Northern Light
803 episodes - English - Latest episode: 3 days ago - ★★★★★ - 8 ratingsAn update on the most important news of the North Country
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Episodes
Lowville flooding update, kids & social media, Norwood fiddler, Lake Champlain angler
July 12, 2024 04:00 - 33 minutes - 31 MB(Jul 12, 2024) Lowville and Lewis County surveyed the damage from flash floods that surged through the village and county on Tuesday; we hear from an 11-year-old who’s reached the age when social media is becoming a bigger part of her life. She - and her parents - are trying to find a balance; a preview of Grammy-winning bluegrass fiddler Michael Cleveland's concert in Norwood on Sunday; and, anglers are entering Day 2 of Major League Fishing's Toyota Series tournament on Lake Champlain. We'...
Flooding update, social media song, Jeff Corwin
July 11, 2024 04:00 - 34 minutes - 31.3 MB(Jul 11, 2024) Heavy rain, severe thunderstorms and tornados battered the North Country yesterday, causing flooding in Essex County, Lowville, and other communities; high schoolers in Parishville wrote a song about their social media woes; and, a chat with conservationist Jeff Corwin ahead of his talk in Lake Placid.
Social media & kids, Ottawa Blues Fest, state flood plan
July 10, 2024 04:00 - 44 minutes - 41.2 MB(Jul 10, 2024) What role does social media play in the lives of children today, and how controlled should it be? More on new legislation and how North Country families deal with social media; David Sommerstein introduces us to some of the lesser known musicians playing at the Ottawa Blues Festival, which runs through this Sunday; and, as the remnants of Hurricane Beryl push through the North Country, New York’s commissioner of Homeland Security and Emergency Services talks about the state's ...
Lake Placid Harriet Tubman statue, ticks in Vermont, Betsy Kepes
July 08, 2024 04:00 - 29 minutes - 20.4 MB(Jul 8, 2024) This summer, there will be events at John Brown Farm in Lake Placid that honor abolitionist Harriet Tubman; tick-borne illnesses have increase in the Northeast due to climate change and suburbanization; and, Betsy Kepes reviews a new adventurous novel set in the Adirondacks that's written to entice reluctant young readers.
Chateaugay Lake ProcellaCOR, Lake George amphitheater, Chef Curtiss' balsamic strawberries
July 03, 2024 04:00 - 29 minutes - 13.7 MB(Jul 3, 2024) Late last month, the Adirondack Park Agency approved the use of a chemical herbicide to eradicate Eurasian water milfoil on Lake George. Today, we head to Chateaugay Lake where the community just applied Prosellacor for the first time; a fire in Lake George destroyed an amphitheater over the weekend. Local officials are already altering summer events and planning to rebuild; and, Chef Curtiss Hemm shares a dish that could be a dessert, a salad, or a margarita mixer: balsamic st...
Heuvelton climate diary, Lowville health center, Potsdam listener's summertime poem
July 02, 2024 04:00 - 29 minutes - 13.7 MB(Jul 2, 2024) As climate change comes to the North Country, one St. Lawrence County farm is tracking how its changing the ecosystem; a healthcare network in Jefferson County is taking over a doctor’s office in Lewis County; and, Stephanie Coyne DeGhett shares her poem "The Joy of Deserted Spaces."
Accessible trails, veteran entrepreneurship, "Clothesline" in Tupper Lake
July 01, 2024 04:00 - 31 minutes - 28.7 MB(Jul 1, 2024) The ADK Land Trust will use a $3 million grant to build accessible trails in Saranac Lake and Lake Placid; since 2022, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has been hosting entrepreneurship fairs at military bases to encourage troops to start businesses; and, through the big back windows of the Wild Center in Tupper Lake, you’ll see a 500-foot clothesline, with about 150 pieces of clothing on it, flapping in the breeze. It's the museum's newest art installation, by Brenda Baker.
Farmland solar grants, ADK Museum conservator, Tri-Lakes Pride poet
June 28, 2024 04:00 - 29 minutes - 13.7 MB(Jun 28, 2024) NYSERDA has a $5 million grant available for co-locating solar panels and farming; plus, we'll meet the person who helps preserve and catalog Adirondack artifacts in Blue Mountain Lake; and, we re-listen to a conversation with poet Elliot Pecora ahead of Tri-Lakes Pride.
Ash borer & Akwesasne Mohawk basketry, High Peaks visitor meeting, Mo Fitzgerald
June 27, 2024 04:00 - 29 minutes - 13.7 MB(Jun 27, 2024) The St. Regis Mohawk Tribe is working to protect trees used for traditional basket making, but they're threatened by a deadly invasive beetle; the DEC is hosting a public, virtual meeting from 5-8pm Thursday tonight on visitor use management in the ADK High Peaks; and, Burlington author Mo Fitzgerald is out with a memoir. She uses lists, conversations, poems and personal high school diary entries to make sense of her journey from pro soccer player to artist in the Champlain Va...
