Northern Light

(Nov 14, 2025) Supporters and critics are weighing in on the state's decision to delay a plan to ban natural gas and other fossil fuels from most new homes and buildings; we talk with Whiteface's operations manager ahead of opening weekend; John Warrens checks on winter conditions in the Adirondacks this weekend, plus a winter sound quiz!

(Nov 13, 2025) An expert says the North Country's cold climate could prevent a widespread infestation of the invasive spotted lanternfly; one North Country worker says there's beauty in working the night shift; and we'll hear from the author of a new thriller set in the North Country.

(Nov 12, 2025)

(Nov 11, 2025) The government shutdown could cause a program that provides free preschool and childcare for low income families in Warren County to close at the end of the month; woters in the North Country are finding flaws in the candidates who are running to be New York's governor; and local PBS stations will host sneak previews of Ken Burns' much-anticipated docuseries on the American Revolution this week.

(Nov 10, 2025) Jimmy Vielkind and Andrew Waite from the New York Public News Network discuss Congresswoman Elise Stefanik's bid for New York governor; Assemblyman-elect Michael Cashman says he plans to make the North Country's voice heard as a member of the legislative majority in Albany; and today is the 50th anniversary of the S.S. Edmund Fitzgerald shipwreck in Lake Superior, and we have a conversation with the drummer on the song that sought to memorialize the tragedy.

(Nov 7, 2025) North Country Congresswoman Elise Stefanik announced her run for Governor of New York this morning; amid cuts to social safety net programs like SNAP, folks in the North Country are stretching their dollars even further; in today's North Country at Work story, we hear from a code enforcement officer who's responsible for a big chunk of Essex County; and John Warren checks on trail conditions ahead of a snowy Adirondack weekend. 

(Nov 6, 2025) Prop 1 was narrowly approved by voters, paving the way for a constitutional amendment to allow further development at a ski complex in Lake Placid; a house for sale in Newcomb represents a potential solution for affordable workforce housing; and we'll sit down with the head of a statewide sportsmen's group about why he wants hunters to forego lead bullets as much as possible.

(Nov 5, 2025) We have results for local races across the North Country; lawmakers in Essex County are pushing back against the Adirondack Land Trust's plan to rename a mountain near Westport; and Chef Curtiss joins the show for a quick and easy beer bread recipe. 

(Nov 4, 2025) In the North Country, the number of people who cast their ballots early is way up compared to the previous off-year election; we visit a small farm in Keeseville that's rethinking what it means to grow and share food; and we look back at a conversation on how St. Lawrence County fiddler Gretchen Koehler shares her project on North Country folk artists with students. 

(Nov 3, 2025) Ahead of Election Day, we have stories on two local races, the Canton town supervisor and the Clinton County clerk; New York could soon enter the national fight over redistricting; and we have a conversation with Matthew Algeo, the author of a book that details the history of New York's subway system.

(Oct 31, 2025) With food stamp checks expected to be withheld due to the federal government shutdown, low-income residents are a food pantry in St. Lawrence County are anxious about where their food will come from; Proposition 1 would fix a constitutional violation tied to an Olympic sports complex in Lake Placid and add 2,500 to the forest preserve in the Adirondacks; the City of Watertown's decades-long contract with National Grid is expiring; and John Warren has the Adirondack conditions ahead of the weekend.

(Oct 30, 2025) We'll hear about a couple of upcoming elections in the North Country that feature political newcomers, including for Watertown's city council seats; as nearly three million New Yorkers prepare for a disruption in their SNAP benefits, the Regional Food Bank is planning for its largest-ever Thanksgiving meal distribution; and a Lake Placid poet is telling the story of the "Lady in the Lake,” nearly a hundred years later.

(Oct 29, 2025) There are an unusually high number of write-in campaigns for this November's election in Essex County;  a New York State lawmaker is talking about distraction concerns from the modern LED headlights;  and Kitty O'Neil joins the show to talk about how North Country farms are doing as they wrap up the 2025 growing season.

