Why would a heavy fur cape, like a lion's mane, be appropriate on a tropical savanna?As with male fashion in humans, it appears the that the lionesses of the Serengeti like it the thicker and darker, the better. Martha Foley and Dr. Curt Stager talk hair. [full story]

If everything goes according to plan, youngsters will have a new place to play and learn in Potsdam in early 2018. That's when the North Country Children's Museum is slated to open in the historic red barn on Raymond Street.North Country Children's Museum executive director Sharon Vegh Williams said recent renovations of the 3,500 square foot open-floor space, and room for expansion, contributed to the decision to purchase the building for a permanent home. She describes the museum as “hands-on and minds-on." It will feature a variety of exhibits that will focus on North Country culture, art, music, science, nature and technology; and will be open to preschoolers, home school students, and the community. [full story]

Just one month before the state budget is due, numerous interest groups are converging on the State Capitol, asking that they be included in the budget.Among the more impassioned efforts is one from developmentally disabled people and their caregivers. They are seeking $45 million in state subsidies to pay workers more money to comply with the rising minimum wage in New York. [full story]

Farm lobbyists from New York State are in Washington, DC this week. Their top priority is to press Congress for immigration reform. Many farm workers fear getting swept up in President Trump’s crackdown on people in the country illegally. [full story]

The North Country's Republican Congresswoman Elise Stefanik issued a neutral statement about President Trump's address last night. In a press-release, Stefanik — who was in the chamber for Trump's speech - simply said that she looks forward to working with the White House on issues ranging from the economy to healthcare. She added that she hopes to find bipartisan solutions to the nation's problems. [full story]

We heard the stories of two Alcoa towns this week, the smelter in Wenatchee, Washington which shut down, putting hundreds out of work, and one here in the North Country, where politicians have kept Alcoa's smelter in Massena open, saving 600 jobs until March 2019.Mitchell Hartman, senior reporter for Marketplace's Entrepreneurship Desk, recently traveled to both places to compare how they're doing today.Martha Foley called him for a debrief. He told her the difference he saw between the two towns was surprising. [full story]

A new poll finds that in New York, Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s numbers are rising while President Donald Trump’s are sinking.For the first time in two-and-a-half years, Cuomo’s job approval rating is at 50 percent, after stagnating in the mid-40s since summer 2014. Steve Greenberg, spokesman for Siena College polling, said 60 percent of New Yorkers now say they have a favorable view of Cuomo, the largest number in two years. [full story]

Saturday's World Snowshoe Championships brought hundreds of athletes from across the country and around the world to Saranac Lake. But two athletes from India got a particularly warm reception from the people of the village. Abid Khan and Tanveer Hussain, from India's mountainous Kashmir region, overcame visa issues to arrive in Saranac Lake two days before the races. Two men enjoyed a kind of "rock star" status around the village this weekend. [full story]

Aileen O'Donoghue stopped in the NCPR studio this morning to talk about planets coming and going in the night and morning skies. (Venus, Mars and Jupiter).She also explained that the calendar, while loaded with religion-related dates this week (Shrove Tuesday, Ash Wednesday, and Easter to follow in 40 days), is really all about the Spring Equinox and the full moon. Aileen teaches physics, including astronomy, at St. Lawrence University. [full story]

Today marks one month since President Donald Trump unleashed his first executive order on immigration. The president has promised to issue a new immigration order any day, addressing concerns raised by a federal judge, but concerns are also running high across the border in Canada. [full story]