News stories tagged with "saratoga"

(09/16/11) Three Saratoga area women won their third award this year from the Adirondack Center for Writing for a book of poetry. They'll share their thoughts and words tonight (7:00pm) at the Lake Placid Center for the Arts.

Elaine Handley, Marilyn McCabe and Mary Sanders Shartle began working together at the Saratoga Springs Public Library coffee shop in the late 90's, and realized that even in sharing common themes their three voices were very different yet compatible.

In a phone conversation with Todd Moe, they each shared a poem from their latest chapbook, Tear of the Clouds. Elaine Handley says the idea of writing poems about life in the North Country was a logical next step for all three poets.

(09/06/11) Many communities will take some time on Sunday to pause and remember the September 11th, 2001 terrorist attacks in New York City, Washington DC and rural Pennsylvania. A sculpture that uses twisted metal beams from the World Trade Center will be unveiled Sunday in the Saratoga county hamlet of Gansevoort.

It's titled, Tempered by Memory, and artists Noah Savett and John Van Alstine are disappointed that plans to place the sculpture permanently in Saratoga Springs are on hold. But they're optimistic. A toned-down unveiling of their sculpture will be held at the NS Associates steel yard on Pettis Road in Gansevoort at noon on Sunday, the 10th anniversary of the terrorist attacks.

Todd Moe spoke with artist John Van Alstine, who lives in the southern Adirondacks. He says using the resurrected steel for art, and trying to please everyone, were challenges.

(12/07/10) The New York State Senate is returning to the capitol for one final time this year. They'll take up a bil, already passed in the Assembly, to bail out New York City's bankrupt Off Track Betting Corporation, but some senators say the rest of the state needs to be included, as well.

The Association of Counties says counties have a stake in the matter because the off track betting centers also provide an important source of money to the horse racing industry, to help premier tracks at Saratoga, Belmont, and Aqueduct. Karen DeWitt has more. more

(09/18/09) Yesterday marked the 147th anniversary of the Civil War battle at Antietam in Maryland. It was the single bloodiest day in US history, with more than 20,000 men killed or wounded. Three hundred New Yorkers are still unaccounted for from that battle, their remains lost in the farm fields and the woods. But last summer, a hiker in an area known as the Corn Field discovered the remains of a soldier. His buttons and his belt identified him as a volunteer from New York. That soldier was finally laid to rest yesterday at Saratoga National Cemetery. In just a moment, we'll hear from the historian who arranged the long-delayed funeral. First, here's Brian Mann's audio portrait of the ceremony. It begins with the rumble of a motorcycle honor guard, which accompanied the soldier on his final journey from Maryland.

(07/22/09) A Congressional panel overseeing the federal financial bailout says the recession is plunging many farmers deeper into debt and parts of the agricultural economy are in crisis. The panel singles out dairy farmers as among the hardest hit. Milk prices remain at 30-year lows. North Country lawmakers are pushing legislation in Congress to help. David Sommerstein reports.

(04/08/09) Governor David Paterson has ordered the state Department of Correctional services to cut more than 2,000 jobs statewide. According to a letter sent to state agencies, the lay-offs will begin by July. Martha Foley has more.

(09/09/08) All this week we're telling stories about horses and horse-racing, a sport which for decades has been part of North Country culture. Today, Brian Mann sends this audio postcard from the harness track in Saratoga. That's where he met Scott Hamilton, who travels the North Country every year starting trotter races at county fairs.

(09/08/08) The North Country has a big presence in horse-racing, from a top thoroughbred breeder in Ray Brook, to the group of friends in Sackets Harbor who raced into the record book with a horse named Funny Cide. Their success on contemporary tracks draws from a long tradition of racing in the region. This week, we'll wrap up the summer by telling some of their stories. For many fans in the North Country, the sport of choice has always been harness racing. That means sturdy, standard-bred horses pulling drivers in stripped-down racing carts. You can still see cutthroat competitions at county fairs from Malone to Westport. But harness racing has fallen on hard times in recent years. As Brian Mann reports, new efforts to bring the sport back have meant bigger purses and also new controversy.

(05/29/08) In his first major break in policy from his predecessor, Governor Eliot Spitzer, New York Governor David Paterson says he's displeased with an arrangement that gives the New York Racing Association control over horseracing in the state for the next quarter century. Karen DeWitt reports.

(04/12/07) The Leader of the State Senate and New York's Parks Commissioner have announced a major investment and renovation of the Saratoga Baths and the surrounding park, following revelations earlier this year that the mineral baths had been mixing in tap water and not telling customers. Karen DeWitt reports.