Joellen Lapman from the New York State Integrated Pest Management Program joins Nature Calls: Conversations from the Hudson Valley for a fascinating (and scary) discussion, All About Ticks. Learn about the latest news and research on ticks and tick-borne diseases Ticks are related to spiders but can be much more dangerous to humans. How many diseases are connected with ticks? Unfortunately, it’s much more than Lyme’s Disease. Climate change and our warmer winters are enabling different kinds of ticks (other than the black-legged deer tick) to move into the Hudson Valley. (The only place you can avoid ticks is in Antarctica!) Do you know the relationship between mast years for nut trees (e.g., oaks, hickory, etc.) and ticks? Do pesticides help? Is addition to deer, controlling the mice and chipmunk population is also important. Personal prevention is key, but having flu-like symptoms in the springtime may be a signal to check for a tick-borne disease. Anytime you are off pavement, you are in tick territory. Permethrin on clothing helps. But did you know that putting clothing in the dryer (not the washer) will kill ticks? Checking pets for ticks is just as important as checking yourself. There is lots of information that can be found on-line (not all of it ‘sound’) about the removal of ticks, but the key is to avoid ‘upsetting’ the tick.

Also, Assemblymember Sarahana Shrestha joined WOOC's Elizabeth Press to talk about the New York State budget. They covered topics like what made it in, what got left out, and what she hopes to accomplish before the session ends in a few weeks. Plus, tune in for the "WGXC Congressional Report," with news from the past week about the 18th, 19th, 20th, and 21st Congressional District.

The "WGXC Morning Show" is a radio magazine show featuring local news, interviews with community leaders and personalities, reports on cultural issues, a rundown of public meetings and local and regional events, with weather updates, and more about and for the community, made mostly through volunteers in the community through WGXC. The Catskill Makers Syndicate produce the "Better Weather" for the show. Rob Gelles produces the Columbia County history segment "Rob Around The County" and "This Month in History" for the show. Interview segments from Justin Maiman are often heard on this show, as our movie updates from Jenny Ghetti and Amanda Lees. Interviews by hosts of the "WGXC Afternoon Show" also get played back here occasionally. And Jack Sencabaugh contributes the "Backtracks in Time" segment about local history. Some reports come from our partner station, WOOC-LP in Troy, out of The Sanctuary for Independent Media. Tom Roe also cuts up local and national news with songs and sounds for the show. The show begins each day with local headlines, weather, and previews of community events. Also tune in for national headlines from the Public News Service on WGXC. Sometimes national, state, or local press conferences, meetings, or events are also broadcast live here. Saturdays the show features weekly episodes of the "I Have Seen Niagara" serial.