Top Stories from NCPR

Follow Top Stories from NCPR
Share on
Copy link to clipboard

NCPR provides locally-produced news stories from around the Adirondack and North Country regions of New York State, as well as Western Vermont, and Ontario and Quebec in Canada.

NCPR - North Country Public Radio


    • Jun 27, 2023 LATEST EPISODE
    • infrequent NEW EPISODES
    • 3m AVG DURATION
    • 470 EPISODES


    More podcasts from NCPR - North Country Public Radio

    Search for episodes from Top Stories from NCPR with a specific topic:

    Latest episodes from Top Stories from NCPR

    North Country at Work: An Adirondack Guideboat builder on sweat, shovels and sanding - lots of sanding

    Play Episode Listen Later Jun 27, 2023 6:09


    (Jun 27, 2023) The Adirondack Guideboat is a very particular craft. They're made of wood and thousands of screws and tacks. They're wider than a canoe, and rowed instead of paddled. They're only used in the Adirondacks, and they were the boat of choice for professional guides in the 19th and 20th centuries. Very few people still build and repair them, but Chris Woodward is one of those people. He owns The Woodward Boat Shop in Saranac Lake, and his love of guideboats goes back pretty far. He grew up in Paul Smiths (and attended the college, too) and even as a kid, he was obsessed with guideboats. But he knew they were expensive, so:

    Remembering Thousand Islands sculptor Will Salisbury

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 16, 2022 4:53


    (Aug 16, 2022) A Thousand Islands artist who created legendary metal creations that dot the North Country and who also had a reputation for his warmth and conversation died a week ago in Hospice care. Will Salisbury was 72. Salisbury spoke to NCPR in 2020 for his exhibit at the Thousand Islands Arts Center in Clayton.

    North Country at Work: Kylee Mitchell Gibson on working in the service industry

    Play Episode Listen Later Mar 17, 2022 2:48


    Natural Selections: Raven vs. Crow, what's the difference?

    Play Episode Listen Later Oct 28, 2021 5:53


    (Oct 28, 2021) Ravens were once a rarity in the North Country, but now they are becoming a common sight. They have a similar appearance to crows, but if you see the two birds together the difference is fairly obvious. Curt Stager and Martha Foley discuss ravens and crows on Natural Selections.

    Natural Selections: "Couch potato" bass evolving in response to human predation

    Play Episode Listen Later Oct 21, 2021 5:12


    (Oct 21, 2021) The pressure to keep billions of humans fed can have a transformative impact on amimal populations. Overharvesting that targets the largest animals can result in reduction of the average size of species, as seen in Caribbean conch snails. And sport-fishing pressure on large mouth bass can winnow out the most agressive in the gene pool, resulting in a "lazier," more passive remnant population. Martha Foley and Curt Stager talk about the human factor in animal evolution.

    Natural Selections: Get to know your closet nemesis, the clothes moth

    Play Episode Listen Later Oct 14, 2021 5:34


    (Oct 14, 2021) Keratin, the substance wool, hair, and feathers are made from, makes a pretty thin diet, but the clothes moth has been dogging humanity's closets and drawers for hundreds of years, unravelling the work of generations of knitters and weavers to feed its larvae.

    Natural Selections: For cats, the comfort zone is shaped like a box

    Play Episode Listen Later Oct 7, 2021 4:46


    (Oct 7, 2021) Of all the places a cat can hang out, why do do many of them want to hang out in boxes? According to researchers, cats that spend time in close confines are measurably less stressed than those remaining in the open. As Curt Stager tells Martha Foley, it's not just house cats who feel this way.

    Natural Selections: How nature journals put the history in natural history

    Play Episode Listen Later Sep 30, 2021 5:49


    (Sep 30, 2021) Martha Foley has never succeeded in keeping a nature journal long-term, but Curt Stager finds them invaluable in his work. He records his observations on paper, but also finds great data through researching the journals of past observers, from Samuel de Champlain to Thomas Jefferson, to ordinary little-known North Country folk. His hint - always put it on paper. Whatever became of all that stuff on your floppy diskettes?

