Jesse King

New York State Police and local law enforcement are stepping up patrols and traffic stops to crack down on impaired driving this holiday season. 

In one Saratoga Springs classroom, an ancient art is meeting new media. WAMC’s Jesse King reports on poetry and podcasting at Maple Avenue Middle School.

A longtime tradition at Albany’s Empire State Plaza is open for the season ahead of New York’s holiday tree lighting on Sunday. WAMC’s Jesse King stopped by while the state Office of General Services placed the finishing touches on the plaza ice rink. 

A snow emergency begins Tuesday night in the city of Albany. 

Law enforcement officials, local district attorneys and state lawmakers are among those trying to stop criminal justice reforms due to take effect in the new year. Now, Republican New York State Senator Jim Tedisco and Democratic Assemblyman Angelo Santabarbara have introduced a bill seeking to amend upcoming bail reforms.

The Capital District YMCA plans to open a new health and wellness center in Albany’s growing Park South neighborhood in February. 

At one Capital Region high school, students can add fades, tape-ups and crew cuts to reading, writing and arithmetic. 

(Airs 11/10 @ 6 p.m. & 11/11 @ 3 p.m.) The Media Project is an inside look at media coverage of current events with WAMC’s CEO Alan Chartock; Times Union Editor Rex Smith; Judy Patrick, former editor of the Daily Gazette and vice president for editorial development for the New York Press Association; and journalist Jim Heaney, former Buffalo news reporter and current editor and executive director of Investigative Post. On this week’s episode, Alan, Rex, Judy and Jim discuss the failures of the Freedom of Information Law, and consider whether going nonprofit can save daily newspapers.

A family in Altamont, New York has loaned a powered parachute used in the 1999 James Bond film “The World Is Not Enough” to the International Spy Museum in Washington, D.C.

The College of Saint Rose in Albany has opened its new Women’s Leadership Institute. 

There has been a shakeup in the race for mayor of Troy just one week before Election Day. 

In May 1827, a member of Albany’s elite was killed in his family’s Georgian mansion at Cherry Hill. The murder of John Whipple resulted in two sensational trials steeped in the issues of their time, and the last public hanging in Albany history. Historic Cherry Hill continues to mark the macabre anniversary, as WAMC’s Jesse King found out.

The University at Albany is teaming up with Capital Region BOCES to bring a new weather forecasting tool to school districts.

The 18th president of Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute is celebrating 20 years at the helm of the university. Dr. Shirley Ann Jackson became the first woman to lead RPI in 1999 — and the first African-American woman to lead a top-ranked research school nationwide, period. Her tenure has included groundbreaking research and some campus controversy. WAMC’s Jesse King sat down with Jackson for a rare interview.

Three Capital Region cities are testing security devices to deter break-ins at vacant buildings.

A new scorecard says Massachusetts, Vermont, and New York are among the most energy efficient states in the country.

A new 80-foot downtown mural is celebrating Troy’s long history.

In a busy area for Capital Region traffic, Colonie officials have opened a new connector road between Routes 9 and 9R.

Celebrating an anonymous $15 million donation it received over the winter, Albany Law School recently unveiled a new sign for its Justice Center. 

A new report finds 8 percent of bridges in New York’s Capital Region are structurally deficient. 

After a year of renovations, the public library in Colonie, New York has a new entrance. Officials gathered to cut the ribbon at The William K. Sanford Town Library on Monday. 

The New York state Department of Education has approved a new dual-degree nursing program between Siena College and Maria College. 

This year is the 150th anniversary of professional baseball, dating back to the launch of the Cincinnati Red Stockings in 1869. As today’s major league teams battle for a spot in the playoffs, “vintage baseball teams” across the U.S. like to celebrate the game as it was played in its formative years. WAMC’s Jesse King caught a recent doubleheader between the Fleischmanns Mountain Athletic Club and the Brooklyn Atlantics. 

Members of the Schenectady County Public Library Board of Trustees and the County Legislature have dedicated the library’s main branch in honor of a longtime local leader. 

Teachers and staff at the Schenectady City School District have been hard at work in preparation for the return of students Thursday. 

With its national profile continuing to rise, indie rock duo Phantogram is returning to the Capital Region this weekend. 

The marijuana industry is in a time of transition in New York state. Medical marijuana is legal; recreational marijuana is not. In Albany County, Curaleaf New York is marking its first anniversary of its medical marijuana cultivation and processing center at the Coeymans Industrial Park in Ravena. WAMC’s Jesse King got an inside look.

Capital Roots’ longstanding “produce aisle on wheels” has undergone a roughly $85,000 upgrade. 

Schenectady County Family Court is launching a mentoring program to help at-risk youth.