CEG choice expected this week

It's not exactly the College of Cardinals holed up in The Vatican selecting a new pope, with the world waiting for a plume of white smoke announcing that they've made their decision. But there is some local interest as to who the Center for Economic Growth will tab as its next CEO.

The inside word (yes, we have a tipster allegedly connected to this process--now let's see how good his/her information REALLY is!) tells us that the regional economic development group "is just about there" in finalizing its choice and that a public announcement will be forthcoming in the next couple days.

We've also heard some of the names that have made the final round of contendors for the post. A couple of them frankly scare us, for these individuals are on-record as being of the old-school wing of economic development philosophy -- emphasizing bricks & mortar, tax subsidies and cheap overhead cost as opposed to the new economy drivers of talent, social capital and tech transfer. Such an approach would set the region back in tis forward looking growth.

Without naming too many of the names that we are hearing, we will say this: the CEG would be doing a good thing by giving strong conseideration to both of its internal candidates (Jeff Lawrence and David Rooney) as well as the Harriman Campus Project's Michael Tucker.

We won't spill the beans on "who" we've been told has already been offered the post--- but it will be interesting to see if our fly on the wall was actaully, well, there on the wall!

An upcoming local news broadcast

Here's a future transcript from any one of our glorious local television news broadcast stations --- soon to hit the airwaves:

"Good evening. In tonight's news: terrorists have struck NYC with a hydrogen bomb with at least one million casualties. Here in the Capital Region, an earthquake has pushed Albany into the Hudson River....

But first: there's a chance of snow flurries in the air tonight. So let's go to Bob at the Red Alert Weather Center to track this dangerous storm front. What can you tell us Bob, do we need to put an extra blanket on the bed to tonight?"

Massage parlor bust

(Originally published on Albany Rants)

Local law enforcement agencies have busted two "Asian Massage" parlors. One of them was on Fuller Road --- just down the street from the Albany Nanotech complex.

Think, people, think! How are we going to attract world class business leaders to this area if we shut down their lunch time and apres-work options?

All you can eat salad bars and karaoke DJ's alone just aren't going to hack it!

I suggest they now consider heading over to Friendly's. I hear the chicken is pretty popular...

White Trash Nation loses one of its own

(Originally poblished on Albany Rants)

Did I see this right last night or was I hallucinating?

Right there, on a cable broadcast station, comes a news bulletin telling us that the (suddenly) late Anna Nicole Smith's redneck mother has just announced that she would seek to gain custody of the buxom one's infant daughter.

A f'ing news bulletin! No, I'm not making this up--or am I?

Anyways, the flags will be at half-staff today at trailer parks throughout the land, as the white trash mourn the loss of their beloved and cherished icon / role model. Yes, this is the person we should worship to the point that her death dominates the talk shows, isn't it?

Let's do a recap of her life, shall we...?

Better yet, let's not--CNN, ET, MSNBC, FoxNews and all the others have that covered.