ALBANY - Two and a half years after he walked away with five not guilty and two guilty verdicts in his first trial, the now 83 year old Joe Bruno once again was walking into federal court.

Last time he always stopped to say hello and to proclaim his innocence. This time, both going in and later coming out, Bruno said nothing. His attorneys say that's what they firmly advised.

The superseding indictment concerns Bruno's dealing with local businessman Jared Abbruzzese.

The government alleges that from 2004 to 2006 Bruno, at the time State Senate Majority Leader, devised a scheme to deprive the state and its citizens of his honest services through bribery and kickbacks.

The indictment claims Bruno solicited payments from Abbruzzese totaling 440-thousand dollars while performing almost no work or turning over anything of significant value.

No doubt, Mitt Romney is happy with the results of yesterday's republican primary here in New York.

But, the extremely low turnout and the extremely high cost of the election have some officials upset.

$25 million, that was the cost to taxpayers statewide. Only about six per cent of eligible republican voters showed up to vote.  And we have three more elections this year alone

In Rensselaer County the turnout was just over 6% election inspectors had very little to do

The chairman of the Rensselaer County Legislature said yesterday's primary cost taxpayers $40,000,

The cost in Albany county $200,000 and the cost in Schenectady county $45,000 and there is still two more primaries one in June, the other in September.

This is all because state lawmakers could not agree on a single date for congressional and state races taxpayers will suffer

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) - Mitt Romney has a chance to substantially boost his delegate tally when New York Republicans vote in the state's presidential primary.
    
New York has 95 delegates, the most of any of the five East Coast states holding primaries Tuesday.
    
Romney is looking to add to his wide lead over Newt Gingrich and Ron Paul in the nomination race for the 1,144 delegates. Polls have shown Romney with a commanding lead in New York. His nearest competitor, Rick Santorum, quit campaigning.
    
New York Republicans once hoped to play a major role in the primary, but those hopes faded as Romney solidified his front-runner status. The former Massachusetts governor has already begun focusing more on the general election against President Barack Obama.
    
Polls in New York are open until 9 p.m.