Midday Magazine on WAMC

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.

You may have seen the movie “Dolphin Tale”, the true story of a dolphin that was injured when caught in a crab trap, and was then fitted with a prosthetic tail, allowing the dolphin named winter to swim and live. The man who came up with that device is Kevin Carroll, a prosthetic expert who will be in Albany tomorrow to meet with fellow clinicians and patients at the hangar clinic at 13-15 Central Avenue. He spoke with WAMC’s Brian Shields.

The president’s words, “If you’ve got a business – you didn’t build that. Somebody else made that happen,” echo through the corridors of public opinion. It seems that every talking head has commented on this statement. Some assert the president was merely stating the obvious since business needs an infrastructure in order to get off the ground. Others contend the president has a tin ear and doesn’t understand the personal sacrifice that accounts for business success.

As the Massachusetts Broadband Institute continues work on bringing fiber-optic broadband to community centers in Western Massachusetts, other groups are working to connect individual homes to high-speed internet. WAMC’s Berkshire Bureau Chief Lucas Willard spoke with Steve Nelson of Wired West.

In a recent TV interview on a Public Television Educational Update program, New York State’s Education Commissioner stated that one of his major goals was to make “Digital Literacy” a primary factor in the lives of rural, poverty-riddled and largely minority populated areas of the state’s cities.  While this commentator totally understands the importance of bringing these areas to equal status with use and availability of the latest ‘on-line’ computer equipment, the term “Digital Literacy” struck a chilling chord in one’s consciousness.  Especially, given the spate of recent studies which

  A top official with a Nevada based gaming  company says a proposed casino in Springfield Massachusetts would be the  largest gambling facility it currently operates. But officials with Ameristar offered only a broad description of its plans for a Springfield casino during a presentation to a city council ad-hoc casino committee.   WAMC's Pioneer Valley Bureau Chief Paul Tuthill reports.

This morning [Monday], the nine-member New York Metropolitan Transportation Council called a "special" meeting at its Manhattan headquarters to vote on the Cuomo administration's plan to build a new Tappan Zee Bridge - a necessary step for the project to replace the aging span to move forward.

A special committee of the Springfield City Council appointed to weigh casino development proposals is going to hear today for the first time from a casino operator.   Springfield has become the focus of several major gaming companies competing for the lone casino license that will be issued in western Massachusetts. WAMC's Pioneer Valley Bureau Chief Paul Tuthill reports...

As this interminably long political season threatens to heat up with the Democratic and Republican Party conventions, and so forth and so on, it is appropriate to cite a new film that lampoons the one-note sniping that has become so much a part of politics, American style. That film, of course, is THE CAMPAIGN, which features Will Ferrell and Zach Galifianakis as candidates who comically butt heads while facing off in a North Carolina congressional race.