Canton, NY, Feb 15, 2011 — The cancellation of two chili cook-offs in St. Lawrence County this month is prompting a clash with local health officials. Many community groups rely on food-related events for their fundraising.

The state health department says it's trying to work with those groups to prevent food borne disease while letting the show go on. But some local leaders say the rules are arbitrary and too onerous to follow. As David Sommerstein reports, state lawmakers are stepping in to seek a compromise.  Go to full article

Albany, NY, Feb 02, 2011 — Governor Andrew Cuomo delivered the painful news he has been promising yesterday. He released an austere state budget that leaves no aspect of state government untouched. There are deep cuts to schools, health care, the prison and university systems, and the potential for almost 10,000 state worker layoffs. Karen DeWitt reports from Albany and David Sommerstein has reaction from North Country lawmakers.  Go to full article

Oswego, NY, Jan 20, 2011 — Last night, Republicans in the House of Representatives held their largely symbolic vote on repealing health insurance reform. The measure won't be taken up in the Senate. And President Obama would veto a repeal of his landmark legislation.

North Country Congressman Bill Owens voted with his Democratic colleagues to keep the new health care laws.

On Tuesday night, Owens held a town hall meeting by telephone with thousands of his constituents to talk about the issue. One of the people listening in was reporter Dave Bullard.  Go to full article

Watertown, NY, Dec 15, 2010 — Over the next month, we'll hear a lot about earmarks, also known as "pork." They're the district-specific pet projects of members of Congress. The new Republican-led House has vowed to ban earmarks, or at least strictly curtail them.

We've all heard about the infamous "Bridge to Nowhere." But for every one of those earmarks, there are many others that are filling a need in a community.

Fort Drum near Watertown is the only Army base in the country without its own hospital. Soldiers and their families rely on doctors and clinics in Jefferson, Lewis, and southern St. Lawrence counties. A $400,000 earmark funds an organization thats building health care assets for soldiers and civilians alike. avid Sommerstein reports.  Go to full article

Syracuse, NY, Nov 09, 2010 — A cool glass of milk is an American icon of health. But a New York Times article over the weekend casts milk's dairy cousin, cheese, as a poster child of artery-clogging, obesity-inducing fast food.

The article details the efforts of a USDA-sponsored marketing agency called Dairy Management to get people to eat more cheese. Among its projects is a partnership with Domino's to put 40% more cheese on its pizzas. That effort included a $12 million advertising campaign, paid for by Dairy Marketing.
Meanwhile, the USDA itself says cheese is the largest source of cholesterol-causing saturated fat in the American diet.

The Times article set off a flurry of blog posts and opinion pieces with outraged titles like "Strap on Your Feedbags" and "Cheese Industrial Complex." Some commentators called for the new Congress to axe the program as a symbol of excessive government spending.

Reaction in the dairy industry has been muted. But Beth Meyer of the American Dairy Association emphasizes a fact that appears halfway through the article. Dairy farmers - not taxpayers - foot most of the $140 million a year bill to fund Dairy Management as a part of their monthly milk check.

"It's 15 cents per hundredweight," Meyer says. "Ten cents of that money stays local for organizations such as ours, based in Syracuse, NY, so of that goes nationally. So it's really a program of dairy farmers supporting promotion of their own product, which obviously makes a lot of sense."

Still, Dairy Management did get more than $5 million through the USDA last year to promote sales overseas.

Dairy Management is credited with helping to slow the decline of milk drinking with its popular "Got Milk?" campaign.

Meyer says she doesn't think the criticism of the program will hurt North Country farmers. She says there's a place for cheese in moderate eating. "Cheeses are an excellent source of calcium," Meyer says. "They're a nutrient dense food, and we talk about fitting foods into the daily diet, so we think this continues to be a strong program for the dairy farmers in northern New York and certainly throughout our marketing area."

Dairy Management's efforts raise thorny questions about the balance between supporting farms and promoting good nutrition. Local agriculture groups across the North Country encourage farmers to sell so-called "value added" products like cheeses, maple candies, or jellies and jams. Many of them are high in calories.

David Sommerstein put the issue to Bernadette Logozar, local food specialist with Cornell Cooperative Extension.  Go to full article

Watertown, NY, Oct 01, 2010 — From Elizabethtown to Alexandria Bay, nursing homes across the North Country are struggling, and in some cases, closing. In Watertown, Samaritan Medical Center is in talks to run the 200-bed Mercy Care Center in receivership. Mercy announced last month it intends to close. The measure is temporary until the hospital builds two new facilities. This week, Samaritan won a $34 million state grant that will pay roughly half the cost of construction for nursing and assisted living homes in Watertown and nearby Carthage. Samaritan spokeswoman Krista Kittle told David Sommerstein there's a desperate need in the region for long-term care facilities for the elderly, especially assisted living ones.  Go to full article

Massena, NY, Aug 31, 2010 — The post-bailout arm of General Motors that's in charge of liquidating failed assets of the car-maker wants to tear down the Powertrain plant in Massena. The plant closed for good last year. But the buildings, the equipment, and the soil underneath is contaminated with toxic PCB oil. Federal environment officials now say Motors Liquidation Company has to clean it all up before demolition can begin. As David Sommerstein reports, the extent of the contamination has some former workers and the Massena community worried.  Go to full article

Albany, NY, Jun 29, 2010 — New York State's Department of Health recently published an Internet-based map of cancer data by county. (see link below)

The American Cancer Society says the maps can be misinterpreted, and that the huge amounts of information on chemicals, and cancer, need further study. But public health advocates are raising alarms over a class of chemicals we eat, drink and breath in, and that can stay in our bodies for years. On the list: dioxin, PCBs and other organic compounds. Martha Foley has more.  Go to full article

La Farge, WI, Jun 09, 2010 — Yesterday, David Sommerstein reported on the raw milk wars. Advocates of unpasteurized milk say it tastes better, is better for you, and helps small family farms. Food safety and public health officials say raw milk can harbor dangerous bacteria like E Coli, and isn't worth the risk. Recently, an unlikely actor stepped into the middle of the debate. In a split 4 to 3 vote, Organic Valley dairy cooperative decided to prohibit its farmer members from selling raw milk. The vote followed nearly a year of emotional debate. Organic Valley is one of the leading brands of pasteurized organic milk. Based in Wisconsin, it has more than 1600 farmer-members. 20 of them are in the North Country. Some of those members had sold raw milk or cheese on the side to supplement their business. George Siemon is Organic Valley's CEO and one of its founders. He told David Sommerstein the decision to prohibit raw milk sales had as much to do with liability and safety concerns as business.  Go to full article

Jun 08, 2010 — New restrictions on raw milk sales in Wisconsin and Massachusetts are returning one of America's fiercest food debates to the headlines. More people are seeking out unpasteurized milk. They cite a broad range of health benefits and support for local dairies. But health officials and many scientists insist drinking raw milk is too risky. Even Locavore-in-Chief Michael Pollan cautions raw milk drinkers "not to turn a blind eye to the food safety concerns." In New York, about 30 dairies are licensed to sell direct from the farm, including five in the North Country. The law requires consumers to bring their own containers and actually watch as the milk is poured from the bulk tank. David Sommerstein got an up-close look at the raw milk debate at a farm in St. Lawrence County and has our story.  Go to full article