Blind Bay meeting, Regents changes, Kitty O'Neil
June 26, 2024 04:00 - 34 minutes - 31.6 MB(Jun 26, 2024) The Thousand Islands community showed their opposition at a public meeting with U.S. Customs and Border Protection in Clayton last night; the state Board of Regents is moving towards a plan to change graduation requirements, including no longer requiring the standardized Regents tests for graduation; and, This month, there were two fatal farm accidents in upstate New York. In St. Lawrence County, a dairy farm worker was tending a newborn calf when a cow charged her, killing he...
Electric school buses, social media tourism, Ottawa Jazz Festival
June 25, 2024 04:00 - 31 minutes - 28.7 MB(Jun 25, 2024) New York's electric bus mandate is seeing resistance from local voters in their district's yearly budget votes; we hear from a North Country transplant on a mission to promote Adirondack tourism on social media; and, we a preview of the Ottawa Jazz Festival, which continues through Sunday night.
Hochul approval poll, North Country Honor Flight, Saranac Lake Hootenanny
June 24, 2024 04:00 - 29 minutes - 20.6 MB(Jun 24, 2024) On Saturday, 30 North Country veterans of Vietnam, Desert Storm and the Cold War flew together to Washington DC to visit the memorials to the wars they and their comrades served in. They were part of the North Country Honor Flight; Governor Kathy Hochul signed new social media regulations for children into law on Thursday, but poll numbers show New Yorkers aren't satisfied with her leadership; and, North Country transplants and longtime Adirondackers are welcome to play music ...
APA herbicide vote, Blind Bay, Medisca in Plattsburgh, Potsdam Juneteenth
June 21, 2024 04:00 - 29 minutes - 13.7 MB(Jun 21, 2024) After years of removing the invasive aquatic water plant Eurasian water milfoil by hand, the Adirondack Park Agency has voted to allow the use of a chemical herbicide in three lakes, despite pushback; US Customs and Border Protection wants to build a new facility on a part of undeveloped shoreline on the St. Lawrence River. Residents, a bipartisan group of lawmakers and environmental groups have all said it's not the right place; a Montreal-based pharmaceutical company that’s ...
Climate change & aging, Karen DeWitt retires
June 20, 2024 04:00 - 28 minutes - 26.5 MB(Jun 20, 2024) Earlier this week, over 100 people gathered at Paul Smith's College to talk about the intersection of climate change impacts and an aging population; after 34 years as public radio's eyes and ears in Albany, reporter Karen Dewitt is retiring on Friday. We talk with her about her career and how Albany has changed for a journalist.
Watertown Juneteenth, local Iraq & Afghanistan war memorials, Laura Lavoie
June 19, 2024 04:00 - 33 minutes - 31.1 MB(Jun 19, 2024) Watertown Juneteenth is hosting the second part of its Juneteenth celebrations today. Organizers hope the events inspire other Black people to share their stories; while a national memorial for Iraq and Afghanistan war veterans goes through a lengthy planning and fundraising process, veterans are working with state and local governments to build smaller monuments around the country; and, two ducks. A goose. And competing taco trucks. That's all part of a new kids book out now ...
Adirondack heat, air quality checks, Betsy Kepes
June 18, 2024 04:00 - 31 minutes - 28.9 MB(Jun 18, 2024) This week's heat wave is part of a trend of warmer, more extreme weather events in the Adirondack North Country; because of the Canadian wildfires last year, officials are asking New Yorkers to monitor air quality every day this summer; and, our book reviewer Betsy Kepes stops by to talk about a novel set in St. Lawrence County about two sisters who try to hide the fact that their parents abandoned them. It's called "She Taught Me Everything" by Amy Smith Linton.
Lake Champlain transmission lines, NoCo primaries, Glens Falls kids photo club
June 17, 2024 04:00 - 29 minutes - 13.7 MB(Jun 17, 2024) A set of large barges will lay a 97-mile portion of the Champlain Hudson Power Express transmission line along the bottom of Lake Champlain this summer. Zachary Matson with the Adirondack Explorer says once it's finished, it'll effectively act as an extension cord from Quebec hydropower to New York City; early voting started on Saturday. Just nine primaries are being contested in North Country; and, passing on a love for photography at the Crandall Public Library.
Mooneye fish tracking, Lake Placid Christmas movie, John Warren
June 14, 2024 04:00 - 29 minutes - 13.7 MB(Jun 14, 2024) Clarkson researchers are studying a rare, prehistoric fish that lives in the North Country's rivers. They're asking anglers to let them know if you catch one; The trailer for a Christmas movie shot in Lake Placid last December was just released. Amy Feiereisel was on set during the shoot; and, John Warren checks the trail conditions for this sunny weekend.
