Top Stories from NCPR

Imagine living in a big city surrounded not by suburbs but by wilderness, the kind of big, raw wilderness Jack London used to write about. That is Anchorage, Alaska, which lies in the fold of the Chugach Mountains. Brian Mann from NCPR and Alaska Public Media reporter Emily Russell spent time exploring the Chugach and sent an audio postcard.

The New York State Senate met for the first time since two Democrats were successful in special elections held on Tuesday. Though the Senate now has 32 Democrats, the number required to form a majority, it was back to business as usual with the GOP in charge.

Over the past few years, the opioid epidemic has grabbed the attention of policymakers, police officers and families who've lost loved ones to addiction. But here in the North Country, another drug has gained a surprising foothold.

Even before the results of two special elections Tuesday in the State Senate were decided, the lone Democratic Senator who caucuses with the Republicans says he's sticking with the GOP. That means Democrats will likely not control the Senate any time this year.

Frank White turns 100 on June 13, 2018. He's a veteran of World War II, the founding florist of White's Flowers in Canton, and a skilled model boat builder. He's also one of the few people left with memories of the hamlet of Pyrites, located in Saint Lawrence County in the Town of Canton, when it was a bustling community, filled with dance halls, hotels, bars, and an active nightlife.He was twelve when the paper mill closed in 1930, and his childhood memories are divided into two parts - before and after the DeGrasse River Paper Company was closed.

Unlike the so-called "lost towns" of the North Country, Pyrites - a small hamlet in the Town of Canton in St. Lawrence County - still exists today. But it looks nothing like what it it did 100 years ago, when Pyrites was booming, and boasted multiple hotels, a movie theater, and semi-pro baseball. As quickly as Pyrites was built into a busy mill town, it was torn down and deserted - and all because of the DeGrasse River Paper Company.

Not just peas, but other cool-loving things like arugula, onions, lettuce, spinach - if the soil temperature a few inches down is 50F. That's according to Cooperative Extension's Amy Ivy.She shares her favorite pea, also tips on using a microbial inoculant and why, and why and how to give your peas room to grow, up.

One day, Rebecca Shriver was at work, helping an elderly patient get to the bathroom, when the patient became unsteady.

Winter lingers, especially at higher elevations. The Southern Adirondacks picked up a few inches of snow overnight, but a warming is in store by Sunday.

Mutants are neither the creepy brain domes of science fiction, nor the smart-mouth turtles of the cartoons. Mutations arise all the time from environmental exposure to mutagenic substances and from imperfections in cellular reproduction. Martha Foley and Dr. Curt Stager talk change, genetic change.