Chautauqua Institution made a difficult decision over the weekend. The institution has provided a familiar rhythm to our summer season. Many area residents know summer is here when insitution residents begin arriving. A leisurely pace resumes here when the institution closes for the year. In ...

The Jamestown Board of Public Utilities’ yard waste disposal site is open for limited hours through May 15. The site will be manned by city public works employees from 7:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. Monday through Friday through May 15. Residents will be asked to come to the site on their normal ...

One of the main reasons to shut down our society was to keep hospitals from being overwhelmed by COVID-19 cases. Why, then, are reopening plans for the economy being handled differently than the reopening plans for elective procedures in hospitals? It’s a valid question whose answer ...

We Americans have paid a high price — more than 60,000 deaths — for not stockpiling enough medical equipment and personal protective devices to cope with the COVID-19 onslaught. But here, some states seem to have begun flattening that a statistical curve you read so much about. A few are ...

The Chautauqua Lake hyperbole machine is in high gear. After one year of relative peace regarding lake treatments, threats of lawsuits are being bandied about while age-old divisions among lake agencies and personalities are rising to the surface like pesky eurasian milfoil leaves. Towns ...

We’re not often in agreement with Letitia James, New York’s attorney general, particularly in her seemingly endless series of lawsuits and spats with President Donald Trump and the federal government. Even a broken clock is right twice a day, and James is right to oppose several proposed ...

The area is seeing a rash of new cancellations as the COVID-19 shutdown stretches into May. The Celoron Ribfest, Great Blue Heron Festival and area Memorial Day parades have all been cancelled. It’s a reminder that, as much as everyone wants to see the economy reopened, simply reopening ...

Last week, Gov. Andrew Cuomo announced with great fanfare that Lt. Kathy Hochul would oversee Western New York’s phased business reopening. That was seen as a good thing at the time. At least Hochul, who is from Buffalo, can find Chautauqua, Cattaraugus and Allegany counties with a map, a ...

A great experiment is underway in the United States. Led by a few states — notably, Georgia — we are trying to determine how and when to begin recovering from the COVID-19 pandemic. We know the risk: Allow people and businesses to ease away from restrictions put in place to limit the ...

Following the chain of command can be imperative in the military. Failure to do so can have both fatal and national security implications. Navy Capt. Brett Crozier is a hero to many sailors about the aircraft carrier USS Theodore Roosevelt, which he captained earlier this year. After the ...

This week will be a pivotal week for school districts trying to build their budgets. Robert Mujica, state budget director, will release his first of four 2020 examinations of state revenues and expenses, an analysis that will likely trigger a first round of state spending cuts. Gov. Andrew ...

Gov. Andrew Cuomo earlier this week gave some New York hospitals approval to begin allowing elective surgeries now that the first wave of COVID-19 infections has passed. Using the word elective, however, sends the message that hospitals should be filling appointment books with cosmetic ...

The U.S. Supreme Court will livestream oral arguments in 10 cases in May. The high court’s decision is not permanent and will likely end when enough has been done to slow the spread of COVID-19 to return the court’s hearings to their prior untelevised status. Still, it is a jarring blow ...

It is easy to dismiss those protesting stay in place policies related to COVID-19 as wingnuts, whackadoodles or right-wing conspiracy theorists who don’t understand the severity of the COVID-19 pandemic. And, surely, there are some who fit that description among those who are flooding big ...

Eleven Chautauqua County child care providers have closed and nearly one-third of available child care slots vacant in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. That makes some sense given that many more parents are home with their children as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic business closures ...

When pubic schools reopen in August, or perhaps even later this spring, a significant number of students are going to be far behind their classmates. That may prompt some teachers to wonder if there is some way they can hand out a few F grades — to parents. Public schools in many areas ...

In Chautauqua County, there have been 27 COVID-19 cases. Between 35,000 and 45,000 people are estimated to be out of work. While the health impact has been low, the virus has exacted quite a toll from Chautauqua County’s residents. With the apex of the virus’ first wave appearing to have ...

We agree with Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s logic in freezing scheduled 2% pay raises for a majority of the state’s workforce. Cuomo knows the state’s revenues are going to be unreliable for the rest of the year, if not longer, as the state’s taxpayers dig their way out of the financial holes ...

President Donald Trump and Gov. Andrew Cuomo have dueling timelines of when to begin ending COVID-19 isolations and business closures. The utmost care should be taken to protect public safety and prevent flare-ups or greater spread of the COVID-19 virus. That much is obvious. A plan being ...

Dr. Donald Yealey, UPMC emergency medicine department chairman, hasn’t seen COVID-19 hotspots erupt in his hospitals’ service territories. The best way to keep it that way is for residents in UPMC’s service territory, which includes Jamestown, to keep doing what they’re doing. While ...