Last American Newspaper welcomed in Albany
NCPR takes close look at illegal immigrant problem upstate after children removed
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I kept getting distracted by what was happening on the stage.
The seating at The Capital Repertory Theater in Albany is laid out in a semi-circle so the audience surrounds the performers on three sides. I was sitting in the first row to the right of the stage directly facing the audience at the center.
After 40 years as a journalist, having a notebook and pen at my disposal are mandatory.
This was a working night.
I was covering the dramatic stage production before me, but more concerned about the reaction of the audience.
None of the words spoken this night would surprise me because I had been writing them for more than a year. This was the first public reading of The Last American Newspaper, and while I've had thousands of bylines over the decades, there was never one labeling me a playwright - until Wednesday night.
That morning, I showed up at rehearsal in the basement of Crandall Public Library and joined the director, producer and six actors to create that night's show.
Director Marcus Kyd guided the actors and actresses - many of whom had never met - in telling a story of a small community newspaper trying to make a difference.
It was my newspaper and the story of the people I worked so closely with over two decades.
The five hours flew by in stops and starts with Kyd throwing out suggestions, the performers asking questions and sometimes offering up suggestions themselves.
To my untrained ears, it was working.
Walking into the theater was a bit of a shock. There was a reception upstairs with drinks and snacks and I realized I did not know most of the people.
This was mostly an Albany crowd.
More people knew the retired Times Union editor Rex Smith than me, and I wondered if anyone had even heard of my newspaper The Post-Star.
When I finally found my seat next to producer Miriam Weisfeld, I was startled by the number of people in the theater.
There was a lot of them; more than 100.
But I was here to work.
As the actors took their places on stage, I alternated my gaze between the words I knew so well and the faces in the crowd I did not.
Five minutes, 10, 15 went by and the spectators sat mostly still, their eyes focused on the performers, engaged in the story.
It was so quiet.
I kept waiting for that to change, for the boredom to set in, the fidgeting to start.
The first couple attempts at comic relief were met with chuckles I thought should have been laughs, but it was better than silence.
They remained interested.
As I looked at them, I found them sometimes looking back at me. Journalists strive to be the anonymous presence in the crowd, so this was disconcerting.
The first act - what I believed to be the stronger of the two acts - clocked in at more than 45 minutes and then something odd happened at intermission.
People I did not know approached to tell me they loved what they were seeing.
Several told me the same thing.
And when I excused myself to visit the rest room, the kind words continued there as well.
"I hope you like the second act as much," I warned.
As the performance continued, the jokes landed better in the second act. The audience seem to embrace the plight of my real-life colleagues and how this small newspaper tried to make a difference.
And then it was over and I was called up to the stage with the producer and director while former Times Union editor Rex Smith asked questions.
Most of the people stayed.
They asked good questions about newspapers and journalism while wondering about a future without journalism. They seemed to be looking to us for answers, for reassurance.
As the Q&A continued, there were more questions for Rex and I about newspapers than Miriam and Marcus about theatrical interpretation.
The play is called The Last American Newspaper. It was adapted from my book of the same name. It's a metaphor for what is happening at small community newspapers all over the country and the void left behind when they are gone. It's a critical message right now. Something I think small communities are feeling every day.
Wednesday night's performance was just the first step in its stage life. The Adirondack Theater Festival will be holding three more readings July 25-27 in Glens Falls.
I'm hoping it will be even better by then.
I'm hoping the people of Glens Falls will embrace the story as well because they are characters, too.
"All the world's a stage," some playwright once said. "And all the men and women merely players."
That guy has a future.
I'm hoping the same is true of The Last American Newspaper.
Doing nothing
Since the Town of Queensbury Ethics Board ruled on Feb. 11 that Queensbury Town Board member Tim McNulty has a "conflict of interest" because he is also chairman of the Warren County Republican Committee, the Town Board has ignored the issue.
At the last Town Board meeting five members of the public voiced their concerns and asked the Town Board to address the issue.
I urge all Queensbury residents who have a concern about the board's ethics to attend Monday's meeting and voice their concerns.
Each citizen has four minutes to address the board at the end of the meeting, but it doesn't need to be that long. It can be as simple as: "I ask you the members of the Queensbury Town Board to address the current conflict of interest that exists on your board."
Hopefully, another five citizens will voice their concerns.
Ten would be better.
