Breaking News

In Our Opinion

No Reason To Vet Rural Suicide Prevention Bill

In 2024, Gov. Kathy Hochul vetoed legislation that would have created a Rural Suicide Prevention Council to address increasing rates of suicide in rural counties. The reason for the veto, you may ask? Money and concerns about duplication. Those were unconvincing reasons in 2024. If the reintroduced legislation passes the state Legislature during this session, Hochul should correct her mistake and sign the legislation into law. All one needs to do is look at the increased rates of rural suicide to see that existing state efforts wouldn’t be duplicative since they rarely make much of ...

Mayor Moves Quickly In Hiring New Police Chief

Quickly, quietly, Mayor Kim Ecklund has named a new Jamestown police chief. What a difference from the last time the city hired a police chief. For those who have forgotten, after the retirement of former chief Harry Snellings, the city cast a wide net to find a replacement. Candidates were brought in for multiple rounds of interviews. Not only did the process drag on for months, but the potential candidates were increasingly unlikely to uproot their lives in other, bigger cities to come to Jamestown. Eventually, members of the search committee pushed for Mayor Eddie Sundquist to name ...

Blakeman Paid Hefty Price For Campaign Rhetoric

Democrats spend so much time blustering about fair elections, we had assumed they actually believed in the concept. They proved last week they do not. On Tuesday, the state’s Public Campaign Finance Board chose to deny the application filed by Bruce Blakeman, Republican candidate for governor, to receive six-to-one public matching funds for individual campaign donations up to $250. Were the application fundamentally flawed, we could see denying the application. But that’s not what happened here. In December, the board created a joint filing requirement that both the governor ...

Resurrection Delivers Hope To All

Now on the first day of the week Mary Magdalene came to the tomb early, while it was still dark, and saw that the stone had been taken away from the tomb. So she ran and went to Simon Peter and the other disciple, the one whom Jesus loved, and said to them, “They have taken the Lord out of the tomb, and we do not know where they have laid him.” So Peter went out with the other disciple, and they were going toward the tomb. Both of them were running together, but the other disciple outran Peter and reached the tomb first. And stooping to look in, he saw the linen cloths lying ...

City Needed To Step In On 2nd Street Building

Ownership of three parcels at 8, 10 and 12 East Second Street, including a building that has been a vacant eyesore for nearly two decades, has been transferred to the Jamestown Urban Renewal Agency. It’s a good move, in our opinion. The private market hasn’t resulted in any sort of change for more years than we care to count, resulting in a depressing dollop of disinvestment next to the renovated Fenton Building, which now houses the Chop House on Main. City officials say intervention is needed to prevent the building from further deteriorating and meeting the fate of its ...

Outrage For Squalid Situations Should Only Be First Reaction

It’s always been amazing to see the public reaction when animals or children are taken out of squalid conditions. That was the case last week, when social media was ablaze about a situation on Peach Street and then caught fire again after two city residents were charged with several animal cruelty crimes. A search warrant ended up being needed to make contact with the Jamestown residents and to check on the animals. Officers found four adult dogs, one puppy and two cats living inside the residence. One of the adult dogs was in need of immediate veterinary care and a deceased puppy ...