Top Stories from NCPR

The tax overhaul plan proposed by President Donald Trump and now being considered in Congress would end the deduction on federal income tax forms for state and local property taxes. Gov. Andrew Cuomo said it would disproportionately harm New Yorkers, where property taxes are among the highest in the nation, and he's taken opportunities at recent public events to make the case against the plan.

Two businessmen who were supposed to raise money for an aircraft maintenance hub in Plattsburgh go on trial Tuesday for alleged fraud.Laurentian Aerospace was getting ready to build a new maintenance facility at the Plattsburgh airport. The company hired an investment firm and gave them $2.5 million as seed money for the project. The money allegedly vanished, and the project never materialized. The FBI got involved and about a year ago, U.S. Attorney's Office in Northern New York announced charges.

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.

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.

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

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.

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.

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."

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.

For decades, Adirondack resource managers have blamed the yellow perch for the decline of heritage trout strains, believing that perch were introduced to Adirondack waters in recent times and have been displacing the native strains from their historic habitat.But lake sediment core samples taken by Curt Stager and his students at Paul Smiths College yield DNA evidence showing that trout have been co-existing with perch for at least 2,000 years there. While perch are aggressive competitors and native trout are in decline, the reason for the change in balance likely lies in other factors yet to be determined.