WSSV News

Reserved tables in the Saratoga Race Course picnic paddock will be made available exclusively through a random drawing for Belmont Stakes Day. Fans can enter the picnic paddock random drawing online starting on Monday. WTEN reports a majority of Saratoga Race Course’s backyard picnic tables will be available on a first-come, first-served basis throughout the four-day Belmont Stakes Racing Festival. Find out more at www.belmontstakes.com.

The Saratoga County Department of Health is offering free Narcan training and distribution on Saturday, March 23. WTEN reports the training is part of the county’s Health and Safety Day event, held at the Clifton Park Center Mall from noon to 3 p.m.
Participants will learn how to recognize an overdose and administer Narcan and all participants will receive a free Narcan kit upon completion.

A Schenectady man is behind bars, charged with making a bomb threat at Saratoga Hospital Thursday. WNYT reports 31 year old Jonathan Gardner had just been released from the hospita and allegedly said something about having a bomb.
Police K-9s swept the building and didn’t find anything. Gardner is charged with falsely reporting an incident.

Twin Bridges will begin offering a curbside yard waste pick-up service for Clifton Park residents beginning on April 1. The service will be available through the end of November. According to WTEN, Yard waste, including leaves, grass clippings, tree and shrub trimmings, and other brush must be in brown paper yard waste bags. Small, bundled brush less than four feet long and three feet in diameter will be collected but must be tied.

Preparations are ramping up for Belmont Stakes Weekend at the Saratoga Race Course, and the New York Racing Association are confident they can handle it but acknowledge there are some changes in how they get the track ready. WTEN reports NYRA, this week, said there are some added costs but said they are excited to keep the race in New York.

A film producer is looking for investors to help make a film about the Battles of Saratoga. WNYT reports Mark O’Rourke, producer of “Saratoga: The Turning Point,” is the visionary behind this veteran-owned, independent feature film project.
The goal is for the movie to premiere just in time for the 250th anniversary of the American Revolution in 2026.

New charges are being brought against the woman accused of dropping her baby down a drainage pipe at General Electric.
24 year old Persia Nelson has been indicted on charges of second-degree murder, second-degree manslaughter and endangering the welfare of a child, reports WNYT. Nelson is accused of causing the death of her nearly 11-month-old baby daughter Halo.

The Saratoga County Sheriff’s Department is investigating the death of a Schenectady man who died Monday night while in the department’s custody. Derek G. Labutta, 43, was pronounced dead in his cell after life-saving measures were unsuccessful
Labutta had been in custody since Saturday morning when Saratoga Springs police arrested him on drug and weapons charges.

Capital Roots has collaborated with Free Food Fridge Albany and Mechanicville Area Community Services Center (MACSC) to bring a new free food fridge to Mechanicville. It was installed on Thursday, March 14. WTEN reports the fridge is stocked with weekly deliveries of fresh food from Capital Roots, as a way to fight food insecurity in the area by providing nutritious food to families in need.

The founder of Saratoga Black Lives Matter is calling the fact that the city almost hired a white police officer who shot a Black man in Troy several years ago a “slap in the face.” WNYT reports Saratoga Springs Public Safety Commissioner Tim Coll said the department will not be hiring Jarrod Iler. When Iler worked as a Troy Police officer, he shot a man named Dahmeek McDonald, who was driving toward him and refused to stop.