Top Stories from NCPR

It's been ten years since the Colony Collapse crisis began, so what is happening to the world's bees? Bee colonies are dying in record numbers across the globe. But, why the bees are dying remains a mystery. Experts say honeybees and other pollinators, like butterflies, are experiencing a multitude of stressors including parasites, pesticide exposure, climate change and habitat loss.

The second voter survey in two weeks shows Gov. Andrew Cuomo's job approval rating plummeting to a near record low.

St. Lawrence University physics professor Aileen O'Donoghue is happy to say we are gaining dark after the longest day of the year, the Summer Solstice, last month. But we still have to stay up pretty late or get up pretty early to see the highlights of the sky this time of year.Venus dominates the eastern sky in the mornings. Saturn and Jupiter bookend the southern sky in the evening. Then there's what the Big Dipper is doing, and a view of the heart of our galaxy, where to find showy Scorpius and its stinger, a warning about inadequate "eclipse glasses" and much more, in her monthly visit to our 8 O'clock Hour studio.

Adirondack Experience, the museum on Blue Mountain Lake, is suing the village of Lake Placid. They are hoping to block a plan by local officials to seize a piece of property on the main street of Lake Placid, through a process known as eminent domain.

New York's top elected Democrats rallied against the Republican Congress' proposals to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare, saying they will take legal action, if necessary, to stop it.State Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, speaking Monday before a crowd of unionized health care workers at Mount Sinai Hospital, said if the plans to repeal and replace Obamacare in the GOP-led Senate and House do become law, he will sue on behalf of New Yorkers.

We caught the Canton-based group Bee Children at the open-air pavilion in Massena Springs Park in early July. 35 or so people unfolded their lawn chairs to jam with the group. The sun glinted off the Raquette River behind Terry DuBray, Don Burlingame, Sarah Gates, Shane Rogers, and John Collins. Bee Children's style ranges from pop to indie rock to folk and more.

July is the month for music festivals, especially north of the border with the jazz and blues festivals in Ottawa and Montreal. Another that's grown in size and influence over the years is Montreal's Nuits D'Afrique.For 31 years, it's been North America's biggest African music festival. Today it draws hundreds of musicians from across the globe.

It hardly seems like we've had enough "summer" for this, but it's mid-July, and time to harvest garlic. In fact, according to Cooperative Extension's Amy Ivy, other areas in the state have their garlic out of the ground already.This week, she's got tips on how to tell when it's really ready, how to get the bulbs out of the ground, and what do do to insure both good-keeping heads for winter use and a good crop for next year.

On Saturday, anti-Muslim groups staged a rally outside a small religious community in Upstate New York called Islamberg. State police formed a protective cordon outside the settlement's gates to prevent a confrontation. Islamberg has existed since the 1980s without any history of violence or criminal activity, but the community has become a fixation for hate groups and the right-wing media, who say it's being used as a terrorist training camp. That's a claim that law enforcement and Islamberg's neighbors reject.

Thousands of law enforcement officials and community members gathered at Fort Drum Saturday afternoon to mourn the loss of New York State Trooper Joel Davis. Davis was responding to a domestic incident last week when he was shot and killed, allegedly by soldier Justin Walters. Walters was also charged with killing his wife, Nichole Walters, and shooting her friend Rebecca Finkle, who was treated and released from the hospital. Finkle's children were at the scene.