- Tonight on WPBS Weekly: Inside the Stories.
Meet New York state Lieutenant Governor, Kathy Hochul.
With Governor Cuomo facing sexual harassment allegations and other scandals, how prepared is she to step up?
Should he step down?
Also tonight, residential radon exposure is showing up as a deadly radioactive element in Canadian homes.
What you need to know to protect yourself.
All this and more coming up on WPBS Weekly: Inside the Stories.
(theme music) - WPBS Weekly: Inside the Stories is brought to you by Watertown, Oswego, small business development center, a public resource offering confidential business advice for starting or expanding a small business.
- Good Tuesday evening, everyone.
And welcome to another edition of WPBS weekly: Inside the Stories.
Since December of 2020, New York state Governor, Andrew Cuomo has been facing a series of sexual harassment allegations.
He continues to deny them.
In January the State Attorney General released a report showing the Cuomo administration under-reported COVID deaths in nursing homes, by up to 50%.
He continues to face criticism here as well.
Should he step down?
That would put Lieutenant Governor Kathy Hochul in place as the first female acting Governor of New York state.
Our Joleene DeRosier tells us how Hochul's political career has prepared her for this historic role, if need be.
- [Judge] And that I will faithfully discharge - [Kathy] And that I will faithfully discharge - [Judge] the duties of - [Kathy] The duties of - [Judge] the office of the tenant governor of the state of New York - [Kathy] the office of Lieutenant governor of the state of New York - [Judge] according to the best of my ability - [Kathy] according to the best of my ability.
- [Judge] So help me, God.
- [Kathy] So help me, God.
- [Judge] Congratulations.
(applause) - [Joleene] She became active in politics as early as high school and she didn't stop there.
As a student at Syracuse university, Kathy Hochul stepped in even more as an activist in many social causes.
It was the beginning of a career she never expected.
- [Kathy] I really use that as a training ground, I would say.
I never thought I'd run for office.
I was always the behind the scenes, became a staffer on Capitol Hill for a Congressman and Senator after law school.
But I was the one who wrote the speeches and wrote the legislation and did the political analysis of different ideas.
So, I never anticipated the opportunity to run.
And so that was really the path I was on is to become a top aid to a Senator, by the time I was 28 and I got there.
- [Joleene] Even at 28, she recognized she was the only woman in the room.
And often she says, the youngest by at least a decade.
She broke many barriers and still does today.
- [Kathy] For awhile I was the only woman in statewide office and our Attorney General, Tish James, has joined me in the ranks.
So we've made progress there.
Also, the number of women in our state legislature has gone up just in the five years I've been Lieutenant Governor.
We have a leader of the Senate, Andrea Stewart-Cousins.
We have the majority leader in the assembly Crystal Peoples-Stokes, all women of color which I think is significant, a real statement of our values here in New York.
But still I guarantee there are times when I walk into a room and I'm the only woman and its been that way since I was a local town board member, the only woman on a board.
When I first started out it was, yeah, it gets lonely.
You want to see more women.
And I've used my platform, as the highest ranked woman in state office to really talk about how women should enter the political process, how we need their voices, encourage people to run.
- [Joleene] Considering recent events Hochul's voice is certainly needed.
And thanks to a family that advocated for social and equal rights since the day she was born, she came to the Capitol as Lieutenant Governor prepared.
- [Announcer] Please welcome the Lieutenant Governor of the state of New York, Kathleen C Hochul.
- We dealt with so many women, throughout my life, that my mother brought into our home because they needed a a caring, loving place.
And we even opened our own home for victims of domestic violence.
So I take inspiration from my mother, who lost her battle with ALS just a few years ago.
She got the chance to see me get to Congress.
She never saw me become Lieutenant Governor, but I feel her presence every day.
I was raised in a very socially conscious family.
My father had been a steelworker.
My mom had been an advocate for victims of domestic violence.
And you know, they've always been involved in causes, and even those dealing with civil rights in the sixties or the war effort to, to get us out of Vietnam back then.
So I, that was where I grew up in an environment where we were always talking about society and challenges in the political world.
- [Joleene] Challenges in the political world, never ending and ever-evolving.
- Our challenges today call for such diverse voices to solve problems in society.
And we need young people, young people of color, in particular, to step up.
And there's definitely a place for young women to get involved.
So I do economic development.
