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August 2008 Archives
Across the nation, reports of teachers and students having inappropriate relationships or sexual encounters surface on a regular basis, and the safety of students is becoming a concern.
One of the most exciting nomination processes in recent history came to a close Wednesday when Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama was given the nod by fellow Democrats to represent the party as its presidential candidate at the Democratic National Convention in Denver, Colorado.
The Town of Malta is one step closer to adding a new tenant to the area.
Saratoga Race Course workers victims of labor violations
Saratoga Springs is a city famous for its horse racing, fine architecture and folklore, but according to author, researcher and historian Mason Winfield it is also a place known for its paranormal activity.
It’s not an easy feat to travel today.
I have always been a believer in the harmonious syncopation of activities of life and music.
After nearly six weeks of racing at Saratoga the end of the season is upon us and with it comes the final weekend celebration that includes the “Final Stretch” Music Festival, which bids farewell to the racing season with musical performances at various locations throughout the city’s downtown district.
There were seven owner/trainer combinations that put their heads together and decided that just because Curlin is labeled the best dirt horse in the world and he is running a distance that suits him perfectly at his home track is not reason enough to dodge the entry box.
A few days ago, I was on the backside, not just at the rail but far back in the barn area.
Evening Attire, the venerable old gray gelding from Pat Kelly’s barn, is the farthest thing possible from a flash in the pan.
Going into his third week on the job, Joe Dragone, Superintendent of Ballston Spa Central School District, is looking forward to getting into the full swing of the school year.
Sweet Corn is abundant at the Farmers’ Market and how wonderful this is.
Often we give information in sidebars to our columns and wonder if it is of value to our readers.
It seems that last weekend belonged to the senior golfers.
Saratogian Gail Brophy recently won the Super Senior Championship Division (65 years and older) of the New York State Women’s Senior Amateur Golf Tournament.
In my last article, I started off by saying that I hate being wrong almost as much as I hate being lied to.
Like a horse of a different color, the Travers Canoe in the infield of Saratoga Race Course will change shades after the winner of the Travers Stakes is determined Saturday.
Douglas and Mary Lyall have been searching for their daughter Suzanne since she went missing from the University at Albany campus 10 years ago.
Today, more than 50 million people in the United States are living without healthcare due to the skyrocketing costs of health insurance, and the rest are seeing their earnings decrease due rising premiums and costs of healthcare.
Greenwich woman arrested after leaving infant on street
The City Hall steps restoration project that was scheduled for completion prior to the opening of the 2008 racing season has had its scheduled date pushed back due to a miscalculation.
Sunday August 17 was a beautiful day at the races.
It’s all about family at West Avenue Pizza. At least that’s how the staff treats each other at the Saratoga Springs pizza shop.
If you are like the rest of us Americans, lately you have been bombarded by media coverage of the upcoming Presidential election, the Olympic games in China, and soon the election news will be boomeranging back onto our TV screens and into our newspapers and magazines and blogs as two party conventions loom on the horizon.
During the summer months in Saratoga Springs there is nothing better than a day at the track unless it is followed by a night at SPAC.
Brain Fox is a painter who specializes in capturing high-profile athletes and sporting events from the past and present on canvas.
Just because it’s back to school for children doesn’t mean the fun has to end.
There are many options today when it comes to educating your children.
This time of year our focus shifts from the carefree days of summer to excitement and anticipation of a new school year.
The Travers will have its largest field since a field of 13 ran in 1990.
Around the track, lead-ponies and pretty much all non-race horses are called pony horses.
Traditionally the Travers Stakes yields the highest attendance of the summer to Saratoga Race Course.
Here at the Saratoga Farmers’ Market, we mark Travers’ Week with a thematic fundraiser for TRF, the Thoroughbred Retirement Foundation, “Apples and Carrots are for Thoroughbreds.”
One of the area’s top golfing events took place over the weekend at the McGregor Links Country Club.
Let me start by saying Red Sox fans that I’m not concluding the 2008 season is over by any means with this column, though I should probably be addressing all the Tampa Bay fans with this statement as the Rays are above both of us in the standings at this point.
There’s only one thing I hate worse than being lied to and that’s being wrong.
Ronnie Johnson of Duanesburg won his second race of the year in the 35-Lap Modified feature last Friday night at the Albany Saratoga Speedway.
This might be his last summer in the Spa City, but Kentucky native Kenneth Thomas isn’t quite ready to say goodbye.
A soggy start to the 140th meet at Saratoga Race Course is dampening the summer for tourists and locals alike.