    Bill Parmer: Documenting the region's rural heritage with paint and canvas

    Play Episode Listen Later Sep 28, 2021 5:38


    (Sep 28, 2021) Sometimes it's not the subject, but the moment that captures an artist's attention. And St. Lawrence County artist Bill Parmer loves to spend time in his pickup in a favorite habitat: along a back road looking for just the right rural landscape in just the right light. You'll find many of Bill Parmer's original oil "plein air" paintings on the walls at Canton Potsdam Hospital, TAUNY in Canton and other regional galleries. This Saturday afternoon at 1pm, you're invited to the opening of “Small World”, a new exhibit of his art at Lake Saint Lawrence Arts on Main Street in Waddington.

    Natural Selections: Bats can sing, too!

    Play Episode Listen Later Sep 23, 2021 5:13


    (Sep 23, 2021) Humans, birds, and whales are not the only creatures who can sing. Martha Foley and Dr. Curt Stager discuss recent research that uncovered bats also use learned songs to communicate.

    Natural Selections: Just how individual are animals?

    Play Episode Listen Later Sep 16, 2021 5:04


    (Sep 16, 2021) We tend to think that dogs do this, and that cats do that. We think animal species have a recognizable set of behaviors that define the nature of their kind. But what about individual animals? Does each have something we could understand as a unique personality?

    More fish: good for the flowers, bad for the snakes

    Play Episode Listen Later Sep 9, 2021 5:11


    (Sep 9, 2021) The complex web of species interaction is full of odd associations. Stocking a lake with fish cuts down on dragonflies, which helps pollinators, which helps the flowers bloom. Or it can cut down on amphibians such as newts, which is bad for garter snakes. Invasive flowering purple loosestrife is good for insects and birds that feed on them, but hard on plankton, which is at the bottom of the food chain for everything. Martha Foley and Curt Stager look an unintended consequences of human actions in nature.

    Meet your new neighbor: the stories of two 'pandemic residents'

    Play Episode Listen Later Sep 8, 2021 4:37


    Really, really big bugs (and some tiny ones, too)

    Play Episode Listen Later Sep 2, 2021 5:24


    (Sep 2, 2021) Martha Foley? - not a fan of bugs. And Curt Stager took a course on them to steady his own reactions. The Natural Selections team looks at the outliers on the spectrum, the largest and smallest of critters with too many legs. New Zealand's weta makes a real handful. The fairy fly is nearly invisible. Some prehistoric dragonflies were big enough to make off with the cat.

    North Country educators focus on mental health of students this fall

    Play Episode Listen Later Sep 1, 2021 4:53


    Natural Selections: The evolution of breathing

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 26, 2021 6:10


    (Aug 26, 2021) All creatures breathe in some fashion, but how the job gets done has changed from fish to amphibian to reptile to mammal. Curt Stager and Martha Foley chart the evolution of animal respiration. Natural Selections airs each Thursday morning on NCPR as part of The Eight O'Clock Hour.

    North Country at Work: ironworking with Walter Benedict

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 24, 2021 2:42


    North Country educators reflect on a year of pandemic teaching, remote learning, and emotional turmoil

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 24, 2021 5:14


    Natural Selections: Why pigeons feel at home in the city

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 19, 2021 5:19


    (Aug 19, 2021) The ubiquitous bird of cities and towns was designed for a different environment. The pigeon's distinctive style of flight is adapted for maneuverability in tight places - near vertical takeoffs and quick changes of direction. This adaptation to cliff and mountainside environments serves them well among our urban cliff dwellings. Curt Stager and Martha Foley discuss.

    Stimulus funding allows for North Country schools to offer summer programming for the first time in years

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 13, 2021 4:57


    Natural Selections: Pigeons are doves, high-rises are cliffs

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 12, 2021 5:06


    (Aug 12, 2021) Pigeons and doves, both domestic and feral, are the same species. Today's urban environment mimics their original favored habitat, seaside cliffs in Europe and Asia. Martha Foley and Curt Stager discuss this commonest bird companion in densely settled areas.

    1.1 billion in stabilization grants now available to child care providers

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 11, 2021 3:14


    In Westport, young couple searches for a home while welcoming new transplants

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 10, 2021 4:22


    Schools scramble and fear backlash after the state says: no official reopening guidance for this fall

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 9, 2021 5:09


    (Aug 9, 2021) After months of waiting and wondering, the state did NOT release any official guidance to schools on how to reopen this fall, leaving districts less than a month to come up with their own guidelines.

