Not more than three weeks after a “sleepy” Election Day in Albany County, the race for Albany County District Attorney begins to heat up with defense attorney Lee Kindlon to formally announce his candidacy for the position Thursday at 10 a.m. at the Zaloga Post on Everett Road in Colonie.

Kindlon will be facing incumbent district attorney P. David Soares, 41, who will be seeking his third term. Soares has faced some criticism over not prosecuting Occupy Albany protesters, earning him an appearance on Current TV’s “Countdown with Keith Olbermann.”

Kindlon, 35, is the son of prominent defense lawyer Terrence Kindlon and has been employed with the elder Kindlon’s Downtown Albany firm, Kindlon Shanks & Associates, since 2006. Kindlon – like Soares – is a resident of the town of Bethlehem.

In anticipation of the announcement, Kindlon has been seen making the rounds at a number of Albany-area events.

Soares, who became district attorney after a divisive primary in 2004 against his former boss, then District Attorney Paul Clyne, had been proactive in the investigation of steroid distributors from Florida. Soares also had jurisdiction over charges involving then N.Y. Gov. Eliot L. Spitzer’s tactics in obtaining then-Senate Majority Leader Joseph L. Bruno’s politically sensitive travel records.

Soares ultimately decided to not file charges against the disgraced governor.

The Democratic primary – similar to most races in the City of Albany – may determine the general election winner. It is estimated that each campaign may have to spent upwards of $300,000, making it most likely the region’s most expensive race in 2012.

Just over a year ago, Albany’s Quail Street had been known to area college students for Professor M. Barley’s (some still call it the Lamp Post), Pepperjack’s, and a great place to get a beef patty. Since then, three new businesses have come in to the neighborhood, changing the dynamic from heavily relying on alcohol to a more vibrant mix.

The Hudson River Coffee House (corner of Quail Street and Hudson Avenue) has been considered the place to go for indie bands, for open mic, and for great food and drink. 23 year old Anton Pasquill, its owner, conceived the store in early 2010 before breaking ground in the summer of that year. The store’s doors opened on November 28.

This past March, in response to Kegs and Eggs, Pasquill, along with graduate student LeeFrances Sweet, led cleanup efforts of Pine Hills in collaboration with the University at Albany (Pasquill himself is a UAlbany alumnus).

“It has been extraordinary to witness how quickly the store has become a beacon of the community, allowing for neighborhood residents, area artists and performers, students and student-residents to have a hub in common. My staff and I have been honored to serve our customers with food, drink and entertainment and look forward to many more wonderful years,” said Pasquill in a statement.

Hudson River Coffee House under construction in summer of 2010 (photo courtesy of Hudson River Coffee House)

On the day of the store’s actual anniversary on Monday, Pasquill spoke at the New Leaders Council Capital District chapter’s inaugural fundraiser, discussing how in order for a business to survive and thrive in Albany, business owners needs to educate themselves on the inner workings of Albany. Additionally, on the point of being a proactive business owner, Pasquill stated, “being a progressive business makes good business sense,” referring to organic employee growth (Hudson River currently employs five not including himself) and working with community groups.

Artists who have played “Hudson River” include Jed Davis, Aficionado, Olivia Quillio, Caleb Lionheart, Dirty Paris, Severe Severe, Tarot, and many more. Each Thursday, Hudson River hosts an open mic night that regularly sees 20 to 30 performers.

Hudson River has won a number of awards, including Metroland’s Best New Venue (2011) and the Knickerbocker Ledger’s Best Coffeehouse (2011). Pasquill himself has also been featured in the Times Union, All Over Albany, and Keep Albany Boring.

Friday’s show, starting at 8 p.m., includes including the Sunnyside of the Street Band and Lucky Jukebox Brigade.

The Sunny Side of the Street Band formed in early 2011 as an Americana/swing and soul band. Comprised of Thomas Lafond (vocals, guitar, drums), Eric Margan (vocals, bass), and Bryan Brundige (trombone), the band is expecting to release their new album, “Stories to the Moon,” in 2012.

The Lucky Jukebox Brigade is an indie-folk band that started making music together in the fall of 2010. The band, which includes Deanna DeLuke (vocals, baritone ukulele), Brian Elsenbeck (banjo, accordion, melodica, clarinet, vocals), Geppi Iaia (bass, vocals), Kristoph DiMaria (percussion, vocals), Emily Trumpfheller (trombone), Gina Mauro (violin, viola, mandolin, vocals), and Andrew Burger (tuba, trumpet, vocals), and Christopher Weatherly (euphonium, alto horn), released a four-track album in early 2011.

