Northern Light

State Senator Patty Ritchie is co-sponsoring a bill that would freeze the plan to close down nine mental health centers in New York until 2015. Taxes and tax reform are likely to be a major topic in the next legislative session, which begins in seven weeks. Watertown's historic Woolworth building is getting a facelift that reflects the downtown's re-emergence. Today is national Transgender Day of Remembrance and Zach Hirsch shares the story of Kelly Metzgar, who was born a boy but is now, in her mid-fifties, starting to live as a woman.

Steve Todd, assistant superintendent of instruction for St. Lawrence & Lewis BOCES, says he's seen teachers and students alike starting to get used to the rigorous Common Core classwork and homework. A new Siena College poll finds over half of New Yorkers think school children are taking too many tests. The poll also shows that Governor Andrew Cuomo's approval rating is the lowest it's been since he's been governor. A new education resource center for people exploring alternatives to the traditional school model will be launching a pilot program in Canton early next year... Plus: Brian Mann records an adventure on Catamount, a popular peak not far from Wilmington. And Joel Hurd speaks with singer-songwriter Ellis Paul.

Landowners frustrated with the Cuomo Administration's unreasonable delays on hydro-fracking plan to file a lawsuit before the end of the year. Utica has become a hotbed for refugees and immigrants who have rebuilt and enlivened the city. In the wake of devastating storms that ravaged much of the Hudson River watershed, environmental advocates and policy makers are evaluating the effect climate change has on the regions water resources. Elsewhere in the Great Lakes, microplastic pollution presents a very real threat to marine species who mistake tiny beads for food and ingest plastic. In the second half hour Martha talks with Amy Ivy about the bitter end of the harvest season and winterizing the garden. Also, resident theater critic Connie Meng reviews "Hamlet (solo)" which is running at the National Arts Centre in Ottowa.

The state is once again shelving a plan to split up the 315 area code. Parents, educators, and students gathered in Plattsburgh to discuss the new Common Core curriculum. Plans to restore two historic fire towers in the Adirondacks were unveiled yesterday. A new certification process allows organic farmers to market their products as "certified naturally grown," a much cheaper grassroots alternative to the costly USDA organic designation. To celebrate 50 years playing together, Neil Rossi and Tom Akstens have been traveling around the region playing folk music this year. Also, renowned Potsdam composer and former dean at the Crane School of Music, Robert Washburn, has passed away.

A large dairy farm in St. Lawrence County is getting more than $400,000 from the U.S. Department of Agriculture for a methane digester. NYS's Teacher of the Year testified at a Senate hearing that even she could not receive high marks in her teacher evaluation process, due to what she and others say is the dysfunctional implementation of the new Common Core standards. FBI officials say they believe the serial killer Israel Keyes may have buried the body of one of his victims near the Adirondack town of Tupper Lake. Brian Mann has a profile of the Frenette family in Saranac Lake, whose son, Peter, is one of the top American ski jumpers. Entrepreneurs in Jefferson County are going to have a harder time finding start-up money, now that a loan fund meant to help them is running low. In Natural Selections, we hear about pigeons and doves. And Todd Moe speaks with singer-songwriter Celia Evans, who will be playing at the Paul Smiths VIC this Friday night at 7.

Recent statements by the co-chair of Governor Cuomo's anti-corruption commission explore the potential of public financing of political campaigns. North Country counties are collaborating to help low income residents become homeowners. A conference held last week took a look at the high number of children living in poverty in New York compared to other states and strategies to combat this trend. Roosting crows in Watertown are wreaking havoc on the town overnight. Brian Mann shares an audio postcard of a late fall hike to Grassy Pond near Racquette Lake.

There are dozens of economic development agencies and strategies in the North Country. Now another, CenterState CEO, is trying to bring high-tech business to the region. Experts say suicide rates among veterans, including older veterans, remains dangerously high. Assemblywoman Addie Russell sat down to talk about the issue with Susan Arbetter, host of the public radio program Capital Pressroom. NYCO Minerals spent more than half a million dollars to win support for a controversial land swap with the state approved by voters statewide last week. Governor Cuomo is expected to seek another term, and so far no one has officially said that they will run against him. And a conversation with Tessa Mellas, the Ogdensburg native who recently won the prestigious Iowa Short Fiction Award.

Green groups in the Adirondacks remain bitterly divided following last week's vote over the NYCO minerals land deal. With state budget deadlines quickly approaching, comptroller Tom DiNapoli has released a largely positive budget outlook for the New Year, though he warns of some uncertainties. The world premiere of "Nontraditional" will screen tonight at the Roxy Theater in Potsdam. The full-length film about one female veterans' transition from combat to civilian life was shot almost entirely in Potsdam and on the Clarkson University campus. Also, in the second half hour Todd Moe speaks with horticulturist Amy Ivy about late season gardening chores and getting the lawn ready for winter.

As part of the Prison Time Media Project, this morning Natasha Haverty shares the story of little known work of inmates who provide dying peers hospice care in their final weeks and months inside Coxsackie maximum security prison. A coalition of women's groups is relaunching the Women's Equality Act, which failed in the legislature earlier this year, with a new strategy that they say could help them win passage in 2014.Brian Mann profiles Lake Placid's Olympic medalist Andrew Weibrecht, who won bronze in Super G four years ago in Vancouver and hopes to contend for a medal again this year in the upcoming games in Sochi, Russia. In the second half hour, Todd Moe visits artist Scott Ouderkirk at his new studio in Hammond where he creates beautiful glassworks using less conventional medieval techniques.

One side effect of today's tough-on-crime policies is that the number of elderly inmates is surging. Natasha Haverty has the first half of a two-part series about aging while incarcerated, from the Prison Time Media Project... Plus: Kate O'Connell reports on a research platform known as 'human-on-a-chip', which has the potential to fundamentally change the nature of medical treatment. Governor Cuomo did not waste any time in celebrating a win on a gambling expansion amendment in Tuesday's voting. From Natural Selections: hyenas are perhaps the most maligned and mischaracterized animal out there. And Todd Moe brings us an interview with librarian Mike Magilligan, who spent the past year recording stories from the Second World War.