Midday Magazine on WAMC

The Mid-Hudson Regional Sustainability Plan's second round of public meetings kick-off this evening in Orange County - Hudson Valley Bureau Chief Dave Lucas reports.

The interactive forums will take place tonight at SUNY Orange in Newburgh; and Thursday at the Westchester County Center in White Plains.  In both sessions, a presentation of the draft plan will be followed by a question/ answer session and open discussion. Organizers would like to see more local residents at the gatherings.

An invasive forest pest commonly found in New York and Southern New England was recently discovered in New Hampshire, and now it’s prompting state officials there to clear hundreds of acres of forest land to prevent the spread of the insect. WAMC’s Berkshire Bureau Chief Lucas Willard reports…

Sometimes "who says it" is just as important as "what they say." So it is with Warren Buffett's op-ed in today's New York Times about taxes and the fiscal realities of our budget. 

At this moment in time, so many Americans seem to have overdosed on presidential politics and, in particular, the wave of negative advertising that dominated the recently concluded election. Nevertheless, as the year nears its close, two new films spotlight certain aspects of the lives and personalities of revered American presidents. They are Steven Spielberg’s LINCOLN, which stars Daniel Day-Lewis as Abraham Lincoln, and Roger Michell’s HYDE PARK ON HUDSON, which features Bill Murray as Franklin Roosevelt. 

A Pennsylvania-based energy firm has unveiled plans to add yet another gas pipeline in Broome County. As Hudson Valley Bureau Chief Dave Lucas explains, the news comes as energy companies and anti-fracking activists continue their vigil to see if hydraulic fracturing will be allowed in New York State.


Erie, Pennsylvania's EmKey Gathering LLC  this month gained the rights to a 75-mile right-of-way through three New York counties - and revealed plans to transport natural gas from locally-drilled wells to major energy markets, by connecting with the Millenium Pipeline.

We are now almost three weeks past the November 6th elections, and there's still no resolution in sight to the leadership crisis in the state Senate.

All eyes today are on Ulster County - the fifth and final county in the new 46th Senatorial District to count its paper ballots. After Montgomery County completed its count this weekend, Democrat Cecilia Tkaczyk trailed Republican Assemblyman George Amedore by 920 votes. The outcome of this race could very well decide who controls the upper chamber.

Ever since the establishment of our democracy, citizens of the United States have demonstrated both pleasure and disgust with their government by exercising their right to vote.

By all rights, President Barack Obama should have been beaten handily by Mitt Romney.  Usually, an incumbent President wins if the economy is doing well --- think of 1996 when Bill Clinton was re-elected, think of 1972 when Richard Nixon was re-elected.   If the economy is not doing well, an incumbent President loses:  Think of Jimmy Carter in 1980 and George H, W. Bush in 1992.  There are “close calls” in this analysis – the two that come to mind are the successful re-election campaigns of Ronald Reagan in 1984 (which resulted in a landslide victory) and George W.

Where is my America?  The nation of rugged individualists has ceded its position to those who embrace the command economy. Moreover, a failed record doesn’t mean very much when media panjandrums use barrels of print to boost the fortune of their desired candidates.

Massachusetts is facing huge budget deficits in its highway and mass transit systems. The Patrick administration is likely to call early next year for higher taxes and tolls.  The state, meanwhile, is putting millions of dollars more into a major transportation project in western Massachusetts.   WAMC’s Pioneer Valley Bureau Chief Paul Tuthill reports.