Midday Magazine on WAMC

It’s been one year since Tropical Storm Irene came up the coast and into the northeast, leaving behind damage that most people and most communities had never witnessed before. One year later some the scars remain, but people have been slowly putting back their lives and towns. Dutchess County, in New York's Hudson Valley was hit hard by the wind, the rain and the flooding. Dutchess County executive Marc Molinaro spoke with WAMC’s Brian Shields about how the county has fared one year later.

The death camps were liberated almost seven decades ago. Auschwitz and Birkenau, Chelmno and Dachau-- the ABCD’s of the Final Solution-- have long been silent memorials to the mass murder of millions. But despite this passage of time, World War II and the Holocaust have remained popular topics for filmmakers.

If you are hoping to go apple picking this fall, you may want to call ahead to make sure your favorite orchard is open.

As reported by the Times Union, some capital region orchards will not be open to those looking for ‘pick-your-own’ this year due to heavily reduced crop yields following unseasonable weather over the last six months.

State funding is still available to residents of Western Massachusetts who were hit by last year’s June tornado, who are looking to rebuild and renovate their homes, and make them more energy efficient. WAMC’s Lucas Willard has more…

The state-sponsored ReBuild Western Massachusetts program is designed to help victims of the June 1st, 2011 tornado rebuild their homes and businesses with some upgrades to help save energy.

As much of the region is still recovering from the effects of last year’s tropical storm Irene, a new report outlines the effects of Climate Change on the Massachusetts economy, which includes projections of more frequent hurricanes. WAMC’s Berkshire Bureau Chief Lucas Willard has more…

A New York state supreme court judge has ruled that the Metropolitan Transportation Authority's controversial payroll mobility tax is unconstitutional. Hudson Valley Bureau Chief Dave Lucas reports.

The ruling came in response to a lawsuit filed back in 2010 by officials in Nassau County. Several other municipalities in the Lower Hudson Valley, Putnam and Westchester and Putnam counties among them, later joined the lawsuit to have the MTA tax overturned.  

A company that wants to build a natural gas pipeline through parts of four New York counties could be facing growing public opposition. Constitution Pipeline wants to run the line from Susquehanna County Pennsylvania through parts of Deleware, Schoharie, Chenango and Broome counties, but more landowners in those counties will not grant permission for the company to conduct land surveys for the project. Joe Mahoney is a reporter with the Oneonta Daily Star newspaper, and has been following the story. He spoke with WAMC’s Brian Shields.

Rumor has it that, sometime in the next few weeks, the US Preventative Services Task Force is expected to release a report recommending that HIV testing become a routine part of medical care. For a sexually active adult this means that anytime you go for a check up your doctor would be expected to screen you for the virus that causes AIDS.

Environmental, conservation and health groups in the region are calling for an appeal of a court decision this week that overturned the Cross-State Air Pollution Rule.

Concerned about a recent string of arsons, and violent crime in their streets, people who call the city of Troy’s north-central neighborhood home came together for a meeting last night at a church in Lansingburgh. The focus of the gathering was what people can do about these problems. Danielle Sanzone is a reporter for The Record newspaper, and was at the meeting that was organized after the fires and crimes. She spoke with WAMC’s Brian Shields.