Top Stories from NCPR News

The International Joint Commission looks to return the St Lawrence River and Lake Ontario to more natural flows... All politics are local now that the two parties' national conventions are over. We talk with a candidate in New York's 20th Congressional District... And hockey's highest honor - the Stanley Cup - comes to the North Country.

The Democratic and Republican National Conventions have delivered more drama than expected this year. Our correspondent Karen DeWitt is attending both. She's in St. Paul talking with state delegates. She says New York's Republicans, like many of the party faithful, loved VP nominee Sarah Palin's speech Wednesday night. The Alaska Governor's comments followed a keynote address by Rudy Giuliani. Karen told All Before Five host Jonathan Brown that the delegates ate up the barbed rhetoric from the former New York City mayor.

Republican candidate Sandy Treadwell, from Essex County, is running for the 20th congressional district. He hopes to unseat Democrat Kirsten Gillibrand. Treadwell traveled to the Twin Cities for the Republican National Convention. He checked in with Brian Mann yesterday, at a time when the convention floor was still buzzing about Alaska Governor Sarah Palin. More...

Former New York Senate leader Joseph Bruno energized the New York delegation yesterday with a warning to the national party that likened Democratic presidential nominee Barack Obama to disgraced former Gov. Eliot Spitzer. He said Obama's supporters are caught up in his Hollywood-directed campaign. Bruno retired as New York's most powerful Republican this year. Spitzer resigned in March after he was named in a prostitution investigation. Bruno told the New York delegation in St. Paul that Obama and Spitzer are dangerous for the country because they fool people. Karen DeWitt has more.

Former state Sen. Joe Bruno said John McCain’s surprise vice presidential pick, Sarah Palin, will be an asset to the national party, and the state party in New York. He said he thinks the national campaign will come to New York, and that Republicans are closer to winning this traditionally Democratic state than people think. Bruno spoke with Karen DeWitt after his remarks to the New York delegation.

Interrupted by occasional protests at the Republican National Convention in St. Paul, Senator John McCain presented his message of change through the prism of conservative policies. Audio provided by The News Hour, PBS.

The search for a missing Essex County man has been turned over to State Police and is now being called a missing person investigation. More than 150 people, including forest rangers, firefighters and other volunteers have been searching a remote area in the Town of Keene for 38 year-old Jeremy Quinn, who was reported missing Tuesday when he didn't show up for work. His car was later found near a camp where he works as a caretaker. As Chris Knight reports, the search effort continues today despite the lack of leads as to Quinn’s whereabouts.

Yesterday was a big sports day for Ogdensburg. Native son and professional hockey player Jimmy Howard brought the Stanley Cup home. Howard played goalie for four games for the Detroit Red Wings during their championship campaign last year. David Sommerstein was at Howard’s alma mater when the trophy arrived and sent this audio postcard.

Our Stanley Cup coverage isn't quite finished. One man is tasked with the responsibility of travelling around the world with the Cup, keeping it from harm's way - like the trophy's own secret service. Of course, that man was in Ogdensburg yesterday, and he's today's Heard Up North.

The StoryCorps mobilebooth spent nearly a month here in the North Country this summer. During its time in Saranac Lake and Glens Falls dozens of people got to share their stories by interviewing each other. In Glens Falls, Wanda Armstrong chatted with her 91-year-old father, Russell Leigh.