The University of Albany women's basketball team lost a heartbreaking game to Duke 54-52 in the first round of the NCAA tournament Fri., March 20, and the men's team lost to Oklahoma 69-60 in a game that was never close. The 13th-seeded women's team lost to fourth-seeded Duke on their home court in Durham, North Carolina.

Local News
Local news from Wave Farm‘s WGXC 90.7-FM in the Hudson Valley, New York for Sat., March 21. PLAY AUDIO (3:43)

Local weather forecast
Today's forecast is specific to Acra, in Greene County.

• Saturday: A slight chance of rain and snow showers between 11 a.m. and noon, then a chance of rain showers. Cloudy, with a high near 42. There is also a slight chance of rain and snow showers before 11 p.m., then a chance of snow showers. Mostly cloudy, with a low around 15.

• Sunday: Partly sunny, with a high near 26, and a low around 9.

• Monday: Sunny, with a high near 33.

Sunrise 6:55 a.m.
Sunset 7:09 p.m.
Other celestial rises/sets
Moon 7:40 A.M. 8:59 P.M.
Mercury 6:31 A.M. 5:35 P.M.
Venus 8:17 A.M. 10:06 P.M.
Mars 7:50 A.M. 8:58 P.M.
Jupiter 2:52 P.M. 5:16 A.M.
Saturn 12:25 A.M. 10:04 A.M.
Uranus 7:36 A.M. 8:20 P.M.
Neptune 6:12 A.M. 5:09 P.M.
Pluto 3:23 A.M. 12:50 P.M.

WGXC Programming

What's the Frequency, Kenneth?: Iran
March 21, 2015: 4 a.m. – 5 a.m.
CounterSpin: Alfredo Lopez, Jeff Biggers
March 21, 2015: 5 a.m. – 5:30 a.m.
ARRL Audio News: Vibroplex
March 21, 2015: 6:45 a.m. – 7 a.m.
Off The Hook: Hello Barbie
March 21, 2015: 7 a.m. – 8 a.m.
Glenn Hauser's World of Radio: Mexico
March 21, 2015: 8:30 a.m. – 9 a.m.
Saturday Morning Serial: Amos n' Andy, Shortwave Shindig
March 21, 2015: 9 a.m. – noon
Radia: Nelly Matorina
March 21, 2015: 3 p.m. – 3:30 p.m.
Radio Camp: Spring Forward
March 21, 2015: 3:30 p.m. – 4 p.m.
ARRL Audio News: Vibroplex
March 21, 2015: 6:45 p.m. – 7 p.m.
Framework: Blanca Rego
March 21, 2015: 7 p.m. – 8 p.m.
Saturday Night Special: Videofreex A Foundation for Participatory Art and Social Engagement
March 21, 2015: 8 p.m. – 10:30 p.m.
The Random Concept, Pigeons
March 21, 2015: 8 p.m.
The Spotty Dog Books & Ale

Siobhan Barton is reporting in the Register Star the Columbia Economic Development Corporation last week chose ECC Technologies to conduct a countywide broadband connectivity survey. ECC is a technology and communications consulting group based in Penfield, Monroe County. The details of the components of that $40,000 survey were revealed Thu., Mar. 20, during a forum held at Columbia-Greene Community College. The study will record locations of telephone poles, cell towers, fibertoptics and other structures countywide. The survey is expected to be completed by the end of the summer. One million residents and 4,000 businesses statewide lack broadband access, according to information from the state Office for Technology’s Broadband Program Management Office. As part of his 2015-16 budget proposal, Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo has included $70 million in broadband investments to ensure statewide high-speed Internet service by 2019. The CEDC plans to request public participation on the broadband issue in the future, but there are no meeting dates planned at this time, said Commissioner Kenneth J. Flood. Read the full story in the Register Star.

Full disclosure: The Columbia Economic Development Corporation is an underwriter on WGXC.

