Top Stories from NCPR

The award-winning musical "Fiddler on the Roof" continues tonight and Saturday at 7:30 pm in the Saranac Lake High School auditorium. Set in 1905 in a small Jewish village in Russia, it's the story of Tevye, a poor milkman whose devotion to God is tested by his headstrong daughters and growing anti-semitism in Czarist Russia.Saranac Lake's production is directed by Bonnie Brewer, with music direction by Drew Benware, and a cast of more than 40 Saranac Lake students, 7th through 12th grade.The musical includes well-known songs like "If I were a Rich Man" and "Sunrise, Sunset." But it was also one of the first Broadway musicals to deal with serious issues such as persecution, poverty and holding on to one's beliefs. Drew Benware says the show has become a teaching moment this semester. Todd Moe stopped by a rehearsal this week to get thoughts about the show from the young cast. [full story]

A controversial plan that allows greater fluctuations in water levels along Lake Ontario and the Saint Lawrence River, has been in effect since January. It could be 30 years before the benefits of Plan 2014 are fully felt - restoring the health of the waterway and surrounding wetlands. But Jim Howe, of the Western and Central New York Nature Conservancy, says it’s likely that wildlife will benefit before then. [full story]

Proponents of raising taxes on New York’s wealthiest say they have a new impetus to increase the state’s revenue - the continued bad news from Washington about deep federal cuts to health care and other areas.Assembly Speaker Carl Heastie has called an amendment to the federal repeal of the Affordable Care Act that would force the state to pick up county Medicaid costs “unconscionable.” [full story]

Thousands of refugees frightened by the Trump administration’s tough immigration policies are still fleeing from the U.S., many of them heading north into Canada. They often make the dangerous, snowy crossing from Upstate New York into Quebec, where they’re arrested by Canadian border agents or Royal Canadian Mounted Police. But what happens to them after that, once they’re inside Canada? [full story]

The spring musical season continues this weekend at a number of high schools in the North Country. It's a busy time back stage and on stage with final rehearsals amid wet paint. Todd Moe stopped by Edwards-Knox Central School as students took a break from an afternoon rehearsal for "Grease."The musical has been extremely popular since the movie version came out nearly forty years ago, but it's been toned-down a bit for high school productions. The song and dance fest is set in the 1950s and centers on a group of high school kids dealing with love, friendships and coming-of-age. The cast at Edwards-Knox says the show and its themes are alive and well today, too. [full story]

Our Town Theater Group's spring production of Ken Ludwig’s award-winning comedic farce "Lend Me A Tenor" opens Friday at 7:30 pm in the Tannery Pond Community Center in North Creek. The show tells the story of a crazy evening in 1934 at the Cleveland Grand Opera Company, when a world-renowned special guest singer arrives and is indisposed through a series of mishaps. Director Jordan Hornstein told Todd Moe that the show includes some larger-than-life characters, mistaken identities and door-slamming farce.Cast includes Judy Stafford and Dan Studnicky of North Creek, Wendy Joy-Hayes, Hannah Jay and Dennis Wilson of Chestertown, Eduardo Munoz of Minerva, John Gable of Lake George and Kim Smith of Wevertown. [full story]

Database analysis shows that winter, in addition to its other woes, is volcano season. Martha Foley wonders why.Dr. Curt Stager points the finger at the Pacific Ocean, which piles water on the North American coast and lightens the load on Asia. The stress comes out it crustal acne. [full story]

Democratic Senator Kirsten Gillibrand calls President Trump’s budget plan “horrible” for New York’s low income residents. [full story]

One of the thorniest issues still facing lawmakers in Albany is known as Raise the Age. It’s an effort by advocates to keep tens of thousands of 16- and 17-year-olds out of adult jails and prisons. [full story]

A provision to shift Medicaid health care costs in New York from counties to the state as part of the repeal and replacement of the Affordable Care Act by Congress is meeting with a cool reception from state leaders. Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo calls it a “targeted war on New York,” while the leader of the Republicans in the Legislature is voicing skepticism. [full story]