The Biggest Capital Region News Stories of 2016

It was a day that had many people in the Capital Region in fear, and an event that has local law enforcement agencies still training for preparedness. In early November, Crossgates Mall went into lockdown after there were reports that a shooter had fired shots in the mall near the Apple store.

Social media erupted with shoppers commenting from inside the mall and local people who were not at the mall offering prayers.

Later it was determined that the incident was not intended to be a mass shooting but a dispute between two people.The man accused of the shooting pleaded not guilty in court.

Back in January, we told you that Chick-fil-A was scouting out restaurant locations in the Capital Region, and apparently quite a few thousand of you were interested in reading more.

Nearly one year later, we still don't have an opened Chil-fil-A restaurant.

In October, Stewart's Shops came under fire after some former employees alleged that they had not been paid in full for time they had worked.

The former employees sought to have class-action status on the case, and ultimately the lawsuit moved forward as such, as they are claiming that they did not receive uninterrupted lunch breaks, were not paid for meetings and were not paid time-and-a-half for shift overlaps or additional work.

As a result of the class-action status, all current and former employees must be notified before the case moves forward.

Just a couple months back in October, one driver got impatient (as we all do while driving) and ended up making a bad decision.

It is a tale of instant karma as an impatient driver tries to make his way around the driver with the dashcam and a school bus. He apparently thought there were two lanes, but found out pretty quickly that he was mistaken.

A lesson to always be alert, and to always stay calm while behind the wheel of a car.

Back in June it was announced that Upstate New York will become the home of a new theme park.

As shown on News Channel 13, the mega theme park LegoLand has its eye on a 500-acre parcel of land in Orange County. While there are LegoLand parks all over the world, there are only two in the United States in Florida and California, and it seems upstate New York will be joining that club too.

In October, a video had been shared about an employee of the Apple Store in Crossgates Mall on his last day on the job.

As Ryan Kelly was leaving after his last day of work, all of his coworkers rallied around him for a round of high fives and hugs, and right before he left, they all took a group picture with him.

This is the kind of story that makes you smile no matter what.

All the way back in February, a story of two guys out in Saratoga who went to Craigslist in search of dates for a wedding gained popularity all over again. The story went more than viral—it went so viral that a movie was eventually made about it.

The two men from Saratoga would end up being portrayed by Zac Efron and Adam DeVine in the hilarious movie "Mike and Dave Need Wedding Dates."

In March we found out that the happiest place in the state of New York could be found right here in the Capital Region.

If you live in Niskayuna, then you were happy to hear about this, but chances are you were already happy anyway. Not only did a capital region town make the top ten, a Capital Region town took the No. 1 spot! Hopefully we can get more Capital Region towns on that list soon!

Back in June, a girl from Wells went missing, and was found two weeks later.

This was one of those major stories that everyone in the Capital Region was talking about for months. No one knew exactly how this was going to turn out, but everyone could sigh a breath of relief when we found out that she made it back home safe, despite what happened afterward.

If you were at Wilton Mall for this, then you got a special meet and greet that was a once in a lifetime experience.

Before Luke Bryan played a big show at SPAC, he could be found with his family at the Wilton Mall shopping for shoes. You know, what any of us would do if we were about to play a show at SPAC.

This is why you always need to be on the lookout, you never know where some of your favorite musicians might visit before they play a show.