TIMES UNION Albany, New York
E M P I R E STAT E
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AROUND NY
Trial starts for man
charged in fatal chase
SYRACUSE — Opening
statements were delivered Tuesday
at the trial of James Carncross,
who’s accused of
precipitating the
high-speed chase
that led to the
death of State
Police Trooper
Craig Todeschini
seven months
ago.
TODESCHINI
Carncross, 21,
of Jamesville, Chautauqua County,
was charged with aggravated
second-degree manslaughter and
aggravated criminally negligent
homicide in connection with the
death of the 25-year-old trooper.
Todeschini, of Geddes, Onondaga
County, was killed April 23 when
his patrol SUV crashed into a tree
in the hamlet of Pompey Hill,
about 15 miles south of Syracuse,
while chasing a motorcyclist
believed to be traveling at more
than 100 mph.
— Associated Press
Firefighters discover
bound body in basement
NEW YORK — Firefighters
extinguished an apartment blaze
only to discover the body of a man
who had been bound with duct tape
before being set aflame, police said
Tuesday.
Officials had not yet been able to
identify the man, who was found
late Monday evening when
firefighters responded to a 911 call
about a fire in a basement
apartment in the
Bedford-Stuyvesant section of
Brooklyn, according to police.
It was not immediately clear
whether the man was still alive
when he was set on fire with an
accelerant. The victim’s hands had
been bound.
— Associated Press
State purchase closes
parkland ‘doughnut hole’
TUXEDO — A final parcel of
private land in Sterling Forest State
Park was bought by New York state
for $13.5 million.
The 575-acre parcel in Orange
County purchased Monday was
sometimes referred to as a
‘‘doughnut hole’’ by
environmental activists because it
was surrounded by protected land
in the 20,400-acre Sterling Forest.
A developer had proposed
building more than 100 luxury
homes and a golf course on the site,
but the plans were sidetracked after
the state bought most of Sterling
Forest and timber rattlesnakes
were found on the land.
— Associated Press
Man facing charges
in bizarre barn break-in
MAHOPAC — A man broke
into a barn on Thanksgiving
morning, spray-painted three pet
goats and scattered pages of
pornographic magazines on the
floor, apparently to harass the
property owner, police said
Tuesday.
Drew Gagnon, 37, of Mahopac,
Putnam County, was arrested the
next day and was charged with
burglary, criminal trespass and
animal cruelty, said Lt. Brian Karst,
of the Carmel police force, which
covers Mahopac.
He said the suspects were known
to the property owner, Gail Fiero.
A veterinarian reportedly said
the goats became sick after eating
the magazine pages.
Karst said, ‘‘Obviously, it’s not
an occurrence you see every day.’’
— Associated Press
Police issue alert
on bomb-threat robber
MOUNT PLEASANT — A
man who claims to be wired to a
bomb has robbed four Westchester
County establishments and tried to
rob a fifth, police said Tuesday.
The suspect most recently
struck a Wendy’s restaurant in
Mount Pleasant Monday night but
fled before taking any money,
police said. Mount Pleasant Police
Chief Louis Alagno said at least
four other places were hit since
Nov. 17: two Subway sandwich
shops in Greenburgh, and hotels in
Hawthorne and Yonkers.
In each case, the man threatened
to set explosives off if he didn’t get
money, Alagno said.
— Associated Press
SUNY board approves $5.9B budget
Additional $950 million
sought in capital funds;
no tuition hike planned
By RICK KARLIN
Capitol bureau
A LBA N Y — State University
of New York trustees on Tuesday
approved a $5.9 billion budget
request for next year and another
$950 million increase for capital
projects, mostly to shore up t he
aging statewide system.
Trustees are not seeking a hike
t his year in SUNY’s $4,350 annu-
al tuition, although t hey renewed
t heir call for reg ular inf lat ion-in-
Making public records hard to use
Legislative leaders manipulated their member-item
computer files to frustrate interested users
Image of data in PDF
? JOSEPH
BRUNO’S
staff refused
to budge
or remove
password
locks
on public
records.
Member-item data disputed
Assembly staff — but not
Senate — gives ground on
pork barrel spending files
By BOB PORT
Senior editor
With some fanfare in recent days,
Assembly Speaker Sheldon Silver and
Senate Majorit y Leader Joseph L. Br u-
no have released t housands of records
revealing for t he f irst time the names of
lawmakers who sponsored so-called
$4M buys
Spitzer idyll
ALBANY — Attorney General
Eliot Spitzer bought his dream
home — the 160-acre Columbia
County spread he’s rented for 12
years.
‘‘He’s been looking to buy; it
came on market; he decided to
buy it,’’ said Christine Anderson,
the governor-elect’s spokeswom-
an.
Spitzer purchased the Gallatin
farm, with a view and a ranch
home the Democratic leader
adores, for just above $4 million
on Nov. 7 from Patrick Grasso.
The getaway is near Dutchess
County.
Spitzer’s permanent residence
will continue to be his apartment
in Manhattan near the school
attended by his three daughters,
and he is committed to spending
nights at the Executive Mansion
on Eagle Street, Anderson said.
