Midday Magazine on WAMC

Governor Andrew Cuomo presented a broad agenda in his State of the State address on Wednesday. North Country officials were pleased with the Governor’s focus on the upstate economy and tourism.

More than a thousand protesters chanting "Ban Fracking Now!" crowded into Albany's Empire State Plaza concourse where lawmakers had to pass on their way to Governor Andrew Cuomo's State of the State speech. Capital Region Bureau Chief Dave Lucas was there and files this report.

The City of Pittsfield is in the process of forming a committee to explore a Payments in Lieu of Taxes – or PILOT – program – aimed at local non-profits, in order to possibly generate additional revenues for city services.

An appeals court has ruled that public participation, nearly all the time, must be included when federal regulators consider granting safety exemptions to nuclear power plants. Monday’s ruling has to do with a fire-safety exemption that was granted for Indian Point 3. The case is Brodsky versus the Nuclear Regulatory Commission, and it falls under the National Environmental Policy Act.  Former New York State Assemblyman Richard Brodsky argued the case on behalf of a group of plaintiffs, including the Sierra Club-Atlantic Chapter, and Westchester’s Citizens Awareness Network. In this week’s ruling, the 2nd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals vacated part of a district court ruling involving an exemption to fire-safety rules. Here’ Nuclear Regulatory Commission Spokesman Neil Sheehan:

It is often argued by critics of the Obama administration that it is socialistic,  i.e. expanding governmental authority over the means of producing and distributing goods.  Alas, there is something to be said for this point of view.  As I see it, however, a more accurate way to describe the Obama government is corporatism or a political system in which the principal economic functions are designated and given favorable treatment.  The most appropriate way to assign meaning to this phenomenon is fascism.

Democratic Congressman Bill Owens has been sworn in to a new term as the new 113th Congress convenes.  On today’s Community Corner the Congressman talks about some changes he faces as he enters his new term - from a newly drawn district to a change in his committee assignment.

The League of Women Voters of New York State and the New York Public Interest Research Group are  out with an analysis of spending trends in the most recent campaign cycle - Capital Region Bureau Chief Dave Lucas reports.

The report found that fundraising for state legislative races dropped nearly 10 percent during the past two election cycles as money shifted to independent expenditures and spending on Senate races fell.

James Halpern went to Newtown, Connecticut the day after the Sandy Hook Elementary School shootings. He went for one week, as a volunteer with the Mid-Hudson Valley Chapter of the American Red Cross, to provide counseling to immediate family members of the victims, as well as to community members. The Red Cross counseling is short-term, and those who needed more assistance were referred to community resources.

A strange and disturbing anomaly: How such self-anointed and selfishly directed, sectarian extortionists, like Grover Norquist and Ralph Reed can assert that they are appropriate spokespersons for the aspirations of any legitimate group of American citizens?  Any proud and proven representative of today’s news media, who still retains a shred of professional self-respect, should reject this notion.  The profit-pointed interest of these adventurers’ involvements should serve to stress their up-to-no-good intentions, to the most disinterested observers of Public Interest activity.

Last night at the Egg I heard Bill McKibben talk about climate change. I was very proud of Joe and Alan and WAMC for organizing it and proud of the WAMC audience for coming out in droves to hear him. The message he brings is not a happy one but it is a message we have to hear and understand; more, it’s a message we have to act on.