Melanie Lekocevic is reporting in The Daily Mail following a count of absentee ballots Thu., Mar. 19, incumbent Athens Mayor Chris Pfister has defeated his Republican challenger Rick Surrano. The count on election night had Surrano besting Pfister by 13 votes. However, during the absentee count, Pfister picked up 26 votes and Surrano, 11, leaving the final tally 269 to 267 in Pfister's favor. Pfister told the paper he originally thought the election would be fairly easy for him, but in the closing months he realized the numbers were tightening significantly. He said, in his opinion, this occurred because of his position on the West Point Partners power line project. The four-way trustee race was also a tight one, with Maria Butler and Robert June eventually declared winners. Following the absentee count in Coxsackie Thursday, Republican incumbents Mayor Mark Evans and Trustees Stephen Hanse and Paul Sutton swept to victory. Read both stories in The Daily Mail.

Matthew Hamilton is reporting at Capitol Confidential according to the report from Nonprofit VOTE released last week, voter turnout in New York was 49th best in the nation, with only 29 percent of eligible voters casting ballots in the 2014 general election. Adjusting for population growth, that represented a 20 percent decrease in turnout since 2010. The state ranked 48 in 2010. Only Texas and Indiana had worse turnouts last year. Tops in the country was Maine, which offers same-day voter registration, with a 58.5 percent turnout. Wisconsin, another same-day registration state, was second with 56.8 percent turnout. Nonprofit VOTE is a Boston-based group that helps non-profits with voter participation. Read the full story at Capitol Confidential, a Times Union blog.

David Giambusso in Capital New York reports that on March 18 a coalition of environmental activist groups renewed their demands that the state more than double the $40 million oil spill fund, after four North American oil train accidents earlier this year. "The $15 million increase in the fund cap to $40 million proposed by the Executive and Assembly budgets could and should be increased," Riverkeeper, the Sierra Club, Environmental Advocates of New York and the Adirondack Council said in a joint statement. "In today’s dollars, the $25 million fund created in 1977 would be a $96.4 million fund today. Thus, we urge that the fund cap be increased to $100 million to bring it back to parity with the monetary protection it afforded nearly four decades ago." State Comptroller Tom DiNapoli also announced March 18 that he was against moving control of the oil spill fund from his office into the Department of Environmental Conservation. "There are real threats to New York communities if an oil train derails and the state doesn't have the money to rapidly respond and properly clean it up," DiNapoli said in a statement Wednesday. "We need to boost the money flowing into the oil spill fund to deal with spills, and the management of the money should stay with the Office of the State Comptroller." Locally, oil trains run daily on the west side of the Hudson River, with many sitting at a yard in Albany between I-787 and the river. Read the full story in Capital New York.

Gail Heinsohn in the Chatham Courier reports that work on three Route 20 bridges that cross Kinderhook Creek in New Lebanon, Stephentown, and Nassau begins Mon., March 23. At each construction site, only one lane will remain open with a traffic signal at each end of the bridges. The process of raising all three two feet above flood level will take a year. A press release from Governor Andrew Cuomo's office about the $518 million program to replace 29 bridges, including these three, said, "a variety of severe weather events and the increasing frequency of major storms and floods” make them “vulnerable to scour caused by the intensity and velocity of water from extreme natural events.” Read the full story in the Chatham Courier.

Weather right now


[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="128"] Cairo: High 35F; low 27F.[/caption]

[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="125"] Catskill: High 35F; low 27F.[/caption]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

READ TEMPERATURE IN HUDSON: On thermometer in Studio A.

FAR LEFT: The temperature on the far left is from the Hawthorne Valley Farm Weather Page.
MIDDLE TEMP: Cairo from Weather Underground page.
FAR RIGHT: Catskill from Weather Underground page.

Local weather forecast
Today’s forecast is specific to Catskill, in Greene County:

Today: Snow likely, mainly after 1 p.m. Cloudy. High near 33. Chance of precipitation is 70 percent. Total daytime snow accumulation of around an inch possible. Friday night, snow likely, mainly before 11 p.m. Cloudy. Low around 25. Chance of precipitation is 60 percent. New snow accumulation of less than a half inch possible.

