Brian Shields

Forty years ago, Richard Burns was a high school senior, getting ready to begin college at Hamilton in the fall. Today, he is the executive director of the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Community Center in New York City. This afternoon, Richard Burns returns to Hamilton to speak on “LGBTQ Rights, Past and Present” at the Red Room in the Kirner-Johnson building. He spoke to WAMC about what it was like 40 years ago to be gay and in college

There have been a number of ideas and suggestions on how to improve the New York State Legislature, especially after the recent arrest of two lawmakers on corruption charges. One of the ideas is changing the job from part-time to full time. That’s not a new thought, in fact it was suggested more than 100 years ago, in 1910, by then newly-elected State Senator Franklin Delano Roosevelt. 

Republicans in the New York state Assembly have a plan they say will help to root out the corruption scandals that have tainted the state legislature in recent weeks. They are calling for a constitutional amendment to allow recall elections in New York for all statewide elected officials, and members of the state legislature. Assembly Republican Jim Tedisco from the Capital Region joined in the announcement Wednesday morning.

For a constitutional amendment to become law, it must pass the legislature in two consecutive sessions , and be approved by the voters.

New York's top law enforcement official, Attorney General Eric Schneiderman, spoke with WAMC about the recent corruption scandals in Albany and Wednesday's failed U.S. Senate vote on background checks for gun sales.

You won’t find Inspire magazine on your local newsstand, but an article in that publication may have been the blueprint for the bombings in Boston. 

For more on the events today in Boston, WAMC’s Brian Shields spoke with Rick Mathews, the director of the National Center for Security and Preparedness at the University at Albany. He began by asking him if at this early stage he believes the explosions were the work of domestic or foreign terrorists.

Nippertown's Greg Haymes stopped by to share some spring music picks with WAMC's Brian Shields:

Tonight marks the local premiere of the film The Place Beyond The Pines, starring Bradley Cooper, Eva Mendes, Ray Liotta and Ryan Gosling, which was filmed in several Capital Region locales and takes place in Schenectady.

WAMC's Brian Shields spoke with Don Rittner, head of the Schenectady Film Commission, who helped bring the film to town and who has a bit part in the movie.

Margaret Thatcher, the first and only woman prime minister of Great Britain, left a personal style and political legacy that will be debated for years to come. Like her American ally and friend, Ronald Reagan, she took power at a time when her nation was seen by many to be in economic and international decline.

Professor Roy Ginsberg, chair of the department of government at Skidmore College in Saratoga Springs, New York, spoke today with WAMC’s Brian Shields on the Thatcher-Reagan alliance.

Could last week’s arrest of New York State Senator Malcolm Smith of New York City revive a somewhat dormant investigation of possible wrongdoing in the awarding several years ago of a license to operate a racino at the Aqueduct Race Track in Queens? Several years back when Smith and several other Democrats had control of the senate, a bidding process was underway for the racino, a process that led to accusations of pay-to play by the Inspector General Joseph Frisch.