NCPR News Staff: David Sommerstein
News Reporter and Producer

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NCPR News Great Lakes compact goes to Washington 07/25/08
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The movement to essentially ban water diversions from the Great Lakes moved on to Washington this week. It took years for all eight Great Lakes states to pass the Great Lakes compact. Michigan was the last legislature to ratify it earlier this month. Now Congress needs to act for the compact to become law. Minnesota Democrat James Oberstar, who chairs an influential committee, has promised quick passage in the House. New York Senator Hillary Clinton helped introduce the measure in her chamber on Wednesday. To assess the political landscape awaiting the compact on Capitol Hill, David Sommerstein spoke with journalist Peter Annin. He wrote The Great Lakes Water Wars about the compact. He says it remains a mystery how lawmakers from other parts of the country will react.
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NCPR News Covidien cuts 40 jobs in Watertown 07/23/08
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One of Watertown’s biggest private sector employers is cutting 40 jobs by the end of the year. Massachusetts-based Covidien is moving two lines of medical equipment to a plant in China. David Sommerstein reports.
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NCPR News Potsdam leaders consider 'long emergency' 07/22/08
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The cold seems a long way away, but across the North Country, communities are already planning ahead for the impact of high heating bills this winter. The cost of heating oil, natural gas, and kerosene could force many people to choose between food or medicine, and warmth. In Potsdam, a group of civic leaders wants to prepare for the winter, too. But they’re also looking far beyond. If energy prices continue to rise, how will that change what we eat, where we live, work, and play? Will we be able to heat our schools and churches all winter? How will police and emergency responders have to change? Potsdam police chief John Kaplan, Clarkson University professor Bill Vitek, and others are convening a meeting on August 20th. They’ve invited a broad range of community leaders, representing government, emergency responders, the hospital, educators, churches, and fuel providers. Vitek specializes in sustainability and energy issues. He told David Sommerstein the idea is to get people to think about what author Jim Kuntsler calls “the long emergency”.
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NCPR News In growing farm mix, dairy still king 07/18/08
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Franklin Co. lawmakers marvel at aging cheddar at McCadam...
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...then enjoy a local feast at Childstock Farms.
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North Country agriculture is undergoing big changes. The price of corn and other commodities is soaring, but so are fuel costs. Farmers are rethinking their strategies as they may produce energy or biofuels instead of traditional crops in the future. The “buy local” movement is driving an increase of small vegetable and meat farms. Franklin County Farm Bureau recently organized a farm tour for local lawmakers. David Sommerstein tagged along. He reports even as North Country agriculture becomes more diverse, dairy is still king.
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NCPR News State launches wind farm probe 07/17/08
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A wind turbine going up at Noble's Clinton wind farm.
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New York Attorney General Andrew Cuomo is launching an investigation into a wind power developer in Clinton and Franklin counties. The probe will examine alleged conflicts of interest between Noble Environmental Power and local officials. David Sommerstein reports.
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NCPR News Boat museum loses two veteran staffers 07/14/08
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A major anchor of the Thousand Islands tourism industry is losing two senior staffers. The Antique Boat Museum in Clayton is entering its peak season on the heels of a decade of tremendous growth. David Sommerstein reports.
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NCPR News High prices poach carp tourney 07/09/08
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Carp anglers on the St. Lawrence.
High prices are squeezing nearly every aspect of the North Country economy. That includes the stretch of the St. Lawrence River that’s breeding tourism based on carp fishing. The 3rd Annual Specialist Tackle Carp Challenge kicks off this morning in Waddington, but with half the number of angler teams from last year. Peter Henwood is the CEO of Specialist Tackle and owns the Riverview Motel on Route 37. Carp fishing is much more popular in Europe than here in the U.S. He says high airfares and gas prices are keeping anglers away this year. Henwood told David Sommerstein tourism in general has been quieter on his stretch of the river.
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NCPR News Meier to chair state GOP? 07/08/08
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Former Senator Raymond Meier
Former North Country Senator Ray Meier met with New York City Mayor Michael Bloomberg over the state of New York’s Republican Party. The New York Post reported last week that Bloomberg is urging Meier to take over leadership of the state party. The GOP's current leader in New York, Joseph Mondello, has faced growing criticism over his party's performance. But Meier says Mondello’s term runs through September 2009, and he has no plans to oppose that. Meier's Senate district included Lewis and part of St. Lawrence County. He lost his seat in 2006 after running unsuccessfully for Congress. Meier told David Sommerstein today he and Mayor Bloomberg were talking about the Republican Party’s future in New York.
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NCPR News Yankees bloggers meet down on the farm 07/02/08
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Yankees fans chat it up with Pete Abraham of the Journal News.
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For hardcore baseball fans, life has never been better. Gone are the days of waiting for the morning paper for yesterday’s box score. You can follow games in real time online. And baseball bloggers cover the minute details of every team. More than two dozen bloggers follow the New York Yankees, but one has separated himself from the pack. A beat writer for a Westchester County newspaper has such loyal readers on his blog that they got together in real life to watch a baseball game…a minor league game at that. David Sommerstein, a Yankees fan and blog reader himself, met up with the group.
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NCPR News Residents rail against burn barrels 07/01/08
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Backyard burn barrels full of trash are the nation’s number one source of dioxin, which causes cancer. One burn barrel creates more pollution than a commercial incinerator. That’s the main reason the Department of Environmental Conservation wants to ban them. The DEC also says burn barrels and other forms of open burning are a hazard for wildfires. The DEC is holding public hearings around the state on its sweeping open burning ban. Last night in Watertown, in often emotional testimony, most residents said it was about time. David Sommerstein reports.
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David Sommerstein, NCPR's roving St. Lawrence Valley/Fort Drum/Tug Hill reporter, began his career in radio, strangely enough, as a high school Spanish teacher in Buffalo. While drilling verb conjugations and teaching a love for Latino culture during the day, he sat in as a late night jazz and Latin DJ at Buffalo's NPR affiliate, WBFO. The radio bug bit, and David found his way to southern Colorado/northern New Mexico (the Taos/Santa Fe area) where he was Program Director, Music Director, Volunteer Coordinator, and "Just About Anything Else You Can Think Of" Director at NPR affiliate KRZA. Since joining NCPR's news department, David has reported from the chilly deck of a St. Lawrence icebreaker, the power-chord filled stage of the High School Rock Band Festival, and the tense Albanian street market of post-war Kosovo with soldiers from Fort Drum. David also gets to fulfill his passion for music of all kinds when he spins world dance and groove music on editions of The Beat Authority. E-mail

