[Music] [Applause] [Music] this is Northern Light for Wednesday September 4th good morning I'm Monica sandeski and I'm Julia vottero Governor Kathy hokel says she fired an aid last year who is now accused of being an agent for the Chinese government I'm furious and I'm outraged and absolutely shocked at how Brazen her behavior was it was a betrayal of trust also on the show The New York State Fair has closed we'll hear a few of the highlights and challenges from this year we had more than 100 sheep on top of last year's number enter our competitions same thing with dairy cattle and that's a huge thing for people especially for our exhibitors who are in those competitions it means we're really coming back and we're really bouncing back and one retiree in Booneville has embraced a second career as an outdoor education teacher it's been a very Growing Experience for me which is a perfect retirement job because it keeps me active and learning new things new skills and Chef Curtis with the carriage house cooking school shares a late summer recipe for all those ripe tomatoes in your garden all that's coming up on Northern Light stick with [Music] [Applause] [Music] us support for Northern Light here on North Country Public Radio comes from Mountain orthotic and prosthetic Services a full service practice committed to providing care for patients of all ages with offices in Lake Placid platsburg and Malone details and referrals at mountain.com and by Blue seed Studios a multi-disciplinary Arts Center featuring classes for adults and youth concerts art exhibits and more blued studios. org [Music] [Applause] [Music] this is Northern Light I'm Monica sandeski and I'm Julia boo an age the New York Governor Kathy hokel is accused of working secretly for China's government the US justice department alleges she was taking payments from China's Communist Party Linda son and her husband Chris ho Chris who pleaded not guilty yesterday former ncpr reporter Brian man spoke with morning additions Steve inke earlier this morning okay what does the indictment say yeah it says that Linda son who was an important player in New York politics and government for more than a decade worked in secret for China as early as 2016 failing to register as an agent for foreign government what the FBI says is that one of her missions Steve was to quietly use her influence to block New York officials from having contact with representatives of Taiwan China of course has worked for decades to isolate Taiwan diplomatically son also allegedly rewrote official pronouncements issued by former New York Governor Andrew and the current governor Kathy hokel shaping those announcements to be more pro-china okay so working for um different word choices by a New York State Governor what did China allegedly pay for that according to the indictment Beijing officials funneled millions of dollars in cash into businesses owned by Linda son's husband Chris who money the couple allegedly disguised in part by laundering it through luxury real estate the FBI also says one Chinese government official Steve showed gratitude to the family by having a chef in the Chinese Consulate in New York repeatedly send nanging style salted duck these payments and Gifts allegedly continued for years and again to be clear son and who have pleaded not guilty to these charges they're free on bond this morning with court ordered restrictions on their travel okay so little bit of duck few million dollars what does Governor Kathy hokel say about these allegations against one of her own eight hle says her team first identified misconduct by son last year and quickly fired her reporting her alleged activity to law enforcement hok spoke last night to NPR member station WNYC I'm furious and I'm outraged and absolutely shocked at how Brazen her behavior was it was a betrayal of trust the scope of what she was capable of doing is shocking Linda Sun also worked as a top Aid to Grace mang when mang was in the New York State Assembly she's now a member of Congress from New York through much of that time against Steve the FBI say she was actually working for China okay so I'm trying to think this through Brian these are allegations about an aid to the governor of one state I mean a big and important state but one American state it makes me think that there must be if these allegations were true there must be a very widespread Chinese influence campaign in the United States the FBI has been warning about this kind of activity for years urging government officials state and federal to be vigilant I spoke with Casey Michelle who's an expert on foreign lobbying in the US he says there is evidence of influence networks funded by China that operate Underground have seen though other suspicious other Shady other potentially unregistered potentially criminal Chinese related foreign lobbying networks last month in a separate case Steve another New York resident shujun Wang was convicted on federal charges he worked as a spy on China's behalf prosecutors say Wang could be sentenced up to 25 years behind bars if they're found guilty Linda sun and Chris who also face serious prison time are there other countries that are also trying to influence officials across the United States yeah absolutely Steve us officials say other governments are using similar criminal tactics in July NPR reported a former CIA analyst had been arrested for allegedly working as an Undeclared agent for the South Korea Government maintaining secret ties in that case to South Korean intelligence officials for more than a decade and then last month former US senator Bob Menendez from New Jersey resigned he of course was convicted of taking bribes from Egyptian officials in exchange for secretly working on Egypt's behalf in Washington the justice department describes these latest arest in New York as another sign they're working aggressively to root out foreign agents and their schemes that was longtime ncpr reporter Brian man now with NPR