THE EAGLE: A Times Union Podcast

For the last decade and a half, the Black-led Collage Dance Collective has been redefining perceptions of traditional ballet, using the classical dance style to tell new stories from communities of color. Collage is headed to Proctors Theater in Schenectady next month, and Executive Director Marcellus Harper joins us on this episode of "The Eagle." Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone...

Can you play Pink Floyd's "Another Brick in the Wall (Part I)" using only your brain (and a little help from AI)? It may be muffled and distorted, but scientists recreated the 1979 song using the brain signals of 29 patients at Albany Medical Center. It's a feat, they say, that offers new insight into human brain activity. On this episode of "The Eagle," reporter H. Rose Schneider explains this gr...

Comedian Nimesh Patel doesn’t consider his standup set a success unless he can work in a new joke. He plans to do that Sunday in Saratoga Springs. We caught up with him before he headed to town. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

A high-profile murder case in New York’s Capital Region concluded with the conviction of Jacob L. Klein, who was found guilty last week of killing physician assistant Philip Rabadi in 2022. We’ll go through the testimony and what’s now known about this grisly and tragic story. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

All Paul Reiser ever wanted to do was standup comedy. Though his acting resume is longer than a CVS receipt — his latest projects include the hit series “Stranger Things,” “The Boys, and “The Kominsky Method” — he says there’s no greater thrill than grabbing a mic and joking about the routines of his daily life. He joins us on this episode of “The Eagle” to talk about his career, his love of stand...

When a rumor that the Grammy-winning superstar was buying a house in upstate New York took off on Facebook, we had to get to the bottom of it. Also on this episode, comedian and “The Daily Show” senior correspondent Michael Kosta answers a few rapid fire questions, and we’ll have the latest in the somewhat unusual murder trial of Jacob Klein in Albany. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megap...

Boy band crooner and reality TV star Nick Lachey wants to bring back baggy jeans and Pop-Tarts, but he’s OK ditching the cargo shorts. He joined us on “The Eagle” this week to talk about bringing back '90s trends, rumors about a boy band Super Bowl halftime show, and more while in town to perform with 98 Degrees on the pop quartet’s 25th-anniversary tour. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit me...

In the late 1950s and early 1960s, a group of transgender women found a safe space to explore their identities at a house in a remote part of the Catskills. On this episode of “The Eagle,” we’ll take a look back at Casa Susanna, and a new documentary that chronicles a forgotten piece of New York’s LGBTQ+ history. Also on this episode, we’ll discuss the latest developments in the proposed closure o...

The first time Cracker frontman David Lowery played Albany, it was the winter of 1986 and temperatures were below freezing. Since then, he has rocked New York's capital city during warmer weather, and will be returning once more July 12 to play the Empire State Plaza. On this episode of "The Eagle," Lowery joins us to talk about life, music and playing Albany. Also on this episode, we unpack what...

The rumor that a 98-year-old time capsule was buried beneath the Albany statue of Philip Schuyler is true. City officials took down the statue last week, making good on a 3-year-old promise to do so following calls for the likeness of the former owner of enslaved people to be removed after the death of George Floyd. After Schuyler’s statue was hauled away, officials found a trove of relics beneath...

Marijuana and hemp are very similar plants. In fact, they are the same species. Telling them apart visually can be very difficult, especially for investigators at a crime scene. But if you take a closer look — a much closer look — at the molecular level, they are very different. One has a psychoactive component (THC) that keeps it federally illegal, while the other, thanks to the 2018 Farm Bill, d...

Former limo company operator Nauman Hussain was given the maximum prison sentence this week for second-degree manslaughter in the deaths of 20 people who perished when a limousine crashed violently in Schoharie in 2018. For the families of the victims, this day was a long time coming, after almost five years of anguish. On this episode of "The Eagle," we'll discuss the sentence, and the limo famil...

As one of the original 13 colonies, as well as the port of entry for millions of immigrants in the last 150 years, New York state has been an epicenter for genealogical research. But genealogists are now saying the state is making their jobs more difficult, with increased restrictions on what documents one can obtain for research purposes, and interminable wait times to receive them. On this episo...

