North Country Public Radio

State Department of Environmental Conservation forest rangers are increasingly busy with searches and rescues, mostly in the Adirondack and Catskill parks, and throughout those emergencies, they maintain a frame of mind similar to the Boy Scouts. They're prepared.

The Senate Judiciary Committee is voting on Judge Brett Kavanaugh's Supreme Court nomination. A full Senate vote on the nomination is expected as early next week. Watch the proceeding live.

While I was on vacation last month I was saddened to hear of the passing of Francis "Red" Grandy of Hermon, NY, at the age of 96.

Tourism is seen by the governor's office and local leaders as a key to the North Country’s economic growth, and that means marketing the area is important.

The Progressive Conservative government says Ontario could have up to one thousand private pot shops after recreational cannabis is legalized.

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) The deadline for removing New York's famous “I Love NY” signs is fast approaching, and neither the state nor the federal government seems to be backing down.

MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) The Vermont Agency of Natural Resources is warning waterfowl hunters who use retrieving dogs about potentially harmful algae blooms.

There's a reason the Adirondack High Peaks are overrun with visitors. They're stunningly beautiful, especially iconic places like Indian Head. So if you decide to visit, think about your own impact on the landscape you've come to see.

Burlington writer Tim Brookes is turning to the internet and an online database in an attempt to help save rare writing systems at risk of vanishing. Brookes is the founder of the Endangered Alphabets Project, which works to promote and preserve some of the rarest alphabets. While there are thousands of spoken languages worldwide, Brookes says there are fewer than a hundred alphabets, and many of them are threatened with extinction. He has launched a campaign on KickStarter to raise funds to support the preservation project, where you see more examples of his work and preview what the atlas would look like. Todd Moe spoke with him via Skype about creating an Endangered Alphabets Atlas.

The leaves have begun changing and are expected to change dramatically over the next several weeks. Autumn leaf color is already happening at higher elevation areas of the central Adirondacks. Color will broadly widen through the rest of the Adirondack Park in the next few weeks, ending along the Lake George and Lake Champlain valleys.

Environmentalists are urging a state panel on water quality standards to meet its October 2 deadline to set new acceptable levels of toxic chemicals in public water supplies.

Supreme Court nominee Judge Brett Kavanaugh and the woman who has accused him of sexually assaulting her in high school, Christine Blasey Ford, are testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee. Watch the proceeding live.

The race for the North Country's seat in the House of Representatives turned aggressive this summer. Republican Congresswoman Elise Stefanik hit the airwaves hard, playing up her own record and slamming her Democratic opponent Tedra Cobb. One of the most persistent claims made by Stefanik is that Cobb voted to raise taxes more than 20 times when she served on the St. Lawrence County legislature. Research by North Country Public Radio and other news organizations have found most of those claims to be exaggerated, taken out of context, or factually untrue. But it also appears that the Cobb campaign has struggled to counter the ads, and she’s gotten some of her claims against Stefanik wrong.

Supreme Court nominee Judge Brett Kavanaugh and the woman who has accused him of sexually assaulting her in high school, Christine Blasey Ford, are testifying before the Senate Judiciary Committee. Watch the proceeding live.

The state's high property taxes and outmigration problem were among the issues discussed by Gov. Andrew Cuomo and his Republican opponent, Marc Molinaro, this week when each separately visited a meeting of some of the state's business leaders.

Of all the places a cat can hang out, why do do many of them want to hang out in boxes? According to researchers, cats that spend time in close confines are measurably less stressed than those remaining in the open. As Curt Stager tells Martha Foley, it's not just house cats who feel this way.

MONTPELIER, Vt. (AP) Vermont is one of two states that enacted significant gun restrictions in the wake of Feb. 14 school shooting in Parkland, Florida.

ALBANY , N.Y. (AP) New York state's comptroller says more local governments are under significant fiscal stress.

ALBANY, N.Y. (AP) Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo blamed upstate weather for prompting New Yorkers to flee to other states.

The Trump administration is rolling back an Obama administration rule that would have forced rail companies to add new higher-quality electronic brakes to trains that carry hazardous cargoes. At the same time, green groups are urging a ban on oil train shipments through the Champlain Valley.