There is no charge for admission to the anniversary show.

On Tuesday night, the New York Rangers defeated the mighty Pittsburgh Penguins to move within three points of the Pens division lead.

In Tuesday’s game that was highlighted by a whopping forty-two total penalty minutes, the Rangers really set the tone early in the game with their physical play. They went into the first intermission down by one goal but came out in the second period firing on all cylinders, scoring four second period goals. The second period push proved to be too much for the Pens as they fell 4-3 to the Rangers.

Brad Richards led his team to the win over Sidney Crosby’s Penguins who currently lead the NHL in points. Crosby did end up with two assists in the game but was generally held in check around the net. Richards was the player of the game scoring one goal and dishing off two assists, one of which went to the Rangers top goal scorer Marian Gaborik. That goal was Gaborik’s 11^th on the season.

In a game that clearly put the Rangers in the spotlight, an Albany River Rats Hall of Famer was also in the spotlight, Steve Sullivan of the Pittsburgh Penguins. He had one assist in the game and saw lots of playing time, especially on the power play unit. It’s been over a decade since Sullivan has played a game for Albany’s former AHL team, but it’s still good to see a class act like him doing well in the NHL… even if he is playing for Pittsburgh. He currently has four goals and eight assists for the Penguins this season.

The Rangers have won 10 of their last 12 games and are showing the world that they are a dangerous squad that is more than capable of taking down a top team. The NHL has been put on alert, the New York Rangers mean business.

Over Thanksgiving week, my two roommates and I did what most 25 year old guys of distinction do in the early evening: play ‘Monopoly’ on our Sega Genesis.

Yes – Sega Genesis (we collectively agree console games stopped being fun when they went to the interwebs, but that’s another story). Anyway, most of the negative stigma with ‘Monopoly’ is the length in which the game can go (hours, days, etc.) and the dirtiness of tactics of players (i.e. monopoly-related violence). However, what I noticed what the increasingly similarity to our economy’s composition to the Parker Brothers game.

So as many of you know, the goal of ‘Monopoly’ is to effectively gain a set of property (the ‘monopoly’), in which you could buy houses or hotels on each space, increasing the rent of each of these space. Some properties – your Baltic and Mediterranean avenues – are the equivalent of your slums whereas Park Place and Boardwalk resemble high-end coastal properties, each with respective rent rates (Baltic with a hotel is $250 of rent compared Boardwalk hotel’s $2,000 – of course, these all are 1935-based prices).

In the game, a player could land in jail (or collect a “Get Out of Jail Free” card), pay income taxes and utilities, and collect income through passing “Go.” Additionally, players can make deals with each other, such as forgoing rent and making alliances. All things that have a real-life equivalent.

With Occupy Wall Street and an increased awareness of income inequality, the game of ‘Monopoly’ is no longer played with dice on a board, a thimble, and a race car, but now with the increased value and consolidated power of financial corporations, utility companies, and political organizations, it’s the American public that’s being taken on a dice roll of a nation of broad-based wealth to a small number of individuals who would wield influence that could not be swayed.

Ten years ago, the names of Fleet, Washington Mutual, Bear Stearns, and Lehman Brothers were among the dozens of national financial companies that led Wall Street. Those names – through mergers, collapses, and assumptions – in addition to many others are now consolidated into four behemoths: JPMorganChase, Wells Fargo, Bank of America, and Citigroup. The same goes for telecom, which is now held by AT&T (Ma Bell returned, folks), T-Mobile, Verizon, and Sprint; and media with Time Warner, News Corporation, and Disney.

Pretty much, these companies hit a series of good streak of ‘doubles’ without going to jail (i.e. previously passed regulatory legislation that’s been largely dismantled). And by creating a ‘perfect storm’ of a loophole-ridden tax code, flexing strength through lobbying for less regulation, and creating unannounced alliances, the ‘rent’ that the American public will continue to rise as long as these companies can build their ‘hotels’ and ‘houses’ on the backs of the American taxpayer.

And when you think the American public caught a break – guess what? Go directly to jail, do not pass Go, do not collect $200. Jail in this sense is the inability for one to rise to the upper class, let alone the inability to get a job or achieve the American dream.

So as we were wrapping up one of more recent games, my one roommate – who had gone to jail numerous times (in the game), attempted to make ill-conceived deals – was finally able to build a hotel and had a gleam in his eye. I, who had controlled three monopolies on the board, didn’t think it was wise to build. No later than one turn after that, his hotel, along with all of his cash, were mine as he landed my hotel-filled Illinois Avenue. I didn’t need his money or his properties, but it shows how fast one can believe that they can make it before the “powers that be” come back to collect that ‘rent.’