speaking on Morning Edition this morning [Music] two people are being charged after a fatal shooting in platsburg yesterday Katherine wheeler reports at around 2:20 a.m. on Tuesday police received multiple reports of a shooting on Cornelia Street in platsburg at the scene they found 31-year-old Marcus Dixon with multiple gunshot wounds he was transported to the hospital where he died police alleged that 24-year-old Chaz Johnson shot Dixon Clinton County district attorney Andrew Wy says Witnesses report that Dixon struck Johnson's girlfriend Erica colon in an altercation on Monday night then Erica called um Mr Johnson he arrived picked her up they located Marcus uh Dixon when Marcus Dixon was then shot and killed police executed search warrants at Johnson and colen's room at The Pioneer Motel in platsburg where they found a handgun that's consistent with the rounds found at the scene Chaz Johnson will be charged with murder in the second degree criminal possession of a weapon in the second degree and Erica colen will be charged with conspiracy in the second degree as well as possession of a weapon in the fourth degree Wy attributed the quick arrest to the collaboration between local County and state law enforcement agencies Johnson and colon were scheduled for an arraignment in platsburg city court on Monday night Katherine wheeler North Country Public Radio the tail end of the recreational boating season on the St Lawrence River in Lake St Lawrence could be hindered by low water levels the international Lake Ontario St Lawrence River board is slightly deviating from its strategy to control the amount of water leaving Lake Ontario that change May lower water levels in the Upper St Lawrence River and Lake St Lawrence but it would make but it would make them more predictable the board says the change comes as Lake Ontario is in one of the longest periods of average levels ever recorded the board is asking boers to monitor water levels and forecasts when planning to go out or remove their boats for the winter the lakes's water levels are expected to remain around average through November construction of watertown's first permanent housing complex for unhoused people is expected to start this fall according to the Watertown Daily Times the affordable housing development will have more than 60 units about half of them are for people experiencing homelessness split between those with mental health and substance abuse issues the rest of the units are design ated as lowincome housing Neighbors of Watertown and Thrive are behind the project millions in state funding will supported that includes about a million dollars annually that will provide mental health and substance abuse services for future re residents this is ncpr [Music] [Music] you're listening to Northern Light only here on North Country Public Radio it's 10 after 8 good morning I'm Monica sandeski and I'm Julia botero coming up on Northern Light Curtis hem shares a recipe for a super simple healthy and delicious soup for summer that's only here on ncpr which is supported by Fort de la presentation helping to educate and recreate historical ventures of interest to the St Lawrence region Fort 1749 org music now by the curries out of potam [Music] a reminder to folks in the Champlain Valley n cpr's frequency in Bristol Vermont is changing starting tomorrow September 5th wxl Q at 905 FM will move to 89.1 FM this new stronger signal should allow for better reception for you in the champagne Valley so if you listen to wxl Q Bristol remember to just have put your M uh put retune your radio just a little bit down that dial starting tomorrow September 5th to the new frequency 89.1 [Music] FM the rides are coming down and the vendors are cleaning up as this year's State Fair comes to an end Jessica Kane has more on this year's highlights and challenges for the New York public News Network [Music] hundreds of union workers marched alongside the Expo Center on the last day of this year's New York State Fair the Labor Day rally and parade wrapped up the 13-day event and fair director Julie lave is reflecting on her first year in the position it's been a roller coaster but what it's really uh proven to me is that we have a really great team here who puts the satisfaction safety fun everything front and center for our fairg and for our ERS and for sponsors safety concerns did play a role at this year's Fair after reports of shots being fired the state fair shut down early Sunday out of an abundance of caution State Police did not find evidence of any gunshots or injuries but lefave says Fair staff continue to work closely with police and safety is at the Forefront of what they do at all points in time we have cameras everywhere but we also have a joint Operation Center and in that joint Operation Center we have a dozen agencies who are monitoring everything from people coming in the gates to social media threats to our artists coming in and Le fave says this year's run had plenty of high points too including an emphasis on agriculture we had more than 100 sheep on top of last year's number enter our competitions same thing with dairy cattle and that's a huge thing for people especially for our exhibitors who are in those competitions it means we're really coming back and we're really bouncing back she also says she received positive feedback from families and enjoying the fair's sensory friendly room but she says after spending months planning the event she mostly enjoys just seeing the fairgoers we get to watch people walk by with a smile or we heard a little girl jump up to her dad and scream this was the greatest day of her life so that's the greatest reward and thank you that we can receive and even though the gates are closed the work continues over the next few weeks and months State Fair staff members will be sending out surveys to vendors and fairgoers analyzing this year's fair and deciding how to start preparing for next year in Syracuse I'm Jessica Kee for