Midday Magazine on WAMC

According to new data, 4-year high school graduation rates in Massachusetts are on the increase, while the dropout rate is on the decline.

State officials recently announced that the 4-year graduation rate has improved in the Bay State for the sixth year in a row. JC Considine, a spokesman for the Department of Elementary and Secondary Education, said that the statewide dropout rate also decreased to 2.5% in the last school year.

An economic development plan based on sustainability, smart growth and environmental stewardship for the Adirondacks and seven-county northern tier of New York was presented to stakeholders this week.

The draft North Country Regional Sustainability Plan’s major goals include generating and exporting renewable energy from the northern tier, energy efficiency improvements, development of alternative heating fuels from within the region, sustainable use of natural resources to enhance jobs and business development and environmental stewardship.

The National Center For Victims of Crime has named January 2013 as National Stalking Awareness Month.

Stalking is a crime in New York, and both sexes are victims. “Know it. Name it. Stop it” is the theme for January's Stalking Awareness Month.

Barbara Palmateer is Program Director of Family, Community and Victim Services for Community Action Agency of Greene County’s Columbia-Greene Domestic Violence Program. She notes that victims suffer anxiety, social dysfunction, and severe depression at much higher rates than the general population, and many lose time from work or have to move as a result of their victimization.

The New York Archdiocese will close 24 Roman Catholic schools in a cost-saving move. Ten of these schools are in the Hudson Valley, and school administrators say they are figuring out what to do.

The Archdiocese will close 22 elementary schools and two high schools by the end of the school year, with more than 4,000 students affected. Rosalie Fegan is the principal of St. Joseph School in Millbrook, in Dutchess County – one of the schools on the closing list.

Joseph Zwilling is a spokesman for the Archdiocese of New York.

Opinions are mixed on Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick’s $34.8 billion budget released yesterday – some advocacy groups are saying the investments will pay off, while others are warning that a hike in taxes will damage a recovering economy.

In a speech detailing his  FY 2014 budget proposal, Governor Patrick focused on his plan to raise nearly $2 billion to increase funding for two key areas: education and transportation.

A heroism medal that is rarely handed out by the Boy Scouts of America has been presented to three men in the Adirondacks. 

A formal Court of Honor was held at Paul Smiths’ College to recognize the efforts of three scouts who rescued one man, and attempted to rescue a second, following a whitewater kayaking accident in the Adirondacks in October 2011.  Dave Tallman presented the trio the highest medal of heroism from the Boy Scouts of America.

While being sworn in for a second term earlier this week, Barack Obama made history by being the first president to refer to the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) community in an inaugural speech. In what that some pundits are calling ‘Lincoln’s third inaugural address,’ the President laid out a civil rights agenda that placed the fight over gay rights on equal footing as battles against racial, ethnic, religious and gender discrimination.

As the buzz surrounding President Obama’s second inauguration grew, so did talk over the point of celebrating the ceremony for a second time. Some asked whether this was a necessary tradition, or simply a costly affair that was inappropriate for such tough economic times.

Yet an estimated one million people chose to travel to the nation’s capital to see the ceremony on Monday—often standing from a distance where nothing could be seen—and those that I spoke with had no trouble explaining to me why the ceremony was important to them.

There's been a change in plans for the proposed Constitution Pipeline that officials claim would make the project more environmentally sound. Capital Region Bureau Chief Dave Lucas reports.


The controversial 122-mile pipeline would bring natural gas produced by hydrofracking in Northern Pennsylvania to a terminal in the Schoharie County Town of Wright, where it would then be sent on to other existing lines in the area. Constitution Pipeline LLC is planning to submit a permit application to build the line early this year to FERC, the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission.

In the governor’s State-of-the-State address, there was no mention of mandate relief, yet several county executives said they were not expecting to hear much about it then, that it would be during the governor’s budget address where they would expect some details about coping with unfunded mandates. Governor Cuomo did speak to unfunded mandates in his proposed 2013-2014 budget address Tuesday, introducing the topic this way.

Stephen Acquario is the executive director of the New York State Association of Counties, or NYSAC.