The Adirondacks are booming with more hikers, more campers, more rock climbers and paddlers than ever before. But that popularity means a growing pace of emergencies and search and rescue operations for the 140 New York state forest rangers. Some rangers warn that the pace is spreading them too thin, causing exhaustion and burnout.

St. Lawrence University astronomer Aileen O'Donoghue is good friends with the sky around us. She can look up, and know where she is.She welcomes the shorter days of fall and winter, and hopes we will, too.This month, she's orienting us to the Milky Way high above us, the Southern Triangle of Deneb, Altair and Vega in the SSW, and the disappearance of Jupiter from the night sky in the west.

A new poll finds waning support for a constitutional convention in New York. The issue is on the ballot in November.

New York's House race is drawing national attention because of controversial remarks made by a former Republican who's running as a Democrat. Steve Krieg, a member of Plattsburgh's school board, described Congresswoman Elise Stefanik as "a child" last July in a Facebook post. His comments went viral last week on conservative media sites, including Fox News, and were also featured on CNN and Politico.

You know what they say: one person's trash is another person's treasure. So it is with the tons of leaves that fall on our lawns every autumn. As they are doing right now! Cooperative Extension's Amy Ivy argues that, despite the raking and the bagging and hauling, those leaves are solid gold for gardeners.

You probably don't want to think about it. But it's almost time to fire up the furnace.A regional not-for-profit is trying to get more people to consider next generation wood pellet furnaces to heat their homes.

People who say the terminally ill should have a legal option to end their lives with medical aid presented petitions to Gov. Andrew Cuomo on Thursday, asking that he and the Legislature make that change. About 7,500 New York State Fair attendees signed the petition, which asks that "a mentally capable, terminally ill adult with a prognosis of six months or less" to live be permitted the option to obtain medication to end their lives if "their suffering becomes unbearable."

Chaumont classical guitarist Gary Walts says he can thank public television and a Watertown bookstore for his love of music. Walts shared some favorite music recorded outdoors last month on a warm afternoon on the eastern shore of Lake Ontario.

The Hyde Collection in Glens Falls launches its largest ever exhibit of American folk art this weekend. "A Shared Legacy: Folk Art in America" opens Sunday and continues through the end of December. The exhibition includes more than 60 works from the 19th and early 20th century, from the collection of Barbara Gordon.Folk art is rooted in personal and cultural identity, and made by artists who were either self-taught or had very little training. Created for ordinary people rather than just the rich, folk art was the prevalent art form in the U.S. for more than a century. The exhibited works include a range of paintings, woodcarvings, trade signs, furniture, and carousel animals.Jonathan Canning, the Hyde Collection's director of curatorial affairs, says the works in the exhibition reflect American creative expression during a period of great political, social, and cultural change.

The well-equipped medevac helicopters that transported injured troops in Vietnam became the model for today's air ambulance services in the U.S.