Making dairy cows safe
On Feb. 25, the White House issued a statement saying, "President Donald J. Trump is removing illegal immigrant killers, rapists, and drug dealers from our streets and sending them back where they belong."
North Country Public Radio reported this week that three children and their mother living in Sackets Harbor - just west of Watertown on Lake Ontario - were among seven individuals detained by federal immigration officials at a dairy farm.
NCPR reported that ICE officials conducted "enhanced targeted operations" in New York with a visit to a dairy farm. All seven individuals were removed from the state and are awaiting deportation hearings.
It's hard not to be shocked at the immigration enforcement as North Country cows are are made safer.
Sackets Harbor school superintendent Jennifer Gaffney told NCPR, “Basically, law enforcement was executing a warrant for a person who was allegedly involved in a crime. This happened at a local farm within my school district boundaries. My students were caught in the middle of that raid, and they were taken and detained.”
She went on to say “these kids are classmates, they are good friends, they are wonderful students, and they are part of the fabric of our school community, and they just need to be returned to their classrooms.”
She also said the school has been unable to find out where the children have been taken.
NCPR also included this important piece of information which we should already know here:
Dairy farms make up the single largest segment of New York agriculture, and are deeply tied into local economies. Migrant labor is estimated to make up somewhere between 30 and 80% of the dairy farm workforce.
"The industry, of course, you know, cares about those workers, needs those workers," said Richard Stup, the director of Cornell's Agricultural Workforce Development Program, to NCPR. He said many migrant dairy workers become embedded in the communities they work. "In many cases, you know, these individuals have been here for a long time. There's Pew research, showing that a large percentage have been here longer than 15 years."
Hardly the killers, rapists and drug dealers the administration said it was targeting on Feb. 25.
In an ironic twist, it turns out that Border Czar Tom Homan, who has been outspoken about removing all illegal immigrants, has a home in Sackets Harbor.
A protest is being planned by the Sackets Harbor community that will end in front of Homan's house.
“He lives in that community and he is a North Country native, so this is right in his backyard. And it’s shameful," Jefferson County Democratic Committee chair Corey DeCillis told NCPR. "Obviously this is the administration’s policy, but I really think they’re going about it the total wrong way, and he needs to understand this is his backyard and his community and he’s impacting it greatly."
NCPR followed up on its original story Thursday with reporting on how many illegal immigrants actually work at upstate farms.
In the spotlight
Rep. Elise Stefanik is passionately trying to stay in the spotlight despite her recent demotion from President Donald Trump's cabinet.
She is again beating the drum about antisemitism at elite universities. Previous accusations have gotten her lots of attention and the resignations of several college presidents.
This week, the New York Times reported that Stefanik - using a 2023 text message - went after Columbia University's new president, Claire Shipman, despite being on the job just a few days.
“It’s already come out that she (Shipman) has criticized and belittled the House investigation and the accountability measures and has failed to protect Jewish students,” Ms. Stefanik said on Fox News’s “Sunday Morning Futures.
Stefanik, sounding more and more like a modern Joe McCarthy, went after Shipman in a TV interview.
More Elise
An Indiana broadcast outlet seemed to have more information about Stefanik's return to the House than most of the national media.
It makes for an interesting read.
Upstate prisons
In another important story from North Country Public Radio, it takes a deep dive into the history and impact of prisons in UIpstate New York and what the future has to hold.
Take a look.
Ken Tingley spent more than four decades working in small community newspapers in upstate New York. Since retirement in 2020 he has written three books and is currently adapting his second book "The Last American Newspaper" into a play. He currently lives in Queensbury, N.Y.
Sedition Stefanik has no moral compass. Her only concern is self interest as I have written many times before. If continuing to beat the antisemitic drum will help her from fading into obscurity that is exactly what she will do. Her shameless pursuit of Columbia University is just another example of her diabolical plan. Miss Harvard knows better but continues to beat the MAGA drum. Jumping on the Trump train has not worked for her so far. She hasn’t figured out that the Destroyer in Chief will chew her up and spit her out in a minute without thinking twice. The loyalty that he absolutely demands is a one way street. Those who continue doing the same thing expecting a different result are pathetically delusional. Unfortunately, we in NY 21 are stuck with her . Hopefully that will change in 2026.
I would love to see the media report the abduction of children by ICE jack booted thugs as the work of Elise Stefanik and Dan Stec. They put the molesting orange clown in power and are absolutely responsible for these actions.