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Law firm offers free cab rides for Memorial Day

If you are celebrating on Memorial Day and drinking a little too much you don't have to drive.

The law firm of Martin Harding and Mazzotti is once again offering free cab rides to anyone in the Capital District, Saratoga, Amsterdam, Utica and Burlington Vermont.

Just call 1-800-LAW-1010 or dial **LAW on your cell phone and you can arrange a free cab ride home.

The offer stands until midnight.

Homeowners encouraged to review property assessments

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) - New York's taxpayer rights advocate is advising property owners to review their assessments during municipal grievance periods, which end Tuesday in many communities.
    
Advocate Camille Enders says homeowners and businesses can check their assessments on their town's website to see if they are paying more than their fair tax share.
    
Local assessment rolls, required to be publicly available, list the property's estimated market value and tax exemptions.
    
If the market value is much higher than a likely sales price, she says the owner should consider talking with the assessor and then deciding whether to file an assessment grievance.
    
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Online:
    
Assessment rolls:
    

Department of Labor inspecting carnival rides

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) - The New York state Department of Labor is monitoring rides at 49 carnivals and fairs over the Memorial Day weekend.
    
The department is responsible for monitoring thrill rides at the state's 12 amusement parks and at traveling shows outside New York City.
    
It says it inspects all fixed rides at least once a year and those at traveling carnivals and fairs at each new location.
    
The department lists parks and events online. It says its staff inspected more than 1,500 venues and more than 9,700 amusement devices last year.
    
The agency advises reading posted ride warnings and heeding operator instructions. Recommendations also include securing loose hair and clothing, observing age, height and weight restrictions and not driving bumper cars with children on your lap.
    
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Memorial Day parade planned in Cohoes

Memorial Day parade planned in Cohoes

The annual Memorial Day parade will be held tonight in Cohoes.

 

The City of Cohoes and the Cohoes American Legion will hold the annual Memorial Day Parade on Thursday, May 23.  The parade will begin formulating at 6:30 p.m. at West End Park, with step off scheduled for 7:00 p.m. The parade route will move east along Columbia Street and then north along Remsen Street toCanal Square and finish at the review stand.

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Art students to design distracted driving billboard

Art students to design distracted driving billboard

COLONIE - Colonie Central High School Digital art classes will be unveiling a new Billboard Design on May 23. Following is more information:

This year the message is one that highlights the dangers of distracted driving.  

The digital students submitted design ideas to Lamar Advertising who has chosen a winning design to print and display.

The winning student will be surprised when the covers are taken off the billboard on Thursday morning.

The location this year is on the corner of route 155 and Central Avenue.   

Unemployment rate drops in Capital Region

CAPITAL REGION - The jobless rate in the Capital Region is dropping.

New statistics out Tuesday from the state show the unemployment level in the Albany Schenectady Troy area has dropped from 7.2 in April of 2012 to 6.5 last month.

Glens Falls dropped from 8.3 to 7.8.

The State's jobless rate is also 7.8 percent.

NY gets $49M for hurricane damage to canal system

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) - The Federal Emergency Management Agency has approved $49 million for the New York State Canal Corporation to repair damage related to Hurricane Irene and Tropical Storm Lee.

Damages along the Erie Canal have been estimated to total $80 million.

After the late-summer storms in 2011, the Canal Corporation identified seven projects between Lock 8 and Lock 12 that were eligible for FEMA claims. The work includes structural repairs, paving, concrete work, pier construction, and erosion control.
 
The Canal Corporation also was awarded $4.2 million in reimbursements as part of its $34 million flood mitigation project to reinforce the eight movable dams in the Mohawk Valley.
 
(Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)