NCPR News Staff: Martha Foley
News and Public Affairs Director

The New York State Senate is considering a controversial measure that would give more legal rights to New York farm workers. The bill would allow farm laborers to unionize more easily. It would also guarantee workers at least one day of rest each week and provide for overtime pay.

The bill has strong backing from a variety of labor, immigrant and religious groups, including New York's State Catholic Conference. But the bill is broadly panned in upstate agricultural areas. It’s vehemently opposed by the New York Farm Bureau, which says it would quote —cripple — New York agriculture. Upstate lawmakers from both parties are against it.

Opposition in the state Senate is led by Darrel Aubertine, a Democrat from a long line of Jefferson County dairy farmers. He made his case yesterday on The Capitol Pressroom, a daily program produced by public radio station WCNY. Martha Foley has more.

Mid-March. Maple syrup season, pussy willows, snowmelt, creeks rising, geese in the air, skunks in the compost, crocuses blooming... There are lots of signs that spring is getting closer. Our photos of the day have been all about early spring this week. And as Amy Ivy tells Martha Foley, it could be the perfect time to get the shovel out for some serious landscape revisions.

Cold nights, warm days, sunshine: chickdees are busy, and the sap is rising. It all adds up to maple syrup season. Whether your operation includes a bulk holding tank and miles of plastic tubing, or just a few buckets hanging off the trees in the backyard, it all starts the same way, with a strategically placed hole in a sugar maple.

And it's today's Heard Up North, produced by Martha Foley.

Two-dozen towns in St. Lawrence and Franklin counties may soon be able to join forces and create a municipal electric company. This non-profit company could cut power bills by buying and distributing its own electricity, cutting out the utility middleman.

Right now, each town has the right to form its own electric company, similar to those in Massena, Lake Placid and Tupper Lake. But, it doesn't make sense for small, rural towns to go it alone. That's according to Bob Best. He's president of the Alliance for Municipal Power, or AMP. The group has worked for more than a decade to establish a municipal power company in rural St. Lawrence County.

He said that while each town could form its own electric company, state law doesn't allow towns to come together in a single municipal company. AMP has been asking state lawmakers to change that. The state Senate passed a bill clearing the way this week. It goes next to the Assembly, and if approved, on to the governor.

Municipal power companies have also faced stiff opposition from utilities, long legal battles to win control of the local transmission system, and penalties when they left the grid.
Best told Martha Foley this takeover, from National Grid, could be a friendly one, once the legislature and governor sign off.

Lake Placid-based photographer Nancie Battaglia was NCPR’s eyes, and ears, during the Vancouver Olympic games. Battaglia came to Lake Placid to document the 1980 Winter Olympics, and she’s is now an experienced Olympic “regular.” Vancouver was her eighth games, seventh winter games. She shoots for a number of publications, including Sport Illustrated. This year she not only sent us great shots of local athletes at the games, she found their families and fans, too, and checked in on-air during breaks in the action. Martha Foley called her for a final conversation this week. She’s been back for about a week, catching up, catching her breath. She left early on the final Sunday – missing the climactic US Canada hockey game, but also ahead of the crowds that jammed the region’s airports that night and the next day.

St. Lawrence University astronomer Aileen O’Donoghue talks with Martha Foley about the sky above us, and what 2012 may really bring.

Winter can seem long; even snow and winter sports enthusiasts begin to yearn for open ground as the sun gets stronger and stronger in March. And gardeners can start to go a little stir-crazy. This past weekend, the weather gave eager folks a chance to get outdoors. It also prompted an early season to-do list when horticulturist Amy Ivy spoke with Martha Foley this morning.

(For info on School and Community Garden Training, a workshop for teachers and community gardeners, at St. Lawrence University March 30, call 315-267-3411)

Trees and shrubs are suffering the consequences of well over a foot of wet, heavy snow brought by back-to-back storms last week, not to mention the heavy winds in between. Horticulturist Amy Ivy says it's not a crisis — like a heavy ice storm might be. And she told Martha Foley that early March isn't really a bad time for pruning away the damage.

TEXT ONLY:
The Roman Catholic Diocese of Ogdensburg has a new bishop-elect.
The Rev. Terry LaValley is currently administrator of the Diocese.
In a press release from the Dioces this morning, the Vatican announced that Pope Benedict XVI has appointed him to serve as the local diocese’s 14th bishop.
He succeeds the Rev. Robert J. Cunningham, Bishop of Syracuse.

LaValley is a native of Mooers Forks, NY and has spent his career serving parishes throughout the region. He attended Wadhams Hall Seminary in Ogdensburg, and later studied at Christ the King Seminary in East Aurora and St. Paul’s University in Ottawa, Ontario.
He first served St. Peter’s Church in Hammond and St. Patrick’s Church in Rossie.
In January 1998, the bishop-elect was named pastor of St. Raphael’s Church in Heuvelton. In June 1999, he became administrator of St. James Church in Gouverneur while continuing to serve in his as chancellor of the diocese.
LaValley has served as administrator of the Ogdensburg Diocese since last May. He’ll continue as administrator until his ordination and installation as bishop at St. Mary’s Cathedral in Ogdensburg.
No date has been set.

Horticulturist Amy Ivy says she spent time this past weekend propagating a whole new generation of houseplants. Geraniums, a goldfish plant, a jade tree — all got a fresh start. Amy, with the Cornell Cooperative Extension Service, is a true green thumb. But according to what she told Martha Foley, starting new plants from old ones isn't only for the expert gardener.