Top Stories From Ncpr

(Jan 16, 2019) Trail builder and trail crew leader Rebecca Kambic originally told stories of her work at our Long Lake at Work: Live! event in August of 2018, and was one of the storytellers at North Country at Work's final event of the year, North Country at Work: Live!, held at the Adirondack State Theater in Tupper Lake on December 18, 2018.

(Nov 20, 2018) In the fall of 1968 Leroy Peets returned home from the army. He spent some time as a forklift operator for Adirondack Plywood but he wasn’t happy with the job. The following spring Leroy was tipped off about open interviews at the Newton Falls Paper Mill.

(Jul 17, 2018) Crafts with power tools, horse riding, archery, slingshot, riflery - these are all fun camp activities boys could choose from at Northern Frontier Camp in the Adirondacks, but try to imagine that same list from the perspective of the camp nurse, who was responsible for the well-being and safety of 250 staff and campers at any one time. June McKenney worked 16 years as camp nurse for Northern Frontier Camp, a Christian boys' camp located between Indian Lake and North Creek, at the end of a 3.5 mile dirt road. She says "it was the best part of my nursing career."

(Feb 27, 2018) Luthier Dave Nichols is the owner-operator of Custom Pearl Inlay and celebrates his 50th anniversary this year as the custom pearl inlayer for Martin Guitars. He's also an authorized Martin dealer and repair man. Walk into Dave's wood shop just south of Malone and it's all about the music. He mostly builds guitars, though he also works on mandolins. He plays them, and he decorates them with custom inlay: mother-of-pearl, abalone or wood, all with his favorite music playing in the background. On a recent visit, it was Merle Haggard, for whom Dave says he's built an awful lot of guitars.

(Aug 28, 2017) Many people are familiar with what a midwife is. But there are other kinds of workers involved in the birthing process, including doulas. While midwifes have medical training and are licensed to assist a woman in childbirth, at home or in the hospital, a doula does not. They are not doing anything medical, but rather offering support.

(Aug 21, 2017) One of the biggest geographic features of our region is the St. Lawrence River. It's a natural border, a vacation hot-spot, and a major trade route. It's also a big obstacle between us and Canada - even more so before the Ogdensburg-Prescott International Bridge was built in the 1950s, and completed in 1960. One way to get across was the Morristown to Brockville ferry, which has history going back to the 1870s.

(Aug 7, 2017) Matt Horner is a sculptor who works in Keene, and he carves a rather unusual material. If you've ever climbed a mountain in the Adirondacks, you have probably stepped all over his favorite medium - Adirondack anorthosite. It comes in all colors, but the majority is grey or blue; it looks a bit like granite.

(Jul 31, 2017) Regina "Gina" Willette drives hours to see her clients, often works in the middle of the night, and has caught a lot of babies. She's a midwife. And for a long time, she's been the only licensed home birth midwife in the region.

(Jul 10, 2017) Lots of people around the North Country watch fireworks for the Fourth of July holiday. It's a perfect night to set up a picnic blanket and watch those huge, dazzling colors explode overhead. I did something different.

(Jul 10, 2017) Pat Dominie was born in Russell to a dairy farming family in 1935. She can remember her grandparents working exclusively with horses to plow and hay. Over the course of her lifetime, Pat was an eyewitness to huge changes in the dairy industry here in the St. Lawrence Valley, from five-cow farms to 2,000-cow operations, early tractors to thousand-gallon milk tanks.

(Apr 28, 2017) Making it as a musician anywhere is tough, but even harder in rural areas. That's why Sebastian 'Seba' Molnar decided at a young age that if he wanted to be a professional musician, he couldn't do it in the North Country.

(Dec 13, 2016) At a recent North Country at Work photo scanning in Saranac Lake, longtime resident Ron Keough brought in a photo of his grandmother, Alice Keough, also known as Grandma Alice and Great Alice to her family. He also brought photos of the Keough Motel in Saranac Lake, which she opened, expanded, and managed for decades.

(Jun 13, 2016) For over fifty years, the planetarium at SUNY Potsdam has served the North Country by offering visitors the chance to learn about astronomy. The experience helps instill a love for science in young people, and provides viewers with an unforgettable experience.

(Dec 22, 2015) This week we’re looking at the controversial issue of corrections officer violence in New York prisons. Over the last five years, civil cases, criminal trials, and state and Federal probes have offered a new window into a problem that has plagued the state’s correctional facilities for decades. This morning, we focus on one prison in particular, Clinton Correctional in Dannemora. It’s one of the toughest maximum security lock-ups in America. For years inmates and advocacy groups have complained of excessive guard-on-inmate violence. The culture behind Dannemora’s big white wall is drawing new scrutiny in the wake of last summer’s escape and in the wake of a new video obtained by the New York Times that shows the death of a mentally ill inmate.

(Jul 28, 2015) Tuesday and Wednesday are the last practice days for anglers getting ready to compete in the Bassmasters Elite tournament on northern New York's St. Lawrence River.

(Sep 5, 2014) Later this month in Washington D.C., a master basketmaker from Akwesasne will be honored with the nation's highest tribute in the folk arts. Henry Jake Arquette will receive a National Heritage Fellow award on September 19, the first such award for a Mohawk traditional basket weaver. At 83, the retired iron worker is one of the few individuals who still knows how to make the elegant, sturdy baskets. Today Arquette is a revered community elder and his baskets are in collections around the world. Todd Moe recently visited his basement workshop in Hogansburg, where he can still be found making a basket or two, and passing the traditional craft along to the next generation.

(Sep 23, 2013) The 39 year-old benefit concert for agriculture returns to Upstate New York for the first time since 2013.