When tennis superstar Serena Williams opened up about the harrowing experience of giving birth to her daughter in 2017, it put a spotlight on an alarming disparity: Black women in the U.S. are three times more likely to die of a pregnancy-related...
24 min
127
Body of Ice, Feet of Fire
"The Olympics of Irish Dancing," as it's called by participants, draws hundreds of the world's best Irish dancers annually. It's been three years since the last World Irish Dancing Championship, thanks to the pandemic. The competition is back this...
26 min
128
Update from Ukraine
For five weeks, journalists at Maye Sense, an online news site serving people of Slavyansk in the Donetsk region of Eastern Ukraine, have been working non-stop, largely without pay, and sometimes in situations where their safety is not...
12 min
129
Dr. Tom and 'The Hard Places'
In 2011, President Barack Obama awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom posthumously to an optometrist from Delmar, New York. His name was Dr. Tom Little, and he had been murdered along with nine other foreign aid workers in a remote area of...
35 min
130
More Music Less Violence
After the pandemic took hold in 2020, the Capital Region saw a significant uptick in violence. More than 30 people were killed in Albany alone in 2020 and 2021. As the community was reeling from these tragedies and local authorities struggled to...
21 min
131
The Case of the Bethlehem John Doe
On April 3, 1981, a farmer found a body in a field in Delmar, New York. Forensics at the time determined it was a male, but his identity remained a mystery to investigators. Four decades later, it became the Capital Region’s first ever...
26 min
132
Cocktails of Magnitude
Almost a decade ago, Nikita Nakonchnyi spent his summers working as a cook at a resort in Lake George. Three weeks ago, he was a typical 20-something living in Kyiv, Ukraine, and teaching digital marketing. This week, the 27-year-old helped blow up a...
36 min
133
Kyiv to New York
In the week since Russia invaded Ukraine, Times Union journalists have been reporting on the impact the conflict is having in New York, which is home to the largest Ukrainian immigrant population in the U.S. On this episode, we connect with Valeriy...
28 min
134
Long COVID
One in three people who have had COVID-19 may experience a wide range of health issues in the weeks or months following infection, according to the CDC. Common long COVID symptoms include headaches, gastrointestinal issues and “brain fog.” Because...
35 min
135
Under the Stairs
A child missing for three years was found safe this week in an Ulster County home. Police discovered the 7-year-old girl hidden in a secret compartment under a stairwell. She disappeared in Tioga County in 2019, following a visit with her biological...
27 min
136
The Tap Griot
For Omar Edwards, tapping is not a form of dance. It’s a way of communicating and expressing himself that transcends that narrow definition of the performance art. Edwards, whose cousin is tap legend Savion Glover, is currently playing the Tap...
33 min
137
House on a Hill
Nearly 300 years ago, Ten Broeck Mansion was the home of a decorated Revolutionary War general. Today, the house on Arbor Hill is a museum dedicated to preserving the history of the property, which includes telling the stories of enslaved persons who...
32 min
138
The Gilded Age
Last summer the city of Troy, New York, was transformed into late-19th century New York City for the filming of Julian Fellowes’ new HBO period drama “The Gilded Age.” But that wasn’t the only Capital Region connection to the production....
31 min
139
Covering the Crash
The 2018 limousine crash in upstate New York that killed 20 people remains one of the deadliest U.S. transportation accidents in decades. The man responsible for putting the condemned vehicle on the road — flouting failed state inspections — will...
30 min
140
New York's Dam Problem
The Empire State is home to more than 7,000 dams. And recently, Times Union reporters Emilie Munson and Rick Karlin discovered that some of them are in questionable shape...and not all of them have actually been rated for safety. On this episode...
29 min
141
State of the State
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul stood in front of a sparse crowd of lawmakers in the State Assembly chamber this week and insisted she was not there to make history. She was, in fact, making history, as the first woman to give the annual address. Her...
33 min
142
Evidence Dump
New York Attorney General Letitia James' office released a trove of materials this week that added dramatic new detail to its investigation of former Gov. Andrew M. Cuomo. From catty, expletive-laden text messages between staffers to testimony that...
36 min
143
Get Back to Let It Be
In 1969, filmmaker Sir Michael Lindsay-Hogg shot more than 50 hours of footage of the Beatles as they wrote their final iconic album, "Let it Be." From the first rehearsals to the impromptu rooftop concert that turned out to be their last performance,...
39 min
144
Home for the Holidays
World Series champ Ian Anderson returned home to Clifton Park earlier this month, still taking in the enormity of winning MLB's grand championship during his rookie season with the Atlanta Braves. "American Idol" finalist Madison VanDenburg came...
36 min
145
Vaccines and Lollipops
Appointments at pediatricians’ offices and pharmacies across the Capital Region were snatched up fast this week as providers began offering Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine to 5- to 11-year-olds. On this episode of The Eagle, Kristi Gustafson...
31 min
146
The Cult Specialist
Rick Ross spent more than a decade fighting lawsuits leveled against him by Keith Raniere and NXIVM, after the cult deprogrammer publicly criticized the purported self-help organization’s practices. In 2018, Ross ended up testifying at Raniere’s...
31 min
147
A Damming Situation
The city of Mechanicville gets its drinking water from a small reservoir in Saratoga County. A few busy beavers who also call the area home are determined to dam up the lone tributary that leads there. The situation has pit the two in a high stakes...
33 min
148
Table Hopping Turns 15
A decade and a half ago, Steve Barnes made the case to write a blog: “There’s a real appetite for restaurant news,” the food and entertainment writer argued to an audience of skeptical editors who finally relented. Today, Table Hopping is the...
29 min
149
There's No Place Like Home
More than 400 refugees will settle in Albany this year, but what happens after they arrive? On this episode of The Eagle, reporter Massarah Mikati shares how the lack of quality affordable housing in the region is burdening local refugee support...
33 min
150
The Funeral Train
In April of 1865, President Abraham Lincoln's coffin traveled from Washington to Illinois on a historic funeral train. It stopped in Albany along the way, offering lawmakers and citizens a chance to pay their respects. And on the anniversary of that...