News

Vermont Governor Phil Scott delivered his latest update on the state’s progress during the pandemic today. Funding for a hazard pay program was announced and officials were questioned about the state’s contract with an out of state prison where Vermont inmates tested positive for COVID-19.

Campus leaders have been working for months to plan the fall semester in the midst of a global pandemic. Northern New York Congresswoman Elise Stefanik has been holding conference calls with various sectors of the economy to discuss COVID-19. On Monday she met virtually with higher education officials from across the district.

Albany County is looking to help the city of Albany deal with raging gun violence.

Meteororologist Garett Argianas delivers the evening weather forecast for Tuesday, August 4, 2020.

Joining us today to answer your automotive questions is Gordon Fricke – owner and operator of Barber and Fricke Automotive Inc. – an independent repair, auto body, towing and used car facility in Hoosick Falls, New York. WAMC's Ray Graf hosts.

Chris Wallace is a veteran journalist and anchor of Fox News Sunday. His new book, "Countdown 1945: The Extraordinary Story of the 116 Days That Changed the World," a behind-the-scenes account of the secret meetings and lead up to the world's first use of the atomic bomb in wartime-the American attack on Hiroshima on August 6, 1945. 

      Springfield City Councilors want to pick up the pace of police reforms in the wake of a scathing report from the U.S. Department of Justice. 

College campuses across New York are welcoming back students before the end of the month with a host of new rules in places to prevent the spread of COVID-19. At Vassar College in Poughkeepsie, students will return on a staggered basis, beginning August 15. Vassar President Dr. Elizabeth Bradley spoke with WAMC’s Allison Dunne, who is based at WAMC’s Hudson Valley Bureau at Vassar. This is the second part of their interview.

Newschannel 13 meteorologist Paul Caiano delivers the Midday Weather Summary for Tuesday, August 4, 2020.

The Shaker Museum announced Monday that it has acquired a four-floor, 30,000-square foot building in downtown Chatham, New York. The museum owns and manages the Shaker Village at Mount Lebanon. Now, it will have its first space to display 18,000 archival pieces that explore life inside the utopian Protestant community that existed at the village from 1787 to 1947. WAMC spoke to Museum Director Lacy Schultz about the $15 million project at 5 Austerlitz Street, which is expected to break ground in 2021.

We've all been tested by the coronavirus pandemic in one way or another. Many of us have endured the technical difficulties associated with working remotely. That extended to the Albany Common Council meeting Monday, as frustrations boiled over.

Even now, after more than fifteen years, it is hard to see the invasion of Iraq through the cool, considered gaze of history. Most of the major players in that decision are still with us, and few are not haunted by it.

New York Times contributor and author Robert Draper talked to most of the key officials involved to revisit their roles, among them Powell, Armitage, Rice, Wolfowitz, Feith, Tenet, Bremer, Fleischer; he interviewed dozens who worked in the Departments of State, Defense, the National Security Council and the intelligence community, as well reporters who fumbled or challenged the story at the time.

The result is his new book, "To Start a War: How the Bush Administration Took America Into Iraq," is a psychologically complex and page-turning account: it includes a set of obsessed actors who gamed the process relentlessly as well as a group of patriotic men and women who, in the wake of the nightmare of 9/11, pursued that most elusive of dreams: finding peace through war.

At least 21% of Americans -- over 60 million people -- believe in Bigfoot, nearly half a million people planned a failed attempt to storm area 51 last summer, and people are still trying to figure out what the hell happened during the Great Kentucky meat shower of 1876.

In a world where rational scientific explanations are more available than ever belief in the unprovable and irrational in the fringe is on the rise. It seems the more our maps of the known world get filled in, the more we crave mysterious locations full of strange creatures.

Enter Colin Dickey, cultural historian and tour guide of the weird. he explores this wonderful world of fringe beliefs and conspiracy theories in his new book: "The Unidentified: Mythical Monsters, Alien Encounters, and Our Obsession with the Unexplained."

We’re in the final days of the Democratic primary in Western Massachusetts.

In today’s Congressional Corner, Holyoke Mayor Alex Morse speaks with WAMC’s Alan Chartock about his campaign for the 1st House district seat.

     The first day of school in Springfield, Massachusetts has been pushed back two weeks to September 15th.

New York U.S. Senator Kirsten Gillibrand is calling on top officials to rename Confederate monuments, including at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. This comes after the Senate and House recently passed their respective versions of the National Defense Authorization Act. Both include provisions that Trump opposes to remove Confederate names at military bases. 

WAMC's David Guistina speaks with Mike Goodwin of The Times Union about New York State Health Commissioner Howard Zucker's testimony at the first of two state Legislature hearings on COVID-19 and nursing homes. 

WAMC's Dr. Alan Chartock discusses reports that the Manhattan district attorney's office is investigating President Trump and the Trump Organization for possible bank and insurance fraud. 

     The Roundtable Panel: a daily open discussion of issues in the news and beyond.

Today's panelists are WAMC’s Alan Chartock, investigative journalist and UAlbany adjunct professor Rosemary Armao, The Empire Report’s J.P. Miller, and former Associate Editor of The Times Union Mike Spain.

Here is NewsChannel 13 Meteorologist Paul Caiano's WAMC Regional Forecast:

Cloudy and becoming windy with rain today. Rain will be heavy at times, with the possibility of a thunderstorm. Highs in the mid 70s.

The Philadelphia Phillies were back in action after a week-long hiatus due to the coronavirus outbreak in baseball. They ran into a buzz saw on Monday as the New York Yankees rolled to their seventh consecutive win, 6-3. 

Westchester County Executive George Latimer delivered a COVID-19 briefing Monday. He covered a range of issues, including preparation ahead of Tropical Storm Isaias, which is expected to hit the region Tuesday.

Secretary of State Jim Condos says Vermonters who are voting by mail in the Aug. 11 statewide primary should get their ballots in the mailbox by Tuesday, at the very latest.

The New York State Legislature on Monday held the first of two hearings on the thousands of COVID-19 deaths among nursing home residents.

Local police agencies continue to grapple with a summer of gun violence some say has been fueled by the pandemic.

Bard College at Simon’s Rock in Great Barrington, Massachusetts says its fall semester will offer in-person, socially distanced learning.