Forecast for the next three days:
Saturday: A slight chance of rain and snow showers before noon, then a chance of rain showers. Mostly cloudy. High near 44. Saturday night, a slight chance of rain and snow showers before 11 p.m., then a slight chance of snow showers between 11 p.m. and 2 a.m. Mostly cloudy. Low around 22.
Sunday: Partly sunny. High near 35. Sunday night, partly cloudy. Low around 17.
Monday: Sunny. High near 36. Monday night, mostly clear. Low around 22.

Sunrise today: 6:57 a.m.
Sunset today: 7:07 p.m.
Length of the day: 12:10 hrs.

Public meeting
Today is the third Friday of the month.
WGXC is unaware of any recurring public meetings scheduled for today.

The day ahead on WGXC 90.7-FM
12:05 a.m.: Radio Stew: Crazy Horse Works from Gregory Whitehead, Neil Young, The Osmonds, John Trudell, and Wayne Shorter.
1 a.m.: Taran's Free Jazz Hour: Yoni Kretzmer Episode 07 of 2015 of two-hour free jazz show that airs on eight European radio stations and Wave Farm Radio and WGXC 90.7-FM in the Hudson Valley, in New York, in the United States. Click on title to access the playlist.
3 a.m.: Net Neutrality Hearing Part 2 of oversight of the Federal Communications Commission. U.S. Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.), chairman of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, leads part 2 of a hearing on Wednesday, March 19, 2015, entitled, “Oversight of the Federal Communications Commission.” Witnesses: - The Honorable Mignon Clyburn, Commissioner, Federal Communications Commission - The Honorable Michael O’Rielly, Commissioner, Federal Communications Commission - The Honorable Ajit Pai, Commissioner, Federal Communications Commission - The Honorable Jessica Rosenworcel, Commissioner, Federal Communications Commission - The Honorable Tom Wheeler, Chairman, Federal Communications Commission.
5:05 a.m.: The Shortwave Report: 20150320 A weekly 30-minute review of international news and opinion, recorded from a shortwave radio and the internet. With times, frequencies, and websites for listening at home. This week's show features stories from Radio Deutsche-Welle, Radio Havana Cuba, Sputnik Radio, and NHK World Radio Japan.

6 a.m.: Background Briefing with Ian Masters Inside breaking international and national news. A radio program featuring international and national news, expert guests, policy makers and critics with analysis and insight on national security, foreign and domestic policy, political, cultural and social issues. This program goes far beyond the headlines and deep under the radar to bring forward truths unheard in the American media.
7 a.m.: WGXC Morning Show Local news, weather, events, music and more. Live from the WGXC Acra Studio at the Wave Farm Study Center in Greene Co. Hosted by Tom Roe.
8 a.m.: Democracy Now! hosted by Amy Goodman and Juan Gonzalez. National, daily, independent, award-winning news program providing audiences with access to people and perspectives rarely heard in the U.S. corporate-sponsored media.
9 a.m.: WGXC Morning Show continues.
10 a.m.: ¿Qué cocinaré hoy?: Francisca Castellano Francisca Castellano, housing counselor at RUPCO, will discuss Lace Mills, a new residential project giving priority to artist applicants. The apartment building houses 55 units in Kingston, N.Y. Plus passages from "The Four Agreements" by Dr. Miguel Ruiz, in its 16th Spanish language edition, along with a local calendar of events. Produced by Mariel Fiori.
4 p.m.: WGXC Afternoon Show
6 p.m.: WGXC Evening News
7 p.m.: Guest DJ: DJ SVB Calling all wizards for an aural Rite of Spring. Listen for psychedelic seedlings, vernal vocalizing, Krautrock chlorophyll, mycelium meditations, Disco Daylight Savings and post-Rock paganism. Set your controls for the heart of the ELECTRONIC EQUINOX!

