Where Do We Begin With Newest Homeless Developments?

May 5, 2026

Is it safe to say that, right now, no one is happy with our solutions for the homeless in southern Chautauqua County? Taxpayers can’t be happy, either, given the service being provided at the ever-expanding cost of temporary housing assistance. State Sen. George Borrello and Assemblyman Andrew Molitor are pushing the state to bring new resources to help with temporary housing because they realize that the current warehousing of the homeless in hotels isn’t helping anyone but the hotel owners. Falconer Mayor James Jaroszynski, Ellicott Supervisor Janet Bowman and Falconer ...

2 Ships Passing In The Night On Energy Policy

May 4, 2026

Republicans and Democrats are like two ships passing in the night when it comes to New York’s energy policy. Both ships are in shallow water with a rocky bottom. In this analogy, that makes the state Independent System Operator a lighthouse trying to illuminate the darkness to allow the ships to pass safely to port. Unfortunately, both ships’ captains have blinders on - and we’re headed for a crash. The ISO said last week that electric grid reliability for the summer months is among the lowest on record, with 34,615 megawatts of power resources available to meet forecasted ...

Closure Of Bush Industries Hits Very Hard

May 2, 2026

More than 200 people woke up Thursday to find their services were no longer needed at Bush Industries. It’s a gut punch to longtime employees, some of whom have worked decades for the Jamestown manufacturer, and for those who thought they had shepherded Bush through lean years in the 2010s prior to the company’s purchase that led to the formation of the eSolutions Furniture Group in 2020. For decades Bush Industries had been one of the south county’s major employers and, despite prior tough times, had always found a way to bounce back. Post-pandemic business has been tough, ...

It’s Time For Patel To Resign

May 1, 2026

Kash Patel, the conspiracy theorist and podcaster -turned FBI director, is sleeping on the job — literally. According to a recent report from The Atlantic, members of Patel’s security detail have, on multiple occasions, had “difficulty waking Patel because he was seemingly intoxicated.” At one point last year, a request was made for equipment used by SWAT teams in order to get through to the FBI director because he “had been unreachable behind locked doors.” The Atlantic’s reporting makes clear what has been obvious from the start: Patel is unfit to lead the FBI, and ...

Don’t Pursue Animal Limits If They Are Unenforceable

April 30, 2026

Jamestown officials have already said city residents can’t own chickens or other barnyard animals like pigs. Yet, if you’re on the south side of the city it wasn’t an uncommon occurrence over the past couple of years to hear a rooster crowing at all hours of the day or to see a pig roaming through south side yards. Keep that in mind as City Council members discuss limits to the number of cats city residents can house. We’re not saying there shouldn’t be limits on the number of cats people can have. We believe there should be limits. Too often, we see reports of police ...

‘Vacation Home’ Tax Is Not Such A Good Idea

April 29, 2026

Democrats are proposing to extend a bad idea in New York City into a bad idea statewide. Assemblyman Andrew Molitor, R-Westfield, and Sen. George Borrello, R-Sunset Bay, have concerns about extending the proposed pied-à-terre from New York City to the rest of the state. We, too, have concerns. A quick examination of real estate sales transactions over the past couple of years shows only one sale that would qualify for the pied-à-terre as proposed by state Sen. Patricia Fahy. We do think that such a tax will have an impact on Chautauqua County at some point, though the effect likely ...