Top Stories from NCPR

What draws the line between one species and another?

The North Country is represented by four powerful Republican Senators: Betty Little, Patty Ritchie, Jim Tedisco and Joe Griffo. They hold a lot of sway over state budgets and policy. But if Republicans drop into the minority next year, their power to shape everything from school funding to state prisons would diminish dramatically.

Imagine you're charged with a crime and brought into court. You might expect that the judge sitting across from you has a deep legal background, that they're a lawyer of some kind. But in the North Country? That's probably not the case.

In 1930, Rose Rockwood turned forty-six and started keeping a diary for the first time. She, her husband Lance, and their children Allen and Alice, lived on a small farm on Pillar Point, a rural farming and fishing community on the edge of Lake Ontario, not far from Watertown.

The winter constellations are disappearing. Pretty soon we won't see Orion again for months. But there are consolations: the days are noticeably longer, with more light in the morning and the evening, for one thing.St. Lawrence University physics professor Aileen O'Donoghue talks about other welcome news: Leo is high to the southeast by 9 pm, Arcturus is up in the eastern sky, and Venus is bright in the west. Check out the chart, and enjoy.

It seems like winter won't give up, with snow showers continuing and overnight lows in the 20s and below the last week. But the days are getting longer. There's birdsong in the early morning and buds are swelling. For gardeners, it's time to prune fruit trees, grapes and berries. Cooperative Extension's Amy Ivy runs through the basic principles.

Kids in military families move a lot: on average six to nine times by the time they finish high school. That means navigating new schools, finding new friends, catching up in classes - over and over again.

At a town hall meeting on Friday, Rep. Elise Stefanik heard angry words about Donald Trump from some surprising speakers, including a prominent Republican and a 71-year-old former Marine.

A few months ago, people were talking about the North Country becoming the Silicon Valley of something called bitcoin mining. Big companies wanted to build warehouses full of computers and promise hundreds of jobs.What drew them to the North Country was cheap electricity to run all those supercomputers. And that's what put the brakes on the bitcoin mining boom before it even started.(And if you're confused about all this bitcoinstuff, here's an explaination).

Expect unsettled weather and a variety of conditions this weekend. Trailheads will be a combination of ice, mud, and new snow. High winds have brought down considerable blowdown and up to 3or 4 inches of snow could fall through the weekend, especially at higher elevations.