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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 10/12/26: Medicaid cuts, mastodons, and being forced to use AI

WAMC Northeast Public Radio | By Sam Dingman
Published October 12, 2026 at 5:01 PM EDT
AI generated image of a panel discussion taking place at a radio station, created November 20, 2024
File photo
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WAMC
Artificial intelligence-generated image of a panel discussion taking place at a radio station, created on Nov. 20, 2024

On Monday, I received a call from a source at Columbia Memorial Hospital — part of the Albany Med Health System. The source told me that Albany Med has retained a controversial financial and risk advisory firm called Kroll to conduct an independent investigation of CEO Daniel T. Pickett, who was recently accused of sexual assault. The source was concerned because one of Kroll's previous clients is Harvey Weinstein.

Also this hour: do you ever feel like every app on your computer is forcing you to use artificial intelligence? You're not alone — especially if you don't like that feeling. Would it change anything if you knew that a small business in your community was staying afloat by using AI?

Plus: ancient mastodon bones have been discovered in a backyard in upstate New York.

All that and more on this October 12th 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
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