WAMC Northeast Report on WAMC

"Kicking the can down the road" is an idiom that means to defer something crucial in hopes that the problem will become someone else's responsibility. The other day it occurred to me that "kicking the can down the road" has become a trademark of contemporary governments worldwide -- from the European debt crisis, to the so-called sequester, to the decision to defer changing the tax on New York's wealthy until a non-election year.

Your afternoon regional weather summary with meteorologist Garett Argianas.

A Congressman from the Hudson Valley streamed a town-hall forum Wednesday evening, on Facebook. It was his first town hall via social media, and it’s a trend that one political onlooker says is on the rise.

The Center for Biological Diversity has filed a formal notice of intent to sue the  U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service for not responding to its petition to grant endangered species status to the Bicknell’s thrush.  The rare songbird is only found on mountaintops in northern New England, the Adirondacks and eastern Canada during the summer, and a few Caribbean islands in winter.

Even though state lawmakers announced a budget agreement Wednesday, they spent the day Thursday trying to pin down details and print the bills in time to be through over the weekend.

Your afternoon regional weather summary with meteorologist Garett Argianas.

Another lawsuit has been filed challenging New York’s new gun law, the NY SAFE Act. The court action was filed today in federal court in Buffalo by the New York State Rifle and Pistol Association along with a number of other organizations. A separate lawsuit filed earlier challenging how the law was passed was dismissed and is now being appealed. Tom King, president of the 45,000 member New York State Rifle and Pistol Association, tells WAMC's Brian Shields that the new lawsuit is focused on the U.S. Constitution.
 

A Hudson Valley assemblyman has penned a letter to the New York State attorney general with concerns over a proposed merger involving a local utility company. A spokesman for the utility company insists the merger is in the public interest.

The Schenectady County League of Women Voters is holding a series of forums looking at the importance of agriculture and the future of the family farm.