DiNapoli has earned another term as state comptroller

October 19, 2026

Incumbent state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli has a strong challenger this year in Republican challenger Joseph Hernandez. Hernandez has raised questions about DiNapoli's role in the growth of the state's debt load, wants to create a Medicaid Fraud Strike Team as Medicaid spending increases and fraud convictions decrease and proposes additional checks on $21 billion in state aid to New York City. Hernandez, like past challengers to DiNapoli, also wants to pull back from investing state pension funds in accordance with the state’s environmental, social and governance goals and invest ...

How much do you want to pay for a SAFER Jamestown?

October 17, 2026

In 2023, yellow signs proclaiming the need for a SAFER Jamestown were seen on almost every block in the city. In 2027, we all get to pay for a SAFER Jamestown. Mayor Kim Ecklund’s 2027 budget proposal comes with a 7.4% property tax increase driven by a lot of costs the city doesn’t have much control over - and one big one that the city does control. We’re talking about fire department staffing and the fork in the road the city has reached after hiring four firefighters paid for with American Rescue Plan Act funding and eight firefighters paid for with federal SAFER grant ...

County shouldn’t compound manager’s salary range COLA mistake

October 14, 2026

County Executive PJ Wendel could have exercised a bit of fiscal conservatism by vetoing a Local Law that creates mandatory cost-of-living-adjustments to the top and bottom salary ranges for management employees. Wendel chose not to do so - and it’s something we hope county residents remember moving forward. Let us be clear - we think management employees should be treated fairly. Those who deserve yearly raises should receive them. But management employees also know what the salary ranges for their positions are when they move into management, and the upper ranges of these salary ...

County provides possible progress decreasing homeless living in hotels

October 13, 2026

Adequately helping the county’s homeless population is a task that we’re sure feels immense for those who are working on it every day. It was encouraging, then, to hear Carmelo Hernandez, the county’s director of community mental hygiene services, say he would like to see at least one homeless or temporary shelter established by the end of the year. It’s a concrete step after hearing, for years, that the county needs to establish transitional housing programs to help the homeless. Such programs always seem a long way off in a human crisis that needs faster solutions. "I ...

Changing minimum wage freeze doesn’t fix New York’s high cost of living

October 7, 2026

There was a reason that the wise old state legislators who drafted New York’s minimum wage law back in the good old days of 2023 included conditions that would freeze otherwise automatic minimum wage increases. The conditions - tied to situations in which the consumer price index actually went down, increases in unemployment or decreases in employment - were meant to protect the state’s business community when traditional economic measures showed too many of them couldn’t handle an automatic increase in the state’s minimum wage. Of course, Hochul was in the room at the time ...

District Heat should serve as a lesson for BPU

October 6, 2026

There has been a lot of promise with the Jamestown Board of Public Utilities’ broadband internet project so far. A $25 million Broadband for All grant means the broadband network is being built with little local cost. BPU customers who opt in look to save as much as 50% to 60% compared to similar internet speeds available right now. Kris Sellstrom, BPU general manager, said the fiber project has 4,000 service drops installed already, with many more to go before the end of the year. More than 700 customers are online now. We think the rubber is about to meet the road. The BPU, ...