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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 11/12/26: Flock moratorium, Hinsdale police reform, and odd couples

WAMC Northeast Public Radio | By Sam Dingman
Published November 12, 2026 at 5:10 PM EST
The Hinsdale, Massachusetts, police department.
Josh Landes
/
WAMC
The Hinsdale, Massachusetts, police department.

Earlier this week, the Columbia County Board of Supervisors approved a three-month moratorium on Flock automated license plate readers. Some supervisors are hoping it's a first step towards a permanent ban.

Also this hour...

  • The dietary supplement Kratom is beloved by people who rely on it to treat anxiety and exhaustion. But its potentially life-threatening side effects are making it difficult to regulate.
  • As the dust settles from last week's midterms, voters tell us they're tempering their optimism about how much newly-elected senators and representatives will be able to accomplish.
  • A recent documentary revisits the 19th century Anti-Rent Wars.
  • A law firm hired to review the conduct of Hinsdale's police department releases its findings.
  • Our hosts share their recommendations for unlikely food pairings.

All that and more on this Nov. 12 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