The race for Joe Bruno’s vacant 43rd Senate District seat got smaller Wednesday when a state Supreme Court judge ruled Saratoga County Supervisor Joanne Yepsen did not have enough valid signatures to qualify for the primary ballot.
Former Saratoga Springs Commissioner of Public Works Thomas McTygue used to dominate the headlines in local newspapers while he was in office and now his name is once again resurfacing as he has become the center of several legal battles taking place against the city.
Athletes in all sports have equipment used to help them in competition.
After a year-long bout with brain cancer Glens Falls Mayor Roy Akins passed away at his home Sunday surrounded by family members.
Every summer I wait anxiously for Gazpacho Time - the time when tomatoes and all vegetables are in season simultaneously, so I can make this favorite soup.
Well, all I can say is that my sister, Gina (“OOLALA”) would have been in Hat Heaven last Tuesday, August 5th, for the ‘LEND an EAR’ Because We’re Head Over Heels for the YMCA of Saratoga event. Bellissimo!
Throughout the month of August, Saratoga Springs’ busiest time, several locations around town have had the smiling faces of children hanging on their walls.
A local business is offering patrons a chance to meet some of the top jockeys racing in Saratoga as a benefit for the Race Track Chaplaincy of America.
Saratoga Springs is just a stone’s throw away from the Adirondack Park and this weekend area residents and people from throughout the Northeast will have the opportunity to celebrate camps, art and rustic living of the Adirondacks when the 16th edition of the Adirondack Living Show takes place at the Adirondack Sports Complex in Queensbury from Aug. 15-17.
Boston-based singer/songwriter Laura Vecchione is an artist who will touch your soul through her live performances and inspire your mind through her lyrics.
When it was announced that Maroon 5 would be co-headlining a summer tour with veteran rock act the Counting Crows, it made me wonder why such a new band would be given this honor.
Though I have not been an avid O.A.R. fan or listened to a new album in the last five years, I was excited to see what they had in store for their crowd on Sunday, August 10.
It is not too far fetched to say our generation and those before us grew up with unquestioning respect for doctors and lawyers.
Ed Fyvie started training in the martial art of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu when he was 11.
My mom has said that, even now, 35 years after she was last in school, she still has the nightmare that she didn’t study for the test she’s about to take.
The steps leading up to Tom Durkin calling, “They’re at the Post,” are very interesting.
For trainers with turf horses, this meet has thus far been very frustrating.
What is your favorite racetrack and why?
To rev things up in preparation for Saratoga Race Course’s biggest race, the Travers Stakes, New York Racing Association and New York Lottery is presenting the Saratoga area nine days of family activities, live entertainment and community events.
Anaìs Nin once said, “Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one’s courage.”
Jimmy Cottrell of Rock City Falls held off Jack Johnson to win his first race of the season at the Albany Saratoga speedway last Friday night. With rain in the forecast and rain nearly everywhere except Malta, track officials made the decision to leave the track sealed to prevent excessive water getting inside.
For more than 140 years, Saratoga Race Course has helped to build Saratoga Springs into the vibrant city that it is today.
The painted fiberglass horses displayed throughout Saratoga Springs have long been a staple of the city’s landscape.
Two-car crash leaves four hospitalized
With all of the economic problems that currently face New York State, Commissioner of Finance Kenneth Ivins took the opportunity to address some of the major economic issues facing Saratoga Springs at Tuesday’s City Council meeting.
It’s hard to believe that it’s been 11 years now since my grandmother - Edith Waters Mangano - passed away.
After six days of the Saratoga meet, NYRA officials chalked up poor attendance and a decrease in the betting handle to a series of rain storms that swept through the city; however, even with attendance still down after the first two weeks of racing, officials are optimistic that the numbers are starting to turn in their favor.
Facing opposition of recent assessments, the Town of Wilton has a lot of work to do to defend their findings.
Salem Art Works is pleased to announce that it will hold its fundraising event A Movable Feast this year on Saturday, Aug. 23 from 4-9 p.m.
Eliza DeRocker was born to design.
After six months of discussion and planning, signs on the west side of Broadway were placed at the corners of Division Street and Church Street.
Question: Are there any perennials for shade that bloom in the fall? My shade gardens look pretty good most of the season but peter out by September.
Life is a fragile thing. None of us really knows why we are here and none of us ever knows when our time or the time of our loved ones will be up.
August is “National Happiness Happens” month, an informal holiday launched in 1999 with ‘Admit You’re Happy Day’ (now called ‘Happiness Happens Day’).
