News stories tagged with "tupper-lake"

(11/09/11) Brian Mann and Martha Foley sort through the implications of an Election Day that featured scores of races that decided important questions about local leadership. more

(08/25/11) Tupper Lake village mayor Mickey Desmarais says he won't seek another term and is bowing out of the mayor's race. In an interview with the Tupper Lake Free Press, Desmarais said the criticism that he has received over his handling of the Adirondack Club and Resort project has put strain on his family. "It doesn't bother me, but it hurts them," Desmarais told the newspaper.

Desmarais has continued to raise questions about the proposed resort, its impact on the local economy and plans for the Big Tupper Ski resort. The mayor had faced growing criticism from his opponent in the race, Republican Paul Maroun, who argued that village leaders should strongly back the project.

Speaking with WNBZ radio, Maroun said the community's mayor should be "110% behind the resort." According to Maroun, environmental groups are "still out there right now lobbying in Albany to kill this project."

The Adirondack Club and Resort project is expected to face a vote by the Adirondack Park Agency in January.

(06/29/11) Most people in Asia, Africa and South America eat bugs--prepared with shallots, lettuce, chilies, lime or spices. So, why not the rest of us? Seattle-based naturalist and author David George Gordon has written 19 books on a subject that makes some people squirm.

Orzo with Crickets? Three Bee Salad? Waxworm cookies? Gordon says it's all good for us. Todd Moe spoke with him as he was about to bake European house crickets for one of his favorite creepy-crawly dishes. He says it's cuisine he'll share during BuzzFest at the Wild Center in Tupper Lake this Saturday.

(06/23/11) There's relief this morning after state officials scrambled yesterday to ease fears the Sunmount Developmental Center in might be closed.

Travis Proulx, spokesman for the Office For Peoples With Developmental Disabilities, told North Country Public Radio there is an overall plan to close New York's developmental centers, but Sunmount is not one facilities slated for closure. more

(06/22/11) An official with the Office for People with Development Disabilities, Travis Proulx, just spoke with Martha Foley, NCPR's news director, stating firmly that Sunmount is not on any closure lists, including one set for 2014.

We'll have more on this story during All Before Five and again during the 8 O'clock Hour tomorrow, but again, state officials say this unambiguously.

The confusion - and deep anxiety in Tupper Lake - were triggered on Monday when OPWDD Commissioner Courtney Burke was asked directly by WCNY reporter Susan Arbetter whether Sunmount would be closed.

"We are seeking to close all of our developmental centers by the end of 2014," Burke replied.

Her comments were rebroadcast on NCPR's newcasts, triggering a wave of anxiety in the village, which relies on Sunmount for employment. This from the Adirondack Daily Enterprise:

[Village mayor Mickey Desmarais] said there were people crying as they heard the news of the facility's closure on the radio Tuesday night and this morning.

"I mean, this is a huge wave of panic," Desmarais said.

Again, this is a developing story. Tune in to All Before Five this evening for more details.

(06/21/11) State lawmakers have given final approval to a land swap in the Adirondacks that allowed National Grid to bring a new power line to the village of Tupper Lake. Work on the new line, which stretches from Colton to Tupper Lake is already complete and has reduced the number of power outages the town experiences.

But the project required construction on roughly six acres of "forever wild" Park land. National Grid purchased 20 acres along the Raquette River that is being added to park land as a trade. The land swap was authorized by voters statewide in a ballot referendum in 2009 but the deal needed one final vote of approval from the state Senate.

The project had support from a wide range of groups, from local government leaders to environmental activists.

(03/17/11) Hundreds of people packed the auditorium yesterday at LP Quinn Elementary in Tupper Lake for a public hearing on the future of the Adirondack Club and Resort.

Developers want to build hundreds of great camp mansions, condos and homes, as well as a marina and a new ski lodge.

The vast majority of those who spoke yesterday supported the project and called for the Adirondack Park Agency to allow it to go forward. Brian Mann has our story. more

(02/23/11) A delegation of Adirondack high school students, community leaders and staff from the Wild Center leave for Finland on Thursday. Todd Moe talks with Saranac Lake artist and community organizer Gail Brill about traveling to Finland as part of an exchange that includes conversations about climate change, saving energy and winter recreation.

Organized by the Wild Center in Tupper Lake, Brill says the trip's goal is building international collaborations and communities in the Adirondacks learning from the Finns.

(01/18/11) Late last week, a World War II veteran in Tupper Lake was awarded the Bronze Star 66 years after he saved another man's life. Adrien Girouard fought heroically in Italian campaign, but it took two congressmen and the better part of a lifetime for him to be honored. Chris Morris was at the ceremony and has our story. more

(01/14/11) Susan Morse is a lifelong "tracker." She has more than 35 years experience monitoring wildlife and interpreting wildlife habitat use. Her research has focused on cougar, bobcat, black bear, and Canada lynx.

She's done extensive research nationally, and decades of conservation work in the Champlain basin. Sixteen years ago, Morse founded Keeping Track, an organization devoted to training professional biologists and citizen scientists alike in wildlife monitoring skills.

On Jan. 21 and 22, she'll bring her expertise to the Adirondack Wild Center in Tupper Lake. Friday night, she'll give a talk and slideshow. On Saturday, she'll take Wild Center staff and others interested in joining her cadre of citizen scientists out into the field for a hands-on tracking workshop.
She spoke with Martha Foley.