In many ways, this inauguration week is unlike any other in recent American history. But for millions of Americans, and a lot of people here in the North Country Friday’s swearing of Donald Trump in is a straight-forward moment of celebration, hope and renewal. [full story]

Just about every town in the North Country has burnt down once, if not several times. Fires get nicknames, and just about everybody remembers a chunk of their downtown ablaze. Now imagine a time when there was no local fire force, and help came from the closest city - by train. That was the reality 150 years ago in Dexter, a town just outside Watertown. [full story]

Perhaps no campaign promise was more iconic and drew more cheers during Donald Trump’s campaign for President than his call to build a wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. "On day one, we will begin working on an impenetrable, physical, tall, powerful, beautiful, southern border wall," now President-elect Trump vowed last summer in Phoenix. During the campaign, Trump also fueled anti-immigration sentiment when he called Mexicans “rapists” and “criminals.” He said he would order the deportation of millions of undocumented immigrants. [full story]

Gov. Andrew Cuomo is due to release his budget Tuesday. Revenues are down, and the repeal of the Affordable Care Act could cost the state billions of dollars. So what should residents expect? [full story]

Storyteller Gioia Timpanelli shares a tale from rural Sicily in the 1890s. A thirteen-year-old boy writes a memoir of surviving life in a small rural inn frequented only, his aunt says, by the lost. This story is an excerpt from Gioia's 2008 novel of the same title.Story Traveler is unscripted storytelling from everywhere in the world, stories for the heart to hear and the mind to imagine. [full story]

In Plattsburgh, business leaders are concerned about President-elect Donald Trump’s plans for the North American Free Trade Agreement, or NAFTA. Trump has threatened to withdraw from that treaty. But business leaders in Clinton County say jobs depend on it, and it reaches broadly into border county economies. [full story]

Congress has taken the first steps toward repealing the Affordable Care Act Friday. A vote in the House mirrored a measure in the Senate to make it easier to pass an Obamacare repeal without the threat of a Democratic boycott. The bill passed the Senate earlier this week. [full story]

Rep. Elise Stefanik is arguing for a go-slow approach to dismantling Obamacare and she says real alternatives will be offered by Republican leaders. Those promises didn’t convince hundreds of protesters who rallied over the weekend across the North Country, directing much of their anger at the Republican congresswoman. [full story]

Top snowshoers from across the globe will be in the Adirondacks next month. The village of Saranac Lake will host the World Snowshoe Championships on Feb. 25. It's the first time the event has been held in the U.S. Local organizers expect more than 300 people will compete. They also hope to see more snow by the time the races get underway. [full story]

Snow or no snow, winter is a time of subtle, even monochromatic landscapes. And sometimes a person needs a little color. Gardeners have an advantage: all those seed catalogs coming in the mail, offer an explosion of flowers... just not right now. Cooperative Extension's Amy Ivy is one who's taking advantage of the glossy possibilities, planning for her summer garden. [full story]