Radio Chatskill

More than one in three U.S. farmers is over the age of 65. As many retiring farmers figure out what to do with their land, beginning farmers are trying to access affordable land. A group of farmers in Delaware County is transforming a 287-acre farm into a community land trust for beginning farmers looking for land. Radio Catskill’s Kimberly Izar brings us this report. 

New York introduced a state bill on March 18 that aims to regulate the use of body scanners in correctional facilities across the state. Body scanners were implemented in all state prisons last year as a condition set by striking correctional officers — with the stated purpose of fighting contraband. But since their widespread implementation, many women have come out citing that they have been turned away and even indefinitely suspended from visiting their incarcerated loved ones after the scanners flagged items like menstrual products, surgical implants and more as contraband. 

Radio Catskill’s Julia Kim had the chance to speak with those involved in the making of the bill, including Bernadette Ruby of the New York Civil Liberties Union, as well as loved ones like 67-year-old Marie Denny, whose son is currently incarcerated, and others who’ve faced these issues firsthand on their experiences navigating the body scanners.