As of January 1, New York State’s minimum wage for Upstate is $16.00 up from $15.50. New York State’s minimum wage was the same as the Federal minimum wage of $7.25 as recently as 2013, 13 years ago. Beginning in 2014, the State Legislature put in place increases in the State minimum wage ...

It’s a real winter—at least that’s what all my neighbors are saying. It’s not a real winter unless local people say it is. They know. And I’ll take that one step further: it’s not a real winter unless someone who was a child in the 50’s, 60’s and 70’s says it is. We grew up ...

Our family has cut way back on Christmas presents in recent years. We all still enjoy filling some desires from the grandchildrens’ wishlists. Honestly, they are the only ones who really need anything. But I have a problem, and it is probably a hangup going back to my childhood. I want ...

By J. Paul Lombardo One of my favorite movies, (and its sequel, too), that almost always stops my channel surfing when I’m doing that is, the Billy Crystal, David Stern, Jack Palance Western, comedy, City Slickers. As many times as I have seen these movies, and even though I can recite most ...

Let’s pick up where we left off 148 weeks ago. Not even you, faithful reader of this column, will recall that we were well into March 2023. By turning on the snow machine then, Mother Nature appeared to be trying to make up for a lack of snow during the preceding winter. “No,” we told ...

If issues are only seen through a partisan lens, you’ll miss the fingerprints besmirching them. There’s the issue of billions in alleged fraud perpetrated by Islamic Somalis in Minneapolis ripping off taxpayers through phony Medicaid and autism claims. As Democrat Governor Tim Walz ...