Top Stories from NCPR

Dr. John Rugge is one of the country's top experts at delivering healthcare to rural areas that have a lot of low income and working class families. He founded the Hudson Headwaters Health Network, which operates seventeen clinics from Glens Falls all the way north to the town of Champlain near the U.S.-Canada border. Dr. Rugge told Brian Mann yesterday that the Republican healthcare bill could roll back coverage for thousands of working families in the North Country. [full story]

After refusing for days to say how she was leaning on the measure, North Country Congresswoman Elise Stefanik voted in favor of the Republican bill. [full story]

It's been raining, a lot, with more in the forecast. Lake Ontario is overflowing its banks. So is the St. Lawrence River, the Ottawa River, and most of the rivers and streams that feed the Seaway. Some New Yorkers, including property owners along Ontario's southern shore, want to lower the lake level there by releasing water downstream. [full story]

The stakes were high yesterday for Rep. Stefanik, President Trump, and other Republicans who have been promising to repeal and replace Obamacare for years. “A lot of us have been waiting seven years to cast this vote. Many of us are here because we pledged to cast this very vote to repeal and replace Obamacare. To rescue people from this collapsing law,” House Speaker Paul Ryan said before yesterday’s vote. The bill passed, it was close, and now it moves to the U.S. Senate. The bill is highly controversial. It rolls back protections for people who have preexisting medical conditions and it would scale back federal support for the Obamacare Medicaid expansion, which extended health insurance to thousands of people here in the North Country. We’ve been gathering reactions from people around the region. [full story]

Some of New York’s leaders are expressing outrage over the Republican House of Representatives vote to undo the Affordable Care Act, also known as Obamacare. Gov. Andrew Cuomo has warned for months that the proposed repeal of the ACA would blow a multi-billion-dollar hole in the state budget and potentially cost state and local governments and New York’s hospitals $4.5 billion. [full story]

Pigeons and doves, both domestic and feral, are the same species. Today's urban environment mimics their original favored habitat, seaside cliffs in Europe and Asia. Martha Foley and Curt Stager discuss this commonest bird companion in densely settled areas. [full story]

A big controversy has been swirling around one of the Adirondacks' most popular annual events. The committee that organizes the Saranac Lake Winter Carnival has faced criticism over its decision to adopt an "Adirondack Fiesta" theme for next year's carnival. Critics say it's ill-timed politically and would be culturally insensitive to Spanish-speaking people. Others see it as a benign "party" theme and an opportunity to celebrate the culture of countries like Mexico. The committee is sticking with the "Fiesta" theme, for now. [full story]

Democrats in the state Senate remain hopeful that they will regain the numerical majority and control of the chamber after a special election is held later this month. But Gov. Andrew Cuomo dampened those expectations, in remarks made Wednesday in New York City.Senate Democratic Leader Andrea Stewart-Cousins said she expects the seat of former Sen. Bill Perkins, a Harlem Democrat who won a City Council post, to be filled by another mainstream Democrat when a special election is held on May 23. [full story]

The State University of New York board of trustees has selected a new president for Jefferson Community College in Watertown. Dr. Ty Stone is currently vice president for strategic initiatives at Sinclair Community College in Dayton, Ohio. [full story]

Assemblyman Billy Jones says he still has a lot to learn in Albany and around his district. Jones was elected last November to represent the 115th Assembly District. He’s a Democrat and a former corrections officer, and Franklin county legislator. During his campaign he talked a lot about ethics, and defending his fellow prison guards.Jones was in Plattsburgh recently for a town hall meeting, and Zach Hirsch checked in with him. [full story]