WAMC Northeast Report on WAMC

I hope you heard Steven Leibo’s commentary last week. If not, you can find it by searching for Leibo's World Watch. He focused on the need for a carbon tax. I’d like to follow up.

Progressive activists are staging demonstrations and taking other actions across the country Monday to urge no cuts to social safety net programs be part of any deal to avoid the fiscal cliff.  In western Massachusetts they took the message to a district office of the state’s senior US Senator John Kerry.   WAMC’s Pioneer Valley Bureau Chief Paul Tuthill reports.

State records show that teachers' and administrators' salaries across New York have risen slightly on average over the past two years, while more than 55-hundred classroom positions were eliminated. Hudson Valley Bureau Chief Dave Lucas reports. 

Tobacco kills more than 400,000 Americans every year and costs the country about $100 billion in health care bills.  Despite successes in curbing tobacco use over the past four decades, it still is the leading preventable cause of death in the United States.  

A recently released report shows that due to an aging infrastructure in Massachusetts, tens of millions of dollars worth of natural gas escapes into the atmosphere before consumers can use it to heat their homes. More from WAMC’s Berkshire Bureau Chief Lucas Willard…

Massachusetts Lt. Gov. Timothy Murray made three stops in Pittsfield today, including one at a Veterans home where he heard suggestions and concerns from vets. WAMC’s Berkshire Bureau Chief Lucas Willard reports…

After making stops at Pittsfield High School and General Dynamics, a defense manufacturer, Lt. Gov. Timothy Murray toured facilities at Solider On – a non-profit organization that provides housing and services for homeless veterans.

Troubles with an outdated sewage treatment plant have officials in Orange County looking for options and alternatives... Hudson Valley Bureau Chief Dave Lucas reports.

Last year, waters from Hurricane Irene and Tropical Storm Lee overwhelmed the 40-year old Harriman treatment facility beyond anything seen previously, compromising its processing ability to the point where the plant was discharging more wastewater than allowable into the Ramapo River. Activists insist water quality vigilance must continue.

The Patrick Administration’s top budget official warns failure to avert the “fiscal cliff” in Washington will seriously harm the Massachusetts state budget.  WAMC’s Pioneer Valley Bureau Chief Paul Tuthill reports

If the country goes over the so-called “ fiscal cliff” Massachusetts could lose $300 million in tax revenue this fiscal year and $1 billion dollars next year. It would also cost the state $200 million in federal funding that helps pay for a variety of programs according to the Massachusetts Secretary of Administration and Finance Jay Gonzalez.

A group of Massachusetts based foundations and corporations have announced millions in donations to help low income people survive the winter.   WAMC’s Pioneer Valley Bureau Chief Paul Tuthill reports.

   The statewide funding collaborative, MassNeeds, on Tuesday announced that $8.4 million has been raised  to help poor people with the basic needs of food, heat and shelter this winter. The money comes from 41 corporate, private and public foundations and will be shared by 150  charities .