Kumi Tucker

Crews from all over the state are doing demanding work down at the Jennings Creek Wildfire. As recently as Monday, Catskill volunteers were protecting homes from the fierce fire that's already destroyed thousands of acres.

Attorney for woman accused of killing Baby Halo: it was not murder Schenectady, N.Y. (WNYT) – Persia Nelson appeared in Schenectady County Court before Judge Matthew Sypniewski. It was a brief status update. In October, private criminal defense attorney Mark Sacco agreed to take this case because the public defender's office had a conflict. Sacco told the court he has the materials he needs. Nelson is accused of causing the death of her nine-month-old daughter, Halo Branton, in March. “I'd like to correct the record on that a little bit,” said Sacco. “My client is not a monster. She had a huge lapse in judgment, did something that everyone involved will agree is a huge tragedy. But she didn't commit murder.” Authorities say the baby had been dropped into a utility tunnel on the General Electric campus, was half submerged in water, and died of exposure and hypothermia. Nelson is charged with murder, manslaughter, and endangering the welfare of a child. “I think when the facts come out, you'll find out that she was at a party, a family party, with all very nice people. She drank too much that night and she got upset and she left and I think she was new to the area, so I believe what happened and what I think the evidence is going to show in the case is that she got disoriented and she ended up in a wooded area,” he said. “If you've ever been disoriented at night, maybe had a couple drinks and you're in a place you don't know, you can kind of understand how something like this can happen. And the weather starts getting colder and colder and colder. And I think what the evidence is going to show is that she got very disoriented. And when she set the baby down in this shed that the baby was found in, she thought that that was a safe place for her baby and it's going to show that the intoxication is a very big deal here, but it's not murder.” Sacco spoke to two grandmothers Wednesday. “And everyone that I've talked to said she was a great mother. Loved the kid to death, loved the kid. I should also note when she was found, and she had thrown up all over herself and her blood alcohol was I think probably over a .20 which is very intoxicated, the first thing she said to the EMS workers is where's my baby. Now, she has blacked out at that point,” said Sacco. There is no trial date yet, but it's expected to take place early next year.

Albany County Sheriff's Office prepares thousands of Thanksgiving meals Clarksville, N.Y. (WNYT) – It's a well-run Thanksgiving operation, and a lot goes into it. The Albany County Sheriff's Thanksgiving dinner is going to feed hundreds of people all over the region. Last year, Sheriff Craig Apple's holiday operation expanded by a lot because Equinox stopped delivering meals. This year, they knew it would be big again. People are struggling. The cost of everyday items has gone up. The day began with finding out the ovens had gone down, so they did a quick pivot and brought in a huge roaster to continue the day. “We started cooking Saturday and finished a lot of it up and then today we heated it up, packaged, and served it up by police cars, ambulances, you name it,” said Sheriff Apple. “We had a lot of volunteers this year come back into the program, like civilian drivers that wanted to help out and just give back to the community, so it's been great. We've got about 50 staffers today.” It's Commander Joseph Lowry's first year volunteering here. “It's a huge effort, from the kitchen to the bagging to deliveries and pickups, a big operation,” he said. They ended up sending out close to 2,000 meals in less than six hours. Video Player is loading. This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color Transparency Background Color Transparency Window Color Transparency Font Size Text Edge Style Font Family End of dialog window. Thousands of Thanksgiving meals went out today from Albany County. Volunteers were busy with the sheriff's holiday operation. For the Albany County Sheriff's department, this is also a team-building activity. “It is, and we're all here with the same goal. And we're all enjoying it,” said Commander Lowry. “We like to give back to the community,” said Sheriff Apple. “This is a great day for camaraderie for the staff as well and giving back to the communities that we police every day. We enjoy it and there's a need out there, a huge need. More people have called us this year that are just literally starving for a meal. We've got as far west as Fulton County, Montgomery area, as north as Washington and Warren, we've hit Rensselaer, Greene, saturated our county.” Donations from Sysco, Ginsberg, Capital Produce, Old World Provisions, and Hill and Markes helped make this effort possible. A team from Delmar Rotary arrived to pick up bags of meals for delivery. “It sounded like they needed volunteers, so we said we'll do it, sure,” said Tom Burdick. “We're delivering 58 meals, there are four cars, and we've got a bunch of volunteers in the cars to deliver meals today.” “We're part of Delmar Rotary, we're Rotarians, that's just what we do. We volunteer and we pitch in when we can.” It's a sentiment echoed by other volunteers. “It just feels good,” said Commander Lowry. “It's the right thing to do.”