I work on the heroin opioid crisis.
I work on the Centennial Women's Rights Celebration, so I'm the champion of women's issues, and workforce development.
So many issues on my, in my portfolio but literally every day is phenomenally different from the day before, will be from the day after.
And I get a chance to meet the most fascinating people, in the most gorgeous parts of our state that most people never get a chance to experience.
So I love being Lieutenant Governor, and I consider it a true, true privilege.
And that is why, if we remain true our shared values, steeled in our resolve and rejecting hate.
And it's ensuring that every single person has the opportunity to achieve their full potential.
Then there is no stopping us, for we are in New York.
We'll once again, show the nation the way forward.
Thank you very much.
- [Joleene] For WPBS Weekly I'm Joleenee DeRosier.
- Homes in Ontario, particularly Southern Ontario, are dealing with dangerous levels of the naturally-occurring gas, radon.
You can't smell it, which is where the danger begins.
What's more?
It's radioactive.
And if someone is exposed to it long enough, it can cause cancer.
Niki Anastakis of Inside the Story, CHCH has more.
- Those are common entry points where gas can come in.
- [Niki] It seeps through the basement, and you won't know if there are dangerous amounts in your home unless you test for it.
- The radon is something you can't see, you can't smell.
So you can be being exposed to radon and really not aware of it.
- [Niki] Radon gas is radioactive and the second leading cause of lung cancer in Canada, killing over 3000 Canadians every year, according to the government of Canada.
For oncologist and vice-president of the Canadian Cancer Society, Craig Earl, he knows, firsthand, the dangers this gas can cause.
- The radon comes from uranium, which is in the bedrock under the soil and gets into a gas that seeps up through the soil, into the basements and then collects in the house.
When the pandemic struck, I started doing a lot of work from home, and in fact, had set up an office in the basement.
And so I went and got a short acting test, and sure enough the radon levels were high.
- [Niki] In Earl's case, the company he hired had to seal his sump pump then insert a pump to push out the radioactive gas to the outside of his house.
A job that costs almost $3,000.
- So our levels were not sky high.
They were up around upper two hundreds, two to three hundred.
In Canada, the level is 200 that's considered acceptable, although that is higher than most of the rest of the world.
And so most places consider that radon levels should be below 100.
After mitigation, ours is now around 50.
- [Niki] Canada, in fact, has some of the highest measured rates in the world.
According to six years worth of data gathered by researchers from the University of Calgary.
The study finding that one in five homes, 5,600 of the 30,000 tested nationwide, showed radon levels exceeding Health Canada's guidelines of 200 becquerels per cubic meter.
Those numbers reported the Toronto Star on May 2nd.
And the number of homes affected are on the rise across Canada.
Most specifically, in Southern Ontario due to a range of reasons, including weather changes, atmospheric pressure and construction.
- Usually it's because they've done major road construction.
They're ripped up all the road, replaced the sewers.
That all changes how gas flows in the underground.
- [Niki] While Canadian home builders are not required to check for radon before and after construction, many believe they have an obligation to.
In fact, Ontario is the only jurisdiction in Canada where builders' warranty on new homes includes radon remediation coverage.
- [Bob] In Ontario, if your home was built in the last seven years, Tarion Warranty is covering the cost of the remediation.
- [Niki] Wood says, unfortunately, you won't notice any side effects or feel any different if your home has high levels of radon, unless you test for it.
Even when people receive a devastating diagnosis, they're completely unaware of the source of their disease.
- Most people who find out that they've got lung cancer blame themselves.
Either I was a smoker 25 years ago, or I worked in that smokey bar, or I was around my husband and I was exposed to secondhand smoke.
Where 30% of the cancers are radon-caused.
- [Niki] Wood says the price of knowing whether or not your home potentially harbors high level of radon now is small compared to the potential dangers of not knowing.
For Inside the Story, I'm Niki Anastasakis.
- With many places opening up, folks getting vaccinated, and restrictions lifting, we're seeing a light at the end of the COVID tunnel.
That light can be found all over the region with people eager to resume normal lives.
But in small towns and villages, there's often little opportunity for recreation or socialization.
Dan Myers of Lowville, New York has a vision to change that.
- Growing up in Lowville and Lewis County, you know, we were always looking for something to do, whether it was to try to get into school on off hours or if it was only the bowling center and driving around to go to McDonald's.