    Northern Flicker, the anteater of the woodpecker family

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 5, 2021 5:27


    (Aug 5, 2021) The Northern Flicker is one of the most recognizable birds. This distinctly-marked member of the woodpecker family, instead of browsing wood for their food like their relatives, digs for food in the ground. Martha Foley and Curt Stager explore its habits.

    Natural Selections: Why manatees are related to elephants, and whales are related to deer

    Play Episode Listen Later Jul 29, 2021 5:25


    (Jul 29, 2021) Animals that resemble each other may not be closely related. Sometimes the setting shapes their bodies more than their ancestry. Manatees may look like whales or walruses, but that is only because they adapted to the marine environment in a similar way. Martha Foley and Curt stager talk about convergent evolution.

    Seasonal worker worries that Lake Placid's working class is being priced out

    Play Episode Listen Later Jul 29, 2021 3:35


    The manatee: like the mermaid, its kin live on land

    Play Episode Listen Later Jul 22, 2021 5:59


    (Jul 22, 2021) The big marine herbivore, the manatee, is thought by some to be the origin of mermaid legends, but it's not closely related to humankind or even to whales and other marine mammals.

    Natural Selections: Can ADK lake trout survive climate change?

    Play Episode Listen Later Jul 15, 2021 5:13


    (Jul 15, 2021) Lake trout require a lot of cold, oxygenated water to survive. Lakes in the Adirondacks of upstate New York are at the southern edge of their natural range. Although about 100 Adirondack lakes and ponds are still home to lake trout, even a small increase in temperature could sharply cut that number.

    North Country at Work: Caretaking on Dark Island

    Play Episode Listen Later Jul 15, 2021 3:45


    (Jul 15, 2021)

    island north country caretaking thousand islands saint lawrence river
    North Country schools are getting millions - why are Long Lake and Indian Lake being left out?

    Play Episode Listen Later Jul 9, 2021 4:48


    (Jul 9, 2021)

    Natural Selections: The shorter winged Cliff Swallows prevail

    Play Episode Listen Later Jul 8, 2021 5:23


    (Jul 8, 2021) Researchers have found that variations in the wingspan of cliff swallows has a measurable impact on their survival in a human-dominated environment.

    North Country schools get big boost in funding from COVID-19 stimulus

    Play Episode Listen Later Jul 8, 2021 4:40


    Natural Selections: Turns out bullheads ('trash fish') are really good parents

    Play Episode Listen Later Jul 1, 2021 5:19


    North Country at Work: Chris Beldock and the never boring, never-ending work of fixing appliances

    Play Episode Listen Later Jun 29, 2021 5:17


    Natural Selections: hyenas get a bad rap

    Play Episode Listen Later Jun 24, 2021 6:59


    Natural Selections: Why does hair just keep growing?

    Play Episode Listen Later Jun 17, 2021 5:34


    Natural Selections: Chipmunk cheeks, bee baskets and other critter carryalls

    Play Episode Listen Later Jun 10, 2021 4:56


    Natural Selections: Where do coral reefs get their food supply?

    Play Episode Listen Later May 27, 2021 5:16


    (May 27, 2021) A coral reef is kind of like Manhattan, a huge number of mouths to feed in a packed parcel of real estate. A reef doesn't have upstate farms to keep them all fed. So how do they get by?

    North Country at Work: Connecting animals and students with North Country School's Erica Burns

    Play Episode Listen Later May 21, 2021 5:39


    (May 21, 2021) In early March, the snow crunched underneath Erica Burns’s boots as she walked from the horse barn to the pasture. A white horse had dug through the snow to find some grass and was grazing. “This is Lola. She’s our oldest horse,” Burns said. “That one’s Clover. Hey, Clove!”

    Ask an epidemiologist: Why should I get the COVID-19 vaccine?

    Play Episode Listen Later May 19, 2021 5:04


    Natural Selections: The tip-toe ballet of the walking deer

    Play Episode Listen Later May 13, 2021 4:49


    (May 13, 2021) Few creatures move with more grace than deer. Martha Foley compares them to ballerinas. Curt Stager says there's a reason for that. As ballerinas often do, deer walk on their tip-toes.

    Claim Top Stories from NCPR

    In order to claim this podcast we'll send an email to with a verification link. Simply click the link and you will be able to edit tags, request a refresh, and other features to take control of your podcast page!

    Claim Cancel