Top Stories from NCPR

A St. Lawrence County lawmaker who posted a racist, Islamophobic message about Barack Obama on Facebook has been formally punished. Joel LaPierre, who is a Republican, was censured last night at a packed county legislative meeting. More than 100 people came - some to show their support for LaPierre and others to vent their frustration and demand he give up his seat. [full story]

In the past few weeks, we've paged through those tantalizing gardening catalogs, talking about flowers and vegetables to start from seed indoors in the coming weeks. And we've touched on which varieties can be seeded right in the garden once it's time to plant. But there are other gardening staples that don't quite fit either conversation.So today, Cooperative Extension's Amy Ivy talks how to get started with onions, leeks (order seedlings or sets) and shallots. And she shares her special enthusiasm for planting potatoes. So much fun for kids, and you can plant a hill right in a five gallon bucket! [full story]

A state supreme court judge has ruled that a lawsuit should go forward testing the way that New York state builds snowmobile trails in the Adirondack Park. [full story]

A long-delayed lawsuit moved forward last week in a courthouse in Malone that could determine the future of a historic rail corridor in the Adirondack Park. Supporters of the Adirondack Scenic Railroad hope that a judge will block plans to pull up more than 30 miles of track to make way for a new recreational rail-trail. [full story]

Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s proposal to pass an amendment enshrining the U.S. Supreme Court’s 1973 abortion decision Roe v. Wade into the state’s constitution is not gaining much traction in the state Senate. [full story]

A new investment group has purchased the shopping mall in Massena. The St. Lawrence Centre Mall has been on and off the auction block for years now, but the new owners, a team of three developers calling themselves the St. Lawrence Centre Group, promise to put an end to that cycle. [full story]

The entire Adirondack region picked up at least a few inches of new snow this week on top of heavier snow that arrived last weekend. [full story]

Healthy food is the mantra at Funny Duck Farm, just north of Brockville in Ontario. When Samantha Klinck and her husband, Aaron, bought their 96-acre property in 2001, it hadn't been farmed since the 1970s. Samantha said its pastures were "almost visible" in spite of the trees, brush and rubble left behind by the previous owner. [full story]

New York's top law enforcement officer has joined a lawsuit challenging President Donald Trump's executive order barring people from seven Muslim-majority countries from entering the U.S. [full story]

In this story from medieval France, three hungry soldiers returning from a war find a way to get wary villagers to provide them (and everyone else) a meal.Story Traveler is unscripted storytelling from everywhere in the world, stories for the heart to hear and the mind to imagine. [full story]