News

Today's panelists are WAMC’s Alan Chartock, University at Albany Journalism Professor and Investigative Reporter, Rosemary Armao, and former Daily Freeman Publisher - Ira Fusfeld.

Topics include:
House expected to approve budget
Republicans split on budget
Suspension of aid in Syria
JP Morgan/Madoff
Weed? Oui!
Fun at work?

ALBANY – The state’s third round of regional council economic development grants was announced Wednesday with the Mid-Hudson Valley nailing down a total of $59.6 million in funding. (Complete list of grants: http://regionalcouncils.ny.gov/assets/documents/2013REDCBooklet.pdf

JOHANNESBURG (AP) — A South African deputy Cabinet minister says "a mistake happened" in the hiring of a sign language interpreter for the Nelson Mandela memorial service who experts say was signing gibberish on stage next to world leaders.

The Deputy Minister of Women, Children and People with Disabilities (Hendrietta Bogopane-Zulu) said Thursday that government officials have tried to track down the company that provided Thamsanqa Jantjie  but that they "have vanished into thin air."

In the NBA, head coach Doc Rivers was a winner in his return to Boston. Jamal Crawford hit a pair of 3-pointers 23 seconds apart over the final three minutes as the Los Angeles Clippers pulled away in a 96-88 win over the Celtics. Crawford came off the bench to score 21 points as Rivers gained a victory in his first game at TD Bank Garden since the Celtics traded him to Los Angeles last summer for a first-round draft pick.

WAMC political observer discusses why President Obama's "selfie" with Danish Prime Minister Helle Thorning Schmidt is causing  an uproar and TIME magazine naming Pope Francis Person of the Year for 2013.

NewsChannel 13 Meteorologist Paul Caiano gives the WAMC Morning Edition forecast.

New York Senator Charles Schumer warns that ambulance crews are threatened with the loss of critical funding.

At stake is $40 million in Medicaid payments statewide used to pay for ambulance services. He says that critical funding will expire Jan. 1 if Congress doesn't act first.

The Democrat says that without action, urban ambulances will lose 2 percent of their federal funding and rural services will lose 3 percent.

Schumer says ambulance crews say the funding is vital. He is proposing a five-year extension of the funding.

In today’s Academic Minute, Dr. Candi Cann of Baylor University reveals the rising popularity of alternative memorials to the dead. 

Candi Cann is an assistant professor in the Honors College and Department of Interdisciplinary Core at Baylor University in Waco, Texas. Her research focuses on death and dying, and the impact of remembering (and forgetting) in shaping how lives are recalled, remembered and celebrated. She holds a Ph.D. from Harvard University.

About Dr. Cann

Governor Peter Shumlin is continuing to say he didn't know the extent of problems with the Vermont Health Connect insurance exchange website until after Labor Day.

Some officials in the Hudson Valley are weighing in on the recommendations released this week by the New York State Tax Relief Commission appointed earlier this year by Governor Andrew Cuomo.