Thumbs Up, Thumbs Down
Summer’s late renaissance this year is nothing but a cruel facade. We received our first reminder of that fact earlier this week with the official kickoff of the Salvation Army’s Bundle Them Up Campaign. In 2016, the Salvation Army provided 255 children with jackets, mittens, scarves and hats to area children. Anyone with a gently used winter jacket with working zippers and no tears or stains ranging in size from newborn to adult can drop them off at collection bins in the Jamestown Public Schools, Falconer and Panama central schools and Maple Grove Junior-Senior High School. All of the schools have bins for jackets to be collected. Those who want to participate can call the Salvation Army to arrange for a collection bin. Parents interested in receiving jackets for their children may contact Elizabeth or Tina prior to Oct. 20 by calling 664-4108. Winter will be here before we know it. Kudos to the Salvation Army and all those who will donate to this worthy effort to ensure as many children as possible can keep warm when winter does arrive.
Thumbs down to New York’s low grade on a recent report card judging state financial practices. The Chicago-based group Truth in Accounting gives the state a grade of “F” in its new 50-state analysis of government spending and budgeting. Specifically, the report’s authors faulted New York for its relatively high pension and health care obligations, as well as its high tax burden. California, New Jersey, Illinois and Massachusetts earned similarly low scores from the group. When it comes to the state budget, the more things change, the more they stay the same.
Thumbs up to a State University at Fredonia professor whose recent invention may revolutionize how airplane crashes are investigated. In August, Professor Junaid Zubairi received patent US 9,718,557 B2 for his Flight Data Tracker, a system that would allow data compiled by the aircraft’s black box to be stored on the ground. For example, Air France Flight 447 crashed into the Atlantic Ocean in 2009. The black box was not found until two years later, and the cost of the search was $40 million. Malaysian Airlines Flight MH370 disappeared on March 8, 2014. Despite a search launched by 25 countries eventually costing $200 million, the flight data recorder has not been found. The search has been halted without finding an answer to the cause of the crash. Such delays can cost lives as well if a crash is caused by an unknown manufacturing defect. Kudos to Zubairi and members of his team for their work.
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