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Sizing Up The Winter Of 2026

Local Commentaries

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 in the Ice Age of Western New York, after all. Not only did we grow up in it, we walked to school in it, we were forced outside on Saturdays by our parents to go play in it. We took our road tests in snow storms, delivered newspapers by climbing six-foot snow banks, and walked two miles in ...

Region’s Maternity Care Losses Are U.S. Trend

Editor's Corner

Warren General Hospital administrators were fully aware they had been bucking a national trend. As the number of rural hospitals across the United States began closing maternity units over the last decade, this Warren County, Pa., facility was thinking primarily about care for its ...

Apparent Lack Of Planning Could Be A Problem

In Our Opinion

How do you do regime change without changing the regime? That is the conundrum facing President Trump following his announcement that the United States would run the government of Venezuela “until such time as a proper transition can take place” — date TBD. Coming from a president who has mocked American military occupations in Iraq and Afghanistan, Trump’s declaration was almost as surprising as the lightening-strike operation itself, which led to the arrest of Venezuela’s autocratic president, Nicholas Maduro, on drug trafficking charges. Set aside for a moment very ...

What’s With The Warmer Temperatures?

Local Commentaries

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 Mother Nature that day. Winter sports enthusiasts of all ages need snow in December, January, and February. But in March, it was too late to make up for what hadn’t fallen from the sky when we needed it. * * * Fast forward to this winter. Children are looking forward to building snow forts, ...

Focus Should Be On Affordability During Session

In Our Opinion

We appreciate Gov. Kathy Hochul’s stated focus on affordability. We know, as do most New Yorkers, that it isn’t as easy to make ends meet these days as it was 20 years ago. Hochul has focused her affordability agenda on things like wage increases, tax cuts or tax credit expansions, including her most recent push to eliminate state income taxes on up to $25,000 of tipped income in tax year 2026, which follows federal guidance. A recent World Population Review study showed New York’s cost of living index is 148.2, the second highest in the country, with housing costs that are the ...

Maternal Care Undergoing Change In Area

In Our Opinion

UPMC Chautauqua is no stranger to dealing with the closure of neighboring hospitals’ labor and delivery units. First, it was Westfield Memorial Hospital, then Brooks-TLC just a few years ago. Now, Warren General Hospital is closing its labor and delivery unit amid a shortage of OB/GYN physicians. Starting next week, pregnant women will either be sent to UPMC Chautauqua or Erie’s UPMC Hamot or Allegheny Health Network. Given Jamestown is roughly 40 miles closer for Warren residents, we’d be surprised if most of Warren’s roughly 175 births that previously took place in Warren ...