Story of the Day
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(Apr 1, 2024) People seeking specialized medical care in the North Country often struggle to find doctors. Starting today, a visa waiver program that aims to increase the pool of foreign doctors in the region is opening up to specialty physicians. Also: A disagreement over increasing criminal penalties for retail theft is one of many issues delaying the state budget.
(Mar 29, 2024) Were all noticing much earlier signs of spring this year. But research at Paul Smiths College shows its not an anomaly. Climate change is bringing spring many days earlier to the North Country. Also: State legislative leaders say the budget will be late again this year.
(Mar 28, 2024) As the North Countrys population has declined and gotten older over decades, fewer people are volunteering to staff local fire departments. Whos going to put out the fires if theres no one at the fire hall? Also: The legislature passed several bills to combat climate change this session. Theyre now on Gov. Hochuls desk to sign into law.
(Mar 27, 2024) Many kids, often from immigrant families, use an Anglicized name at school and their given name at home. A writer speaking at St. Lawrence University Thursday talks about how her name shaped her identity. Also: Clinton County has $3 million in state funding to expand its busy industrial park.
(Mar 26, 2024) The Adirondacks are beautiful, but they can also be dangerous when people arent prepared. Forest rangers rescued a lost hiker last weekend during a snowstorm who was suffering from severe frostbite. They say hes lucky to be alive. Also: State officials and emergency responders are ramping up for thousands of visitors for the total eclipse on April 8th.
(Mar 25, 2024) Lake George has long-awaited plans for new worker housing for the busy summer season. But unfounded concerns that the apartments would be used for asylum seekers threatens to derail the project. Also: State officials are warning people to stay out of the Adirondack backcountry on the day of the total eclipse.
(Mar 22, 2024) Two huge issues confronting American education and how theyre playing out in the North Country. The governments fumble on financial aid that has hopeful college students in a state of limbo, and a teacher and school staffing shortage that has no end in sight.
(Mar 21, 2024) Clarkson Universitys womens hockey team is off to the NCAA Frozen Four for a semi-final match against Ohio State. Before they left, they high-fived some of their biggest fans: kids at Potsdams elementary and middle schools. Also: A former Republican Plattsburgh mayor has entered the crowded field to win back his old job.
(Mar 20, 2024) There are more than 8,000 people in prison in the North Country. Visiting a loved one behind bars can be complicated and expensive. We hear from one mother. Also: Potsdam had a farewell rally today for Clarksons womens hockey team, which is going to the national Frozen Four tournament this weekend.
(Mar 19, 2024) Journalist Ted Conover wanted to know what it was like to work in a prison. So he became a correction officer. A conversation about what he learned about life on the inside, part of our series this week on prisons in the North Country.
(Mar 18, 2024) Corrections officers in state prisons were once coveted jobs in the North Country with great benefits. But today almost 2,000 of those jobs are going unfilled. Why people arent lining up to be COs anymore. Also: St. Lawrence Countys district attorney is investigating dozens of claims of abuse at the Ivy Ridge boarding school in Ogdensburg in the wake of a Netflix expose on the school.
(Mar 15, 2024) Critics are attacking Representative Elise Stefanik for taking credit for federal funding in her district that she originally voted against in Congress. A conversation with a political scientist about the mechanics and ethics of bringing home the bacon from Washington. Also: The statewide burn ban takes effect tomorrow. State officials are warning the mild winter created ripe conditions for wildfires.
(Mar 14, 2024) Clinton County Sheriff David Favro is defending his handling of multiple sexual harassment and assault allegations by female former officers at the county jail. A petition has hundreds of signatures for Favro to step down. Also: State police have arrested the former director of a public housing complex in Jefferson County.
(Mar 13, 2024) It can be heartbreaking when a pet goes missing. A man from Malone is using a high-tech drone to search for missing dogs (and finding them!) Also: The St. Lawrence County district attorney is launching an investigation into abuse allegations from a Netflix documentary about a former boarding school in Ogdensburg.
(Mar 12, 2024) Thanks to Sundays snowfall, theres still some skiing to be had in the Adirondacks. Great Camp Santanonis winter weekend takes you deep into the mountains to a piece of Adirondack history. We have an audio postcard. Also: Assemblyman Scott Gray is calling for an investigation into a former boarding school in Ogdensburg thats the subject of a new Netflix series.
(Mar 11, 2024) The war between Israel and Hamas has generated concern and outrage among people here in the North Country. Every Monday night, folks gather in Saranac Lake to write letters to politicians calling for a permanent ceasefire in Gaza. Also: Advocates for New Yorks seniors say Gov. Hochuls proposed budget for the Office for the Aging should be doubled.
