WJFF - Close to Home with Leif Johansen

It's not a sexy topic, but it might be the most important human rights issue we discuss on this show: housing. In this episode, we take a look at the roots of--and possible solutions to--rural homelessness, and a relatively new program that aims to thread the needle of decreasing property blight while trying not to contribute to gentrification. We're joined by Kathy Kreiter, the Director and Progr...

Sullivan County Office of Human Rights Executive Director Adrienne Jensen talks all things human rights: what they are, how her office protects them in our community, and what we can do to help foster them wherever we are. She also considers why we're so darn terrible at communicating with each other--and what we can do to have more compassionate conversations. If you or someone you know is experi...

Delaware River Solar Customer Support Manager Cat Scott drops in to chat about community solar farms: what they are, how they work, and why they might just be the clean energy future that we've been looking for all along. Perhaps they might even save us a few dollars along the way?

Why is everything so darn expensive all of a sudden, and how do energy prices impact our agricultural sector? SUNY Albany Professor Bill Saxonis, 4th generation local farmer Tom Bose, Tom's daughter Erin, and Erin's husband Derek join us to talk about the drastic spike in energy prices following the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and what longer-term inflation means for all of us.

While there isn't a publicly-funded, county-wide high speed internet service yet, it might be closer than you think. Sullivan County Legislature Vice Chair and Sullivan County Broadband Local Development Corporation Chair Michael Brooks drops in to provide an update on the Wireless Broadband Access Project, 13 months after our previous episode on the initiative that is ostensibly one of the first...

Catskill Mountainkeeper Environmental Justice Coordinator Taylor Jaffe talks about the history of the environmental justice movement and the steps we can take on the state and local level to promote environmental justice for low-income and minority communities in our region.

Sullivan County Child Care Council Executive Director Donna Willi and Valley Daycare owner Nicole Newick discuss how the local child care system works, and why it doesn't. Find the 2015 Council of Economic Advisers report on child care from the Obama White House here. Find the 2019 Council of Economic Advisers report on child care from the Trump White House here.

At long last, we tackle the immortal questions, "why can't I take the train to the Catskills, and will I ever be able to take the train to the Catskills?" Sullivan County historian John Conway talks about the history of passenger train service to the Catskills, and Leif discusses his escapades of posing these questions to Amtrak and the New York Metro Transit Authority.

Sullivan Catskills Visitors Association President and CEO Roberta Byron-Lockwood talks about how Sullivan County has emerged as a statistical outlier in tourism revenue growth in recent years, outpacing the rest of New York's counties nearly threefold. She also considers the phenomenon of why some towns have experienced a boom in tourism and business, while neighboring towns haven't.

Delaware Valley Arts Alliance Executive Director Ariel Shanberg and Catskill Art Society Interim Director Robyn Almquist discuss the state of the arts in the Catskills. They consider the unexpected silver linings of the pandemic on the local arts scene, and how the last few years have changed the face of art as we know it. Learn more about DVAA's upcoming exhibitions at: https://delawarevalleyarts...

Sullivan 180 Marketing and Communications Manager Samantha Mango and Sullivan County Public Health Services Medical Director Dr. Bruce Ellsweig discuss ongoing efforts to improve Sullivan County's poor health, as we continue to rank as one of the worst counties in New York State for health outcomes and factors. We consider what "progress" means as we battle COVID-19 in addition to our longstanding...

Dr. Amy Nitza, the Director of the Center for Disaster Mental Health at SUNY New Paltz, drops in to discuss the mental health impacts of COVID-19, and what we can do to maintain and improve our mental health now and in the future.

Leif takes a solo romp through New York State's scholarship that allows students to attend 4-year SUNY and CUNY schools tuition-free. We look at issues of access and equity in the first-of-its-kind program, and consider ways to make it more accessible--particularly for students from disadvantaged backgrounds. Learn more about the Excelsior Scholarship here: https://www.ny.gov/programs/tuition-free...

Sullivan County Public Works Commissioner Ed McAndrew calls in to give a behind-the-scenes look at how 18 county plows keep hundreds of miles of roads passable throughout the long Catskills winters.

Sullivan County Center for Workforce Development Director Loreen Gebelein and Rolling V Bus Corporation Executive Vice President Nick Vallone drop by to discuss how our Catskills community is handling a situation that would seem bizarre to Americans in 2020: a sudden abundance of job openings...with no one to fill them. If you or someone you know are looking for a job in Sullivan County, you can c...

SUNY Sullivan President Jay Quaintance talks about the challenges and difficult decisions at Sullivan County's community college that have resulted from the last year and a half of the pandemic. He considers some of the broader issues faced by community colleges and their students across New York State, and suggests a few policy solutions for a struggling higher education sector.

Sullivan West Central School District Superintendent Stephen Walker drops back in to give an update on how his district is faring amid changing state COVID guidelines, a raging Delta Variant, and a team of faculty, staff, and students that has little interest in locking back down again.

Olivia Bernard from the Catskill Center drops in to give us the lowdown on the Catskills Fire Towers. Whether you've hiked them dozens of times or not at all, you might just learn something new about these local legends.

SUNY Albany Professor Bill Saxonis and New York State energy expert Peter Savio discuss how our electrical grid works, and the major changes in progress both to our energy sources and the overall design of the grid. Coming off of one of the hottest and most meteorologically-turbulent summers in recorded history, we consider additional improvements to the energy sector that can help fend off the ex...

With the Delta variant looming and national cases on the rise, Sullivan County Public Health Director Nancy McGraw drops in to talk about the latest on the local COVID front.

Ramapo Catskill Library System Executive Director Grace Riario and Mamakating Library Director Peggy Johansen (Leif's mom) talk about the role of the local library in a community. They discuss how the unusual circumstances of COVID have impacted the present and future operations of libraries, and Peggy gives some quick tips on avoiding misinformation in our democratized media landscape.

We're wrapping up our series on rural transportation infrastructure with a conversation with Carol Gillen, the Office Manager for Jerry's Collision Center in Wurtsboro, NY. (She's also Jerry's wife.) Carol talks about the challenges of the auto repair industry during the pandemic, the future of local auto shops, and the story of how Jerry's Collision Center came to be a Sullivan Street staple in W...

Leif takes a solo trip through the bizarre world of administrative divisions in the United States. Who would have guessed that local government could be convoluted? (Yep, everyone.)

SUNY Albany Professor Bill Saxonis talks about how gas prices work--and why they're so high right now. (Spoiler: they're not.)

Establishing a public transit system is historically tough. Establishing a rural public transit system is historically a non-starter. Until recently. In this episode, Sullivan County Division of Community Resources Commissioner Laura Quigley talks about Move Sullivan, a public bus program that launched shortly before COVID hit, and ended up being a critical resource for essential workers across th...