHINGTON — The goal of the cruise missile strikes the

United States is planning to carry out in Syria is to restore

the smudged “red line” that President Obama drew a year 

ago against the use of poison gas.

Even an attack that the president has described as no more than an effort to restore the “red line” could diminish the ability of Syrian forces to attack population centers with conventional munitions, depending on how the attack is devised.

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4th Annual Gathering of the Tribes

Another Uncle Sam statue vandalized

TROY, N.Y. -- Another case of vandalism against an Uncle Sam statue in Troy in under investigation by police.

This time is was the Uncle Sam at Barker Park that was damaged. Like two others before him, the head was removed, and the body of the statue is now in storage.

Police have not made any arrests, although they have located the head of one of the statues at a home in Mechanicville and an arrest could be imminent. 

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