We’re going to start today’s show with one of those obvious statements you love so much: A stroke is a medical emergency.  The faster you recognize that you or someone you are with is having a stroke, the better the chance of survival.  Not everyone does.  Stroke is the forth biggest killer in the US and the number one cause of long term disability.  On today’s Health Show we’ll hear about the latest methods of turning stroke victims into stroke survivors.

And you know how every so often you need to reboot your computer to keep in running efficiently?  Well the same thing goes for humans.  It’s called sleep!

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Dozens of activists from labor, faith-based and community groups rallied on Main Street in Springfield Massachusetts Thursday to send a message to budget negotiators in Washington.  WAMC’s Paul Tuthill reports.

Speakers at the noon time rally said there should be no cuts to Medicare, Medicaid or other social safety net programs  as a way to avoid the so-called “ fiscal cliff”.  Tim Carpenter, executive director of Progressive Democrats of America urged President Obama to back Main Street, not Wall Street.

The activists called on the state’s Congressional delegation to back a proposal called “ The Budget For All”  It prevents cuts to social programs, raises taxes on corporations and the top two percent of wage earners and redirects military spending to domestic needs.

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New York's top court has rejected damages claims against state inspectors who continually recertified a tour boat for 48-passenger capacity before it overturned on an Adirondack lake in 2005, drowning 20 people during a leaf-peeping tour.

The Court of Appeals said Thursday that the state generally isn't liable for "the negligent performance" of government functions unless it has some "special duty" to those hurt.

Federal investigators afterward said the 40-foot Ethan Allen should have been limited to 14 passengers. The boat tipped over in clear, sunny weather, sending 47 tourists and the captain into Lake George. The National Transportation Safety Board concluded that "insufficient stability," partly from the passenger load, was the probable cause of the accident.

Nineteen of those killed were from Michigan. One was from Ohio.

Copyright 2012 Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

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A new paper published by scientists in the Northeast finds that long-term studies at the local scale are needed to accurately predict and manage the effects of climate change.

The study “Long-Term Integrated Studies Show Complex and Surprising Effects of Climate Change in the Northern Hardwood Forest” published in BioScience found that global level climate change models do not account for changes that are occurring in local forests and ecosystems.  Cary Institute of Ecosystem Studies Microbial Ecologist Peter Groffman is the lead author.

Co-Author Syracuse University Professor of Environmental Systems Engineering Charlie Driscoll says because climate change plays out slowly over time, these localized studies are more able to determine trends.  

Peter Groffman agrees that it’s critical to do localized research in order to fully comprehend the implications of climate change.

21 researchers across the Northeast studied the forest ecosystem at the Hubbard Brook Experimental Forest New Hampshire and used archival data collected there since 1955.

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The U.S. Department of Education says northern New England states have some of the best high school graduation rates in the country.

The department on Wednesday released rankings that for the first time compare states using the same data.

Vermont had the third-best graduation rate, at 87 percent, while New Hampshire ranked seventh with an 86 percent rate. Maine came in 10th, at 84 percent.

Iowa had the highest graduation rate, 88 percent, while the District of Columbia had the lowest rate, 59 percent.

The Portland Press Herald says the ranking method essentially bases the rates on students who enter school as ninth-graders and graduate within four years.
The approach allows for direct comparisons among states.

Copyright 2012 Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

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The former town supervisor who sued New York over a ban on floatplanes from certain wilderness lakes in the Adirondacks says he's dropping the lawsuit.

The Adirondack Daily Enterprise reports that former Warrensburg Town Supervisor Maynard Baker says he can't afford to continue the suit he launched in 2010.

The federal lawsuit sought to reopen nearly 40 Adirondack lakes and ponds, arguing that a state ban violates the Americans with Disabilities Act.

The state had argued the plaintiffs, Baker and five other people, did not have standing to sue and the suit didn't specify which waters they wanted to open.

The suit followed a floatplane ban on Low's Lake near Tupper Lake.

