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In Our Opinion

State Legislature Shouldn’t Enable Searches That Are Warrantless

The legal fight over the Office of Cannabis Management’s seizure of illegal cannabis products from state-licensed hemp stores is fascinating. So is the state’s response to a state Supreme Court ruling saying the seizures violate the Fourth Amendment of the U.S. Constitution. Super Smoke N Save LLC et al v. New York State Cannabis Control Board et al and centers on the search of five New York City area businesses and the seizure of materials from those businesses by the Office of Cannabis Management. In January 2025, state Supreme Court Justice Thomas Marcelle ruled that Office of ...

Property Owner, Realtor Buy-In Important For Registries To Work

There are a lot of concerns over the ways Chautauqua County’s lead rental registry and Jamestown’s rental property registry will affect property owners, property managers and, potentially, realtors. The issues have been discussed and talked about over the past few years, but frankly there’s a lot happening all at the same time. Those with concerns or questions should make it a point to attend a town hall meeting Tuesday, May 12, at Wicked Warren’s on Third Street. The forum is being organized by the Real Estate Investor Association of Jamestown, in cooperation with the ...

Economy In County Takes 2 Steps Forward, 1 Step Back

When it comes to economic development in the greater Jamestown area, it feels as if we’re taking two steps forward and one step back. It’s an improvement from 10 years ago, when the story was one step forward and two steps back. It’s an interesting concept to consider as we ponder the recent closure of Bush Industries and what the company’s end means for the greater Jamestown area economy. Last week, there was an emotional reaction to the news of the closure, which brought to an end a local company with a nearly 70-year history and eliminated 230 jobs from the local ...

Congress Must Act To Stop The Abuse Of Redistricting

Florida was supposed to be the finale of this year’s race to the bottom on redistricting. Yet a cacophonous encore is now playing across the South after a Supreme Court ruling last week. The GOP started it in Texas last summer. A back-and-forth ensued, with Democrats redrawing maps in California and Virginia while Republicans did so in Missouri, North Carolina and Ohio. Simultaneously, a long-running constitutional dispute over the Voting Rights Act came to a head last week when the high court limited the consideration of race while designing districts in Louisiana v. ...

CLCPA Talks Should Include Rate Relief

We’ve gone back to the future when it comes to New York’s budget - and it’s not a good thing. Late budgets were a thing of the past for years under former Gov. Andrew Cuomo. For some of those years, Cuomo was dealing with a divided legislature that had a Republican state Senate. Gov. Kathy Hochul is still dealing with division in government, but it’s over lawmakers’ shade of blue as the past few years have brought a return to protracted budget stalemates of the state’s past. It’s really about Democrats fighting about policy initiatives while Republicans sit on the ...

Clymer Fly Car Is One Positive Of Financial Surplus In County Coffers

Bob Crane spent more than 60 years volunteering with the Stanley Hose Company in Sherman. The Sherman man responded to thousands of EMS calls over his time, earning the moniker of “Sherman’s Security Blanket” after his retirement in a letter written by the fire company after Crane’s retirement. Crane is the type of volunteer that’s hard to replace. Crane left large shoes to fill. He’s an exemplary example of the value of community volunteers. He’s so hard to replace, in fact, that Chautauqua County is helping to fill the gap created by Crane’s retirement. ...