Massena, NY, Apr 20, 2009 — If you want to put your finger on the pulse of the economy, talk to a trucker. Tomorrow's products are hauled in today's 18-wheelers. And many are nearly empty. In our Year of Hard Choices series, today a conversation with Keith Peterson. Peterson's the son of Franklin County farmers. He lives in Massena now and drives for Central Transport, based there. Peterson pulled his rig into the lot behind North Country Public Radio earlier this week. He told David Sommerstein he noticed the economic slowdown in January 2008, six months before most of us.  Go to full article

Canton, NY, Apr 02, 2009 — Martha Foley talks with Jeff Yost, president and CEO of the Nebraska Community Foundation. He's in Canton today to speak to St. Lawrence County community leaders as keynote for the North Country Symposium.  Go to full article

Canton, NY, Mar 27, 2009 — On Monday, SUNY Potsdam economics professor Greg Gardner described a theory of development that he believes may be a good fit for the North Country in today's economy. Instead of trying to hook that big fish to create hundreds of jobs at once, Gardner says make your community attractive to young entrepreneurs. "Having educated creative people who then want to live in your community because it's a nice place to live," Gardner says, "and if they can't find a job, they'll just make one." For today's installment of A Year of Hard Choices, we meet a Canton couple who fit this profile to a "T". Ken and Katrina Hebb own the Blackbird Café on the main corner in the village. They say despite the recession, their business is thriving. David Sommerstein has their story.  Go to full article

Parishville, NY, Mar 26, 2009 — In our Year of Hard Choices series today, we go to a mainstay of the North Country's homegrown business community. You find the SunFeather Soap Company in a tidy, low building on the old state road outside Parishville, in St. Lawrence County. Martha Foley went for a tour, and got a lesson in small business 101.  Go to full article

Canton, NY, Mar 26, 2009 — It's hard for anyone to find a job in today's economy. Recent college graduates with little real-world experience are finding it especially tough. And then there's people like Sarah Minor. Sarah graduated from Syracuse University last summer with a degree in photojournalism. She wants to get a job at a newspaper at a time when that industry is in freefall. Sarah's living with her parents outside Canton while she searches. She produced this audio diary for our series, The Year of Hard Choices.  Go to full article

Heuvelton, NY, Mar 24, 2009 — Yesterday in the first installment of our Year of Hard Choices series, we heard economics professor Greg Gardner say manufacturing jobs have been the early victims of the recession in the North Country. General Motors in Massena and Covidien in Watertown are shutting down entirely. Alcoa and New York Air Brake have laid off workers. Corning halved its workforce in 2008. That means hundreds of people around the North Country can no longer rely on a steady wage. They'll spend less at stores, theaters, restaurants, and car dealerships. Their lean times trickle down to local businesses, which may then suffer layoffs of their own. Sharlene Carpenter got her pink slip from Corning in late December, just a few months after her husband, Randy, lost his job at a local pallet mill. For today's installment in our Year of Hard Choices series, we check back with Sharlene and Randy Carpenter at their home in Heuvelton. As David Sommerstein reports, their time off of work hasn't been so bad, but tough choices loom ahead.  Go to full article

Potsdam, NY, Mar 23, 2009 — Our series starts with a conversation about the state of the region--economically speaking. Greg Gardner has been a student of the North Country economy since coming to the region 15 years ago. He teaches management and business strategy at SUNY Potsdam. He and his wife live outside Watertown. Gardner says the NC economy is fairly simple--service-oriented and shaped by a relatively small population, spread over a large area. It's highly seasonal--tourism, farming. Typically, employment and spending go down in the winter, up in the summer. Lots of stable civic jobs, from education to prisons, buffer the region somewhat from highs and lows elsewhere.

Like the rest of the nation, the North Country just had about 10 years of steady economic growth. But that's quickly eroded over the last six months. Manufacturing and farming, economic engines that ship exports out and bring fresh cash in, have been hit hard. Demand for their products has dropped, and financing for their operations has dried up.

Meanwhile, state spending tapered off dramatically in some areas. Using employment as a gauge, Gardner said the NC economy right now looks about the way it did in the early '90s, with unemployment ranging from 9 to 11%, expecting that to moderate in the summer. Now, Gardner says, the downturn is touching more and more people.  Go to full article