Pizza shops, tissue companies,

Road rage is real, here and elsewhere. Dance center cancels season.

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—Steve Thurston and Abby Tegnelia, co-owners, Saratoga Dispatch

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The “Morning Call” wakes you up with the top stories from the Dispatch and other news outlets that affect Saratoga.

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Pizza, cookies and ice cream in Schenectady

Simone’s Kitchen owner Bashir Chedrawee has big plans for expansion, says a story in the Daily Gazette. The restaurateur has plans to create a central administrative hub for the company, and to use the old Anabel’s pizza location, attached to Frog Alley Brewing on State Street in Schenectady into its own pizza joint that also serves Frog Alley from an internal doorway. The cookie shop will open on Jay Street, the story says.

Morcon Tissue moving operations

Morcon Tissue will move out of Eagle Bridge to the former Essity tissue factory space in Greenwich, the Albany Business Review is reporting. They are leasing 100,000 square feet from the Fort Miller Group, which bought the property (outbidding Marcon) earlier this year, the story says. Essity moved all operations out of the region in 2023. South Glens Falls has been looking for a company to take the former Essity space in the village, since then, to no avail.

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Jacob’s Pillow cancels season

After the tragic, accidental death of production manager Kat Sirico of Massachusetts-based Jacob’s Pillow, the dance center has cancelled the rest of its season, scheduled through August 24. “The Jacob’s Pillow Board of Trustees and institutional leadership has decided that Festival 2025 will not continue,” they wrote to their supports last night. “We have come to this difficult decision following the tragic accident on our campus on August 1.” Ticket-holders will receive refunds. No criminal charges are filed in the incident, the Berkshire Eagle is reporting. The load Sirico and another person were hauling with a dolly got loose and crushed Sirico.

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More talk at Clifton Park Planning Board

A land advocacy group and two Democrats running for Town Board are calling for the restoration of public comment at the Clifton Park Planning Board meetings, a story in the Times Union says. The issue for one of the town board candidates says the way the planning board now takes public input rarely and too late in the process to be helpful in decision-making. Town Board candidate Mario Fantini and the nonprofit Friends of Clifton Park Open Space are urging the Planning Board to regular public comments at each meeting.

Related: Mayor to public speakers: Watch the time.

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SPAC looking for singers

SPAC’s School of the Arts is inviting folks of all ages and abilities to participate in its free, first-ever Pop-Up Choir event to sing “Defying Gravity” from the popular musical and film Wicked, a story in the Dispatch says. There is no charge to attend, but advance registration is required. Sheet music and practice recordings will be provided ahead of time, according to the story that comes to the Dispatch as part of the Positively Saratoga coverage.

Wildfires rage and there’s nothing to be done

Little that can be done to stop or prevent the out-of-control wildfires tearing through northwest Canada and dumping smoke and “fine particulates” on the Northeast, the Times Union says. The fires, some 200 of them and one at 250,000 acres, lie in wilderness areas and no easy way to get to them, and some of their trees (who knew?) are more flammable than others. For related info here, see the weather section, below the fold.

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Below the fold: Halloween! Data breach. Road rage. Weather, traffic, stocks and more.