the New York public News [Music] Network for many people retirement doesn't necessarily mean being done with work volunteering or working part-time keeps folks busy and engage with their communities today's North Country work story is about one of those so-called retirement jobs Anna Williams Bergen has more Diane houserman is a retired actuary from Booneville like many retirees she's picked up a fun part-time gig she leads kids on field trips for an outdoor education program yeah I'd love to tell them I'm 62 especially when they start complaining that they're tired the Black River outdoor education program takes school kids outside hiking biking CrossCountry skiing around Booneville in the Southern tugh Hill plateau in 2015 the program needed more Educators and housman's friend was recruiting she said I know you love outdoor activities I know you're athletic and um you're retired so it was perfect the Black River outdoor education program is about environmentalism athleticism and enjoying the outdoors it's been a very Growing Experience for me which is a perfect retirement job because it keeps me active and learning new things new skills a lot of the outdoor educators are former teachers with years of wrangling kids under their belts not houserman she worked in insurance so this was all pretty new to her and I'll just say right now my admiration for teachers increased a lot after starting this job they really know how to control the group and make it fun houserman is really passionate about the power of getting kids outside she says she's gotten to see firsthand just how much it can change them helping kids gain confidence and get out of their shells she remembers one of her first times leading a kayaking trip when one student struggled to navigate Black Creek I got him into the water and he was in One bank and then he was in the other bank and then he was back and then he was and he was just going back and forth and I'm trying to talk him through it then I finally just stepped back and let him try and he got it figured out and by the end of the day that young man was paddling so well hosman says she's learned to give students who can be tough to handle in the classroom responsibility on their outings you're my leader the job of the leader is to keep everybody together it is not to be the fastest it is not to be the best it is to make sure the group stays together and stays safe and some of those kids that are hard to contain grab onto that and they just really Excel as the leader the outdoor education program is a no Phone Zone and for as much as we hear about kids being addicted to their screens houserman says her students don't miss them only once that I have one student say well I have an MP3 player and I nope can't do that and um he's the only one that's ever grumbled to me about it with the hundreds of kids that I've coached hosman says the kids are usually just too busy having fun at the end of the day so many of them say this is the best day ever I mean they're not in school sitting at their desk doing math so there is that howman tells students who relish being outdoors to come back and bring their families the Black River outdoor education program loans out equipment like bikes and skis for free at their potato Hill Farm in Boonville for North Country Public Radio North Country at work project I'm Anna Williams Bergen in Booneville this story was recorded at a North Country at work event in Booneville if you want to share your work story we've got another event coming up join us in Westport on Tuesday September 10th at the public library our team will be recording your North North Country at work stories from noon to 5: everyone is welcome and that's Tuesday September 10th from noon to 5: at the Westport Library this is ncpr [Music] [Music] [Music] you're listening to Northern Light here on North Country Public Radio I'm Monica sandeski and I'm Julia botero stick around after the show for bird note that's coming up at 8:42 but first Monica has a look at the weather do indeed at last check it was 55° in Watertown and in Malone in the TR Lake s 53° in Paul smiths 48° in Cranberry Lake at last check 57° in Port Henry and 54 in Lake George and we can expect sunny skies everywhere today with temperatures Rising into the mid 70s today overnight tonight clear skies lows in the upper 40s to lower 50s expected tomorrow more sunny skies with highs in the uh mid even into the upper 70s for parts of the region tomorrow and on Friday too before uh we uh face some showers as we head into the weekend but we'll get more details on that uh later this week fall may be closing in but never fear we can still hang on to these last days of summer and this month's recipe from Chef Curtis will help us out Curtis hem is the executive chef at the Mirror Lake Inn in Lake plid and he runs the carriage house cooking school in Peru New York outside of platsburg and he joins us now good morning Curtis good morning how are you doing well doing well this morning so you've got a a great soup recipe for us um can you uh can you tell us a little bit about what Sal uh Sal Moro is like sure it's really it's a gaspacho type soup in the sense it's from the Andalusia area of Spain and it um it's really just a bread thick soup of tomato and an acid which in this case is red wine vinegar yes that nice blend of H Salt Fat acid and heat uh that uh popular book yes yes well um and it doesn't look too complicated could you walk us through the steps sure it's really simple I mean I always write down whenever I do a recipe with for you guys I write down the why the when the how and then the pluses so I I think the best use of ingredients here are the the scarred and the ugly fruits out of your garden or at the farmers market I know Northern Orchard sells scab crates for small amount of money but anyway we take the flesh we put everything in a blender so we've got Tomatoes garlic red wine vinegar kosher salt you're going to put that down first