News stories tagged with "kids"

(04/24/12) This week, we're beginning an on-going series looking at the future of the North Country from the perspective of young people. New research from Cornell University shows counties in our region continuing to age, with fewer young families, fewer young professionals and fewer kids.

In the weeks ahead, we'll be looking at this problem from a lot of different angles. Today, Brian Mann talks with Tim Morse, a North Country native who made a different choice, returning and making a career in the region.

Tim, who is 26 years old, arrived back home earlier this month, leaving Chicago to take a job at SUNY Potsdam. He spoke with Brian right after getting off the road.

(07/20/11) New York state bands hundreds of geese throughout the region this time of year. Scientists want to know if their populations are growing, and where they're growing to.

It's a catch and release operation, and the public is often recruited to lend a hand. The geese, many still in the gosling stage, are herded into pens, then singled out for banding.

Ring-sized metal bracelets are gently clinched around a leg of each goose.
Many already have bands from previous trappings. They provide data that help biologists track their numbers, range, and breeding habits. George Earl was on hand for a round-up in Saranac Lake. more

(08/27/10) The father/son writing team behind the popular Adirondack Kids books, and their fans, are celebrating the 10th anniversary of the series this summer. Gary and Justin VanRiper live most of the year in Camden, in the Tug Hill region. They and the rest of their family also spend lots of time on Fourth Lake in the Adirondacks. The award-winning Adirondack Kids book series has become a regional best seller. But Gary told Todd Moe that the first volume wasn't really meant to be a book.

(05/26/10) Last year, an art project to encourage parents to spend more time with their kids was unveiled in the Lake Placid school district. Students and staff created colorful "Make Time for Kids" banners that were hung downtown.

This year, the program has expanded. The student self-portraits are part of a multimedia campaign. They've been turned into hundreds of posters that have been placed in shop windows, public buildings and schools around Lake Placid and Wilmington. Part of a local youth and community project, this year's effort continues to encourage adults to spend more time with teens and model positive behavior. It's also hoped that creating self-portraits will empower young people to make healthy choices and avoid smoking, drinking and drug abuse. Todd Moe spoke with a group of Lake Placid Middle School students and their teachers to find out more.

(05/04/10) Getting kids to play outside does more than just letting them burn excess energy. Experts say it also helps a child's psychological and mental well-being. Todd Moe talks with Paul Hai, program coordinator for the Northern Forest Institute and co-founder of Children in Nature New York, about the "Get Out and Play" conference in Newcomb on May 15th.

(09/16/09) The Laurentian Chapter of the Adirondack Mountain Club wraps up its first season of hikes introducing kids to mountains and trails. It's a high-tech, busy world, and organizers would like more families to move from desktop to mountaintop. Family excursions this summer included hikes along beginner mountain trails -- day trips into the outdoors with youngsters in mind. Todd Moe tagged along during a hike up Mount Arab and found families reconnecting with nature.

(02/06/08) If you and your kids are looking to shake off that cabin fever this weekend, try Boogie Wonderland Sunday afternoon. It's a family-friendly dance party at the Higher Ground Concert Hall in Burlington, with a real dance floor and a real disco ball. And adults can even have a drink while the kids dance. Tom Bacon is music lover, father, DJ, and host of Boogie Wonderland. He told David Sommerstein his wife read about similar family dance parties in New York and Philadelphia, and he thought why not in Burlington?

(11/13/06) Last Tuesday, kids across the U.S. were talking with Americans about the importance of voting. The national project was organized by journalist and writer Sue Halpern, who spends much of year in Johnsburg, in the central Adirondacks. Halpern says it was a chance for students to hear from people who see voting as a duty and a crucial part of their lives. But as Brian Mann reports, their idealism played out this year against one of the nastiest and most controversial campaigns on record.

(05/26/06) Most teenagers look to rock and hip-hop and country singers for the words that shape their lives. Their encounters with poetry are most likely accidental, on CDs and iPods -- not in books. The Adirondack Center for Writing is working with high schools around the North Country on a project designed to re-introduce kids to the power of pure poetry. Brian Mann attended a workshop held earlier this month at Paul Smiths College and has our story.

(09/27/05) The Boy Scout council that serves Clinton, Franklin and Essex counties faces growing financial difficulties. The group closed their summer camp near Malone in August. The organization now hopes to merge with the Twin Rivers scout council, a much larger organization based in Albany. The change would affect more than nineteen hundred boys and girls. Brian Mann spoke with Barry Mack, president of the Adirondack Council of the Boy Scouts of America, based in Plattsburgh. Mack says the organization still expects to close Camp Bedford, the Boy Scout summer camp near Malone, which is currently listed for sale for $2.5 million. The Twin Rivers council already includes scout groups in the north country, from Hamilton, Warren, Washington and part of Essex counties.