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Opinion

Pause On All-Electric Homes Mandate Is A Temporary Win

In Our Opinion

News last week that the state will pause enforcement of its All-Electric Buildings Act was cheered by many. Those cheers are warranted and, unfortunately, likely only temporary. Reducing emissions is a laudable goal. It’s good for all of us and for future generations if we emit less carbon dioxide into the environment. We should want to be more environmentally friendly in the cars we drive, the homes we live in and the power that we use. The problem is New York pursues those goals in the most ham-handed ways possible. The All-Electric Buildings Act is no different. Forcing ...

Shrinking City Surplus Is A Symptom Of A Bigger Problem

In Our Opinion

Jamestown City Council members are expressing concern over the city’s shrinking surplus. They’re right to be concerned. The city should have roughly two months’ worth of savings to be able to keep the city running in case something catastrophic happens and anticipated revenue doesn’t come in. That would mean carrying about $7.5 million in its surplus at any given time. Jamestown will head into 2026 carrying about half of that amount after allocating an expected $3.5 million from the surplus to lower a nearly 10% tax hike. While the fund balance is a concern, it isn’t the ...

Old Bridges Of America

Local Commentaries

Driving south toward Key West, the road narrows, the sky spreads out, and the sea becomes your constant companion. It’s one of the most beautiful stretches of pavement in the country. But somewhere before Marathon, your eyes snag on something off to the right — something that doesn’t fit with the turquoise water and the postcard-perfect horizon. An old bridge with broken railings. Rust is bleeding down the concrete like old wounds. And grass — wild, waist-high grass — is growing straight out of what used to be a proud engineering marvel. The Old Seven Mile Bridge was once ...

One, Two, Three, What Are We Thankful For?

Local Commentaries

In 1969, a band called Country Joe and the Fish performed a song (written in 1967 by Country Joe McDonald) at the Woodstock Music Festival gathering at Yasgur’s Farm in Bethel, NY. Included the lyrics, were the words “…and it’s one, two, three, what are we fighting for?” The song was a satirical protest of the Vietnam War, and was titled “I-Feel-Like-I’m-Fixin’-to-Die.” Five days from today we will be celebrating my favorite holiday, the one requiring nothing more than a hearty appetite, a pillow on which to lay our heads to nap after devouring the feast of the day, ...

Natural Sleep Is A Sometimes Gift

Local Commentaries

I sometimes have trouble sleeping. I’m blaming lack of sleep for all my bad decisions, and often for forgetting my purse. I need every excuse I can get. Last spring, I finally decided to try the natural sleep supplement Melatonin. Whoa, that’s good! If I needed some help to Slumbertown, 20 minutes after a Melatonin gummy, I was on the path. Zonk. Occasionally I needed two. But it wasn’t until a two-fer night that I finally read the directions. “Thirty minutes before bedtime, take two supplements and allow them to slowly dissolve.” Two Melatonins? The recommended dosage? ...

The Dog Days Of MAGA

Local Commentaries

The Trump administration has gone to the dogs—in more ways than one. It’s well known that Trump doesn’t hold “man’s best friend” in high regard, and a trend is emerging where dogs have become unwitting pawns and casualties in the war over empathy. Trump is the first President since Andrew Johnson to not have a canine companion or other pet in the White House and has deployed the term “dog” to demean women he dislikes or finds unattractive. In the 2024 campaign, Trump repeated the racist, thoroughly debunked lie that Haitian immigrants in Springfield, Ohio were killing ...