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Opinion

Republicans have lost moral high ground on redistricting

In Our Opinion

The redistricting wars are a relatively new phenomenon across the country. What began with President Donald Trump pushing Republican states to redraw their congressional boundaries to keep a Republican Congress has turned into a battle of political oneupmanship that New York just had to get in on. Of course, fighting about redistricting is nothing new in New York, which has seen the battles in the partisan warfare over congressional district boundaries take place far too regularly over the past 12 years for our liking. In our view the state’s political games take time and energy ...

County may get caught up in state’s data center questions

In Our Opinion

There are a lot of questions regarding the siting of data centers in New York state. It didn’t seem like the questions were local ones until last week when the former NRG power plant in Dunkirk was sold to Genover, a company that repurposes old power plants. One of the uses the company has found in the past for mothballed sites like Dunkirk’s is data centers. We don’t know if a data center is Genover’s end use for the former power plant in Dunkirk, but it is, at the very least, a possibility. That means Chautauqua County now has a very real interest in a one-year ...

Being A Neighbor Should Be Residents’ Responsibility, Not City’s

In Our Opinion

An initiative like Be A Neighbor JTNY wouldn’t have been needed 20 or 30 years ago. Even if you didn’t necessarily like your neighbor, we could hold polite conversation if we passed on the sidewalk or even simply give a quick wave as we drove by each other’s houses. It’s a pretty sad commentary on the way life has changed over the course of a generation that the Jamestown Development Department feels the need to spend any time whatsoever on something like Be A Neighbor JTNY. “There’s been a lot of talk around the community about the lack of community,” Kasie Foulk, ...

Threats against police are a growing issue

In Our Opinion

Twice this year we have seen federal charges brought in Western New York over threats to law enforcement officials. It’s two times too many, in our opinion. The most recent case involved threats made against a Cattaraugus County Sheriff’s Office deputy. Few details about the case that generated the threat have been released, but the background is frankly immaterial in this case. There are legal avenues that can be pursued in instances where a police officer is behaving inappropriately. And, lest we forget, Attorney General Letitia James is certainly not one to shy away from ...

Just A Bunch Of Nuts

Local Commentaries

A sudden blast, like a shotgun, shattered the silence of the night, crickets included. With my heart racing, my mind—and likely those of any neighbors—rushed to the extremes. Who is out there? Is this a threat? As the minutes ticked by, I spiraled through “what-ifs” and worst-case scenarios, debating the next steps. Bang…..Bang! There it was again. Already pounding, my heart leaped as the sound seemed to draw closer and grow louder. Fear attempted to take hold, only to be instantly dissolved by my father’s voice outside the room: “You up? You hear those walnuts falling ...

The U.S. has become a can’t do nation

Local Commentaries

The BPU sent me a large electricity bill this month like they always do this time of year. I set up a fixed automatic payment based on an estimate of what I’ll use for the year. My situation is complicated a bit by the solar panels on my roof. They produce a consistent 5000 kWh or so annually, but do better in summer than winter. My heat pump uses more electricity during the winter for heat and in the summer for AC than in fall or spring. Once per year, I catch up. This past year, I paid the BPU a total of $880, but $240 of that was for solid waste. The $660 in electricity charges ...