NoCo Pride, Old Forge hike, Burlington soccer
June 13, 2024 04:00 - 29 minutes - 13.7 MB(Jun 13, 2024) With rising anti-LGBTQ rhetoric around the country, why Pride celebrations in the North Country are important for connections and community; in Old Forge, the Rondaxe fire tower on Bald Mountain offers sprawling views of the western Adirondacks; and, a soccer club in Burlington was started with the goal of combating climate change. We’ll head to the UVM Virtue Stadium to talk with the founder of the Vermont Green.
Plattsburgh mural, tunnel warfare, Ontario hike
June 12, 2024 04:00 - 29 minutes - 13.7 MB(Jun 12, 2024) An upcoming mural in downtown Plattsburgh aims to help prevent and break the stigma around suicide in the North Country; the U.S. Army has stepped up training for tunnel warfare, as more combat scenarios arise like those playing out in Gaza; and, we'll spot the frogs, trillium and birch bark on an afternoon hike through the Larose Forest in eastern Ontario.
Vermont climate law, tick vigilance, Aileen O'Donoghue
June 11, 2024 04:00 - 29 minutes - 13.7 MB(Jun 11, 2024) Under a new law in Vermont, state officials can now try to make major oil, gas, and coal companies pay for some of the costs associated with climate change; ticks have become an expected, if unwelcome, part of North Country summers over the last 20 years. That means tick-borne diseases are more prevalent, too; and, astronomer Aileen O'Donoghue joins us to walk us through what to look for in the morning and evening skies.
Tug Hill waitress, end of session, Keene Arts exhbit
June 10, 2024 04:00 - 29 minutes - 13.7 MB(Jun 10, 2024) For our series on how climate change is impacting people's lives and livelihoods, we hear from a woman in Brantingham who waits tables at a restaurant on a Lewis County snowmobile trail; New York State lawmakers ended their session over the weekend, leaving a number of issues on the table; and, a new art exhibit in Keene, called "Twists and Turns," showcases the work of Adirondack artists Matt Horner and Mike Kaz.
Trump verdict reax, energy company bill, Burlington Discover Jazz
June 04, 2024 04:00 - 29 minutes - 13.7 MB(Jun 4, 2024) It’s unclear how Trump's guilty verdict will impact this November’s election, but he has remained largely popular in the North Country since he won nearly every county here in the last election; Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie says a bill that would require major energy companies to pay for climate change remediation could ultimately result in higher costs for utility ratepayers; and the Burlington Discover Jazz Festival kicks off Wednesday night. We have a preview with the curat...
Stefanik Trump statement, Peatlands Project, special music for Todd Moe
June 03, 2024 04:00 - 34 minutes - 31.6 MB(Jun 3, 2024) After former President Donald Trump was found guilty on all 34 counts in his hush money trial, Congresswoman Elise Stefanik’s office released a statement, then an updated one that amplifies her claims of corruption; the last scheduled week of the legislative session begins today. But there's still a lot of disconnect on remaining bills -including combatting climate change and regulating kids’ social media feeds; and, we'll head into a buggy, boggy wetland at the Paul Smith's Co...
Digital equity, school lunch grant, silent film pianist
May 29, 2024 04:00 - 29 minutes - 13.7 MB(May 29, 2024) Researchers from Cornell have complied data that shows internet connectivity across New York State. The data can help push for easy and affordable internet access for everyone; a BOCES in Clinton and Essex counties recently got a big state grant to invest in its food infrastructure and culinary arts program; and a conversation with the silent film pianist performing in Elizabethtown and Plattsburgh this week.
Kingston bridge out, unresolved legislative bills, Kitty O'Neil
May 28, 2024 04:00 - 29 minutes - 13.7 MB(May 28, 2024) A portion of the LaSalle Causeway in Kingston was damaged in late March and has been closed since. Some tour boats are stuck in the harbor behind the bridge; in the last few days of the state legislative session, Governor Hochul is focused on passing measures to limit social media companies from using addictive algorithms on kids; and Kitty O'Neil, with the Cornell Cooperative Extension, talks about the value of manure to North Country farms.
Mohawk arrests, identifying Army remains, Clayton military life songs
May 24, 2024 04:00 - 29 minutes - 27.5 MB(May 24, 2024) Eight Akwesasne Mohawks were arrested on Barn Hart Island near Massena for protesting the Mohawk land claim settlement talks; scientific advances have allowed the Army to identify about 200 sets of remains each year - dating back to World War II. But the passage of time has complicated the process of finding families to accept the remains; and four veterans and one Gold Star widow from Jefferson County are sharing their stories about military life through original country musi...
