The Roundtable

Dr. Ellen Braaten is widely recognized as the foremost expert in pediatric neuro, psychological, and psychological assessment particularly in the areas of assessing learning disabilities and attentional disorders. She is the founding director of Learning and Emotional Assessment Program in Massachusetts General Hospital and an associate professor of psychology at Harvard Medical School. In her new book “The Motivation Mindset Workbook: Helping Teens and Tweens Discover What They Love to Do” she offers practical tools, suggestions, ideas, and activities to help get kids off their phone and unleash their excitement and engagement with life as well as other human beings.

The Roundtable Panel: a daily open discussion of issues in the news and beyond. Today's panelists are Stuart Rice Honorary Chair at the University of Massachusetts Amherst’s College of Information and Computer Sciences (CICS) and Faculty Associate at the Berkman Klein Center for Internet and Society at Harvard University Fran Berman, The Ulster County Comptroller and the former president and CEO of the Community Foundations of the Hudson Valley March Gallagher, Senior Fellow for Health Policy at The Empire Center for Public Policy Bill Hammond, and Siena College Professor of Economics Aaron Pacitti.

Stewart O’ Nan’s fiction has always paid close attention to the people and relationships that shape us. In his new novel “Evensong” he brings that attention to bear on a vivid cast orbiting Emily Maxwell as she enters her 90s. This is the concluding chapter in a trilogy that began with “Wish You Were Here” and continued in “Emily Alone” and it widens the lens to explore not only Emily’s interior life but the network of care surrounding her.

New York Times Bestselling author Robin Cook is known as the master of the medical thriller. He has built his reputation on delivering the chilling rift from the headline stories that examine the latest developments and issues in medicine and science. His latest novel is “Spasm” and in this installment of the Jack Stapleton and Laurie Montgomery series the duo confronts a deadly bioweapon that could disrupt the world order as they know it.

The Roundtable Panel: a daily open discussion of issues in the news and beyond. Today's panelists are Senior Fellow, Bard Center for Civic Engagement Jim Ketterer, Vice President for Editorial Development at the New York Press Association Judy Patrick, and Associate Professor of Music at Vassar College. He studies music in American politics; sound studies; East Asian art music; and music in the African diaspora Justin Patch.

In the new book “Making Mary Poppins: The Sherman Brothers, Walt Disney, and the Creation of a Classic Film” author and Disney historian Todd James Pierce traces the unlikely path that brought the Sherman brothers to Walt Disney’s attention and how their genius and emotional lives shaped the films’ songs, and surprising stories.

Carol Lin is a former ABC News and CNN anchor whose voice helped guide the nation through some of the most defining moments of the 21st century - including her historic coverage on the morning of 9/11. She joins us to discuss her new memoir: When News Breaks: A Memoir of Love and War.

The Roundtable Panel: a daily open discussion of issues in the news and beyond. Today's panelists are Ulster County Board of Elections Commissioner Ashley Dittus, Dean of the College of Emergency Preparedness, Homeland Security and Cybersecurity at the University at Albany Robert Griffin, Tetherless World Professor of Computer, Web and Cognitive Sciences at RPI Jim Hendler, and Senior Fellow at the American Enterprise Institute Robert Pondiscio.

This week's Book Picks comes from Mike Hare of Northshire Bookstore in Saratoga Springs, New York and Manchester Center, Vermont.

The Dark is a new annual festival from PS21: Center for Contemporary Performance that celebrates and elevates the depths of winter. Taking place February 16–22, 2026, the festival will unfold at PS21 and in theatres, restaurants, libraries, saunas, and outdoor public spaces across Columbia County.