Spitzer follows the lead of Gov.
George Pataki, who purchased
upstate acreage for family retreats
— first in Washington County
and now along Lake Champlain
in Essex County.
— James M. Odato
Wednesday, November 29, 2006 ***** A3
STATE EDITOR
Jay Jochnowitz
454-5424
jjochnowitz@timesunion.com
dexed increases and support a 4 combat shor tages in those f ields. memory,’’ Canestrari said. ‘‘The capital budget, we’re go-
percent increase in 2008. That, Help for small community ‘‘I would like to build on last ing to have to fight for,’’ said Ryan,
t hey say, is better t han a large spike colleges in remote areas such as the year’s effort,’’ added Sen. Kenneth who added t hat most of the money
every few years. is for upkeep. Many of SUNY’s
Adirondacks that struggle with LaValle, R-Selden, who heads his
Chancellor John Ryan said buildings are 40 years old and in
low enrollment. chamber’s higher education com-
SUNY off icials have been talk ing need of work. The problem, he
This will mark the second mittee.
to representatives of both Gov. observed, is that ‘‘our legislators
consecut ive year SUNY has asked Ryan last year sought more
George Patak i and Governor- like to cut ribbons on new build-
lawmakers for substantial increas- money t han Pataki proposed, in
elect Eliot Spitzer. ‘‘Bot h teams ings.’’
es. Assembly man Ron Canestrari, contrast with years past when
have been ver y recept ive to our D-Cohoes, who heads t he Assem- SUNY off icials went along with ‘‘There’s been years and years of
proposals,’’ he said.
bly’s higher education committee, t he governor. deferred maintenance,’’ added
A mong the plan’s highlights: said t hat’s because of Ryan’s lead- trustee Randy Daniels.
Ryan war ned trust ees t he
$2.2 billion in taxpayer- ership and t he change in adminis- $751.6 million capital request, on
f unded state aid, up 12 percent. t rat ions. top of a $486 million increase in ? Rick Karlin can be reached at
Funding for 133 more faculty ‘‘I t hink it’s a major change in capital spending t his year, could 454-5758 or by e-mail at
members. policy, par tly due to the chancel- be a hard sell. A n addit ional $200 rkarlin@timesunion.com. The
Money to boost engineering lor’s aggressiveness, which we saw million is proposed for communi- Associated Press contributed to
and nursing programs to help last year for the first t ime in recent t y colleges and hospitals. this story.
Advocates
hope for
T his month’s public release on the Internet
of New York’s earmarked spending
Data in PDF
more green
records was a first because it included the
names of individual lawmakers. Groups say next state budget
> However, the computer files, created us- should increase funding for
ing software-maker Adobe’s Portable Docu- environmental programs
ment Format (PDF), were manipulated to
embed information in ‘‘flat’’ images of printed By BRIAN NEARING
pages, like faxes or photographs. Staff writer
?Unlike PDF files containing textual data, A LBANY — A coalition of more than
flat images cannot be searched, sorted, 200 environmental groups Tuesday unveiled
tallied or easily used in software programs t heir wish list for t he state’s 2007 budget,
for analyzing and understanding such large which they claim will need nearly $900
Funded Amount Requested By
million in addit ional spending.
amounts of data.
$50,000 Silver
Friends of New York’s Environment said
extra money is needed to hire 200 state
workers to make up for staff cuts during the
last decade at the Department of Environ-
mental Conser vat ion and other agencies, as
well as to expand programs that protect air
and drink ing water, protect open land from
> SHELDON sprawl, combat global warming and invasive
SILVER species, maintain parks and clean up pollu-
quickly fixed t ion.
problem
More spending is a perennial request from
when t he groups, and this t ime environmentalists
confronted.
are hopef ul Gov.-elect Eliot Spitzer will be
willing to come up with t he cash in his first
budget next year.
That money could be found primarily in
t wo ways, said Neil Woodworth, execut ive
director of the Adirondack Mountain Club,
who spoke at the group’s press conference at
t he Legislat ive Off ice Building.
One would be through environmentalists’
long-standing goal of adding noncarbonated
f iles they gave the public and t he press beverages to the bottle recycling law, which
Coming Friday so they would be diff icult for t he public could generate another $180 million annu-
to use. ally in unclaimed deposits. Another method
Times Union overview of member-
item spending by legislative leaders. The t wo men had to release some- would be to devote a greater share of New
t hing. Last mont h, a state judge ordered York’s real estate t ransfer tax to the state
t hem to make data on member items Environmental Protect ion Fund.
member items, taxpayer money ear- public after t he Times Union and its The tax, which generates about $1 billion
marked by polit icians for pork barrel ow ner, the Hearst Corp., sued under a year, now provides $210 million a year for
projects each year. New York’s Freedom of Informat ion t he f und.
But lost in that event was a behind- Law. ‘‘The amount of tax generated by the tax
t he-scenes ef for t by the staffs of Silver, Both Silver and Bruno published t he has t ripled since Sept. 11, as real estate values
D-Manhattan, and Br uno, R-Bruns- records on the Internet, but only as have sky rocketed,’’ said Woodwort h. ‘‘It is
wick. gigantic computer files containing only equitable t hat a larger port ion of these
They manipulated the computer Please see ITEMS A5 ? revenues be dedicated to environmental
conser vat ion.’’
