U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder Jr. told the Wall Street Journal this weekend the increase in deaths from overdoses of heroin and prescription painkillers is an "urgent and growing public health crisis."Nationally, heroin overdose deaths have increased 45 percent between 2006 and 2010. Holder ...
Vows by Secretary of State John Kerry and President Barack Obama to line up a solid international front against Russia over its intervention in Ukraine may have to be rethought. Russian leader Vladimir Putin already has pulled the rug out from under that strategy.British leaders seem to have ...
We Americans disagree, sometimes fiercely, about government policy and priorities. Liberals argue with conservatives. Republicans do battle with Democrats.But on one thing, we must for the good of our children and grandchildren concur: No politician can be permitted to control the free press ...
At first glance, it makes little sense to have municipal buildings less than one block from each other in the village of Lakewood.That's why a group of Busti and Lakewood residents have spent the past month asking Busti Town Board to consider moving the town offices into the village's Anthony ...
-Thumbs up to a fond remembrance of Peter Morgante, a longtime city resident and watchdog on behalf of Jamestown taxpayers who passed away this week at the age of 84. Before retirement Morgante owned and operated the Dental Arts Laboratory for more than 45 years, but to many he is better known ...
Tourism is usually associated with the sound of ringing cash registers.For some area residents, the sounds of tourism are different - loud parties, traffic and the fun of cleaning extra trash out of one's yard.The trick for area elected officials is protecting their year-round residents while ...
It's hard to spin a contract agreement that will cost county taxpayers an additional $175,000 a year as financially prudent.That is exactly what several county legislators did, however, after approving a four-year contract recently between the county and the Deputy Sheriff's Association. The ...
DREAM is quite a misnomer for a law that opens state tuition assistance programs to students in the country illegally.Working families who struggle to pay for college rightly view the bill as a nightmare. It takes money that could benefit their children and gives it the children of those who ...
Few of the expensive films Hollywood has produced, now in the past, stand the test of time. But remember "National Lampoon's Animal House"? "Stripes"? "Groundhog Day"? "Caddyshack"? "Vacation"?Go ahead. Laugh, or at least smile. Those were funny movies - and years from now, they'll still make ...
For most of U.S. history, presidents of all political parties have used ambassadorships to other countries for political reasons. Sometimes they reward friends. Sometimes they get political rivals out of the way.Now the American Foreign Service Association, a group of professionals at the State ...
It is long past the time for New York to have a realistic conversation over equitable school funding.Equitable funding can't just mean more money in state aid. After all, a state that has just allegedly found enough of a surplus to offer tax relief programs can't begin promising billions of ...
Thumbs up to the latest in a budding crop of young artists in the area. Elise Cusimano of Falconer was recently awarded honorable mention in the 34th annual College and High School Photography National Contest, sponsored by Nikon USA and Photographer's Forum Magazine. Cusimano began taking ...
As Legislator Fred Larson, D-Jamestown, so aptly put it in his statement Thursday, elections do indeed have consequences.There has been so much debate over the past couple of years about how much money the Chautauqua County Home is losing, the impact privatizing the home would have on its ...
A lifetime membership usually is something you would analyze with skepticism before you rush to sign up. That goes for an announcement last week by Gov. Andrew Cuomo giving New Yorkers and visitors the opportunity to purchase lifetime licenses to fish, to hunt and to visit state parks.The ...
The are numerous problems with Gov. Andrew Cuomo's plan to offer associate and bachelor degree programs at 10 state prisons.Proponents point to the state's recidivism rate of 40 percent and say more education will help keep those released from prison from reoffending because they will be ...
Drug dealers are always looking for ways to make more money, which means they are nearly constantly experimenting with ways to change existing drugs to increase the high a user feels or to make their drug stretch further, maximizing the dealer's profit.Such is the case with the recent trend of ...
Say one thing for President Barack Obama: When he sets priorities, he sticks to them.Take the proposed Keystone XL Pipeline, which could help the U.S. hold gasoline prices down and provide thousands of jobs, while continuing a longstanding partnership with Canada. Obama has delayed it for more ...
When running to be your Chautauqua County Clerk, Larry Barmore made a lot of promises.In June and twice in October, Barmore or someone on his behalf made a point of saying politics had no place in the clerk's office. Perhaps more troubling is Barmore's oft-stated promise to run the office in ...
Thumbs up to Heil Transportation Inc., a Clymer-based company that will purchase the former Maplevale Farms building on Route 474 in Clymer. The building has been empty since 2010 when a massive amount of snow caused a roof at the facility to collapse and Maplevale to move into the former SYSCO ...
First the good news: Route 60 from outside Fredonia to Cassadaga is on the radar of the state Department of Transportation. Now, the bad news: motorists are going to have to wait until April for a smooth ride.So at least it is being addressed quicker - and better than a "Rough road" sign - than ...