Mar 01, 2013 — It may not feel like spring outside yet, but it's coming. The days are getting longer, the sun is higher in the sky, and the sap buckets are out.

Jeffrey Jenness of Orebad Sugar Shack in DeKalb Junction says February was a slow month for sugaring. When he spoke with Julie Grant earlier this week, Jenness had only collected a couple hundred gallons of sap. For an operation like his, that's not enough to get the equipment dirty and start making syrup. He's hoping for better days ahead.  Go to full article

Potsdam, NY, Feb 26, 2013 — Many 16-year-olds might dream about starting their own business. But it takes a special kind of teenager to turn an operation launched in his parents' basement into a six-figure profit earner in just four years. After succeeding wildly with his web development and design company, North Shore Solutions, Clarkson University junior Matthew Turcotte, now age 20, is embarking on his second venture: commercial real estate.  Go to full article

Malone, NY, Nov 25, 2011 — For some of us, crafting is a hobby--but for some, it's a business.

Claire Poirier of Malone makes hats, mittens, dog coats, and other things out of used wool sweaters, and sells them at craft shows and farmers markets all over the North Country.
Like any good businessperson, Poirier goes for maximum efficiency--by using every part of the sweater. For today's Heard Up North, she talked Nora Flaherty through the process:  Go to full article

May 25, 2011 — The town of Brasher has taken the first step toward creating a local development corporation to make loans to local businesses.

Brasher's right next door to the Akwesasne Mohawk casino, and under the gambling compact that made way for that casino, the town gets a share of the profits--so do Massena, Fort Covington, and Bombay. That Mohawks give the money to the state, and the state passes it back to the towns, earmarked for tourism, infrastructure, gambling addiction education--and local economic development. Nora Flaherty reports.  Go to full article

Rensselaer, NY, Mar 14, 2011 — A proposal to tax the rich to help balance the state's budget deficit and avoid cuts to schools is a popular idea among New Yorkers. But business groups say what's often overlooked in the debate is that the tax, in its current form, is paid by some of the state's smallest and most marginal businesses. Karen Dewitt Reports from Albany.  Go to full article

Parishville, NY, Mar 26, 2009 — In our Year of Hard Choices series today, we go to a mainstay of the North Country's homegrown business community. You find the SunFeather Soap Company in a tidy, low building on the old state road outside Parishville, in St. Lawrence County. Martha Foley went for a tour, and got a lesson in small business 101.  Go to full article

Lowville, NY, Feb 18, 2009 — This week, we take a snapshot of one North Country community and how it's being affected by the recession. Lowville is the seat of Lewis County. It's a cute village tucked in the Black River valley, between the Tug Hill Plateau and the western Adirondacks. The area has one of the highest concentrations of dairy farms in the state. There's also manufacturing jobs in the dairy and paper industries. And the Tug Hill relies heavily on snowmobile tourism for money. Unemployment is typically high. In December, the unemployment rate had climbed to 9%. Still, many small businesses populate Main Street. David Sommerstein inquired in Lowville's "gift shop district" about the effects of the recession.  Go to full article

Jan 17, 2008 — Assemblywoman Dee Dee Scozzafava says Governor Spitzer's Upstate plan has good potential. The Republican from Gouverneur says her constituents need more high-speed Internet service and support for small businesses. She told David Sommerstein yesterday her big question is how much money is actually behind Spitzer's plans.  Go to full article

Jul 11, 2005 — A small business initiative in St Lawrence County was a finalist in a world chamber of commerce competition. The Northern Adirondack Trading Cooperative, known locally as the "ebay project," links up artisans and small business owners with technology to help them reach national markets. The Cooperative was launched two years ago with the support of Senator Hillary Clinton.

Representatives for the St Lawrence County Chamber of Commerce went to South Africa for the competition. They didn't win the award, but they brought back stories. Gregory Warner spoke with the head of the ebay project, Ruby Moore, after her return.

The Chamber is launching another round of the Northern Adirondack Trading Cooperative this fall, with workshops in Canton and Paul Smiths. If you're an artisan or have an idea for a small business you can call Ruby Moore at 386-4000.  Go to full article

Sep 23, 2004 — When one thinks of business on the Akwesasne Mohawk reservation near Massena, casinos, cigarettes, and gas stations usually come to mind. Because native people are exempt from taxation, those commodities have been rare bright lights in an otherwise bleak economic picture in Indian Country. A new federal tax regulation threatens to devastate Akwesasne's gas station industry. As David Sommerstein reports, it may also endanger a fragile entrepreneurial economy that's sprouting up alongside the mainstays.  Go to full article