Gardening to cut costs, addictive algorithms, R.E. Fulton
May 23, 2024 04:00 - 29 minutes - 13.7 MB(May 23, 2024) Grocery costs are high, so folks on tight budgets are learning how to grow their own food at a Potsdam gardening class; a new poll finds Republicans and Democrats agree that New York should ban social media platforms from using addictive algorithms to kids, and lawmakers are listening; and the history of an unlikely feminist icon from northern New York. In the late 1800s, Josephine McCarty was put on trial for trying to kill her children’s father when he abandoned them, then p...
State cannabis appointee, Harrisville guideboat builder, Norwood concert series
May 22, 2024 04:00 - 29 minutes - 13.7 MB(May 22, 2024) Governor Kathy Hochul’s appointee to lead a state agency that helps New York’s legal cannabis retail stores get business loans faced tough questions from senators yesterday. It’s the latest in a string of accusations of mismanagement surrounding the state’s troubled rollout of adult recreational marijuana; we hear from one of the few guideboat builders left in the Adirondacks; and the 51st annual Norwood Village Concert Series opens next week. We'll talk with founder Joe Liot...
BOCES enrollment increase, Stefanik on Israel & Trump, Old Forge exhibit
May 21, 2024 04:00 - 29 minutes - 13.7 MB(May 21, 2024) Overall enrollment in North Country K-12 schools has been on the decline for decades now. But there’s one program in high schools that has seen a lot of growth. It’s BOCES’ Career and Technical Education programs; on Sunday, Congresswoman Elise Stefanik spoke to Israeli lawmakers and was involved in a heated interview on Fox News; also, we talk with Adirondack environmentalist Charlie Reinertsen about his upcoming exhibit in Old Forge that explores the power of northern peatla...
Massena Library vote, climate change roundtable, Hochul in Rome, Betsy Kepes
May 20, 2024 04:00 - 29 minutes - 13.7 MB(May 20, 2024) Folks in the Massena school district vote tomorrow on how to fund the public library. The state education deparment says switching to being a district library means there's greater accountability to the community, plus a more stable budget for the library; a group of local leaders came together in Potsdam recently to discuss ways to adapt to our changing climate; Governor Kathy Hochul visited the Vatican, for Pope Francis’s three-day climate change summit. She spoke extensivel...
Keene Valley's Birch Store, Clements Pond trail run, ADK trail conditions
May 17, 2024 04:00 - 29 minutes - 13.7 MB(May 17, 2024) Passing down a family business in Keene Valley. We’ll meet the mother and daughter owners of the Birch Store; we'll head out on a trail run to Clements Pond in Keene; and John Warren checks the trail conditions for us in the Adirondacks this weekend.
Frontier Town land titles, VA fertility treatment, Svalbard filmmaker
May 16, 2024 04:00 - 29 minutes - 13.7 MB(May 16, 2024) Development near Frontier Town in the eastern Adirondacks is on pause due to legal issues over land titles; the VA now pays for IVF treatment for unmarried and LGBTQ veterans. But they still must prove their fertility problems are service-related. Critics say more people should be eligible; and we hear from North Country filmmaker Scott Carroll ahead of his three-week voyage to an island in Norway, which he hopes will show how climate change impacts remote, fragile ecosystems,...
Salmon River solar project, Thompson Park bandstand, mother-daughter bead art
May 15, 2024 04:00 - 29 minutes - 13.7 MB(May 15, 2024) A North Country school district is proposing to build a 16-acre solar array on its property. It would produce enough energy to power, heat, and cool the district's campus; a project to put a roof on a historic stone bandstand in Watertown's Thompson Park is having a final fundraising push; also, we talk with Mohawk artist Marlana Thompson about an exhibit at TAUNY in Canton that celebrates indigenous beadwork and regalia. "My Family" includes bead art, baskets and clothing cr...
Buffalo Tops memorial, Seaway visitors center, Sean Mahar, Aileen O'Donoghue
May 14, 2024 04:00 - 29 minutes - 13.7 MB(May 14, 2024) In Buffalo yesterday, Governor Hochul unveiled the design for a memorial to honor the 10 Black people killed in a racially motivated mass shooting at a Tops Market two years ago; the St. Lawrence Seaway officially opened its new visitor center yesterday in Massena; the new leader of the DEC says his priorities include land conservation in the Adirondacks and the state's climate agenda; and astronomer Aileen O'Donoghue explains the large sun spots' potential impact on Earth.
Climate change curriculum, Mercy Care, turtle migration
May 13, 2024 04:00 - 29 minutes - 13.7 MB(May 13, 2024) A bill in Albany would create statewide standards for teaching about climate change in schools; Mercy Care for the Adirondacks is a volunteer organization that tackles isolation and depression in seniors with...friendship; it's turtle crossing season in the North Country, and we'll get a reminder about watching for turtles and what do to if you find an injured turtle from SUNY Potsdam biologist Glenn Johnson.