The state Senate can strike a blow for open government by approving Senate Bill 1531, sponsored by Senators John DeFrancisco and Michael Ranzenhofer, that was approved by the state Assembly during Sunshine Week in March.The bill DeFrancisco and Ranzenhofer propose would speed up the appeal ...
New York's property tax cap continues to serve its purpose for taxpayers during each school budget season. Whether the cap will work in the long run - or simply dry up districts' reserve funds - remains to be seen.Total school taxes have grown by just over 2 percent each year since the cap took ...
Two measures approved recently by the state Senate deserve to become law.The first bill is S.3087, sponsored by Sen. Catharine Young, R-C-I-Olean, to allow domestic violence victims to testify in the physical absence of their alleged abusers by using closed-circuit television. By offering an ...
President Barack Obama has claimed war-mongers in the Republican Party want to derail his plan for an agreement with Iran over that nation's development of nuclear weapons.It just isn't true.On Thursday, the Senate voted on a bill insisting that Congress must have at least some say in the ...
To The Reader's Forum:The National Association of Letter Carriers, the National Rural Letter Carriers' Association, the United Way and the Salvation Army would like to thank the local community for donating more than 6,500 pounds of non-perishable food items for the 23rd Annual Stamp Out Hunger ...
A genuine foreign policy crisis is occurring, and President Barack Obama's reaction to it betrays his clear failure to comprehend the peril his ongoing missteps have created. He seems bent on aggravating rather than alleviating the problem.A key meeting of Middle Eastern allies, the Gulf ...
The SAFE Act remains a divisive issue in New York state three years after its passage.That is evident by the number of lawn signs one can see pushing for repeal of the controversial law. Many credit Rob Astorino's stance on the SAFE Act and the Common Core State Standards for his strong showing ...
Thumbs up to the Celoron Village Board for reaching a decision on the so-called "Scary Lucy" statue. On Monday, the board approved a motion to grant the National Comedy Center possession of the bronze Lucille Ball sculpture. Better yet, the village retains ownership of "Scary Lucy," and the ...
It's easy for people to bemoan the decline of Jamestown neighborhoods while doing nothing to stop it.Give credit to a group of Forest Avenue residents for doing more than just talking about the decline of their neighborhood. Patricia Franco and her husband Tom have teamed with one of their ...
Here's hoping for good weather for Saturday's Hands on Jamestown cleanup.The annual event, begun so many years ago by the Downtown Jamestown Development Corp. and carried on now by the Jamestown Renaissance Corp., takes place from 8 a.m. to noon Saturday throughout the city.Preregistered ...
The continuing corruption in the state capital has one of New York's heavily criticized "three men in a room" on his way out the door. We hoped a Southern Tier senator would find her window into the all-powerful layer where Albany's top officials decide the fate of the Empire ...
Just one Internal Revenue Service official lost her job over harassment of non-profit organizations for political reasons, to our knowledge. That was Lois Lerner, who was not fired but instead retired.But the agency has taken "significant actions" to prevent such political use of the tax ...
When Florida mailman Douglas Hughes flew his tiny gyrocopter onto the U.S. Capitol grounds a couple of weeks ago, he did more than make a statement on the need for political campaign finance reform.He also delivered a message to terrorists - our nation's capital remains vulnerable to attack.Air ...
To The Readers' Forum:I am to understand a lot has been said about raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour for fast food workers.I ask why? No one has forced you to work there for as long as you have. I can understand why some people must work these jobs - because they may have gotten laid off ...
Assemblyman Andrew Goodell, R-Chautauqua County, hit the nail on the head when he said Gov. Andrew Cuomo's late-April trip to Cuba was "all show and no go in terms of meaningful progress."The trip did result in an agreement between the Roswell Park Cancer Institute and the Cuban Center of ...
Thumbs up to the National Association of Letter Carriers Stamp Out Hunger Food Drive, which takes place today. Those who want to participate can simply place donations of non-perishable canned or boxed goods near their mailbox for postal carriers to pick up on their route. In Jamestown, ...
Today, a family mourns the passing of a little girl who made an immeasurable impact on her community.Shane and Tara Swan don't mourn alone. Their community mourns with them.Kallie Swan was diagnosed in August 2013, at the tender age of 21 months, with acute lymphoblastic leukemia. Kallie's ...
The cauldron of corruption in Albany continues to bubble.Senate Majority Leader Dean Skelos, R-Long Island, and his son, Adam, have surrendered to face charges including extortion and soliciting bribes amid a federal investigation into the awarding of a $12 million contract to a company that ...
There are many reasons to be against Start-Up NY, Gov. Andrew Cuomo's much ballyhooed and, at least thus far, not very successful economic development program that eliminates all taxes on businesses on or near the state's college campuses.In mid-April, reports of modest initial success and ...
Initial indications were that two gunmen killed during an assault on an art exhibit in Garland, Texas, were motivated by extremist Islamic hatred. Their goal may have been nothing less than intimidating Americans into abandoning our tradition of freedom of speech.Garland police were ready for ...