Northern Light NCPR

Governor Kathy Hochul is touting the state's new investment in artificial intelligence; communities throughout the North Country are dealing with a shortage of poll workers. Many county Boards of Election are thinking of ways to get young people involved; also, we're heading into morel mushroom season, so we'll listen again to an edible mushroom hunt in the Champlain Valley with Chef Curtiss Hemm.

Tahawus was a mining town built deep in the Adirondack wilderness. In the 1960s, everything in the town was either moved or buried. Today, how it came to be, and why it disappeared; it's migration season for birds! Here's what New York is doing, and what you can do to help them on their way; a listener tries to stump Todd with sound she recorded; plus, a North Country-themed love poem ahead of a reading in Potsdam.

Adirondack forest ranger Robbi Mecus died in an ice climbing accident in Alaska last Thursday; former Ivy Ridge students and community members rallied in Ogdensburg on Saturday after a documentary alleges abuse that took place at a now-closed boarding facility; plus, a preview of the Pendragon Theatre's upcoming summer season.

A Netflix documentary revealed abuse allegations at a former facility for troubled teens in Ogdensburg. A conversation with former Ivy Ridge student, and director of "The Program"; plus, how folks in Ogdensburg are grappling with the legacy; and, Potsdam author, Rebecca Donnelly, is out with a new graphic novel. She's joining NCPR and fellow NoCo children's authors Jessica Laurel Kane and Maxwell Eaton III for a story hour for kids at the Massena Public Library Saturday, April 27th from 10 to noon.

For the last two months, a nonprofit SPCA in Clinton County has cared for almost 50 dogs seized in an alleged animal cruelty case. The organization's leaders say they've been stretched thin, but things are turning a corner as they ready the dogs for adoption; environmental groups say they'll push the New York State Assembly to approve a key climate change bill before the session ends in June; a conversation with Wilmington author and illustrator, Maxwell Eaton III. He's joining NCPR for a celebration of children's literature Saturday morning at the Massena Public Library. We sat down with him to talk about writing and the fun of getting drawings from young readers in the mail.