It hasn't been the smoothest start to a season for the Albany Empire arena football team, who have dominated their league for two years running. Since former NFL star wide receiver Antonio Brown came to town and assumed leadership of the squad, the coach was fired (and rehired), players were suspended after an incident on the team bus, there have been payroll issues, confusing claims of total owne...

Ten years ago, a Schenectady man and three of his young children died in a horrific house fire in Hamilton Hill. A 5-year-old child named Sa'fyre Terry miraculously survived the blaze, albeit with severe, disfiguring burns. She would go on to make national headlines two years later, when her aunt's social media post asking for Christmas cards on behalf of her niece went viral — cards came in from...

Five years after a limousine with faulty brakes violently crashed in a small upstate county, killing 20 people, the owner of the limo company go to trial. Nauman Hussain faces up to 15 years in prison on 20 counts of manslaughter. On this episode of “The Eagle,” reporter Larry Rulison goes over what we can expect to see in court next week when jury selection is slated to begin. Also on this episod...

One of the biggest names in fashion, Isaac Mizrahi has dressed countless A-list celebs for the runway and red carpet. Now, it's his turn to step into the spotlight. The designer and entertainer is touring the country performing a cabaret-style show featuring song and stories. He will be in Saratoga Springs this week, and sat down to chat with us on "The Eagle." Learn more about your ad choices. Vi...

The ruins of the Kenwood Academy campus in Albany have left investigators few clues as to how the March 23 fire started. They say they believe it was the result of human action, but cannot say if it was accidental or intentional. Meanwhile, ownership of the property—and a $2 million insurance payout—remains unclear. On this episode of "The Eagle," reporter Steve Hughes goes over what we know about...

"Witness" and "Outta the Muck" have strong ties to the Capital Region, and both are part of the New York State Writer's Institute Albany Film Festival. One tackles the controversial 2006 convictions of Yassin Aref and Mohammed Hossein in a terrorism sting, and the other profiles a central Florida city where the land is fertile and football is a way of life. On this episode of "The Eagle," we'll ta...

The 845 area code has long been a hallmark of Hudson Valley pride and identity. But as of this week, there's a new number in town: 329. And as Alexandra Zissu reported recently, many people have big feelings about the addition of a second area code for the region. On this episode of "The Eagle," we'll sort through those feelings, and why many people (in the Hudson Valley and beyond) are so attache...

It has been 20 years, but the Big Dance is back in New York’s Capital City. Games in the first two rounds of the men’s NCAA Division I basketball championships are set to play at the MVP Arena, a spectacle that will draw thousands to downtown Albany. On this episode of “The Eagle,” Times Union editor Casey Seller talks about the tournament and the impact and the impact it will have on the city. Al...

It has been an unusually warm winter in Eastern New York, with record high temperatures set in January and February. On this episode of "The Eagle," contributing editor Alexandra Zissu discusses the consequences of this unseasonable weather, from the early emergence of ticks to the spreading of harmful algae blooms. Also on this episode, dining critic Susie Davidson Powell dishes on a new Capital...

Police confirmed this week that a body pulled from the Mohawk River at the end of February was Samantha Humphrey, a teen who had been missing for three months. Her case dominated headlines since the end of November. This week marks 25 years since 19-year-old Suzanne Lyall disappeared from the University at Albany campus. Her mother is now publishing a book of her daughter’s poems. Jaliek Rainwalke...

In the year since Russia invaded Ukraine, journalist Valerii Garmash has worked around the clock to keep news flowing to his community. When last we spoke to the editor of the Slavyansk-based news website Maye Sense in the spring of 2022, he and his team of 14 journalists were determined to perservere, sometimes in situations where pay and their safety was not guaranteed.  On this episode of “The...

Restraint and seclusion are controversial methods that schools across the country use to  respond to students in crisis. Education officials say they're meant to be a last resort to ensure the safety of students and faculty, but a yearlong Times Union investigation of data on reported incidents found that they're used frequently in nonemergency situations, and in a few cases, have resulted in inju...