WAMC Northeast Report on WAMC

Meteorologist Garett Argianas runs down the weekend weather forecast for Friday, April 26, 2013. 

A new exhibit opens to the public Saturday at the natural history museum at Amherst College. It is one of only two skeletons of a particular dinosaur species on display in the world. 

Since Massachusetts Governor Deval Patrick and Boston Mayor Thomas Menino announced the creation of  The One Fund last week, more than $23 million and counting has been raised to help the people most affected by recent attacks near the finish line of the Boston Marathon.

Much of the fund consists of the $16 million donated from corporations, but more than $7 million has been raised through donations from the public. 

And in the Berkshires, people are doing their part.

A well-known philanthropist and environmentalist who had a hilltop residence in New York’s Hudson Valley has died. She was also a champion for world peace. 

Kathryn Wasserman Davis died at the age of 106 on Tuesday. She took up both painting and kayaking in her 90s; the latter she sometimes shared with Poughkeepsie-based Scenic Hudson President Ned Sullivan, along the Hudson and other rivers.

Sullivan says he recalls last kayaking with her in the fall, when Davis was 105.

Recent bribery scandals involving state legislators have fueled discussion on campaign finance reform at the Capitol in Albany, with several politicians and advocacy groups pressing for publicly financed campaigns.  But a key faction in the legislature, Republicans in the state Senate, remains opposed.

A fundraising effort will begin Friday evening in Lake Placid to help embattled movie theaters in the Adirondacks remain open. 

Meteorologist Garett Argianas has our evening forecast for Thursday, April 25, 2013.

Ben Nelson, former CEO of Snapfish, an online photo service, is determined to stand higher education – at least part of it - on its head.  His goal is a simple one: provide large numbers of intellectually-gifted students with an education which will challenge them and prepare them to be the “thought leaders” of tomorrow.  The approach Mr. Nelson has laid out to do this “breaks the rules” in many ways, and has been variously described as daring and innovative by some, and ineffective, reckless  and over-reaching by others.

The U.S. Attorney has fired off a letter threatening action if the Westchester County Executive does not comply with his demands. The letter has to do with an affordable housing agreement, and the county executive has said he is in compliance.