{"id":7110,"date":"2012-12-31T08:02:47","date_gmt":"2012-12-31T13:02:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/?p=7110"},"modified":"2012-12-31T08:05:36","modified_gmt":"2012-12-31T13:05:36","slug":"my-top-10-stories-list-for-2012","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/blogs.northcountrypublicradio.org\/inbox\/2012\/12\/31\/my-top-10-stories-list-for-2012\/","title":{"rendered":"My Top 10 Story List for 2012"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"<\/a>I tell this story all the time, but it’s a true one:\u00a0 When I came to the North Country thirteen years ago, someone — I can’t remember who it was — told me I’d scored the best job in the world, with one big caveat.<\/p>\n

In a rural place like northern New York, he opined, you’ll run out of good new story ideas in two years, tops.<\/p>\n

So far, thankfully, that hasn’t happened.\u00a0 2012 felt like another huge year.\u00a0 There just weren’t enough hours in the day.\u00a0 Here’s my recap of the biggest events that I covered, counting down to the biggest.<\/p>\n

10.\u00a0 We learned that serial killer Israel Keyes lurked in the North Country, owning land in Franklin County, stashing weapons in St. Lawrence County.\u00a0 He brutally stalked and murdered two people in Vermont and robbed a bank in Tupper Lake.\u00a0 This guy was a true predator.\u00a0 It’s lamentable that he was allowed to commit suicide in an Alaska jail cell last month, leaving so many questions unanswered.<\/p>\n

9.\u00a0 In August, Governor Cuomo signed a $47 million deal to acquire nearly 70,000 acres of land for the Adirondack forest preserve.\u00a0 The former Finch Pruyn lands include some iconic spots, including vast reaches of the wild Hudson River.\u00a0 The controversial purchase also continues to shift the debate over conservation in the Park, as more and more vulnerable timber land is protected.<\/p>\n

8.\u00a0 Earlier this month, the region won a second top-prize award in Governor Cuomo’s statewide economic revival competition – a victory that secured for the region $90.2 million dollars for grants, tax breaks and other incentives.\u00a0 The award means a huge infusion of cash, but it has also put the North Country on the map as a region doing interesting things to boost jobs and investment, from renewable energy to Bombardier’s big rail car assembly plant in Plattsburgh.<\/p>\n

7.\u00a0 Human activity continued to spark a new kind of “living pollution” in the North Country, from the spread of noxious invasive species like Giant Hogweed and Spiny water flea to the explosion of toxic blue green algae on Lake Champlain.\u00a0 We know how to clean up oil spills and PCBs.\u00a0 But what do we do when our agriculture and recreation open the door to pollution that, you know, reproduces?<\/p>\n

6.\u00a0 The Hudson River Black River Regulating District won a victory in the courts in May that will allow it to bill county governments for its flood-control services.\u00a0 This sounds arcane, I know, but the HRBRRD manages dams, reservoirs and waterflows across much of the Adirondack-North Country, from Watertown to Great Sacandaga.\u00a0 Without this victory, the organization was teetering toward insolvency.<\/p>\n

5.\u00a0 Teresa Sayward, the Republican pioneer who crusaded for same-sex marriage in New York state, chose not to seek re-election to her Willsboro-based Assembly seat.\u00a0 She faced enormous heat from social conservatives for her stance.\u00a0 Yet she was, for decades, one of the most level-headed politicians in the region, and would have had a very real shot at being her region’s next state Senator.<\/p>\n

4.\u00a0 The North Country’s priest shortage continued to deepen.\u00a0 For decades, the Roman Catholic church has been an essential part of the region’s fabric, a role defined in significant measure by priests dispatched from the Diocese of Ogdensburg.\u00a0 But the number of priests continues to dwindle, with a third of the region’s RC clergy expected to retire in the next decade alone with few seminarians to replace them.<\/p>\n

3. The New York Civil Liberties Union attacked the use of solitary confinement in state prisons statewide, but focused on facilities in the North Country.\u00a0 In a sweeping report, and in a new lawsuit, the NYCLU set out to change the system by which inmates are placed in lockdown cells in facilities like Upstate Correctional in Malone.\u00a0 State prison commissioner Brian Fischer has promised an “intense review” of internal procedures.<\/p>\n

2.\u00a0 The fight over the Adirondack Club and Resort escalated following the APA’s 1o-to-1 decision in January to green light the massive project.\u00a0 Protect the Adirondacks and the Sierra Club sued to have the permits invalidated.\u00a0 In the months since, the mood in Tupper Lake has been bitter and the controversy became a major flashpoint during the political campaign, with most politicians supporting the development.\u00a0 The lawsuit is still pending and its outcome could have wide ramifications for developers, the APA, and the environmental community.<\/p>\n

1.\u00a0 Democratic congressman Bill Owens was re-elected in a straight-up rematch with Republican challenger Matt Doheny.\u00a0 We’ve known for a long time that the political temperament of the North Country was changing.\u00a0 This contest settles the argument.\u00a0 A once Republican-conservative stronghold is now a moderate, centrist sort of place.\u00a0 Voters appear to have little appetite for partisan ideology and rhetoric.\u00a0 Owens won with an even temperament, calls for bipartisanship, and a grounding in local, bread-and-butter issues. Boring and dramatic at the same time.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

So there it is.\u00a0 2012 distilled.\u00a0 How about you?\u00a0 What stories caught your attention?\u00a0 Comments, as always, welcome.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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