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The Problem Of Chasing Green Unicorns

Informed policy debate takes a back seat to special interest politics until reality finally threatens the plausible deniability of the politicians. The only question is how much damage politicians will do before reality forces their hand. Such is the battle in New York state between those who must keep the lights on, and the politicians pushing the net-zero and anti-nuclear ideology of current New York state Law. Gov. Kathy Hochul has painted New York state into a corner by ignoring the costs of Green Ideology. Under New York state law, utilities are forced to pay sky-high Strike ...

‘War On Women’s Sports Is Over’

During the confirmation hearing for one of the Trump administration’s cabinet secretaries, the nominee testified that “there are two genders.” Sexes, not genders, would have been the right word. As you may have learned in, say, a seventh-grade life-sciences class, organisms that reproduce sexually—as opposed to asexually—have two sexes: Male and female. Males are he; females are she. Gender is different from sex. Early in a foreign-language class, one learns that gender is a construct of language. In Romance languages, nouns have two genders. Each noun is either ...

County Can Help Bring Tax Relief

Reducing the County’s sales tax rate from 8% to 7 ¾% under my Resolution is a win-win proposal. Our residents get a tax break and our cities, towns and villages will be held harmless. Starting in 1968, for over 30 years, Chautauqua County made do with a 7% sales tax. For the last 10 years the County government has repeatedly asked the State Legislature to raise our sales tax to 8%. Some in Mayville now want to continue the 8% rate for the next 2 years. It is time to give our residents a tax break and reduce the sales tax to 7 ¾ for at least 3 reasons. First, there was a ...

A Great Way To Spend Your Money!

“A little reminder that in a few years you won’t remember how much that trip cost, but you will remember the moments you experienced.” Learning and Exploring Through Play Now, years later I realize what a wise move I made taking the grandchildren to New York City. First, I took the girls. I planned the whole trip through a group from Sheffield. Tom and Sue did many trips but the only ones I participated in were the New York City adventures. Now that I think about it, I also went with them on a cruise that boarded in Boston. That was my first trip after I lost my husband. It was ...

The Real “Waste, Fraud And Abuse”

President Trump says he has a mandate for his rapid overhaul of the Federal Government. Our congressman, Nick Langworthy, agrees. After contacting his office to express my concerns, I received an email telling me that Americans “overwhelmingly voted for President Trump and his agenda in the 2024 Election.” Did they, though? He received 49% of the vote. That means 51% voted for someone else. Nick Langworthy is a Trump man all the way. He sits on the House DOGE Caucus and touts many accomplishments of the newly minted Department of Government Efficiency, led by Elon Musk. He assured ...

What We See Happening On The Bridge

Now that winter is about over, construction activities have returned at the I-86 Chautauqua Lake Bridge. As we begin a new construction season on the bridge, “kudos” should be given to the state DOT for getting us through the winter without major incident. At the beginning of the winter, concern was expressed about snow removal on the now-narrowed two open lanes of the bridge. Yet, the DOT did its job. The snow removal during this very harsh winter was successful. Narrower plows were used to plow the snow, and, of course, a lot of salt had to be applied to keep the two lanes open ...