Top Stories from NCPR

A property tax change proposed by the Cuomo administration would affect tens of millions of dollars of payments made each year by New York state to local governments in the Adirondack Park.Local towns now receive property tax payments for forest preserve park land inside their boundaries. A change detailed in the state budget would replace that system with a payment-in-lieu-of-taxes that would cap annual increases.

The Cuomo administration is again pushing forward with a controversial plan to build a rail-trail path from Lake Placid through Saranac Lake to Tupper Lake. A court ruling blocked the project last year. But now the Adirondack Park Agency is developing new regulations that would allow New York state to remove the historic tracks.

A 21-year-old man has been charged with allegedly making threats against Gouverneur schools and setting off a lockdown late last week.

Yesterday, President Donald Trump signed stiff tariff orders against foreign aluminum and steel. The move was opposed by his own party and many American allies.

Winter remains with deep snow, difficult ice, and summit wind-chills in the single digits below zero. Snowshoes or skis will be needed for back-country travel, traction devices are recommended everywhere, and those headed to steeper terrain should carry crampons.

New York State Police have arrested a teenager who was allegedly driving with two AR-15 rifles and two 30-round magazines in his car.

The St. Lawrence County Birth Connection is staging a production of "Birth," a play by Karen Brody on Saturday in Canton. The show puts women's voices about the birth experience front-and-center. It includes a community cast of women, and aims to raise awareness to improve birth options in the North Country. The play will be performed Saturday at 2 pm, at the Unitarian Universalist Church in Canton. Most of the proceeds will be donated to North Country Baby Blessings, a new organization raising funds to offset the costs of birthing for uninsured and under-insured families in St. Lawrence, Franklin, and Jefferson counties.After interviewing over 100 women about their birth stories, Karen Brody wrote "Birth", a documentary-style play about how women were giving birth in the United States.Todd Moe stopped by a recent rehearsal to talk with some of the cast and crew of "Birth." Producer Sarah Oakley is a yoga-for-mothers teacher and a doula in Canton. She's says a couple of goals of the play are education and empowerment.

SUNY Plattsburgh has seen a series of angry protests this winter. Students of color on campus say they often feel unwelcome, even threatened. One catalyst for their movement was a racist Snapchat message sent by a freshman, a student from the Adirondacks. The message seemed to be calling for racist violence against African Americans.But even some of the student's critics say the message was an ill-conceived joke, part of a complicated pattern of small town white kids trying to embrace and emulate parts of black culture.

The Trump administration's proposed aluminum tariff could have a major impact on a couple of central and northern New York's largest employers.

A Canton-area contractor and some of his crew have spent the past week in rural Puerto Rico, helping a family rebuild its home and install solar power. Last September, Hurricane Maria destroyed thousands of homes and most of the island is still without power.Dan Kuelgen, of Dragonfly Builders, says Puerto Rico remains in critical need of recovery assistance. He raised money for materials and supplies through an ongoing "gofundme" campaign. Kuelgen and three other carpenters from the North Country are helping a single mother and her four children rebuild their home near Jayuya, a mountainous region in central Puerto Rico. He says the storm left remote mountain towns like Jayuya even more cut off from the rest of the world.