David Oxenford at the Broadcast Law Blog reports that the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) will hold an auction for 131 commercial FM channels July 23. Most frequencies are in Texas, and the minimum bids range from $1,500 to $75,000. Eighteen frequencies are left over from previous auctions, so they might go without bids again. Most are in very rural areas -- Columbia, Missouri and Maysville, Georgia command the top minimum bids. The FCC has made non-commercial FM frequencies available in recent years, including two rounds of low-power FM stations and one full-power non-commercial stations, and those did not require money, just filling out an application by a non-profit group and competing in a scoring system among other non-profits. These commercial licences are more of a capitalistic outing. Winning bids get construction permits to build out radio stations. Oxenford guesses that applications would be due in May, and "upfront" payments of at least the minimum bid would be required in June. "If you win the auction and decide that you can’t really find a transmitter site, then you may well be on the hook for the full amount of the bid even if you don’t build the station," Oxenford writes. Full applications, with the location of transmitter sites, would be about a month after the auction, he also guesses, based on past FCC actions. The FCC is also taking comments through April 1 on its auction procedures, so anyone who does not like the process can suggest other ways the FCC could make these frequencies available. Refer to Auction 98 in your comments. Read the full story at the Broadcast Law Blog.

Jim Planck is reporting in The Daily Mail in a close election, Republican Rick Surrano appears to have defeated Democrat Chris Pfister in the Athens village mayor race, 256 to 243. Surrano's GOP running mates, political newcomers Maria Butler and Richard Gabrielle, prevailed in the trustee race as well, unseating Democrat incumbents Robert June and Anthony Patsky. The election may not be decided until Thu., Mar. 19, when absentee ballots are counted by the Greene County Board of Elections. Running as an independent, Surrano was narrowly defeated in the trustee race two years ago. His father, Rick Surrano Sr., served as mayor and trustee in the 1990s. Ryan Anglim is reporting the GOP won the three-way race Catskill. Political newcomer Heather Bagshaw and incumbent James Chewens will now serve on the Catskill Village Board of Trustees. An unknown number of absentee ballots remain to be counted in that race, as well. And in a very close Coxsackie election, Melanie Lekocevic is reporting incumbent Republican Mayor Mark Evans is leading Democrat challenger Greg Backus by 13 votes. Incumbent Republican trustees Paul Sutton and Stephen Hanse are leading Democrat challenger Donald Daoust by nine votes. The 40 absentee ballots will determine the election. The final results are not expected for a few days.

John Mason is reporting in the Register Star Nick Haddad has announced his candidacy for mayor of Hudson. This is Haddad's second bid for the office. He lost to current mayor William H. Hallenbeck Jr. in 2011. A Democrat, Haddad currently serves as a First Ward alderman. He chairs the Common Council Fire Committee and the Finance Committee. Haddad declared his interest at a recent meeting of the Hudson Democratic Committee. The committee will begin its interview process in April. Read the full story in the Register Star.

Derek Hawkins is reporting for Public News Service New York spends more money on health care than almost any other state, but a new report finds that it's not reaching one group in particular, young black men. Researchers from the Journal of the American Medical Association concluded that African American men in their teens and 20s receive few benefits from health-care spending. Boston Medical Center's Dr. Stephen Martin, a coauthor of the report, says they have a better chance of surviving in prison than on the street. "Your odds of dying are half in prison what they'd be on the street, because you have the things that you need to stay alive and stay healthy," says Martin. "You have nutrition, you've got a roof over your head, you've got medical care that's accessible and guaranteed by the Constitution." The Journal of the American Medical Association notes African-American men can expect to live about five fewer years than white men. To help change that, Martin says the nation needs to increase funding for social and public health programs. The report says partnerships between primary care providers and public health would go a long way to help young black men. Martin says it would address the lack of social services and effective primary care in communities of color. "It's striking how only three cents of our American healthcare dollar goes to public health, just three cents," says Martin. "This is the same public health that gave us 90 percent of our life expectancy gains in the 20th century. And yet, compared with medical care, public health and social support funding have been eviscerated." Researchers note, heart disease and cancer contribute to lower life expectancy but homicide is the leading cause of death for black males ages 15 to 34. It also ranks among the top three causes of death for black male children, ages one to 14. PLAY FULL AUDIO VERSION OF THIS REPORT (1:38).