Watervliet delivers Thanksgiving meals to residents Watervliet, N.Y. (WNYT) – Volunteers gathered at the Watervliet High School to get their delivery lists and put together the orders. Their mission was clear. “Today, me and my crew are going to give Thanksgiving meals to people who need it the most,” said 11-year-old volunteer Anthony VanPatten. This year, 294 meals are going to 132 households. That's up 18% from last year. The cooking was done under the direction of city firefighter and restaurant owner Tim Delisle. “The school was gracious enough to give us that amazing facility back there, which we couldn't do without because they have all the equipment we need,” he said. “Monetary donations came in, so we bought the proper products, we had turkeys, we had green beans donated, we had potatoes donated, stuffing was made yesterday, gravy was made yesterday, and then we had a bunch of volunteers that came and helped package it up.” Once again, police, firefighters, and the city are stepping up to fill the void after Equinox stopped its big Thanksgiving meal delivery last year. Video Player is loading. This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color Transparency Background Color Transparency Window Color Transparency Font Size Text Edge Style Font Family End of dialog window. It was a busy day in Watervliet, with crews fanning out all over the city to deliver Thanksgiving meals. “To give back to the community,” said Watervliet Police Chief William Rice. “I know that the way the economy is, families are having a hard time buying the meals for themselves.” “The number of people who came in and said they were going to help cook, they would help do whatever I needed to do, especially those that gave donations– I just had it out there a couple of times and people were sending me checks and it was just a great feeling to know that it was that much of a caring community,” said Watervliet Mayor Charles Patricelli. 9-year-old Peyton showed us some of the cards that were included in the delivery bags. The cards were made by students at Watervliet Elementary School and the Girl Scouts. When it was delivery time, groups fanned out over the city, bringing the meals to the residents that had signed up. They knocked on doors and called out, “Happy Thanksgiving!” People were happy to see the smiles, giving thanks, and knowing what's behind this whole effort. “To spread love and joy,” said Anthony. “So everybody can have as equal as good a Thanksgiving as we all have.”

CDTA runs a large network of rental bikes all over the Capital Region. One of their new bike mechanics is visually impaired.

Child dead, another injured after falling through ice in Washington Park Police say one young person is dead after falling through the ice near the Lake House in Albany's Washington Park Saturday afternoon. Police say two people fell through the ice. Rescue teams pulled a body out of the water believed to be a boy just after 7pm Saturday night. Capital Region BOCES carpentry students making holiday crafts to fund future projects More Videos 0 seconds of 45 seconds Volume 0% Press shift question mark to access a list of keyboard shortcuts Keyboard Shortcuts Play/Pause SPACE Increase Volume ↑ Decrease Volume ↓ Seek Forward → Seek Backward ← Captions On/Off c Fullscreen/Exit Fullscreen f Mute/Unmute m Decrease Caption Size Increase Caption Size + or = Seek % Next Up Code Blue in effect for Albany this weekend https://cdn.jwplayer.com/previews/M4W9lt2A Live The other person who fell through is a girl who is now in critical condition at Albany Medical Center. Albany police responded to the scene just after 4:30pm Saturday. Police Chief Brendan Cox said the two people were juveniles believed to be in their early teens, and that the girl may have gone into the lake after the boy to try to save him. Albany police worked with firefighters and New York State Police on rescue boats on the lake, as crews searched for hours for that young boy. “We received a call for somebody that was potentially in the lake. When both police and fire responded. they were told that a young girl had gone in the lake, potentially after somebody else to save them,” said Chief Cox.

