Thanksgiving Travel Could Be Backed Up & More of What You Need to Know Near Albany

Albany - Make sure you plan on hitting the road early for the Thanksgiving holiday.  The New York State Thruway Authority says there’s going to be heavy traffic. Traffic will be considerably more congested the Wednesday before Thanksgiving and the Sunday after since those are two of the busiest travel days of the year for the Thruway.  Exits 23 and 24 are expected to be heavy with traffic.

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Albany - The Justice Department is closing a case that they had been investigating.  The FBI was conducting an investigation of the Albany lobbying firm, Powers & Co. and former U.S. Representative John Sweeney.  Criminal charges will not be pursued.  The investigation, for the most part, was focused on Sweeney’s relationship with the lobbying firm.

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Albany - Dredging of the Hudson River has surpassed the year-end production goal set by federal regulators.  The crews doing the PCB dredging experienced some delays from all the heavy rains and high water.  General Electric Co. reports that more than 363,000 cubic yards of sediment from the river was dredged while the Environmental Protection Agency had set a goal of removing 350,000 for their second year of dredging.

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Watervliet - While the city of Watervliet’s budget calls for no layoffs, the city will be raising their taxes 1.6%.  The budget is slated to increase by $203,828 for 2012.  Only one job position will be lost, but that’s because of a retirement and will not be re-filled.  The need for the city’s tax increase is due to a rise in retirement costs and an increase in health insurance costs.