Apr 30, 2012 — The Cuomo administration is promoting a job hiring program for young people in some of the state's most economically hurting areas. The Innovation Trail's Ryan Delaney has details.  Go to full article

Washington, DC, Apr 27, 2012 — The US Labor Department has scrapped safety regulations designed to protect teenagers working on farms.

North Country Congressman Bill Owens worked hard to pressure the Obama administration to withdraw the rules.  Go to full article

Saranac Lake, NY, Apr 25, 2012 — This week, we've begun on on-going series called Vanishing Youth, looking at the aging of North Country counties, and the loss of young people and families who are choosing to move outside the region.

Many communities in this part of New York state are already far older than the state average. Researchers say our counties will grow even grayer in the decades ahead, with broad implications for the economy and the cultural life of the North Country.

This issue can be emotional, and it is often tangled up in local political issues. But the trend is evident across most of rural America. Brian Mann spoke with Ken Johnson, senior Demographer at the Carsey Institute, a rural policy institute in New Hampshire.

Johnson says small towns across the US are grappling with, and trying to survive, some painful trends.  Go to full article

Potsdam, NY, Apr 24, 2012 — 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.  Go to full article

Apr 23, 2012 — This morning, we begin on an on-going series, looking at the problem of young people in the North Country. Across the US, rural towns and villages face a dangerous drain of young people who are moving away, choosing a different way of life in cities and suburbs.

The exodus of twenty- and thirty-somethings has huge implications for community life, reshaping the economy, shrinking schools, making it harder to sustain volunteer fire departments and other basic services.

In the days and weeks ahead, we'll be looking at this challenge from many different angles, hearing many different voices.

But we begin with Brian Mann's story of one young woman who grew up in Rossie, in the St. Lawrence Valley, but chose to live and raise her family far away from the North Country.  Go to full article

Plattsburgh, NY, Apr 04, 2012 — Plattsburgh is a city in transition. There's a lot of effort to attract new families and businesses and rebrand the lakeside city as a destination. As Sarah Harris reports, a key part of that revitalization means bringing the downtown back to life and building the arts scene.  Go to full article

Peru, NY, Feb 10, 2012 — NCPR kicked off election coverage with a series of stories this week. See below for more on the 23rd district race for the House of Representatives.

Politics are everywhere these days, from the bitter Republican primary fight that's playing out on our TV screens to the redistricting battle in Albany that could shake up politics right here in our own backyard. As 2012 goes on, the news and conversation will only get louder and more intense.

Most high school students can't vote, but politics plays a big role in their lives, too. And they're paying attention, at least the teens are who gathered recently in Peru to talk about government and politics. Our correspondent Sarah Harris sends this report.  Go to full article

Port Leyden, NY, Jul 12, 2011 — Today, we continue our week-long series Farmers Under 40 with a look at the young people getting into what many consider a shriveling industry.

Dairy remains one of the biggest overall drivers of the North Country economy. Yet half the dairy farms there were twenty years ago are gone. The average age of a dairy farmer is almost 60 years old. Some years it costs more to milk a cow than you can sell the milk for.

till, young farmers are going into dairy. And as David Sommerstein reports, they're bringing a sharp business acumen and a passion to the barn.  Go to full article

Manlius, NY, Apr 11, 2011 — All week we've been examining the exodus of young people in upstate New York. In our final story, Innovation Trail's Ryan Morden visits with the exception, not the rule: a person who left upstate New York for life in a nearby big city, but ultimately moved back.

Support for the Innovation Trail comes from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.  Go to full article

Buffalo, NY, Apr 07, 2011 — Governments in upstate New York are painfully aware they continue to lose population relative to other states. But is there anything they can do about it? What role does the government play in trying to attract and retain educated young people to the region? As Daniel Robison reports in part three of the Innovation Trail's series on brain drain, the answer isn't simple.

Support for the Innovation Trail comes from the Corporation for Public Broadcasting.  Go to full article