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Northeast Notebook Live
WAMC’s Northeast Notebook Live brings listeners inside the conversations of the region. Each day, the hour-long show airing online and on-air will feature a deep dive into an issue that matters most, as well as analysis of the headlines and additional interviews with newsmakers and journalists to provide a broad overlook of what matters most. The show will feature reporting by WAMC journalists, and highlight the vital work local journalists do to inform their communities. Northeast Notebook Live will regularly feature reporting by the Albany Times Union, the Berkshire Eagle, and the Adirondack Explorer thanks to a formal partnership with WAMC that’s meant to explore the region’s news with breadth, depth and context.

Northeast Notebook 10/01/26: Medicaid cuts, Albany budget woes, and mahjong

WAMC Northeast Public Radio | By Sam Dingman
Published October 1, 2026 at 6:10 PM EDT
The mahjong ladies of Windsor, Massachusetts, inside the Sangar General Store.
Josh Landes
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WAMC
The mahjong ladies of Windsor, Massachusetts, inside the Sangar General Store.

Co-host Molly Anderson is doing her part in the Northeast's attempt to fend off the invasion of spotted lantern flies. Last week, she joined a group of brave citizens combating a swarm of them in Kingston.

Speaking of battle, Republican Congressman Mike Lawler and Democratic challenger Cait Conley are locked in a close one as election day approaches in New York's 17th congressional district. How will changes to Medicaid imposed by President Trump's One Big Beautiful bill impact voters' thinking?

Meanwhile, Albany Mayor Dorsey Applyrs has a fight of her own: she's facing a multi-million-dollar gap in the city's budget. She announced her financial package for the next fiscal year this morning - and WAMC's Grant Ashley was on the scene for a special report.

And: a gathering of mahjong players in small-town Massachusetts becomes a midterm focus group when Josh Landes arrives with his microphone.

All that and more on this October 1st edition of "Northeast Notebook."
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Sam Dingman
Sam Dingman is WAMC’s Hudson/Catskill Bureau Chief. Previously, he was co-host and reporter at “The Show” on KJZZ, Phoenix’s NPR station. Prior to KJZZ, Dingman was the creator and host of the acclaimed podcast “Family Ghosts,” which has been hailed as a critic’s choice by NPR, the LA Times and the New York Times. Dingman also co-hosted the BlueWire original series “The Rumor,” which was featured in the Washington Post and New York Magazine, and was a Webby honoree for Best Podcast Writing. He was story editor for Lemonada Media’s Signal Award-winning series “Pack One Bag,” writer and showrunner for John Stamos’s Webby-winning podcast “The Grand Scheme: Snatching Sinatra,” editor of Karina Longworth’s “You Must Remember This,” and a producer for WNYC’s Peabody-winning “On the Media.” He is a four-time winner of the Moth Grand and Story Slams, and has created, written, hosted, produced and edited podcasts for The Atlantic, Audible Originals, Gilded Audio, Gimlet Media, Lincoln Center, Panoply Media, Paramount Pictures, Pushkin Industries, Spotify, Slate, Stitcher, and Wondery.
See stories by Sam Dingman