With the upcoming school year just around the corner, changes are taking place within local school districts to enhance learning for students and save money in a weakening economy.
1 in 4 children who entered kindergarten last year in the United States are suffering from an undiagnosed vision problem!
Until now, thinking about getting ready for a new school year was the very last thing on my mind … and not just because the previous school year seems like it’s only just ended!
This time last year, Steve and I had almost definitely decided that, come September, we would not be sending Thomas to the 3-year-old preschool we’d signed him up for a year earlier.
With the beginning of another school year less than a month away comes the all important decision of which backpack to buy.
Ballston Spa singer/songwriter Lindsey Mae knew she desired a career in music when she first performed her act at an open mic and she hasn’t looked back since.
Over the course of the last decade, the record industry has all but collapsed due to its failure to capitalize on the most recent trends in technology.
This time of year the gardens are producing more zucchini than a person can pick, let alone eat.
As you are reading this column the 2008 Olympics have just begun in China.
Club championships are still in vogue at area golf courses.
Brett Hearn moved to within one victory of becoming Albany Saratoga Speedway’s all-time winningest driver, with his win in last Friday night’s CVRA.com AAA Northway’s 100.
The Fasig-Tipton Selected Yearling Sales is one of my favorite August happenings.
The National Museum of Racing was established in 1950 by a group of people led by C.V. Whitney.
My wife and I recently stayed in a bed and breakfast home on Indian Point, Nova Scotia in Canada
High Action remained undefeated in the United States has he kicked clear after vaulting the final fence Thursday afternoon and drove on to a 1 ½-length victory in the 13th running of the Grade 2, $85,600 A.P. Smithwick Memorial Steeplechase at two miles and a sixteenth over National Fences.
The best thing for his horse, the welfare of the sport and consideration for fans played a part in Mr. Jackson’s decision to keep Curlin in Saratoga for his next start. Curlin has a date in the Woodward Stakes.
While struggling through perhaps the worst race card Saratoga has ever seen on Thursday, Aug. 7 I take this time to reflect back on the tremendous accomplishments of several jockeys and trainers thru the first two weeks of racing.
The colors that the jockeys wear during a race are more than what meets the eye.
With tourist season in full swing, people are beginning to think that cash registers are overflowing.
Rain hinders opening week attendance and handle
With election season swiftly approaching, two Saratoga County Democrats are gearing up in order to vie for a 110th district seat on the State Democratic Committee.
1. Out-of-Towners driving the wrong way on Caroline Street. I just narrowly avoided being hit but such a driver the other day.
Saratoga Springs has always been a hot spot for racing fans and two weeks ago it became a destination for enthusiasts of the Pontiac GTO when they convened in the Spa City to celebrate their 29th annual GTO Association of America International Meet.
Saratoga Springs is now the place to go for the top jewelry in New York.
A new venue for wings and finger foods has landed on West Avenue.
This weekend filmmakers both locally and from across the country will convene in Ballston Spa to take part in the first Ballston Spa Film Festival Aug. 1 and Aug. 2 in Wiswall Park.
Eclipse winner Indian Blessing headlines an impressive group of 3-year-old fillies for Saturday’s 83rd running of the Grade I, $250,000 Darley Test Stakes.
The difference between a good horse and a great horse is often determined by heart, the pure will to win.
The home improvement punch list is never ending.
While areas like Saratoga County continue to develop, most homeowners at one time or another will face problems with animals damaging or infesting their homes or properties.
Most of us know that by switching from our regular light bulbs to compact fluorescent light bulbs is more energy efficient and more earth friendly but there are other things we can do to make it easier on our checking accounts.
There is nothing quite as frustrating as a leisurely stroll through your garden, only to find your local deer families have had a party at your expense just hours before.
Many of you have read Laura Hillenbrand’s best seller, “Seabiscuit, An American Legend.”
Once upon a time, back when Route 66 was a main drag, an uncle and aunt from Chicago visited me in Los Angeles.
Thirty-eight years is a long time so it’s no wonder why former Saratoga Springs City School District Superintendent Dr. John E. MacFadden is still adjusting to life after retirement.
Summer is in full swing at the Saratoga Farmers’ Market and today’s recipe takes advantage of fresh market product and the weather to grill it.
This is what I like to call the championship season when area golf clubs will be conducting their annual club championships.
Gary Wilcox would give anything to have last Friday night back.
Something just didn’t seem right at the University at Albany Monday night.
Matt Delorenzo of Voorheesville drove to a convincing win, his first since opening night, in Friday night’s Modified feature at the Albany Saratoga Speedway.
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