Top Stories from NCPR

Senate Leader John Flanagan said he’s not running for governor right now, but in an interview with public radio and television, he admitted that he’s thought about it from time to time. [full story]

St. Lawrence County is trying to convert cheap electricity from the hydropower dam on the St. Lawrence River into new businesses and new jobs. The state announced this week that a Potsdam paper company will create more than 20 jobs after getting a low-cost power allocation. Also, a new board that manages a $2 million economic development fund from power proceeds held its first meeting last week. [full story]

It's a delicious flavor, for humans and deer alike, but it's also so much more. There's just something special about salt, a naturally occurring mineral that humans and many animals crave. Found naturally in its crystalline solid form, sea water and rock deposits left behind by ancient oceans, this chemical compound is among those that many of our cells need to survive.Conversation with Martha Foley and Curt Stager gets a little salty. [full story]

Sometimes one person, one encounter, can bring a complex and terrible story into focus. [full story]

Lawmakers grilled Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s economic development chair Wednesday at a budget hearing, as some of the programs are embroiled in a corruption scandal that’s led to charges against several former associates of the governor. [full story]

Eight miles may seem like a short distance to travel, but for North Country loggers in the late 1800s, it was anything but. This North Country at Work story is about one of those loggers, Lawrence Keys, who worked in the Loon Lake lumber camps. Lawrence was born in the Irish community of Alderbrook in 1850, and like many others, he logged all week and came home to his family on the weekends. [full story]

President Trump’s made good on his promise to oppose the Trans-Pacific Partnership trade pact. During his campaign, he called the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA) between the U.S., Mexico and Canada, the “worst trade deal ever.” And he has repeated his promise to renegotiate it, “by a lot, not just a little.” He’s threatened to withdraw from NAFTA if our partners resist.NAFTA dates back to the 1990s; it’s kind of the grandfather of free trade pacts. It created a highly integrated and competitive economic zone among the three countries.This region’s economy has been a cross-border one for centuries. It’s survived wars, and most recently, the hardening of the border since the 9/11 attacks. As the Trump Administration begins work, North Country business leaders are concerned about losing easy travel and trade.NAFTA in particular reaches broadly into border county economies. According to the North Country Chamber of Commerce, in Clinton County, 15 percent of the workforce has a job related to the Canadian border.Martha Foley talks NAFTA with Robert Thacker, who teaches in the Canadian Studies Department at St. Lawrence University, about the trade pact and the impact a trade dispute or other issues with the new Trump administration could have on U.S.-Canada relations. [full story]

A pair of athletes from India may not be able to attend the World Snowshoe Championships later this month in Saranac Lake, reportedly due to President Donald Trump’s controversial executive order on immigration. Abid Khan and Tanveer Hussain have been denied visas. [full story]

It could be another year before a new detox center in Clinton County is open for business. The detox planned for Schuyler Falls, near Plattsburgh, will help people safely go through withdrawal from alcohol, heroin, and other drugs. The state-funded facility would fill a huge gap in services. Many were hoping it would be up and running by now. But there is some good news, too. [full story]

Eight protesters were arrested outside Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s office Tuesday as they called for more money for legal aid services for the state’s poorest.Protesters chanted, “What do we want? Lawyers,” and blockaded an entrance to Cuomo’s suite of offices at the Capitol. [full story]