Emilia Teasdale reports in The Columbia Paper that Kinderhook Lake is not being polluted by the Dewey Loeffel Landfill site, according to a report from the Environmental Protection Agency. “Based on this date and the information contained in this report, Kinderhook Lake does not appear to be impacted by the contamination from the Dewey Loeffel Landfill site,” the report said. The report also says the EPA will test some additional sediment samples from below Nassau Lake in the Valatie Kill. The story says, "Approximately ten water and nine sediment samples were collected from locations above (north) and below (south) the water treatment plant on the Valatie Kill; on the Valatie Kill between Nassau Lake and Kinderhook Lake; and in Kinderhook Lake." The full report is available on the EPA Dewey Loeffel Landfill webpage under “Additional Documents”: http://www.epa.gov/region2/superfund/npl/dewey/docs.html. Read the full story in The Columbia Paper.

Patricia Doxsey in The Daily Freeman reports Ulster County voted 16-7 to ban polystyrene cups and take-out containers in restaurants. If Ulster County Executive Mike Hein approves, the first phase of the ban will go into effect six months after the law is filed with the Department of State. Styrofoam is the trademarked name for polystyrene, a known carcinogen in test animals and classified as a likely carcinogen in humans. Independent restaurants would have until 2016 to comply with the law, with fines the penalty for any restaurant found using polystyrene. Read the full story in The Daily Freeman.

Weather right now


[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="128"] Cairo: High 37F; low 15F.[/caption]

[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="125"] Catskill: High 37F; low 16F.[/caption]

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

READ TEMPERATURE IN HUDSON: On thermometer in Studio A.

FAR LEFT: The temperature on the far left is from the Hawthorne Valley Farm Weather Page.
MIDDLE TEMP: Cairo from Weather Underground page.
FAR RIGHT: Catskill from Weather Underground page.

Local weather forecast
Today’s forecast is specific to Catskill, in Greene County:

Today: Sunny. High near 33. Wind chill values as low as zero. Thursday night, mostly clear. Low around 13.

Forecast for the next three days:
Friday: Snow likely, mainly after 3 p.m. Cloudy. High near 34. Friday night, a chance of snow showers, mainly between midnight and 2 a.m. Mostly cloudy. Low around 24.
Saturday: A chance of showers after 2 p.m. Partly sunny. High near 45. Saturday night, a chance of rain and snow showers before 10 p.m., then a chance of snow showers between 10 p.m. and midnight. Mostly cloudy. Low around 23.
Sunday: Mostly sunny. High near 33. Sunday night, mostly clear. Low around 17.

Sunrise today: 6:59 a.m.
Sunset today: 7:06 p.m.
Length of the day: 12:07 hrs.

Public meeting
Today is the third Thursday of the month.
WGXC suggests calling ahead to confirm time and location.
(All numbers are in the 518 area code unless otherwise noted.)

ANCRAM Town Board meeting, 7 p.m. in Town Hall at 1416 County Rte. 7, Ancram (329-6512).
CHATHAM Town Board meeting, 7 p.m. Town Hall, 488 State Route 295, Chatham (392-3262).
COLUMBIA COUNTY Board of Supervisors Public Safety Committee meeting, 5 p.m. at 401 State Street, Hudson (828-1527).
COPAKE Land Use Review Committee meeting, 7 p.m., at Town Hall, 230 Mt. View Road, Copake (329-1234).
COXSACKIE-ATHENS Board of Education meeting, 6:30 p.m. at middle/high school, 24 Sunset Blvd., Coxsackie (731-1800).
DURHAM Town Board meeting, 7:30 p.m. in Town Building, 7309 State Rt. 81, East Durham (239-6122).
GHENT Town Board meeting, 7:30 p.m. at the Ghent Town Hall, 2306 State Route 66, Ghent (392-4644).
HUDSON Economic Development Committee, 6 p.m. at City Hall, 520 Warren Street, Hudson (828-1030).
KINDERHOOK Planning Board meeting, 7 p.m. Town Hall, 4 Church St, Niverville (784-2233).
WINDHAM Town Board meeting, 8 p.m. at Town Hall, 371 State Rt. 296, Hensonville (734-4170).

