Wilmington, NY, Mar 29, 2010 — The only firm plan on today's agenda at the state Legislature is for the Senate to give final approval of Gov. David Paterson's emergency bare-bones budget plan. The budget is supposed to be in place by April 1, but lawmakers plan to take their Passover-Easter break this week.

They're wrangling over a spending plan that includes some of the deepest cuts ever in school aid and other areas to contend with the state's fiscal crisis. The latest competing proposals are $1 billion apart. The state's fiscal health is in the balance. So are facilities and services considered vital to communities across the North Country: from parks to prisons, to ski hills.

Friday, local athletes just back from competing in the Vancouver Olympics were in Albany fighting for Lake Placid's Olympic venues. Chris Knight reports.  Go to full article

Saranac Lake, NY, Mar 22, 2010 — Many of the nation's top alpine skiers, including more than a dozen Olympians, are in the North Country to compete in the 2010 U.S. Alpine Championships at Whiteface Mountain, which got underway Saturday and continue today.

The roster of athletes includes Julia Mancuso, who won two silver medals at the Vancouver Winter Games, and 2006 Olympic gold medalist Ted Ligety. But before they took to the slopes of Whiteface, a half-dozen members of the U.S. Alpine Ski Team visited Mount Pisgah, a small ski hill run by the Village of Saranac Lake, to ski with area kids and help raise funds for a new lift at the ski center. Chris Knight reports.  Go to full article

Lake Placid, NY, Mar 09, 2010 — 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.  Go to full article

Saranac Lake, NY, Mar 08, 2010 — A huge crowd turned out Friday afternoon in Saranac Lake for a parade through the village's downtown to honor the North Country athletes who competed at the Vancouver Winter...  Go to full article

Ottawa, ON, Feb 26, 2010 — Cartoonist Marquil invaded the Canadian capital to incite a sports-based border conflict on the occasion of the US-Canada Men's Hockey game. In this sketchbook, the wisely...  Go to full article

Vermontville, NY, Feb 26, 2010 — Vermontville's Bill Demong gave the United States its first Olympic gold medal ever in a Nordic event as Americans posted a 1-2 finish in the Nordic Combined ski event at...  Go to full article

Saranac Lake, NY, Feb 25, 2010 — Our regional cartoonist Marquil, in a fit of hometown pride at the performance of local Olympians, has burst forth into full color. Here are two cartoons celebrating the...  Go to full article