News

Researchers keeping track of loon populations in the Adirondacks are looking for help from volunteers.

A New York state assemblyman from the Hudson Valley is denouncing what he says are false and anonymous social media and robocall ad attacks against him. The Democrat from Orange County says the ads cross a line and he is taking action.

The Vermont Public Service Board is changing its name to the Vermont Public Utility Commission.

A "smart" approach to parking was unveiled this morning in Albany — a city where downtown parking is always at a premium.

Meteorologist Garett Argianas delivers the evening weather forecast for Monday, June 26, 2017.

  The newest transportation hub in western Massachusetts is drawing rave reviews from people using it for the first time today.  Springfield’s Union Station reopened after 44 years following a $95 million restoration. 

As the health care debate continues in Washington, Democrats in New York are sounding the alarm about what the Republican plan could mean for the state. Tonight in Hudson, the Capital Region expert panel on the American Health Care Act will hold a meeting to hear public opinions about health care, and what might happen in New York if the Republican plan becomes the law of the land. 

Joining us this afternoon for Medical Monday is Dr. Brian Binetti of Health Quest Medical Practice. He is in the studio to answer your questions about weight loss and gastrointestinal surgeries and treatment. WAMC's Alan Chartock hosts.

When the legislative session ended on June 21, New York lawmakers left behind a lot of unfinished business, including a failure to act on ethics reform proposals in light of an economic development scandal in the Cuomo Administration.    

Newschannel 13 meteorologist Paul Caiano delivers the Midday Weather Summary for Monday, June 26, 2017.

The Northern Berkshire Community Coalition announced its direction for the next fiscal year at its annual meeting Friday in Williamstown. WAMC’s Berkshire Bureau Chief JD Allen spoke with Executive Director Amber Besaw about what the region needs right now – especially in terms of leadership after North Adams Mayor Richard Alcombright announced he will not seek a fifth term and the death of State Representative Gailanne Cariddi.

Elizabeth Sobol, a veteran of the classical music and recording industry, is spending her first summer as the President and CEO of the Saratoga Performing Arts Center. She joins us this morning to tell us what is happening on stage and behind-the-scenes at SPAC over the coming weeks.

She comes to Saratoga Springs from Miami Beach, where she was president and CEO of Universal Music Classics. Before that she spent nearly three decades at IMG Artists as its managing director. After a successful weekend of Jazz, she is here to tell us about the NYC Ballet, the Mini-Argentinian Festival and Café Lena @ SPAC.

Berkshire Theatre Group presents the Tony Award-winning Children of a Lesser God, directed by Tony Award-winner, Kenny Leon. The play opened Saturday night and runs through July 22nd at The Fitzpatrick Main Stage in Stockbridge, MA.

In the play - after joining the staff at a school for the deaf, speech therapist with an unorthodox approach to education, James -- played by Joshua Jackson -- becomes infatuated by Sarah, a vivacious, yet delicate, deaf woman, played by Lauren Ridloff. James tries to help Sarah, a school dropout, navigate her way through the hearing world, however Sarah finds solace in her sphere of silence.

We are thrilled to welcome the play’s director Kenny Leon who won a Tony Award for A Raisin in the Sun with Denzel Washington. He also directed Holler if Ya Hear Me on Broadway and The Wiz and Hairspray LIVE productions on TV.

Also here – the stars of the show - Lauren Ridloff - recently seen in the film Wonderstruck and a former Miss Deaf America – she is joined by ASL translator Candace Broecker Penn. And Joshua Jackson is in the house. He is currently starring in Showtime’s The Affair and is well-known for his roles in Dawson’s Creek & Fringe. 

Constituents like to see their representatives in the flesh.

In today’s Congressional Corner, Massachusetts Congressman Richard Neal continues his conversation with WAMC’s Alan Chartock. 

  Jonathan Sun is an architect, designer, engineer, playwright and comedy writer, an artist, illustrator and a doctoral student at MIT and a Berkman Klein Fellow at Harvard -- and the creator of the Twitter persona jomny sun.

His work across these multiple disciplines is concerned with narratives of human experience. The new book, Everyone's a Aliebn When Ur a Aliebn Too - published by Harper Perennial and available tomorrow - distributes aspects of his personality and observations from his life and education between jomny (an alien visiting Earth) and the creatures jomny encounters while here.

As a small example, in the book jomny has a conversation with a hedgehog who explains the difference between an introvert and an extrovert thusly: “introverts enjoy peopel-watching. extroverts enjoy peopel watching.” [sic]

In a blurb on the book jacket, Joss Whedon says of Everyone's a Aliebn When Ur a Aliebn Too: “This book is funny and sad, simple and complex, badly spelled and beautifully written.”

We spoke with Jonny Sun about the book, Twitter, his research, and @tinycarebot.

    The Roundtable Panel: a daily open discussion of issues in the news and beyond.

Today's panelists are WAMC’s Alan Chartock, Communications Consultant Theresa Bourgeois, and corporate attorney, Rich Honen.

A western Massachusetts hospital has locked out its nurses for three days. The lockout at Baystate Franklin Medical Center in Greenfield began at 7 p.m. Sunday. It is scheduled to end 7 p.m. Wednesday.

WAMC's Dr. Alan Chartock discusses how U.S. Senators are viewing the GOP healthcare bill, retirement rumors for Supreme Court Judge Anthony Kennedy, and U.S. Preet Bharara's new media gig.

WAMC's David Guistina talks with Ken Lovett of the New York Daily News about a vote in the U.S. Senate on the GOP healthcare bill, New York Governor Andrew Cuomo feuding with Representatives Chris Collins and John Faso, and opposition to the Child Victims Act within the New York State Legislature. 

Here's NewsChannel 13 Meteorologist Paul Caiano's WAMC Regional Forecast:

A mix of sun and clouds today with a scattered shower or thunderstorm.  Highs in the mid 70's.

A scattered showers or storm tonight. Lows in the mid 50's.

A mix of sun and clouds tomorrow with a scattered shower or thunderstorm.  Highs in the lower to mid 70's.

MLB:

Doug Fister pitched pretty well in his Red Sox debut, but the Angels took the rubber match of their three-game set by earning a 4-2 win at Fenway Park. Ben Revere had three singles and Kaleb Cowart drove in two runs for Los Angeles. Mitch Moreland and Jackie Bradley Jr. hit solo homers for the Bosox, who have dropped two straight at home since winning 10 of their previous 12.

(Airs 6/25 & 6/26/17) The Media Project is an inside look at media coverage of current events with WAMC’s Alan Chartock, Albany Times Union Editor Rex Smith, and Cailin Brown, Chair of the Department of Communications at the College of St. Rose. On this week’s Media Project, Alan, Rex and Cailin talk about a critical letter from a listener about how the media does choose what to air and what not to air, whether there are good stories that should air, but don’t, whether the news business is unfair to journalists with children, and much more.

When the first-born child of a Lutheran clergyman, 7 year old Angeela Kasner corrected her music teacher's mispronunciation of her name, she already exemplified that she could be a perfectionist as well as a bit of a pain. But her East German teacher was not too put out -- she knew that this pastor's daughter, whom she had mistakenly called Angela was rather bossy but a good pupil.

NewsChannel 13 Meteorologist Paul Caiano delivers the midday weather summary for June 25, 2017.

    Massachusetts legislators hope to get a marijuana regulation bill to Governor Charlie Baker by the end of the month.

Speaking alongside New York’s newest and first openly gay judge on the state’s highest court, Governor Andrew Cuomo praised Paul Feinman’s legal experience and also marked the occasion of his appointment to New York Court of Appeals on the same day as New York City’s annual Pride March.