Copyright 2012 Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

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The provost at the University of Michigan has been chosen as the 18th president of Dartmouth College in New Hampshire.

Philip Hanlon is a 1977 Dartmouth graduate and will succeed Jim Yong Kim. Kim left in April to become president of the World Bank.

    Hanlon serves is the chief academic officer at the University of Michigan. He also is a mathematics professor and plans to continue to teach at Dartmouth.

    He says his time attending the Ivy League college convinced him that a broad liberal arts education is the firmest foundation for success and he looks forward to returning to the place where he forged lifelong friendships.

     A welcome celebration is planned for January. Hanlon will start work July 1 with a formal inauguration in the fall.

Copyright 2012 Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

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The private Vermont high school that educates students in the St. Johnsbury area is planning to open a campus in South Korea.

St. Johnsbury Academy officials say the school was the first American school chosen to operate at the Jeju Global Education City, which is scheduled to open in the fall of 2015.

    The education city is being built on an island off the southern coast of South Korea. The education city was established by the Korean government to help meet an increasing demand in that country for overseas studies and language training.

    St. Johnsbury Academy was selected from schools from throughout the U.S.

    Academy Headmaster Tom Lovett says he confident the school's comprehensive curriculum and personalized approach to instruction will make it a success in South Korea.

Copyright 2012 Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

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A Bennington group that works with the homeless has received preliminary approval for a new shelter in the southern Vermont town.

The Bennington Coalition for the Homeless received the preliminary approval from the Development Review Board for a North Street shelter. Zoning Administrator Daniel Monks says it's likely the shelter will be approved

   The coalition expects the building will accommodate 12 to 15 people.

    Coalition Executive Director Kendy Skidmore told the Bennington Banner the location would serve as an emergency shelter that people could use without prior planning. The group operates other facilities in the area, but those require prior approval.

Copyright 2012 Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

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The publisher of a Vermont newspaper is defending his paper's hiring of a convicted sex offender to cover police and courts.

Barre-Montpelier Times Argus Publisher R. John Mitchell says it's important to punish those who break the law but also offer an opportunity for rehabilitation.

In a Thursday story by a reporter for a sister publication, Times Argus Editor Steven Pappas says that Eric Blaisdell disclosed his crime when he applied for the job in June. Pappas checked references and with the New Hampshire Department of Corrections. All said Blaisdell posed no risk to the public.

Blaisdell served nine months following a 2007 arrest for soliciting sex via computer with a 13-year-old girl who turned out to be a police officer. He had no physical contact with anyone.

Blaisdell said he didn't intend to do anything wrong.

Copyright 2012 Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

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Vermont Health Department officials have rewritten rules designed to implement a new law on childhood immunizations, but some parents aren't satisfied with how those changes are being made.

An earlier draft of the rules said when parents want to exempt their child from vaccinations they need to sign a form implying they agree with the Health Department's assessment of the vaccines' risks and benefits. Parents who have expressed skepticism about vaccines say that's compelled speech, and that it violates the First Amendment.

Health Department officials told lawmakers the rules had been rewritten to address those concerns.

But Jennifer Stella of the Vermont Coalition for Vaccine Choice says school nurses haven't been told about the rewrite.

Deputy Health Commissioner Tracy Dolan says that should be happening soon.

Copyright 2012 Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.

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The president of the University of Massachusetts is promising more accountability and transparency at the five campus system..  WAMC”s Paul Tuthill reports

   Beginning next Spring UMass will issue a public report measuring progress in six key areas.  These include student experience and success, research and development enterprise, good stewards of resources  and telling and selling the UMass story.  There will be 21 indicators to measure success including the university’s ability to improve student retention and graduation rates and increase external fund raising.  UMass President Robert Caret, in an address Thursday to the Greater Boston Chamber of Commerce, said the report is a way to hold the university accountable and keep the public informed about progress that is being made.

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It’s the birding show on this edition of Vox Pop, with bird expert Rich Guthrie answering your avian inquiries. WAMC’s Ray Graf hosts.

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