Comedian Patrice O’Neal, known for his appearances on Comedy Central’s roasts and a number of television programs, is dead at 41 according to celebrity news website TMZ.

O’Neal had suffered a stroke in October and subsequently died of complications on Monday evening.

Known for his quick retorts and jovial style, O’Neal most recently had appeared at the Comedy Central roast of Charlie Sheen in September. O’Neal was a Boston, Mass. native and was at one point a writer for World Wrestling Entertainment.

With additional details surfacing in the child sex abuse scandal surrounding associate basketball coach Bernie Fine, Syracuse University Chancellor Nancy Cantor fired Fine on Sunday, stating “(SU) has the responsibility, individually and collectively, to ensure that Syracuse University remains a safe place for every campus community member and everyone with whom we interact on a daily basis on campus or in the community as part of our learning, scholarship, or work.”

Fine, who had been with Syracuse since 1976, is accused to abusing a number of ball boys from the mid 1970s through the 1990s. Syracuse had placed Fine on administrative leave earlier in the month. It was recently revealed that Fine’s wife had a taped phone call conversation with one of the accuser’s parents.

“We do not tolerate abuse. If anything good comes out of this tragedy, it will be that this basic principle is reinforced,” Cantor continued in her e-mail statement sent to the SU community Sunday evening.

Fine’s allegations come just weeks after Penn State’s handling of the Jerry Sandusky child sex scandal which resulted in the termination of it’s president in addition to longtime head football coach Joe Paterno.

“The allegations that have come forth today are disturbing and deeply troubling. I am personally very shocked because I have never witnessed any of the activities that have been alleged. I deeply regret any statements I made that might have inhibited that from occurring or been insensitive to victims of abuse,” said head coach Jim Boeheim in a statement. Boeheim had hired Fine in 1976 as one of his assistants.

With over 1,150 fugitives captured, John Walsh and company hope continue that number as “America’s Most Wanted” (AMW) returns to weekly airings starting on December 2 on Lifetime.

AMW was canceled by Fox Entertainment chief Kevin Reilly in May after 23 seasons. Started by host and executive producer John Walsh, AMW first aired in 1988 on the fledgling Rupert Murdoch-led network. Since then, the show had been instrumental in bringing over a thousand fugitives to justice for crimes that include child molestation, homicide, and more.

In September 2011, Lifetime (owned jointly by Hearst, Disney, and NBCUniversal) announced it made an agreement to pick up the show on a weekly basis.

“We are the court of last resort and with the show getting back to our weekly airing, we’ll have the capability of getting more fugitives off the streets and behind bars where they belong,” said Walsh in a statement.

AMW will air this Friday at 9 p.m.

Newt Gingrich is sure looking more like John McCain.

In July 2007, the Arizona senator’s presidential campaign was largely written off as an exercise in futility. Polling in single digits in Iowa with a number of key staffers leaving, including his chief aide Mark Salter reducing to a part time role, the McCain campaign’s prospects of winning the Republican nomination in 2008 were as bleak as it could be. McCain – at 72 years of age at the time – was potentially unfit to serve.

McCain would go on to win the nomination after a December 2007 comeback that propelled victories in New Hampshire, South Carolina, and Florida.

It seems that former House Speaker Newt Gingrich is taking several pages from that same McCain playbook. Gingrich, 68, suffered from a considerable staff shakeup in June after it was revealed that Gingrich and his wife Callista had racked up a half million dollars in debt from luxury retailer Tiffany’s in addition to the couple taking a cruise vacation to Greece. Staffers who left the Gingrich campaign were miffed due to their belief that Gingrich wasn’t serious about a 2012 run.

In nearly a similar fashion to McCain, Gingrich is now polling either ahead or even to former Mass. Gov. Mitt Romney, the consistent frontrunner so far this year. A series of strong debate performances, including last week’s CNN National Security Debate, have made Gingrich the prime choice of conservative and Tea Party-leaning voters.

Today’s announcement of the New Hampshire Union Leader’s endorsement of Gingrich only continues the comparison to McCain, who also received the Manchester, N.H.-based newspaper’s endorsement in 2008 and Ronald Reagan, who earned their endorsement in 1980. The Union Leader’s endorsement is a full 180 from their original opinion of Gingrich in 1992, in which they called him “insufficiently conservative and a prostitute.”

Gingrich, however, could be seen as the latest “flavor of the month” for the Republican field that has seen businessmen Herman Cain and Donald Trump, U.S. Rep. Michelle Bachmann, and Texas Gov. Rick Perry all rise to the top for a temporary period of time before being embroiled in scandal.