(Oct 28, 2025) A proposal to build a weapons range for military-grade cannons has sparked concerns in the Adirondack town of Lewis; today's North Country at Work story is about a technician whose job is to keep everything online; and we have a conversation with an artist from Akwesasne who is fulfilling his childhood dreams. 

(Oct 27, 2025) Democrat Michael Cashman and Republican Brent Davison are vying for a state Assembly seat in an upcoming special election; to mark the 200th anniversary of the Erie Canal, a replica boat is recreating the first trip from Buffalo to New York Harbor; and we talk with St. Lawrence professor Dan Look, the author of “Math Cats: Scratching the Surface of Mathematical Concepts.” 

(Oct 24, 2025) Gov. Kathy Hochul is weighing whether to sign legislation that would allow someone with a terminal illness to end their life; after workers with newly remote jobs left cities for the countryside during the pandemic, some who moved to the North Country are still here;  and John Warren checks on trail conditions in the Adirondacks.

(Oct 23, 2025) An environmental group wants Ontario's transportation ministry to include wildlife over and underpasses in its plans to expand a major highway that cuts through a critical pathway for animals; Watertown's Zoo has seen a surge of donations after The New York Times published an article about it last week; and we hear a review of a thriller set in a fictional Saranac Lake follows a murderous coven of man-killing witches. 

(Oct 22, 2025) Advocates for people incarcerated in New York State are pushing Gov. Hochul to sign a bill that would expand prison oversight and require more cameras; we trek up McCauley Mountain in Old Forge with NCPR's engineers as they prep a transmitter for winter; and one of NCPR's founding mothers, Martha Foley, joins us in the studio to talk about building the station into a community resource.

(Oct 21, 2025)

(Oct 20, 2025) About 7 million people across the country took to the streets over the weekend to protest the Trump Administration, including more than a thousand people in Potsdam; a private group chat is having big consequences for Republicans around the country and in New York; and sit down with a local philosopher and Quaker to talk about what makes for effective demonstrations. 

(Oct 17, 2025) Gov. Hochul wrote a letter last week expressing interest in the state purchasing 32,000 acres of the Whitney estate in the Adirondacks; we meet an elementary school librarian in Malone who doesn't think her library should be quiet; and Catherine Wheeler and a friend hike up Jay Mountain for some fall leaf-peeping. 

(Oct 16, 2025) Many New York families could lose their SNAP benefits next month following federal policy changes; teens in LaFargeville are determined to fix up a local basketball court that's fallen into disrepair; and a European band is reviving the talharpa, a stringed musical instrument, to create a unique sound.

(Oct 15, 2025) The Indian River High School thespian troupe is exploring explores workers' rights, corporate profit, and one of the very first workers' compensation cases in their staging of the play ‘Radium Girls.'

(Oct 14, 2025)

(Oct 13, 2025) We break down what's happening after federal prosecutors secured an indictment of New York Attorney General Letitia James last week; amid the ongoing drought, farmers in Vermont are wondering if their water will be enough to last them through the winter; and we get a preview of the Halloween events lineup at the Chapman Museum in Glens Falls.

(Oct 10, 2025)

(Oct 9, 2025) New Yorkers on unemployment benefits could see their payments rise by hundreds of dollars per week; we take you to a competition for utility arborists that happened last weekend in Burrville, just ouside Watertown; a North Country native has made it past the first round of "The Voice;" and a conversation with Lake Placid author Joan O'Leary, who is will be signing books and giving a talk tonight in downtown Lake Placid.

(Oct 8, 2025) As the APA moves forward with plans to build a new headquarters in downtown Saranac Lake, critics are asking the board to question the reasons behind the move; Cornell scientists have come up with a way to use apple scraps to make healthier meatballs; and the DEC has some updates to regulations, including that hunters can now use electronic hunting licenses and tags.

(Oct 7, 2025) Limitations to federal visa programs and ramped up immigration enforcement are creating creating uncertainty for some North Country farmers and farmworkers; we break down federal COVID-19 vaccine guidance after lots of confusion; and a woodworker in the southern Adirondacks is incorporating technology into his pieces. 