Sad reminder Reargue motion filed
in contraceptive case
appeals court that has considered
Religious employers
t he question and r uled such laws
claim Court of Appeals must be subject to a rat ional basis
erred in ruling review.’’
Catholic Charities and nine
By MICHELE MORGAN BOLTON
other organizat ions say the law
Staff writer
forces t hem to sin. Th groups aim
A LBA N Y — Religious em- to force the state Insurance De-
ployers who object to a state part ment to exempt them from
mandate to provide prescript ion t he law.
contraception coverage in their
Advocates for women’s repro-
health insurance plans have filed a duct ive rights said it’s t ime for the
motion seeking to reargue an Oct.
plaintiffs to move on.
19 Court of Appeals r uling on the
Women’s Health and Wellness ‘‘It’s pretty important that we
Act. don’t lose the concept that t he
A n attorney for Cat holic Char- cour t made a 6-0 decision that was
ities of Albany and nine other unanimous and extremely well-
groups says Associate Judge Rob- written,’’ said JoAnn Smith of
ert S. Smith misinterpreted a Planned Parenthood Advocates of
1990 U.S. Supreme Cour t case New York.
t hat was the basis for the decision Cour t of Appeals spokesman
KATHY WILLENS/ASSOCIATED PRESS he wrote. Gary Spencer said it isn’t unusual
The Rev. Lester Williams on Tuesday holds the In court papers, attorney Mi- for a par ty who loses an appeal to
chael Costello said t he decision f ile a motion to reargue. In fact,
marriage license of Sean Bell, who was killed by police
failed to explore whether t he law t here were 21 such requests f iled
Saturday morning, hours before his wedding. Investiga- unreasonably interferes with reli- in 2005, including one by Gov.
tors talked to another witness Tuesday as city officials gious freedom. He said Smit h’s George Patak i in a gambling case,
inter pretat ion als o conf l icts he said. None have been granted,
seek to calm the growing outrage over the incident.
‘‘with every state and federal Spencer said.
TIMES UNION Albany, New York STATE Wednesday, November 29, 2006 ***** A5

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reams of printed-page-like images. McArdle said the Senate’s staff
It was the online equivalent of a believes it complied with the order
for release of member-item data. any bleaching appointment. Your gift will provide food and shelter
3,000-page fax. offers expires 1/31/07
The Legislature published the ‘‘What the Senate has been will- for the Albany area homeless.
information using software maker ing to do is to provide the informa- Chang S. Sung, DDS
Adobe’s Portable Document For- tion,’’ McArdle said. 939 Route 146, Clifton Park Please mail check to:
mat, commonly referred to as PDF ‘‘Our understanding is that this is
files. However, not all PDFs are all you’re entitled to,’’ he said. Dr. Sung offers gentle, compassionate, patient care
created equal. The files can contain ‘‘Bottom line, that’s all you’re going within the scope of family dentistry.
actual text, as millions of people use to get.’’ Gift Please call to make an appointment
it in e-mails and computer word
? Bob Port can be reached at
Certificates 518-383-3020 176 Sheridan Avenue
processing software. That kind of Available Albany, New York 12210
PDF can be used by other software 454-5064 or by e-mail at Chang S. Sung, DDS
Family Dentistry
434-8021
programs that compile and orga- bport@timesunion.com.
nize data, allowing people to search
and analyze it.
The Legislature, however, gave
citizens only images of text.
Bruno’s Senate staff also em-
bedded a secret password in its files
to lock up the contents of their
public disclosure, making it difficult
for anyone but the tech-savvy to
break that security and extract a
single page of information for e-
mailing, or scan it with special
software that converts images into
text that analytical software can
recognize.
When the Times Union asked
Tuesday to obtain the pure data it
had always requested, not pictures
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of data, and threatened to take the
matter back to court, the Assem-
bly’s staff immediately reprocessed
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published the data early Tuesday
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files containing text, not pictures of
text.
But the Senate’s staff refused to Give them what they really want — America’s Best, Most Reliable Wireless Network.
change anything.
Public interest groups welcomed
the Assembly’s quick fix. They had
unkind words for the Senate.
‘‘When they give out these
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Common Cause hopes to pub-
lish easy-to-use spreadsheets of
member-item data on the Internet.
Rachel Leon, the group’s state
chief, said lawmakers may have to
be ‘‘dragged kicking and scream-
ing’’ to accept providing usable
digital records to citizens.
‘‘It’s just clear that the public
deserves to know this information,’’
she said. ‘‘This is going to be a new
era that we’re entering.’’
Months ago, the Assembly had
actually published a data file of its
member-item records in response
to the Times Union FOIL, but
only with the names of individual
lawmakers associated with each
project censored. Monday, faced
with the court order, the Assembly
replaced those censored data files
with uncensored images of the data.
Tuesday night, the Assembly
published everything in data form.
Assembly spokesman Charles
Carrier professed technical igno-
rance of the issues regarding access
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