The day ahead on WGXC 90.7-FM
2 a.m.: Net Neutrality Hearing Oversight of the Federal Communications Commission. U.S. Sen. John Thune (R-S.D.), chairman of the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science, and Transportation, leads a hearing on Wednesday, March 18, 2015, entitled, “Oversight of the Federal Communications Commission.” Witnesses: - The Honorable Mignon Clyburn, Commissioner, Federal Communications Commission - The Honorable Michael O’Rielly, Commissioner, Federal Communications Commission - The Honorable Ajit Pai, Commissioner, Federal Communications Commission - The Honorable Jessica Rosenworcel, Commissioner, Federal Communications Commission - The Honorable Tom Wheeler, Chairman, Federal Communications Commission

6 a.m.: Background Briefing with Ian Masters Inside breaking international and national news. A radio program featuring international and national news, expert guests, policy makers and critics with analysis and insight on national security, foreign and domestic policy, political, cultural and social issues. This program goes far beyond the headlines and deep under the radar to bring forward truths unheard in the American media.
7 a.m.: WGXC Morning Show Local news, weather, events, music and more. Live from the WGXC Hudson Studio. Hosted by Michelle Lewis.
8 a.m.: Democracy Now! hosted by Amy Goodman and Juan Gonzalez. National, daily, independent, award-winning news program providing audiences with access to people and perspectives rarely heard in the U.S. corporate-sponsored media.
9 a.m.: WGXC Morning Show continues.
10 a.m.: We the People: Robert J. Freeman In celebration of Sunshine Week, Robert J. Freeman, Executive Director of the New York Department of State Committee on Open Government will be in the studio for the hour to discuss the Open Meetings Law and Freedom of Information Law. Freeman has worked for the Committee since its creation in 1974 and was appointed executive director in 1976. Sunshine Week is a national initiative to promote a dialogue about the importance of open government and freedom of information. Participants include news media, civic groups, libraries, nonprofits, schools and others interested in the public’s right to know. Call (518) 828-0290 to go on air during the show, or send your comments or questions via email to info@wgxc.org. Or take three minutes and record a question or comment ahead of time at (518) 291-WGXC (9492). Hosted by Tom DePietro.
11 a.m.: One Size Fits All: 20150319 An hour-long investigation into the idea of amplified sound beginning with Wild Flag and concluding with Codona. The full playlist can be found at www.Facebook.com/OneSizeWGXC. Produced by Your Host.
3 p.m.: Radio Theatre: Captain Sharkey An anthology series of dramas and comedies for radio. Each week a program will be made up of one radio play. Produced at KSVR Studios at the radio station KSVR-FM in Mount Vernon, Washington. The actors are from the Skagit Radio Repertory Company. The producer is Joseph C McGuire. This week: "Known mostly for Sherlock Holmes. Arthur Conan Doyle wrote many other stories in his lifetime. Captain Sharkey is the violent tale of a pirate who is more real than most pirate characters in fiction. Warning this is a very violent story. " Edited by Jay Charles. Made with a grant from the Corporation For Public Broadcasting. From Pacifica Radio.
4 p.m.: WGXC Afternoon Show
6 p.m.: WGXC Evening News

Paying all the bills at any sort of radio station can be difficult in this multi-media age. The studio of Berkeley Liberation Radio was broken into and robbed, March 2, and now the legendary pirate radio station has a Gofundme campaign to get back on the air. As of March 18 the station had raised $1,250 of the $2,000 it says it needs to get back on the air. The station was founded as Free Radio Berekely in the early 1990s by Stephen Dunifer, the Johnny Appleseed of the microradio movement then. Legal stations also have many costs, especially streaming their signals online. Paul Riismandel at Radio Survivor reports SoundExchange, the non-profit organization that collects so-called “mechanical” royalties for recorded music, just reached a settlement with National Public Radio and the Corporation for Public Broadcasting on the rates that affiliated public and community stations will owe from 2016 to 2020. The details of the agreement have not been made public yet, and the settlement must still be approved by the Copyright Royalty Board. Last October, SoundExchange also reached a settlement with College Broadcasters Inc. Riismandel also reports he spoke with another writer who said that a pirate station had received notice from ASCAP and BMI demanding that the station pay up for its internet stream. Last year, East Village Radio, which began as a pirate station in 2003 and then went just online, closed because “licensing fees and internet costs” were too large for the station to cover. Recently, new apps have emerged that make it easier then ever for anyone to start their own streaming online radio station. Mixlr and Fradio (launched this week) both let anyone use their phones as a transmitter, with just a few touches to start broadcasting. The question is now if BMI and ASCAP will be tracking down each user who is playing music for royalty payments. Already, a quick look through Mixlr's streams show many traditional radio stations using the app to stream their signals. Both apps also make it very simple for anyone to broadcast royalty-free events such as town council meetings, and local lectures or political debates, so not all streams must pay these fees. StoryCorps, an American non-profit organization whose mission is to record, preserve, and share the stories of Americans, launched their own app this week, allowing oral historians and other interviewers to share the audio with the U.S. Library of Congress, on the website StoryCorps.me, and on social media sites such as Facebook and SoundCloud.

