All of New York’s businesses — especially the small ones — will be feeling a new pinch right before the start of the new year. Beginning Monday, the state’s minimum wage will rise 70 cents to $11.10 per hour. That is almost $4 more than the federal minimum wage, which is $7.25 per ...
It is impossible for there not to be conflicts where Chautauqua Lake is concerned. Rolland Kidder — a former state Assemblyman, Robert H. Jackson Center executive director and a Stow resident — summarizes the situation surrounding the organizations working for the lake’s benefit in an ...
Mayor Sam Teresi finds himself with a vacancy to fill on the City Council after the resignation of Vanessa Weinert. It’s unfortunate Weinert had to step down. She had proven herself early in her first year as a bright, energetic member of the council who added depth to the conversation ...
Thumbs up to the Evans’ Skatelcub Social Rollers, a group of area residents who gather twice a year to reminisce about their god times at Evans’ Skateland. The longtime Jamestown fixture closed in December 2009 and, with it, a chapter of Jamestown history for those of a certain age who grew ...
It was interesting to see a report in Newsday last week indicating Democrats in the state Legislature were taking a second look at the Child Victims Act. The story quotes Assemblywoman Patricia Fahy, D-Albany, as one of the Democratic Party legislators voicing concern that the legislation, ...
One area of Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s 2019 Justice Agenda isn’t likely to be particularly fair for low- and middle-income families. Cuomo plans to make New York the most progressive state in the nation in moving to renewables and growing the new sustainable green economy. His Green New Deal ...
We pull out all the stops for Christmas. Household budgets are torn up in our determination to get the perfect gift for everyone on our lists. Many — most, here in Chautauqua County, we have reason to believe — set aside a few dollars, perhaps more, in our concern for the less fortunate. ...
Well, despite our best planning and our most focused efforts, Christmas has a way of sneaking up on us. It’s tomorrow, in case you’d lost track. There is so much left to do! The house or apartment needs a last cleaning for family members who visit just a couple of times a year. There’s ...
Tonight, while most of us relax in anticipation of The Big Day, firefighters will have to hold themselves ready to respond to the almost inevitable fires in chimneys and Christmas decorations. Police officers and sheriff’s deputies will patrol our streets and roads. Men and women will watch ...
Four of the five recommendations proposed by the Countywide Alliance for Enforcement and Rehabilitation make a lot of sense. The group, formed by County Executive George Borrello in January 2018, recently released a report that includes ideas to pursue in the coming year. Task force members ...
Thumbs up to each and every individual who took part — in both large and small ways — in the dozens of donation drives during this holiday season. Agencies have said repeatedly the need has never been higher for both basic necessities and for holiday gifts for children, yet Chautauqua ...
Were it not for the sometimes odious air of politics, there would be little controversy over a federal investigation of the New York State Justice Center for the Protection of People With Special Needs. Claims that the agency hasn’t investigated crimes that involve neglect, abuse, sexual ...
The concerns voiced by educators statewide about reports showing how a school district’s funding is divided between its individual school buildings appear to be coming true. This year, every school district has to file such a report to the state Division of the Budget to comply with federal ...
Too often, crimes are committed with weapons that have been stolen. Two such weapons were taken off the streets last week after Jamestown police charged two male youths with the theft of several items that included an AR-15 rifle and a loaded handgun. An investigation was launched after ...
New York legislators should be given the opportunity to vote against a 38.3 percent pay increase that otherwise automatically takes effect Jan. 1. The raise was recommended by the state’s Committee on Legislative and Executive Compensation. In addition to the 38.3 percent increase that ...
Sheriff Joe Gerace is absolutely correct when he says a newly proposed handgun bill proposed by state Sen. Kevin Parker, D-Brooklyn, isn’t practical. The new bill submitted by Parker on Nov. 14 would allow authorities to search social media and internet usage for any red flags, similar to ...
Thumbs up to the Clymer Central School mixed chorus and the entire Clymer-area community. Today, the 44-member chorus, made up of students in seventh through 12th grades, will be the opening act for the Radio City Rockettes. The Clymer students will perform a Pentatonix arrangement of “Hark, ...
There was a time when the passage of Chautauqua County’s yearly budget was so hotly contested, with so many debates amongst legislators, that it took two meetings for the legislature to conduct its October meeting, a public hearing on the budget at 2 p.m. and then a second meeting later in ...
As U.S. presidents born nearly a century ago, the late George H.W. Bush and Jimmy Carter each reached the age of 94. Observing Carter seated in the front row during Bush’s Wednesday funeral, we couldn’t help but reflect on how dramatically the nation’s political landscape has changed ...
Hopefully the data breach at Marriott that potentially exposed the personal data of roughly 500 million guests is enough to make both businesses and elected officials take cybersecurity more seriously. The Marriott breach is just the latest to make the news. Darden Restaurants, which owns ...