Recent David Sommerstein stories carried by NPR:

June 29, 2008 | NPR· Sports blogs give fans more information about their favorite teams than ever before. Readers of a popular blog about the New York Yankees are now meeting in real life to watch a ball game.
 
March 21, 2008 | NPR· With drunken-driving offenses spiraling dangerously out-of-control at Fort Drum as soldiers return from Iraq, the base commander orders the post newspaper to publish the names and pictures of the arrested soldiers in what he calls an effort to shame troops into changing their dangerous habits.
 
March 16, 2008 | NPR· Sick and tired of bake sales to raise money for school projects? Try donkey basketball. Schools around the country are inviting the braying animals to put on a show in the school gymnasium. But not everyone thinks the donkeys are having as good a time as the fans.
 
December 6, 2007 | NPR· A political backlash killed a plan in New York to give illegal immigrants drivers licenses. But that hasn't taken immigrants off the roads. Life without a drivers license has pros and cons for farm workers in rural upstate New York.
 
November 4, 2007 | NPR· The Army's most battle-tested brigade is returning to Fort Drum in New York. Some members of the 10th Mountain Division's Second Brigade have done three tours in Iraq.
 
September 28, 2007 | NPR· The value of the Canadian dollar is now about equal to the U.S. dollar, a change that has touched off a bit of a shopping spree along the international border. Reporter David Sommerstein checks in from a mall in Massena, N.Y., near the St. Lawrence River.
 
May 15, 2007 | NPR· U.S. troops continue to search for three American soldiers believed captured by an al-Qaida-affiliated group during an ambush Saturday south of Baghdad. Four soldiers were killed in the attack. Army officials confirm that all seven men were members of the 10th Mountain Division, based at Fort Drum.
 
May 7, 2007 | NPR· Each spring, nature deals parts of the rural North a cruel fate: the arrival of black flies. But Andrea Malik, a resident of northern New York, bushwhacks into the deepest woods to fight back with a pesticide that kills only black flies and mosquitoes.
 
January 26, 2007 | NPR· Welcome home signs have been up for weeks at Fort Drum, N.Y., but now comes the news that 3,200 soldiers who were to return from Afghanistan must extend their tour of duty by four months.
 
November 18, 2006 | NPR· Sometimes all you want is plate of some down-home cooking. That's especially true when your in the military stationed hundreds, maybe thousands, of miles away from home. Two women living near Fort Drum are now making a business of bringing southern soul food and Puerto Rican cuisine to the troops.