We always felt there was, you know, we needed something else.
So when I came back after college, you know, I really wanted to try to create an opportunity for youth.
And then I saw that there was a big need for adults and senior citizens.
- [Tracy] DoublePlay started out at the old, abandoned St. Peter's School in Lowville, using the gymnasium for youth and adult sports.
A few years later, in June, 2019, DoublePlay was finally able to open a dedicated community center.
Immediately, the residents of Lewis county showed interest.
- It was great because there was really no place for seniors and teens to kind of gather.
So when we first opened it up, before the pandemic, we had teen nights that we were collaborating with the Up Coalition, through Mountain View Prevention.
We had different programs, such as music and some art classes.
We had some senior origami and art classes, which was really popular.
- [Tracy] And then the pandemic hit, and the center was forced to shut down for nearly six months.
With safety precautions and protocols now in place, the century reopened in the fall of last year.
But getting back to normal operations has been a challenge.
- Well, we know it's going to be slow, but especially with the vaccinations, a lot of our seniors have felt more comfortable coming back and wanting to do program again.
So we see the senior activity center starting to pick up within the next four to six months as those vaccinations increase, and the state starts to release some of the guidelines.
So we see kind of the, our coffee hours and music time for seniors and then developing more, some of our afterschool activities for, for the teens and such, picking up within the next four to six months.
Well, if anything, this pandemic did, it really drove home the need for a community center that not relied solely on school districts or just county facilities.
So having our own facility, you know, even if it's multiple facilities at this point, we know that the community really needs those opportunities.
Especially being stuck at home and not having, you know, activities to travel outside of the area.
What can we have right here in Lewis County that people don't have to travel outside of the community for, and still feel that they are getting a good quality of life?
- [Tracy] Local agencies use the center for supervised visitation, mediation, and youth mental health.
The facility is available for meetings as well.
And with a variety of games and activities, the center can accommodate celebrations such as birthday parties.
- [Dan] And I think that's going to broaden the opportunities here for people to have that safe place to go.
It's so difficult to find locations in this area for supervised visitation or for a mediation group or for specific meetings.
And that's the goal of this is it's, it's easy, accessible and always available for people to use.
- [Tracy] Volunteers are needed for facility operations.
The center is always interested in developing new programs for both adults and youth.
They are looking for instructors to teach a wide variety of classes from art, music, cooking and nutrition to fly tying, dance and more.
DoublePlay encourages individuals and families to take advantage of the opportunities for enrichment offered at the community center.
Youth outdoor programs for the summer are underway, and programs for senior citizens and adults continue throughout the summer.
- [Dan] I think one of the biggest things is just to try to be more aware of the activities that we have and don't be afraid to participate in something that you haven't tried before, whether it's an origami class or maybe it's a music exploration class.
We'd even like to do an astronomy class for families, which I think would be a great asset to the community for people to kind of learn and educate something, something that may not have done in the past.
We think there's a great opportunity out there for people to teach and, you know, let others know what's out there - [Tracy] For more information you can visit doubleplaycc.com or DoublePlay's Facebook page, or contact Dan Meyers at info@oubleplaycc.com or at (315) 376-7001.
- Before we leave you this evening, allow us to share with you another local musician and his awe inspiring talents.
He is Christopher Spinelli, the 2015 winner of the Orchestra of Northern New York Young Artists Competition.
Currently working on his masters, this talented pianist plays for us the first movement of Beethoven Sonata Opus 109, number 30 in E-major.
(playing Beethoven Sonata Opus 109, number 30) - That does it for us this Tuesday evening.
Join us next week for a fresh look inside the stories.
We're talking Pride Month.
Events are just around the bend.
We'll tell you what's happening and how you can celebrate in your region.
And have you seen this guy in the village of Pulaski?
He's a hometown hero and animal rescuer.
And just about everybody knows Tom.
If you have a story idea you'd like to see us explore, or you are an area musician or poet that would like to be featured, email us at wpbsweekly@wpbstv.org until then, good night everyone.
(theme music) - WPBS Weekly: Inside the Stories is brought to you by the Watertown Oswego, small business development center offers confidential business advice for those interested in starting or expanding their small business.
A public resource, serving Jefferson, Lewis, and Oswego counties since 1986.
(playing Beethoven Sonata 109, number 30)