May 14, 2013 — Locking people up and keeping them behind bars is one of the North Country's biggest industries. There are more than twenty jails and prison facilities scattered across our rural region. Corrections and law enforcement agencies provide high-paying jobs from Ogdensburg to Glens Falls.

But the prison industry isn't something we talk about very often. The North Country's Regional Economic Development plan talks about renewable energy and trains and farms and government. But it doesn't even mention prisons -- not once.

Earlier this month, a student group at SUNY Plattsburgh invited community members, faculty and activists to meet and talk about mass incarceration and how it affects communities.  Go to full article

May 06, 2013 — Former Senate Democratic Leader John Sampson turned himself in to federal authorities Monday, after being accused in a nine count indictment of embezzling nearly half a million dollars from mortgage foreclosure accounts, and then trying to cover it up.

According to the federal compliant, Senator Sampson is accused of embezzling $440,000 in funds that he was entrusted to care for as a court appointed referee on four foreclosed Brooklyn properties.  Go to full article

Apr 26, 2013 — An independent investigation is planned in Winooski, Vermont, after police there shot a man accused of trespassing.  Go to full article

Apr 24, 2013 — Human trafficking is a growing problem across the country...including here in the North Country. Undocumented farmworkers can be threatened with deportation. Sex workers or foreign brides can be held against their will. Foreign students with visas to work at Adirondack tourism destinations are vulnerable.

Law enforcement and area not-for-profits are joining forces to stop human trafficking in the North Country. Representatives from Homeland Security, the state attorney general's office and labor department, and social service agencies from St. Lawrence, Jefferson, and Franklin counties met earlier this month at SUNY Potsdam. They were joined by not-for-profits that help immigrants, domestic violence victims, and other vulnerable people.

Renan Salgado is a human trafficking specialist with the Worker Justice Center of New York. He's organizing the North Country human trafficking task force. He spoke with David Sommerstein.  Go to full article

Apr 17, 2013 — At the New York State Capitol, lawmakers are scrambling to put forward plans responding to the recent twin corruption scandals involving bribery charges against a state Senator and Assemblyman.

Tuesday it was the Assembly Democrats' turn to weigh in, while Gov. Andrew Cuomo rolled out two more components of his own reform plan.  Go to full article

Boston, MA, Apr 16, 2013 — Federal investigators say no one has claimed responsibility for the Boston Marathon attack that killed three people and wounded more than 140.

Officials say the two bombs that went off near the finish line at the Marathon were about 100 yards and 10 seconds apart. They knocked people down, shattered windows and sent dense plumes of smoke rising over the street.

A senior U.S. intelligence official says as many as two unexploded bombs were also found near the finish line, but they were safely disarmed.

Canton native Laura Monroe-Duprey and her husband were running the race together. He was running with an injury, so at mile 18, she pulled ahead of him.

Julie Grant spoke with Monroe-Duprey last night. She said when the explosion happened, she was nearing the last turn in the course, about a tenth of a mile from the finish line.  Go to full article

Apr 16, 2013 — New York state officials say the state's prison population is expected to drop again this year by nearly 800 inmates.

The Department of Corrections will close two more prisons this year, bringing to a total of nine the number of correctional facilities shut down since 2011.

Inmate populations in New York have been edging downward for more than a decade. But a report from the Justice Department suggests that for the first time in decades, fewer Americans nationwide are being sent to prison.

Surveys of state and Federal prisons nationwide show the number of inmates actually declined over the last three years - the first downward trend in a generation.  Go to full article

Apr 15, 2013 — It's tax day, and New York state says it's cracking down on tax evasion.

In a press release, New York State Tax Commissioner Tom Mattox says he's expanding a partnership with the State Police to aggressively pursue people who don't pay their taxes.  Go to full article

Apr 11, 2013 — Government reform groups say they are pleased that Governor Cuomo has now proposed step one in his plan to clean up corruption in state government, after the high-profile arrests of two state lawmakers.  Go to full article

Albany, NY, Apr 10, 2013 — Governor Cuomo and New York state's district attorneys are pushing for laws to make it easier to prosecute bribery and public corruption cases, in the wake of recent scandals in Albany.  Go to full article