WSSV News

A man from Saratoga Springs is using his family’s home, car and pub in eastern Poland to help Ukrainian refugees. WNYT reports People around Saratoga have helped Adam Israel raise $30,000 so far, going directly to women and children escaping the war. Israel is in the process of making his fundraising more official, so he can continue to give direct aid to refugees as long as the war continues.

A man from Mechanicville will spend 30 years behind bars for sexually abusing children. WNYT reports 51 year old Gary Ryan, a former Saratoga County youth sports coach, was sentenced Monday after pleading guilty in federal court to transportation of minors to engage in sexual activity. Ryan admitted to assaulting boys as young as 5 on trips to Orlando, Boston and Las Vegas. He also admitted to giving the kids drugs and alcohol.

Reserved seats for the summer meet at Saratoga Race Course go on sale Wednesday. According to WNYT, on April 1, NYRA will start selling their season tickets for general admission. They will get you access to the track, but not a reserved seat. Ticket prices are up $10 from last year. It will be $60 for the grandstand and $85 for the clubhouse.

The Price Chopper Limited store in Saratoga Springs is closing. Officials say the 19,000 square foot grocery store at the Market Center Apartments opened in 2012, and since then a Price Chopper Supercenter has opened up around the corner.
The last day of business is April 16, reports WNYT.

One person is dead after a crash in the town of Ballston. Police say a driver was going southbound on Hop City Road when they crossed into the northbound lane and hit two pedestrians. WNYT reports one person died at the scene, the other person hit was taken to Albany Med with serious injuries. Investigators are trying to determine what led to the crash.

A Ballston Spa man is accused of beating his neighbor with a baseball bat. 45 year old Pharrin Greene is charged with first-degree assault following the incident at an apartment on Milton Avenue. Arriving officers found 68 year old Bernard Rodgers unconscious. Authorities say the victim has a traumatic brain injury and a lacerated liver.

A sitdown in Saratoga between the new public safety commissioner and the owner of Gaffney’s Bar & Restaurant. Commissioner James Montagnino tells WNYT the owners of other bars in the Caroline Street area have expressed their concerns after a number of issues involving Gaffney’s, including a fight from last Sunday, March 6, where three people were arrested, and three officers were injured.

Police in Saratoga Springs exclusively tell WNYT they potentially saved lives when they pulled over a suspected drunk driver on Spring Street last Saturday morning. Police say they arrested 39-year-old Kalvin Lamar Pittman of Amsterdam for driving drunk around 1:45 a.m. on Mar.5th. Police say they got word that Pittman may have been heading to Gaffney’s Bar to settle and earlier fight. Instead, he’s being held at Saratoga County Jail after he did not pay $30,000 cash bail or $60,000 bond.

A Saratoga County man is charged with making terroristic threats. WNYT reports 44 year old Michael Emmerson of Greenfield Center is accused of harassing and making threats to child protective service workers, a class D felony. He was arraigned at the Ballston Spa Village Court and released on his own recognizance.

Reckless endangerment and other counts face a Halfmoon man accused of firing a gun into the floor of his apartment at Twin Lakes Apartments in Halfmoon. The bullet fired by Robert Kennedy Jr. entered the apartment below his, which was occupied at the time, reports WNYT. No one was hurt.