Potsdam, NY, Dec 05, 2012 — There's no avoiding social media these days--even if you're not on the internet, TV commercials urge you to like companies on Facebook or follow them on Twitter, newscasters read influential people's tweets on the air, and if you're not on Facebook, well, you're in for a lot of funny looks.

If you run a business or an organization, pressure to have an active social media "presence" can be intense--but the benefits you actually get from that presence may not be anywhere near as huge as what you were led to expect.  Go to full article

Dec 05, 2012 — Nora Flaherty's full interview with author Brandon Mendelson on his new book, Social Media is Bulls**t  Go to full article

Nov 22, 2012 — At its best, Thanksgiving is about food, family, and community--and Sharon Bastille, better known around her West Potsdam stomping ground as "Mom", has built her business around all those things.

Bastille and her husband, who's a carpenter, own Mom's Schoolhouse Diner, located in a former one-room schoolhouse. Mom's is a '50s diner, where the staff wears red and white checked circle skirts under their aprons.

Bastille has had Mom's for about a decade, after a couple decades spent at home with her kids. She tries to make the diner as much like home as possible by knowing customers' names, likes and dislikes, for example. Though Mom's is a business, Bastille doesn't think of herself as a businesswoman. She told Nora Flaherty she doesn't make a living from the diner. But as long as it breaks even, her priority is creating a nice place for people in the community to come together.  Go to full article

Canton, NY, Nov 08, 2012 — Statistics isn't exactly the sexiest subject in school--for people who aren't mathematically inclined, taking a statistics class usually means doing a lot of equations that don't seem to have any relevance to your life, and then then forgetting everything you learned almost immediately.

Now, a family of statisticians has written a new text book that's looking to change that reputation, by teaching statistics in a different way.

Patti Fraser Lock and her husband, Robin Lock, are both professors at St. Lawrence University--and their three grown children are also statisticians. Their book is called "Statistics: Unlocking the Power of Data"--A little nod to the five co-authors. It focuses on how statistics plays out in real life situations, not just on paper.

The five Locks wrote the book over a few years, including a summer spent working in the family home in Hannawa Falls. Nora Flaherty asked Patti Lock what it was like having all her kids back home and working together.  Go to full article

Potsdam, NY, Sep 21, 2012 — The school year is in full swing now, and for some kids that unfortunately means the start to another year of being bullied.

One strategy for kids who are bullied is often to stay home from school as much as possible. But those kids may not just be faking their stomach aches--being bullied may be making them sick, and not just for the day.

Jennifer Knack, assistant professor of psychology at Clarkson University, researches the health effects of bullying, by looking at how stressful experiences like being bullied affect college students' levels of cortisol--often known as the 'stress hormone'.

She told Nora Flaherty she's seeing serious health problems in students who have experienced long-term bullying:  Go to full article

WELLESLEY ISLAND, NY, Jul 25, 2012 — A new survey out from Jefferson Community College for the 1000 Islands International Tourism Council finds seasonal residents are spending about $28 million a year in the local economy. The Center for Community Studies at JCC put together the 100-question survey, and sent out about 4,000 copies. The center got back 974 "credible" responses, and DeYoung says they're revealing.

Nora Flaherty had a chance to talk with DeYoung, and asked him what the council was hoping to learn with the survey.  Go to full article

Jul 19, 2012 — A multi-car accident in Jefferson County leaves six people dead. Investigation into the crash is ongoing. And an Adirondack group presents its vision for a 'sustainable' life for everyone in the park...not just some people.  Go to full article

Potsdam, NY, Jul 18, 2012 — Things seem to be calming down after a huge rain storm passed through Potsdam Tuesday afternoon, bringing down trees and power lines and damaging several buildings.

Potsdam police lifted a state of emergency at around 4:00 Wednesday morning, with at least most people expected to have power back by Wednesday evening . As of early Wednesday afternoon, about 200 people were still without power, and National Grid was on the scene working to fix dangerous power line situations. Police say there still could be travel delays in certain areas, because some streets remain impassable.  Go to full article

Jun 29, 2012 — Continuing our occasional series on North Country entrepreneurs, we talk with Sharon Bastille, better known around her West Potsdam stomping ground as "Mom." Bastille and her husband, who's a carpenter, own Mom's Schoolhouse Diner, which is located in a former one-room schoolhouse. Mom's is a '50s diner, where the staff wears red and white checked circle skirts under their aprons.

Bastille has had Mom's for about a decade, after a couple decades spent at home with her kids. She tries to make the diner as much like home as possible by knowing customers' names, likes and dislikes, for example. Though Mom's is a business, Bastille doesn't think of herself as a businesswoman. She told Nora Flaherty she doesn't make a living from the diner. But as long as it breaks even, her priority is creating a nice place for people in the community to come together.  Go to full article

Jun 22, 2012 — A longer, darker story emerges in the case of convicted rapist Michael Scaringe--with sex abuse allegations going back to when Scaringe was a teacher in Tupper Lake in the '70s. The Franklin County DA says school officials never reported them to police. Also, at the last moment yesterday the state legislature approved constitutional amendments that will allow long-sought land swaps in the Adirondacks. And in the middle of a heat wave, the Olympic Regional Development Authority reports on its winter numbers: It was a slow year, but ORDA says a good one nonetheless.  Go to full article