(Mar 8, 2024) The April 8th Solar Eclipse is a month away today, and that means that towns and villages across the North Country are revving up their preparations for the event. Indian Lake in the central Adirondacks is working on how to make smalltown infrastructure accommodate big crowds. Also: Clarkson University is shedding its graduate education programs as it continues its reorganization.
(Mar 7, 2024) When heavy rains flooded much of Vermont and parts of the Adirondacks last summer, biologists were concerned about sewer and stormwater contaminating Lake Champlain. Theyve been monitoring whats been happening in the lake since and are presenting their findings. Also: The state legislature is poised to restore cuts to school aid that Gov. Hochul says are important to right-size the system.
(Mar 6, 2024) Forest rangers had to respond to two simultaneous rescues on remote mountains in the Great Range of the Adirondacks. The rangers who answered the call tell the story of what they were up against and how they got the hikers out safely. Also: Southern Adirondacks Assemblyman Robert Smullen announced his young son died two weeks after being hit by a car.
(Mar 5, 2024) Volunteer snowmobile clubs that groom the trails are at the heart of the Tug Hill Plateaus massive sledding industry. A ride with a trail groomer dealing with unpredictable weather and melting snow due to climate change. Also: Doctors and athletic trainers are trying to get student-athletes and their parents to take concussions more seriously.
(Mar 4, 2024) Snowmobiling is an $80 million a year industry on the Tug Hill Plateau in Lewis County. But its been missing the key ingredient this winter: snow. How snowmobilers and businesses see the future of winters with less reliable conditions. Also: A Syracuse woman launched into space last night, the second Black woman to be part of a long-term mission at the International Space Station.
(Mar 1, 2024) Can you actually learn history from war re-enactors? Reporter Lucy Grindon went to the Battle of Ogdensburg re-enactment to figure out what the War of 1812 was really about. Also: A Washington County man was sentenced to the maximum of 25 years to life for killing a young woman who accidentally drove up his driveway.
(Feb 29, 2024) The decision of Plattsburghs mayor not to run for re-election is setting off a Democratic primary in the city, and debate about how the party endorses its candidates. Also: Thousands of people remain without power in the North Country after last nights wind storm. And, a special Leap Day birthday celebration!
(Feb 28, 2024) As the North Country prepares for the awe of the total solar eclipse on April 8th, we have the story of a retired science teacher in Clinton County who took a road trip to an eclipse in 1970. And he recorded the whole thing. Also: The Clinton County Sheriffs Office seized nearly 50 dogs from an animal shelter north of Plattsburgh.
(Feb 27, 2024) Anne Hampton was a free Black woman from Hudson Falls in the 1800s when her husband was kidnapped and enslaved. Hes the subject of the Oscar-winning film Twelve Years a Slave. A historian tells her story, part of our Black History Month coverage. Also: Democrats voted yesterday to reject a bipartisan commissions new Congressional maps and will instead draw their own.
(Feb 26, 2024) It takes very specific weather conditions for a lake to freeze up just right for skating. The last week has been perfect on the cliff-lined Cascade Lakes near Lake Placid, and hundreds of skaters have been out for wild skating. Also: Gov. Hochul says shed be supportive if President Biden cracked down on the southern border.
(Feb 23, 2024) All this week, were highlighting stories about Black history in the North Country for Black history month. Today, the story of how the Adirondack Experience in Blue Mountain Lake partnered with a Black artist last summer to bear witness to the site where a Black man was killed nearly a century ago. Also: Democrats have some options regarding how to deal with reshaped Congressional districts that could shift the balance of power in Congress.
(Feb 22, 2024) A public library in the town of Lake Luzerne is set to reopen next week, after almost half a year of being closed. The local community erupted with controversy last spring after the library invited a drag queen to come read books to kids. Last September, the librarian resigned. Now, five months later, the library has finally hired a new manager. Also: We hear from the DeKalb town historian about Black History in St. Lawrence County.
(Feb 21, 2024) February is Black History month, and this week, NCPR is re-airing stories from the past year that focus on Black heritage and life in the North Country. Today, we hear from the author and prison reform activist Alice Green, who grew up in a small mining community on Lake Champlain in the 1950s and 60s. When Green was a kid, her family was one of only two Black families in their town. She speaks about how her childhood in the Adirondacks has shaped her lifes work.
(Feb 20, 2024) In the 1920s and 30s, the Ku Klux Klan terrorized people in St. Lawrence County. The white supremacist group drove out most of the area’s Black population over the span of a decade. Also: Clarkson University recently started a nine-month paramedic training program. Officials say they hope to double the number of paramedics in St. Lawrence County in the next year.