[caption id="" align="alignleft" width="265"] Joanne Ezinga at the conclusion of her first through hike on the Appalachian Trail in 2010.[/caption]

Canaan resident Joanna Ezinga begins her second through hike on the Appalachian Trail, Wed., Mar. 18, at Springer Mountain in Georgia. Ezinga will provide WGXC with updates as she journeys the more than 2,000 miles north to Mt. Katahdin in Maine. She called with a message for listeners Tuesday night: PLAY (:45). Ezinga's online journal can be found at Trail Journals [dot] com.

Katie Kocijanski is reporting in the Register Star the deadline for public comment on Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo’s proposed New York Energy Highway Plan is approaching. Residents have until April 15 to submit written comments to the state Public Service Commission on the governor's proposal to construct new transmission lines from central New York through the Hudson Valley. The planned lines would cut through Columbia County. Four developers have submitted bids for a project that is planned to deliver at least 1,000 new megawatts of power transmission capacity downstate. As of Tue., Mar. 17, nearly 2,400 comments had been posted to the commission’s website, with many expressing disapproval of the proposal. Groups, such as the Hudson Valley Smart Energy Coalition and the Farmers and Families for Claverack and Livingston, have actively campaigned against the project. “Community input has been and remains a fundamental component of the regulatory review process,” commission spokesman James Denn said. To learn more about the proposal, go to dps [dot] ny [dot] gov and search for case number 13-E-0488. Read the full story in the Register Star.

The Associated Press is reporting the New York State Assembly voted Tue., Mar. 17, to make New York the fourth state in the nation to provide workers with paid time off to care for a new child or sick loved one. The bill would provide up to 12 weeks of paid leave of up to $545 a week.The benefit would be funded through an employee payroll deduction. The Senate has its own family leave proposal which would provide up to six weeks of benefits. Under that plan, the state would initially foot the bill.

Derek Hawkins is reporting for Public News Service if you receive health care in the Northeast, you may be more likely to undergo medical tests that you don't need, according to a new study from New York University. Researchers surveyed patients with low-risk breast and prostate cancer and found that, on average, more than 40 percent of them received imaging tests that were expensive and unnecessary. The figure was higher in the Northeast than elsewhere. Dr. Danil Makarov, the study's lead investigator, said imaging rarely proved useful for patients with those types of cancer. "Not only are you paying for the initial test, not only is the patient wasting his or her time to go to the initial test, but it's almost certain not to yield anything that's going to affect how you're ultimately going to treat the patient," he said. Imaging for breast and prostate cancer involves scanning for other types of cancers that may have spread in the body. Researchers said the practice is widely overused, but difficult to phase out. Makarov, assistant professor of health policy at NYU School of Medicine, said the connection between where you live and what kind of treatment you receive is a strong one. Practice norms and medical culture may account for regional differences in the use of imaging, he said, but the issue needs further investigation. "I don't think it's physicians sitting around and thinking about how they can do something wrong, or how they can do extra imaging," he said. "I think if you talk to a lot of these physicians, they don't know that they're doing anything different from anyone else because they're just doing what they always do." Makarov said focusing on doctor-patient relationships alone won't solve the problem. He said policy makers need to take a deeper look at how regional factors affect health care. The text of the report is online at oncology [dot] jamanetwork [dot] com. PLAY FULL AUDIO VERSION OF THIS REPORT (1:26).