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Illustrating shop local benefits, importance for all generations

The staples of fall for many include football, apple cider, pumpkins, and the start of the holiday shopping season. For the Chamber of Commerce, this is a great time to remind one and all that it’s important to shop local. The data is sound – including the fact that when you shop at a small locally owned business 67-cents out of every dollar stays local, while it’s just a fraction of that when shopping at a big box store. But one of the best illustrations I’ve seen recently of how shopping locally benefits the local economy is while I was watching the children’s TV show Bluey ...

Congratulations to all annual award recipients

The Chautauqua County Chamber of Commerce puts together a broad variety of events throughout the year each designed for different purposes. While they are all opportunities to bring businesspeople together, one stands out as a true feel-good program. The Chamber’s Annual Awards Banquet was held Thursday night at the Williams Center at SUNY Fredonia with over 220 people in the room. This was a welcome site, marking the full return of a highly anticipated event which was held with some restrictions last fall. The Annual Awards Banquet is always heartwarming as we spend an evening paying ...

High honors for Cobb at Chamber’s ‘celebratory’ night

Steven Cobb, winner of the 2022 Person of the Year Award from the Chautauqua County Chamber of Commerce, is proof that people can recover from deep troubles and thrive. In a brief interview prior to the Chamber’s annual awards dinner Thursday at SUNY Fredonia’s Williams Center, Cobb ...

Brooks-TLC partner Kaleida receives $25M state grant

Financial difficulties at Brooks-TLC Hospital System Inc. in Dunkirk have been well documented over the past decade. On Thursday, the major health-care organization that has been working with the northern Chautauqua County institution since 2016 got a needed fiscal boost. Kaleida Health, which reported losses of more than $100 million in 2020, announced it had received a $25 million grant from New York state. Don Boyd, chief executive officer, thanked Gov. Kathy Hochul for the infusion. “Today’s news of the $25 million Vital Access Provider Program grant is very much welcomed and ...

Retool WNY is a great opportunity for local businesses

Savvy businesspeople know that if they aren’t innovating, they are in trouble. Fortunately for all of us, there is a great opportunity for local manufacturers to learn about the industry of the future without even leaving home. Retool ’22 is a Climate Tech Manufacturing Conference that will take place in Jamestown October 17-29. This extraordinary conference will bring together those on the cutting edge of technology with those who are creating and transforming the way products are made, sold, and even financed. Keynote speakers for Retool ’22 are: John Ellis, former Ford Global ...

New York, California Attorney Generals take shot at gun industry

Attorneys general from New York and California sent a letter Friday to the CEOs of three major credit card companies asking them to establish a specific code to identify purchases from gun stores. That code, called a merchant category code, could then be used to flag purchases of weapons and ammunition and make it easier for law enforcement officials in their investigations. “Credit card companies categorize purchases on nearly everything from groceries to gas to clothing, but no category exists for the multi-billion-dollar gun and ammunition industry,” New York State Attorney ...