We understand the sticker shock some town of Chautauqua residents are feeling. It’s hard to look at our local economy and justify how a property tax assessment on a swamp can increase more than 300% from one day to the next. Of course, the property in question didn’t appreciate that ...
For Tom Constantine and Jamestown’s Cherry Lounge, area diners have adapted to the state’s COVID-19 dining curfews. Constantine isn’t likely to stay open later, preferring to open earlier on the weekends. What would help Constantine more than staying open later is being able to have ...
We’re all ready for life to get back to normal. COVID-19 is on its second year of laying waste to many traditional events and celebrations that thousands of us look forward to every year. Organizers of the annual Scandinavian Folk Festival have said they are canceling the 2021 festival ...
Gov. Andrew Cuomo recently extended executive orders mandating an 11 p.m. restaurant curfew and requirement that patrons order food in order to consume alcohol. The extension isn’t surprising seeing as it came after a state appellate court ruled the curfew could stay in effect until a ...
Can we get a show of hands for anyone who wants to see gas prices increase 55 cents a gallon in New York state? How many of us either want to or can afford to spent 26% more on natural gas to heat our homes in the winter? If you answered no, then email every legislative Democrat in the state ...
Most of us think of infrastructure as something physical: bridges, roads, pipelines, power lines and the like. President Joe Biden says he wants to expand that dictionary definition to include workers, families and people — and therefore to include schools and housing, for example. That ...
Elected officials throughout Chautauqua County have the rest of the year to decide whether or not allow marijuana dispensaries or on-site consumption businesses to open. Dispensaries may make sense. If marijuana is legal, local governments may see an interest in marijuana sellers looking to ...
We’re all ready for life to get back to normal. COVID-19 is on its second year of laying waste to many traditional events and celebrations that thousands of us look forward to every year. Organizers of the annual Scandiinavian Folk Festival have said they are canceling the 2021 festival ...
Complaints from two local women about the hassles married women face when applying for a new federal REAL ID should be forwarded to the federal government. The women echo a complaint being made around the country that REAL ID laws burden women more than they do men because women have to show ...
The biggest takeaway from this year’s state budget isn’t the record spending, the legalization of mobile sports betting or the $2.1 billion the state will spend for those who weren’t eligible for unemployment benefits during the pandemic. What should be striking to everyone in the ...
Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice, shame on me. That old axiom should be ringing in the ears of local school board members and district superintendents as they finish their 2021-22 budget proposals and look ahead to future years. New York is promising a lot with its recently passed ...
U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., has suggested a 90-day moratorium on immigration to give Congress time to make the issue a priority. He is right to try to inject a sense of urgency in tackling the issue. Most Americans cannot fathom living in a place where it seems preferable to live in ...
A recent Jamestown Public Schools survey of how parents want their children to attend school for the rest of the school year will be for naught if the state Health Department doesn’t adopt CDC guidance reducing social distancing requirements in schools from 6 feet to 3 feet. ...
It is encouraging to see UCAN officials and Mayor Eddie Sundquist’s work to find a good location for a women’s shelter in Jamestown is paying off. Jeff Rotunda, UCAN executive director, told The Post-Journal recently that the organization has found a site that doesn’t require any ...
For the first few months they were available, COVID-19 vaccinations were the hottest ticket in Chautauqua County. Clinics would be announced and fill up within minutes. Is that trend reversing? A clinic at Jamestown Community College announced late March 29 did not fill up quickly. In ...
The Jamestown community was shocked to learn of the recent sudden passing of Vickye James. Tributes have poured in in the wake of James’ passing noting her warm, open nature to those who needed help, her deep involvement in her church, her work with children as Jamestown’s Youth Bureau ...
What were Chautauqua County legislators thinking last week when they proposed appointing Loren Kent as the next Democratic election commissioner? We aren’t quibbling with Kent’s qualifications, nor are we opposing the appointment of the Luz Torres, the Dunkirk resident chosen for the ...
In one year, public enrollment in Chautauqua County decreased roughly 400 times more than it usually does. Over the previous nine years, school enrollment has decreased by an average of about 190 students a year with enrollment decreasing in eight of those nine years. The 2020-21 decrease in ...
The decision to hold federally-mandated education testing in English language arts and math already made little sense this year. The tests are a rite of spring each year for third- through eighth-graders is supposed to provide a snapshot of how children across the country are learning ...
In January 2021 alone, Falconer’s firefighters responded to 29 mutual aid requests — 23 of them were responses in Jamestown. In 2020, Falconer firefighters responded to the city for mutual aid 176 times, the vast majority using its ambulance for an EMS call. The mutual aid system as it is ...