Herkimer, NY, Mar 14, 2013 — It was 25 hours between the time a shooting spree started in a small town Barber Shop, and a shootout with police in an abandoned building, that led to the death of 64-year old Kurt Meyers. State Police Superintendent Joseph D'Amico says police had tried to coax Meyers out of the building during an all-night standoff, before deciding to go after him soon after daybreak.  Go to full article

Herkimer, NY, Mar 14, 2013 — Update: The AP reported at about 8:40 this morning that police had killed suspect Kurt Myers in a shootout. Details and updates on this story in the Inbox blog.

Residents of southern Herkimer County are puzzled about why a 64-year-old loner allegedly went into a barbershop and opened fire in a burst of violence that would eventually leave four dead and two critically wounded Wednesday.

Hundreds of police are locked in a standoff with suspected gunman Kurt Myers in the village of Herkimer this morning.

David Sommerstein joined us for the latest on the situation.  Go to full article

Hogansburg, NY, Mar 11, 2013 — The effects of across the board federal spending cuts - known as the sequester - are still being sorted out. Mohawks in Akwesasne are bracing for cuts to health care and law enforcement.  Go to full article

Hogansburg, NY, Mar 07, 2013 — Venezuelan president Hugo Chavez is stirring up as much controversy after his death as he did during his life.

Chavez was a strident opponent of the United States. But he also helped many poor people, even in the U.S.

Republicans slammed New York Democrat Jose Serrano yesterday for praising Chavez on this point. Under Chavez, Venezuela's national oil company, CITGO, donated 200 million gallons of home heating oil to low income Americans, including to Mohawks in Akwesasne.

David Sommerstein reported on the program in 2006. He checks back in for our Story 2.0 series, where we revisit stories from the NCPR archive.  Go to full article

Hogansburg, NY, Mar 06, 2013 — A memorial service was held yesterday for a Mohawk woman who lived to be 100 years old. The family of Beatrice Jacobs says she's lived a healthy life at a nursing home in Snye for the last ten years.

According to her obituary, Jacobs worked in the cafeteria at St. Regis Mohawk School, and later with the Warner Brothers Corset Factory in Massena. She won a "Woman of the Year" award from the local Professional Women's Club and helped found an advocacy group for senior citizens of the St. Regis Mohawk Tribe.

David Sommerstein met Jacobs in 2000, when she agreed to tell him some stories about what life used to be like in Akwesasne. One was a wintertime story about crossing the frozen St. Lawrence River to Ontario, for work, trade, and dancing.  Go to full article

Rensselaer, NY, Jan 11, 2013 — New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo's State of the State address offered more details on a plan to expand casino gambling in New York State. The governor described casino development as an integral part of his ambitions for reviving the economy across the state, and he wants new casinos upstate first.  Go to full article

Cornwall, ON, Jan 04, 2013 — A group of Mohawks is planning to march on the bridge to Canada near Massena, NY, and shut down traffic Saturday. The demonstration is a part of an indigenous rights movement that's spread across Canada.  Go to full article

Saranac Lake, NY, Dec 13, 2012 — A new art exhibit that connects First Nations history and culture in Quebec with a variety of printmaking techniques opens at BluSeed Studios in Saranac Lake on Friday night. Todd Moe talks with Kahnawake Mohawk artist Martin Loft about the exhibit titled, "Tsi Nón:we Tewèn:teron" or Where My Home Is. The show includes a wide range of works on paper created by thirteen young Mohawk artists.  Go to full article

Hogansburg, NY, Nov 27, 2012 — The U.S. Attorney General's office is defending the St. Regis Mohawks' land claim in its entirety. That's after a judge recommended throwing out most of it last fall.

In a brief filed earlier in November, Assistant Attorney General Ignacia Moreno made two important points about the decades old Mohawk claim to 12,000 acres in St. Lawrence and Franklin counties.  Go to full article

Kahnawake, QC, Oct 18, 2012 — Catholics across Upstate New York and Canada are celebrating the canonization of a 17th century Mohawk woman. She'll become the first Native American saint in a ceremony this Sunday at the Vatican.

Kateri Tekakwitha (pronounced "gah-deh-LEE de-gah-GWEE-tah") was born in the Mohawk Valley, near what is today Albany. Smallpox killed her parents and partially blinded her when she was six. She fled her village and devoted her life to the Catholic Church at the Kahnawake Mohawk reserve near Montreal. She died when she was just 24 years old.

That church, St. Francis Xavier in Kahnawake, is holding vigils, masses, and other special events throughout the weekend.

Hundreds of faithful are travelling to Rome to witness the canonization in person. Among them is the mother of Darren Bonaparte, a Mohawk historian and author of a book called A Lily Among Thorns: the Mohawk Repatriation of Takeri Tekakwitha.

Bonaparte told David Sommerstein Kateri Tekakwitha's story needs to be seen in its historical context. He says the Dutch and the French were vying for Mohawk lands in the 17th century, spreading smallpox to the native people as they went.  Go to full article