Shopping with dignity at the Unity House Children's Holiday Market Troy, N.Y. (WNYT) – Priscilla Thompson is a mother of five. “It helps a lot because with the financial stuff nowadays everything's so expensive. You can't really afford to get your kids nothing nowadays, so it helps a lot,” she said. Everything in the Unity House Children's Holiday Market has been donated– evidence of a very generous community. Unity House hosts this event in Troy so that people can shop for free, and with dignity. Shoppers get a chance to pick out the things they want for their children. Video Player is loading. This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color Transparency Background Color Transparency Window Color Transparency Font Size Text Edge Style Font Family End of dialog window. There's a place in Troy where families will be able to pick out gifts for their children, free of charge. The holiday market is put on by Unity House, and they want people to be able to shop with dignity. “I know that it's a stressful time to decide whether to pay a certain bill or to give your child a special gift for the holiday and I think if we can at least help with that little bit, our mission is to make life better and to me, there's nothing better than that,” said Unity House Children's Holiday Program Coordinator Moira Geracitano. Shoppers select both gifts and essentials. They get two “wants” and two “needs” per child, and everyone gets pajamas, hats, mittens, and socks. They even get paper and tape, so they can wrap their gifts. Video Player is loading. This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color Transparency Background Color Transparency Window Color Transparency Font Size Text Edge Style Font Family End of dialog window. A large market filled with toys has been set up in a building in Troy. It's a place through Unity House for people to pick out gifts for their children for Christmas, free of charge, and shop with dignity. Shoppers are referred through programs, and shopping is by appointment only. The space to help the community was provided by First Columbia, which has a lot of projects in the area. “We're very happy, we have a lot of great employees from Troy and we're trying to use our resources to invest in their communities to make things better for everyone. And this is great for everybody!” said First Columbia President Kevin Bette. “There's just great stuff here. You walk through and see a lot of new stuff and a lot of very high quality gifts and it warms your heart that they're going to go to people that need them more.” This room may look full, but over the next two weeks, more than 1,000 children will get gifts from this market, including Priscilla's youngest children. “The way they smile and they get along. I love when they get along. They can't be like, oh that's mine, that's mine, nope. You got your own stuff, you like that, you like that, they're good,” she said. “But the fun, the laughing, the giggling, that's what makes me– that's my Christmas.”

Shop with a Sheriff in Cobleskill Video Player is loading. This is a modal window. Beginning of dialog window. Escape will cancel and close the window. Text Color Transparency Background Color Transparency Window Color Transparency Font Size Text Edge Style Font Family End of dialog window. Children showed up at the Walmart in Cobleskill armed with long Christmas lists. As they got to work shopping, they had some very merry armed escorts. Cobleskill, N.Y. (WNYT) – A law enforcement crowd descended on the Walmart in Cobleskill for a very happy reason. The Schoharie County Sheriff's Department and SUNY Cobleskill Police are paired with children to “Shop with a Sheriff.” “It's always a fun time coming to hang out with the kids and do their shopping with them,” said Schoharie County Deputy Julia Valvo. The children get to fill their carts with items from their Christmas lists, thanks to donations from the community and law enforcement unions. 7-year-old Marilyn from Cobleskill says it's fun to shop with the officers. “Because they talk and we get to talk with them and we have a partner,” she said. That's exactly what these officers like to hear. The children are excited about the shopping, of course, but this is also about building relationships. “I think it is,” said Deputy Valvo. “I think it's good for the community to see us interact in a positive way.” “I signed up for this because it's really cool to watch the kids pick out stuff for their family and sometimes it's hard to even get them to get something for themselves, so it's really cool to watch them open up and they get to see us in a really friendly light and something different for them, maybe they haven't talked to many police officers before,” said SUNY Cobleskill Police Officer Carly Ferretti. This year, there are 16 children from six school districts. 8-year-old James from Cobleskill says he's shopping for his entire family, and he made a list. “I don't remember but it's a lot of stuff,” he said. After Walmart, they sit down to eat at Little Italy Pizza. The shopping partners get to spend more time together. It is all about the children. “I absolutely love giving back and being involved with the kids and getting to see the joy and happiness,” said SUNY Cobleskill Police Officer Emily Croneiser. “Christmas is a very special time to me and I think it means a lot. Hoping that the kids have a great time and get to enjoy it.”

A Schoharie County man is fighting to stay in the house where he grew up. Deed theft is a growing problem in this area. The targets are most often vulnerable homeowners.

A Rensselaer County man suffered from stress when he thought he had lost the home he shares with his brother, who is in a wheelchair. Officials say they were the victims of something called deed fraud, and they are not alone.