Midday Magazine on WAMC

Settling into my seat on an Airbus, I wished that the 8-hour return from Europe could be more like 3 1/2 hours, as I'd heard the SSTs used to take.

 Those SSTs -- Tupolevs and Concordes -- first flew in the late 60's. The Tupolev was first, in 1968, and then the Concordes in 1969. The latter went for 31 years without a crash – with the huge exception of the French Concorde that hit a piece of metal on the runway while taking off from Paris and crashed in flames, killing all on board.

The City of Pittsfield announced that the lawsuit was reported settled in Federal Court earlier this week. As part of the agreement, Worcester-based Spectrum Health Systems, Inc. will open a methadone treatment center, used for treating heroin and other opioid addiction, in downtown Pittsfield.

Spectrum sued the City last year after previous Mayor James Ruberto refused to grant the organization a building permit for their original proposed downtown location. Spectrum claimed that the City’s refusal was in violation of the Americans with Disabilities Act.

The cherished autumn tradition of Apple Picking is off to an early start in the Northeast as growers deal with aftershocks from wacky spring weather that hammered fruit crops - three state Assemblymen are calling  for a special session of the Legislature to pass a tax relief bill for New York’s apple farmers.

Hudson Valley Bureau Chief Dave Lucas reports

Campaign finance reports by Vermont candidates were due Wednesday. While the incumbent Governor is easily outpacing his challenger, the current Attorney General is falling behind his primary challenger.

Incumbent Democratic Governor Peter Shumlin has raised nearly $840,000 so far his campaign, with about $769,000 cash in the bank.  His challenger, Republican state Senator Randy Brock reported about $585,000 in contributions so far, including $300,000 from himself, with about $234,000 cash on hand. Middlebury College Professor Emeritus of Political Science Eric Davis.

In the parlance of Orwellian newspeak words often mean the opposite of their seeming intent. The Internal Revenue Service is anything but a service. Now we have yet another government inspired contradiction. Social Security has been transformed into the “Federal Benefits Payment.” One might well ask how an insurance arrangement in which the recipient makes payments throughout his working existence is regarded as a “benefit.”  Whatever happened to “earned income”?

A northeastern songbird may be headed to endangered species status.

A federal buyout program will take 40 Greene County properties and turn them into permanent "open space" - Hudson Valley Bureau Chief Dave Lucas reports

The owners of 40 parcels of land that incurred irreparable damages as a result of Tropical Storm Irene have applied to the Federal Emergency Management Agency for a federal buyout

Assemblyman Pete Lopez explains the buyout plan falls under FEMA's Flood Mitigation Program

Under the buyout plan, property damage totaling at least 50 percent of the land’s value makes the parcel eligible to be bought out through FEMA

Rallies are being held to celebrate the anniversary of Social Security and call on Congress to protect its benefits.  A group of individuals in Plattsburgh were  in front of the Social Security office on Monday to highlight the importance of the federal program and express their concerns about the Republican vice presidential selection.

Now that the mercurial, changeling some-time adherent of Latter Day Saints belief and an unabashed aspirant to the U.S. Presidency, George Mitt Romney, Jr., has finally picked a running mate for his monetarily manipulated campaign, the rest of America: pols, pundits and public can begin the impossible task of trying to make simple sense of the ‘Gordian Knot,’ that couuld well deliver fiscal fascist domination into the tight fisted control of the Romney-Ryan entente.

Mitt Romney ended the suspense with the choice of Paul Ryan for Vice-President. And what did we get? Nothing! The Ryan budget for dealing with our problems is zero – no taxes, no expenses, no government. No regulation, no protection, no help, no investment. We’re in a recession and what do we get to pull out of it – nothing, zero, nada.