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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 10/21/26: Anti-Botstein petition, Colonie protests, Humphrey murder trial

WAMC Northeast Public Radio | By Sam Dingman
Published October 21, 2026 at 5:42 PM EDT
Saratoga Springs farmers market is run outdoors at Highrock Park through the end of October
Aaron Shellow-Lavine
/
WAMC
Saratoga Springs farmers market is run outdoors at Highrock Park through the end of October

Shortly after eight o'clock this morning, Bard College officials received a petition with over 1,200 signatures. The petition urges the school's leadership to prohibit former president Leon Botstein from taking up residence on campus, as had been previously planned.

Also this hour:

  • New York Gov. Kathy Hochul opts in to a controversial provision of President Trump's One Big Beautiful Bill. The move has the potential to reshape the ongoing debate over school choice.
  • After videos surface of high school students using a racial slur, students and parents in Colonie, New York speak out at a passionate Board of Education meeting.
  • Co-host Aaron Shellow-Lavine continues his quest to assemble a breakfast sandwich out of hyper-local ingredients.
  • Schenectady prosecutors allege that Ray Wright, Jr. murdered his ex-girlfriend Samantha Humphrey when they were both just 14 years old. Wright, who is now 18, is now on trial.

All that and more on this Oct. 21 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