Dunkirk Doesn’t Need A Nuclear-Powered NRG

February 21, 2026

George Borello wants you to spend hundreds of millions of dollars for electricity you don’t need. NRG shut down the Dunkirk plant in 2016 because there was no market for the expensive electricity it generated. George now wants to re-power the NRG plant but his recent editorial promoting the idea was filled with half-truths and misinformation. His claim that then Governor Cuomo bowed “to political pressure from the advocates on the far left” ignores the fact that the original repowering project was placed on hold in 2015 when another power company, the Entergy Group, filed a ...

Vehicle Plate Fraud Is Driven By NYC

February 21, 2026

When I was on the campaign trail for Chautauqua County Clerk, the news stories about possible wrongdoing at our county DMV locations were impossible to miss. County residents were receiving toll charges, in some cases thousands of dollars, for tolls and speeding infractions on license plates they’d surrendered to one of our DMVs. This was a terrible situation for the victims spending countless hours fighting fines and fees they weren’t responsible for. When I was elected, tackling this issue became my top priority. After taking office January 1, I visited all three county DMV ...

Humanity, Untelevised

February 21, 2026

By Margot Russell Remember this? In the weeks after the flooding outside Asheville, something unexpected happened. The headlines were grim at first—washed-out roads, shuttered shops, homes caked in mud. Social media did what it does: circulated dramatic footage, assigned blame, predicted long recoveries. But on the ground, a quieter story began to unfold. Restaurants that had lost power cooked everything in their freezers and handed out meals for free. Breweries turned into supply depots. Church parking lots became distribution hubs. Contractors showed up with their own equipment ...

When Will It Ever Stop, Or Won’t It?

February 21, 2026

Back on December 15th after awakening at my usual 2 a.m.-ish time, I found an email on my phone from the New York Times (they are trying to recruit me as a subscriber), as I do about a dozen times a day. The first story they shared before all the popups thwarted my attempt to read more, was the sad story of the brutal murder of actor/director Rob Reiner and his wife. After I read what I could before cursing the popups, I’d read a few of the comments that followed the story. One of the first ones was a remark calling Reiner a brutal liberal Democrat who should have just kept his mouth ...

Lake Placid: Small Town, Large Triumphs

February 21, 2026

The tiny village was named after its tranquil little lake. My dictionary defines placid as serene, gentle, calm. Writing last week’s column about the 1980 Olympics brought back memories that were anything but peaceful. The downtown streets were loud, crowded and fun. It doesn’t seem possible that four and a half decades have slid by since easy-going Lake Placid played host. I was reminded of those many years as Scott Hamilton remarked about this year’s figure skating competition in Italy. When we saw his Olympic debut in Lake Placid, he was 21 years old and stood at his ...

Sometimes Doing Nothing Is Right

February 20, 2026

MAYVILLE—Sometimes the most forward-thinking among us are those first to realize they took a wrong turn, and then reverse course and take the right road. In that light, congratulations go to the Chautauqua County legislature. Let’s set the stage. During its regular meetings, the legislature has two privileges of the floor—times when anyone, including legislators themselves, can publicly address the legislature, subject to time limits and, of course, limits of decorum. Under current rules, the first privilege is at the beginning of the meeting. Then, comments must be ...