Ian Pickus

WAMC's Ian Pickus speaks with Rob Reid, the founder of Listen.com, which created Rhapsody, and the author of Year Zero, his debut novel.

Body piercing just got a bit more prickly in New York.

Under a law signed by Gov. Andrew Cuomo, anyone under 18 years old will have to get written permission from their parents or legal guardians before piercing anything on their bodies.

Cuomo and the Legislature overwhelmingly passed the law in June. They say it will reduce infections and the spread of blood-borne diseases. Cuomo said about 20 percent of piercings result in infection.

WAMC's Ian Pickus speaks with living legend Buddy Guy, one of the blues' most accomplished guitarists and the author of a new memoir called When I Left Home.

Protests kicked off Sunday ahead of the 36th annual meeting of eastern Canadian premiers and New England governors, even before the official talks got underway. 

A spokeswoman for several protest groups involved in Sunday's demonstrations says police in riot gear used rubber and pepper bullets against protesters blocking buses trying to leave a Burlington hotel that is the sight of the conference. 

WAMC's Ian Pickus speaks with Sports Illustrated's Jack McCallum, the author of a new book on the 1992 USA men's basketball team called Dream Team: How Michael, Magic, Larry, Charles and the Greatest Team of All Time Conquered the World and Changed the Game of Basketball Forever.

WAMC's Ian Pickus and resident quizzer Mike Nothnagel zoom in for a show about famous photos.

Last week's challenge
Think of two words that each name a unit of volume (one has six letters, the other has four). Change one letter to an R, then rearrange the result to name things that have lots of measurements on them. What are the units and what are the things?

Answer: The units are BUSHEL and PINT. If you change the H to an R, you can rearrange the letters to spell BLUEPRINTS.

A New York State Assembly committee hearing is being held to examine Con Edison's service and safety record since a lockout of its 8,500 unionized workers.

The hearing is scheduled for Wednesday in Manhattan.

About 5,000 managers have been keeping electricity going for 3.2 million customers in New York City and Westchester County since the workers were locked out June 30 after their contract expired.

Con Edison says it has been responding to emergencies efficiently despite several heat waves.

Neither side has reported any real progress in negotiations.

WAMC's Ian Pickus speaks with Judy Patrick, editor of the Daily Gazette, about expansion at Global Foundries and a plea in a controversial case.

WAMC's Ian Pickus gets the morning headlines from Mike Spain, associate editor of the Albany Times Union.

WAMC's Ian Pickus speaks with  Harvey Kubernik, co-author of A Perfect Haze: The Illustrated History of the Monterey International Pop Festival.