WAMC Northeast Report on WAMC

Gov. Andrew Cuomo's Cleaner, Greener Communities program has taken off: its mission is to Create Green Jobs, Improve Energy Efficiency, and Reduce Pollution ... Hudson Valley Bureau Chief reports the panel is making a mark in the Capital Region.

Vermont’s governor, state officials, the state’s Congressional delegation and the owners of the Jay Peak Ski Resort announced nearly 850-million dollars in economic development initiatives that will lead to at least five thousand jobs in Vermont’s Northeast Kingdom.

A non-partisan group has determined that families buying health insurance would pay about twice as much under Mitt Romney than President Barack Obama. WAMC’s Lucas Willard reports…

In a study completed by the national non-profit Familes USA, researches determined that families buying health insurance would pay far more under Mitt Romney’s proposals than President Obama’s signature health care law by 2016, the last year of the next elected president’s term.

New York State funding for anti-terror programs is earmarked for Greene County - Hudson Valley Bureau Chief Dave Lucas spoke with a county official about the grant and the county's emergency preparedness.


Some ask why a small, peaceful county nestled at the upper end of the mid-Hudson Valley would need money to fight terrorism. Wouldn't it be better spent in Westchester County or New York City?

   And who was the 25th President of France?

   Well, I guess this is information for TV's “Jeopardy”, but it was the physicist Dominique Francois Jean Arago, born 50 years after the birth of another statesman/scientist – Ben Franklin.[Ref.1].

   Some may remember from high school a demonstration called “Arago's disk”, wherein a copper or aluminum disc is spun underneath an ordinary compass, and the compass needle begins to swing round also. This is just one of the many experiments Arago did.

Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli is proposing an early warning system that would rank New York's local governments based on fiscal stability.

Civil rights leaders in Springfield Massachusetts, where a black church was burned four years ago, are urging local churches to be on guard as election day approaches.  WAMC”s Pioneer Valley Bureau Chief Paul Tuthill reports.

   The Springfield branch of the NAACP has sent a 19 page security guide to more than 100 churches in western Massachusetts. The Springfield NAACP president, Rev. Talbert Swan said the organization is concerned that African American churches  could be the targets of hate crimes should President Obama be re-elected.

The 15 community colleges in Massachusetts have received $4 million in grant money to increase skill training and support job creation in the Commonwealth. WAMC’s Berkshire Bureau Chief Lucas Willard has more…

The grants were announced yesterday by Governor Deval Patrick are through the state’s Performance Incentive Fund, which is part of the administration’s pledge to strengthen the state’s public education system via the Vision Project. Education Secretary Paul Reville.

Vermont U.S. Senator Bernie Sanders is joining his colleagues from Maine, New York and Minnesota in calling for a review of federal dairy price supports.

The Massachusetts Gaming Commission Tuesday set the end of February 2014 as the outside date for awarding the first casino license in the state.    WAMC”s Pioneer Valley Bureau Chief  Paul Tuthill reports..

   The state’s gaming industry regulators discussed a master schedule which commission chairman Stephen Crosby described as prudent.

The background checks on the casino license applicants is the most time consuming part of the schedule, pegged to take a minimum of six months. The draft master schedule calls for the investigations to begin in January.