in the blender so that purees and then the way blenders work is it pulls down the ingredients so then you'll have your stale bread pieces um you want to just kind of break those up like a large Crouton put those in and then you put the olive oil on top and then you just slowly start off and you get it to puree until smooth put it in the cooler let it chill and then once it's chilled probably two three hours maybe pour into some bowls and I like to garnish it with a little bit of fresh herb a drizzle of olive oil really good olive oil something peppery and hot and then I crisp Pudo and then I crumble that on top of it yes that sounds terrific that I was going to ask about that because the recipe calls for crisp tan but one of my question was questions was could we use Pudo instead or some or even some bacon too as a garnish yeah you can well bacon I would not do Bacon's a little bit too fatty um but you could if you wanted to um you know typical hams that you definitely want the crisp because the reason you're adding the the the ham is for the texture so if you didn't if you didn't crisp it up you could use a piece of crispy bread something kind of dunk it in like a a muscles bowl or something like that but um you could you could serve a a fresh sliced piece of Pudo or sanoh ham would be more typical of a salaro and I know you can buy Sano ham and some some of the nicer stores that we have around here yes yes I've definitely seen that and um well and I was wondering too um could you share a bit the what's what's sort of the idea about including bread in the soup and and blending it together sure so this is a use of ugly duckling items so there's a lot of things that I use in cooking that are called ugly duckling so the theory here is that they would have older bread and this is the same reason that Italians make Bretta is you don't make Brisa with fresh bread you make Brisa when the bread tells you to make Brisa and you make sareo when the bread tells you to make salaro you don't Define that in classic worlds so the idea here is you're making the use of ingredients that you have on hand so you have you have stale bread you have fresh tomatoes you've got olive oil those are the staple Pantry items within that that Region's kitchens plus some vinegar and garlic so the whole point is to provide body and make it a thickener otherwise you just have puree tomatoes and I don't know anybody that just opens up a can of tomato puree and chugs it so the bread gives it body um yeah I mean that's that's the whole point of that and is there a kind of bread that you prefer to use maybe maybe a sour dough or or my instinct would even be to to toast the bread first to make it a little bit smokier you could yeah I mean that's definitely an option um you want something with a good crust this uses everything now I'm going to have my pinky out and tell you I use a vitamins blender um a Ninja blender works well but you want something that has two things enough horsepower and then you want something that going to pull down the ingredients and kind of chop it up so we want this kind like Vortex that pulls down so you know most blenders can do it you just have to do it in batches but yeah you can do I want something with with body so a good crust I'm thinking locally something from Red Oak and the sourdough line doesn't have a lot of flavor agents so we're not looking for ay bread at all we're not looking for pump nickel we're not looking for anything that's like not going to match the Spanish flavor profile but a good fashia would work if you wanted to do that there I would definitely toast it up to get texture that's oh that's an excellent idea and a and a good note too I was kind of wondering about pumper nickel but that makes a lot of sense and um well and before we sign off my question that I'm always curious about what um what's a good pairing wine with this do you think I just like cool crisp white wine with this but I also think a really nice Sher would go very well with this really even um a little bit sweeter like that yep yeah you're GNA this isn't a sweet soup this is a very Savory soup it's got some sugar from the Tomato but I think I think a Sherry and not all cherries are sweet sweet so I think a really nice Sherry would be fantastic especially chilled I even think a reverse Manhattan would go well with this where you're doing 2 ounces of vermouth and 1 ounce of bourbon um would be a really good sipping drink for this soup or just chilled vermouth Curtis you were speaking my language love me a good man would go good too pardon what' you say a Negron would go great too sure sure you're speaking my language I love what I'm hearing that's that's great oh well Curtis thank you so much for sharing this recipe with us this morning we really appreciate you coming on every month yeah you're welcome thank you Chef Curtis hem with the carriage house cooking school in Peru New York also with the Mir Lake in in Lake Placid Curtis joins us every month here on Northern Light to share a new recipe to go with the seasons and our uh what's growing on farms throughout the North Country right now now we've got a little bit of music to close out the show from Dan Dugen out of Lake Clear uh this is uh the song Get Kraken by his group The Jam crackers [Music] [Laughter] [Music] get Kraken by Dan Dugen and the jam crackers that's ahead of their show that they've got coming up September 13th at 7:00 they'll be performing at the Paul Smith Vic and then on the 14th and 15 they're participating in the Bluegrass in heaven Festival uh in Lake George that's uh all coming up next week uh with the jam [Music] crackers and that's it for Northern Light today stick around for news headlines from NPR then Morning Edition continues after that with the marketplace Morning Report coming up between 8:51 and 9:00 where we'll get caught up on all the morning's Business News until tomorrow I'm Monica sandeski and I'm Julia botero have a wonderful day [Music]