Top Stories from NCPR

New York State Education Commissioner MaryEllen Elia abruptly resigned Monday, taking members of the state Board of Regents by surprise. She said she will take a new job at the end of August at an unnamed national firm.

Where were you when the first moon landing mission launched 50 years ago today? Our resident astronomer remembers and asks why we don't have our moon base now.

Jupiter and Saturn are bright in the night sky now, Venus is sinking toward the sun. You can see Jupiter's largest moon with good binoculars, but you'll need a telescope to see Saturn's rings.

Marijuana is still illegal in New York. The state legislature came close to legalizing the drug during its last session, but in the end, it didn’t happen.

But some St. Lawrence County officials think it’s only a matter of time until legal recreational marijuana becomes a reality. That's why a county drug task force hosted a panel discussion on what this would mean.

A budget watchdog group says New York’s budgeters used a sleight of hand to make it to seem as though the state was adhering to a legal cap on the growth of health care spending, by shifting a Medicaid payment from last fiscal year to this year.

Chris Tebbetts lives in Hinesburg, Vermont and writes books for children and teens. In Me, Myself and Him, Tebbetts writes a "double story" with two possible futures for his 18-year-old main character. Betsy Kepes talks with Todd Moe about the book.

Prisons are once again a controversial topic in Albany. Governor Cuomo and Democratic lawmakers who now control the legislature have made criminal justice reform a top priority.

That's meant fewer men and women going to prison and more than a dozen state correctional facilities have already closed statewide. That change has been praised by reform activists.

But it threatens the corrections work, which has grown into one of the region's biggest and most controversial industries, providing thousands of high paying jobs, and anchoring in the economies in towns from Malone to Moriah.

The weather looks good for this weekend, although thunderstorms are always possible at this time of year. So keep an eye on the weather, especially if you are headed to higher elevations, or onto the region’s waters.

State officials meet in Clayton this morning to talk about the economic impacts of flooding on Lake Ontario and the St. Lawrence River. That’s after record high water in 2017 and again this year caused millions of dollars in damage.

A green group that owns land near the Adirondack High Peaks says it will spend a million dollars restoring the Tahawus mine property to make it more user-friendly. The Open Space Institute says the money will go to enhance southern access routes to the High Peaks Wilderness, while also preserving and improving historic structures.