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<title>NCPR Topical RSS: A Year of Hard Choices</title>
<link>http://www.northcountrypublicradio.org</link>
<description>Latest North Country Public Radio regional news by topic. Topic=a-year-of-hard-choices.</description>
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<copyright>&#x2117; &amp; &#xA9; 2013, North Country Public Radio</copyright>
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<itunes:author>North Country Public Radio Newsroom</itunes:author>
<itunes:summary>NCPR provides locally-produced news stories from around the Adirondack and North Country regions of New York State, as well as Western Vermont, and Ontario and Quebec in Canada.</itunes:summary>
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<itunes:name>Managing Editor</itunes:name>
<itunes:email>radio@ncpr.org</itunes:email>
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<itunes:category text="News"></itunes:category>
<itunes:keywords>news, adirondacks, north country, public radio</itunes:keywords>
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<description>NCPR provides locally-produced news stories from around the Adirondack and North Country regions of New York State, as well as Western Vermont, and Ontario and Quebec in Canada.</description>
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<item>
<title>Local schools study consolidation</title>
<link>http://www.northcountrypublicradio.org/news/story/16464/20101008/local-schools-study-consolidation</link>
<description><![CDATA[ (Oct 8, 2010) In much of the North Country, declining enrollments and dwindling state aid are painting a stark picture for school districts.  Districts are talking about sharing administrations, teachers, and, in some cases, merging or closing schools.This week, the 18 school districts in St. Lawrence County are beginning a year-long study of consolidation.  Enrollment has plunged by more than 10,000 students from 30 years ago, a 40% drop.  Almost all the districts are classified as rural high-need.Tom Burns is district superintendent of St. Lawrence-Lewis BOCES.  He told David Sommerstein the numbers are disheartening.  But he says full-fledged school mergers are a worst-case scenario, especially because of the distance students would have to travel. [<strong><a href="http://www.northcountrypublicradio.org/news/story/16464/20101008/local-schools-study-consolidation">full story</a></strong>]]]></description>
<pubDate>Fri, 08 Oct 2010 00:00:00 -0400</pubDate>
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<itunes:author>NCPR: David Sommerstein</itunes:author>
<itunes:summary><![CDATA[In much of the North Country, declining enrollments and dwindling state aid are painting a stark picture for school districts.  Districts are talking about sharing administrations, teachers, and, in some cases, merging or closing schools.This week, the 18 school districts in St. Lawrence County are beginning a year-long study of consolidation.  Enrollment has plunged by more than 10,000 students from 30 years ago, a 40% drop.  Almost all the districts are classified as rural high-need.Tom Burns is district superintendent of St. Lawrence-Lewis BOCES.  He told David Sommerstein the numbers are disheartening.  But he says full-fledged school mergers are a worst-case scenario, especially because of the distance students would have to travel. [<strong><a href="http://www.northcountrypublicradio.org/news/story/16464/20101008/local-schools-study-consolidation">full story</a></strong>]]]></itunes:summary>
<guid>http://www.northcountrypublicradio.org/news/audio/101008dsschoolconsildation.mp3</guid>
<itunes:duration>05:27</itunes:duration>
<itunes:keywords>photolead, education, economy, stlv, st lawrence county, budget, hardchoices, [loc:44.5956163 -75.1690942], topstory</itunes:keywords>
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<item>
<title>Story 2.0 - a journalism student finds a job after a long search</title>
<link>http://www.northcountrypublicradio.org/news/story/15655/20100517/story-2-0-a-journalism-student-finds-a-job-after-a-long-search</link>
<description><![CDATA[ (May 17, 2010) A Story 2.0 today, where we follow-up with people we’ve reported on in the past.  Last year as a part of our Year of Hard Choices series, we met Sarah Minor, a photojournalism graduate from Syracuse University.  She was living with her parents in St. Lawrence County while looking for a job.  It was 2008 and 2009, the depth of the Recession, and newspapers were laying off reporters and photographers in droves.  She moved to Chicago and got a part-time job with Suburban Life.  The company owns 14 weekly papers in the area.  She adapts print stories for the website, researching sidebar topics and adding links to stories.  And she gets to do the occasional photo shoot.  Last week, Sarah was hired full-time.  She spoke with David Sommerstein during one of her first morning commutes as a full-time worker. [<strong><a href="http://www.northcountrypublicradio.org/news/story/15655/20100517/story-2-0-a-journalism-student-finds-a-job-after-a-long-search">full story</a></strong>]]]></description>
<pubDate>Mon, 17 May 2010 00:00:00 -0400</pubDate>
<enclosure url="http://www.northcountrypublicradio.org/news/audio/100517sarahminor2-0.mp3" length="1786904" type="audio/mpeg"/>
<itunes:author>NCPR: David Sommerstein</itunes:author>
<itunes:summary><![CDATA[A Story 2.0 today, where we follow-up with people we’ve reported on in the past.  Last year as a part of our Year of Hard Choices series, we met Sarah Minor, a photojournalism graduate from Syracuse University.  She was living with her parents in St. Lawrence County while looking for a job.  It was 2008 and 2009, the depth of the Recession, and newspapers were laying off reporters and photographers in droves.  She moved to Chicago and got a part-time job with Suburban Life.  The company owns 14 weekly papers in the area.  She adapts print stories for the website, researching sidebar topics and adding links to stories.  And she gets to do the occasional photo shoot.  Last week, Sarah was hired full-time.  She spoke with David Sommerstein during one of her first morning commutes as a full-time worker. [<strong><a href="http://www.northcountrypublicradio.org/news/story/15655/20100517/story-2-0-a-journalism-student-finds-a-job-after-a-long-search">full story</a></strong>]]]></itunes:summary>
<guid>http://www.northcountrypublicradio.org/news/audio/100517sarahminor2-0.mp3</guid>
<itunes:duration>03:43</itunes:duration>
<itunes:keywords>topstory, hardchoices, media, story20, sarah minor, education, journalism, economy, jobs, employment, stlv, st lawrence county, [loc:41.8500330 -87.6500523]</itunes:keywords>
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<item>
<title>STORY 2.0:  After A year of Hard Choices, checking in on the region?s economy</title>
<link>http://www.northcountrypublicradio.org/news/story/15610/20100504/story-2-0-after-a-year-of-hard-choices-checking-in-on-the-region-s-economy</link>
<description><![CDATA[ (May 4, 2010) North Country Public Radio kicked off its “Year of Hard Choices” look at the impact of the Great Recession last year with a conversation with economist Greg Gardener.Gardner has been a student of the North Country economy since coming to the region over 15 years ago. He teaches at SUNY Potsdam. He and his wife live outside Watertown. He says the year looked about like he had thought it would…unemployment is up, there’s been pressure on the private sector, but the region had an OK tourism year…”we got leaned on hard,” he said, but it wasn’t catastrophic.But Gardner told Martha Foley there was a troubling erosion of what’s traditionally been the region’s buffer against hard times. Public sector jobs: from prisons to schools to local government. They’re threatened, and hurts the North Country. [<strong><a href="http://www.northcountrypublicradio.org/news/story/15610/20100504/story-2-0-after-a-year-of-hard-choices-checking-in-on-the-region-s-economy">full story</a></strong>]]]></description>
<pubDate>Tue, 04 May 2010 00:00:00 -0400</pubDate>
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