(Oct 6, 2025) This year marks 25 years since the creation of the Northern Forest Canoe Trail, a 740-mile route that connects the Adirondacks to northern Maine; New York State won't be facing major federal cuts to their counterterrorism budgets after President Trump's administration reversed course; and every fall, a band of dancing witches descends on the southern and central Adirondacks. 

(Oct 3, 2025) Two colleges in the region have lost funding for a federal college prep program; we revisit an audio postcard from a sailing trip with Potsdam's Jim Benvenuto, who died in a motorcycle accident a couple weeks ago; and ahead of this weekend's World Cup mountain biking races in Lake Placid, we listen back to a story about the races last fall.

(Oct 2, 2025) It can be tricky to earn a living while running a seasonal tourism business. A Schroon Lake couple is trying to make it work to be in a place they love; a "tree rodeo" is being held in New York, perhaps for the first time, and it's happening here in the North Country; as the fall colors are hitting their peak, we take a walk along the Bloomingdale Bog trail in the Adirondacks; we preview the adventurous fall lineup at Lake Flower Landing in Saranac Lake.

(Oct 1, 2025) We speak with St. Lawrence University professor Alexander Stewart about how Canton just had its driest summer on record; inflation rebate checks will start arriving in New Yorkers' mailboxes this week—and they'll have to pay federal income taxes on the money; and Chef Curtiss Hemm shares a recipe for an autumnal kale salad.

(Sep 30, 2025) As federal health care subsidies are set to expire in just a few months, many lower and middle-income families could start paying a lot more for insurance; the Newton Falls paper mill caught on fire Sunday; and we'll head to the Ogdensburg Public Library for a conversation with NCPR's book reviewer Betsy Kepes about a new thriller on a search and rescue effort.

(Sep 29, 2025)

(Sep 26, 2025) Police believe the Cohoes murder suspect is injured, but alive as the manhunt continues in the Adirondacks; below average water levels on Lake Champlain have led one ferry operator in Essex County to cease operations for the season; a 16-year-old in an attempted murder investigation in Jefferson County has been located; and, a preview of events around the region, including the Ottawa Latin Jazz Orchestra.

(Sep 25, 2025)

(Sep 24, 2025) We listen back to a profile on Mercy Care for the Adirondacks, a volunteer organization that tackles elder isolation with friendship that's currently seeking new volunteers; conditions inside New York's prisons haven't improved much for inmates and corrections officers since a three-week wildcat strike earlier this year; and News Director David Sommerstein joins the show to preview Adia Victoria's performance at St. Lawrence University this Friday titled “Skip James is My Analysis: An Evening On The Abyss,” which will feature a set of songs and a candid conversation about mental health and the blues. 

(Sep 23, 2025) After decades of trying to restore Lake Champlain's native salmon population, state and federal officials are using a new tool to figure out what stocking strategies are working; a museum in the Adirondacks is facing criticism after auctioning off more than a dozen historic boats; and a crime novelist's newest book focuses on a love story during the tuberculosis era in Saranac Lake. 

(Sep 22, 2025)

(Sep 19, 2025) Skier Jessie Diggins was training in the Adirondacks this week, ahead of World Cup finals in Lake Placid; NYS organizations and officials are preparing for the November election; Republicans claim the Democratic candidate in the 115th Assembly District race violated state law; Police say they haven't found any signs of the Cohoes murder suspect whose truck was found near Paul Smith's last Sunday; and, longtime community celebration Peru Applefest returns to the Champlain Valley!

(Sep 18, 2025) We head out to the woods with St. Lawrence County Public Health to survey mosquitoes following an increase in mosquito-borne illness reports; Republicans in the 115th Assembly District have officially nominated Brent Davison as the candidate they want to replace Billy Jones; and we preview today's talk by Akwesasne Cultural Center Director Justin Cree at the St. Lawrence University Brush Art Gallery exhibit titled "A Culture Is Not a Costume."