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In Our Opinion

We Fear State Is Going To Far With Graduation Standards Rewrite

We’ve had doubts about the state Board of Regents’ rewrite of New York’s high school graduation standards for years. But the more we hear, the less impressed we are - and the more doubts we have that the standards will result in the graduation of high school seniors who are ready for either college or a career. Let’s start with the state’s plan to adopt the New York State Portrait of a Graduate, an outline of the skills students must demonstrate to graduate. Skills include showing an ability to be a critical thinker, be an innovative problem solver, be literate across all ...

There’s A Lot We Don’t Know About Algal Blooms

Anyone who pays attention to the research focused on Chautauqua Lake knows there’s a lot we don’t know about harmful algal blooms. Research right now is focused largely on explaining why algal blooms occur, the conditions that create them and ways to deal with them when they happen. That’s important research, especially for areas that rely on their lakes as vital parts of their economy - like southern Chautauqua County. We know harmful algal blooms can affect people’s health. The state Health Department has said exposure to high levels of blue-green algae and their toxins can ...

Three-Year Bachelor’s Degrees An Idea Worth Pursuing

Higher education has taken quite a beating lately. Lawmakers have been going after administrators and faculty at high-profile institutions over Gaza protests and diversity initiatives. Students and parents are getting increasingly impatient with rising costs. Faculty are disgruntled in many places over tight budgets and a lack of job and tenure opportunities. Administrators fret about demographics that could lead to fewer and fewer students being in the shiny, state-of-the-art student centers and dormitories that have been built in recent years. Is there anybody out there happy with ...

Food Insecurity Is A Hidden Issue In This Year’s Election

During the height of the Great Depression, President Franklin Roosevelt calmed a tense nation with his weekly fireside chats. The United States isn’t in a recession, much less a depression, these days. But as we reported in Saturday’s edition, inflation’s effect on food prices is putting a serious crimp on those struggling to make ends meet. And tonight, as former President Donald Trump and President Joe Biden hold their first presidential debate before November’s election, it would be a good time for a kitchen table talk. Frankly, it’s time for a talk about how Americans ...

Celebrating 150 Seasons Of Chautauqua’s Global Impact

Much has changed on the shores of Chautauqua Lake over the past 150 years. The steamship era has come and gone. Horses and buggies have given way to cars. A ferry ride across the lake has given way to a bridge from Stow to Bemus Point. Largely undeveloped land gave way to grand lakeside hotels, many of which are no longer here in place of newer land uses. But for 150 seasons spanning 151 years, Chautauqua Institution has been a constant. The institution, too, has undergone changes over the years. It’s grown from a largely outdoor assembly into a quaint community. But the idea of ...

There Are Limits To How Much New Laws Will Decrease Nuisance Issues

Jamestown residents have been complaining about noise in city neighborhoods for decades. So complaints last week from Lakeview Avenue residents aren’t so much something new as they are the continuation of a complaint that, like a dull toothache, never really goes away. There are just some days where the ache hurts a little less than others. The city’s noise ordinance has been tweaked a few times over the years in an attempt to make the city’s noise ordinance easier to enforce. Council members approved hiring a nuisance officer in the Jamestown Police Department to devote ...