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The OBSERVER’s View

Murder: Nothing heroic about suspect

Altoona has been accorded deserved praise but also has been inflicted with an undeserved black eye over the Luigi Mangione case — Mangione being the suspect in the high-profile murder of UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson Dec. 4 outside a New York City hotel. The latter is totally without cause, saddening people here who still firmly believe that murder is not a good thing. But reject any thought that Mangione, from a prominent Baltimore real estate family, is destined to rot and die in prison, a forgotten man, if he is convicted of the heinous New York crime. Considering the ...

County: Limited choices on temporary housing

Rising costs for temporary housing have been a drag on Chautauqua County’s budget for the past few years. This year is no exception. County legislators are moving another $1.2 million from the county’s surplus to help pay for the nearly 200 people currently in temporary housing. That comes after moving another $1.5 from the county’s surplus in September on top of the $4.5 million originally budgeted this year. County officials are trying to be proactive, with plans to begin a new program called “Family Driven Case Management Services” to work with families to get them out ...

NEW YORK STATE: Inflation checks are tiny reprieve

Gov. Kathy Hochul’s State of the State plan to send a $500 check to New York families is an incredibly short-sighted plan to fight inflation and, frankly, boost her flagging approval ratings as Democrats come out of the woodwork looking to mount primary challenges against the governor. The governor made the inflation reduction checks the first centerpiece of her January State of the State speech, following former Gov. Andrew Cuomo’s lead of trying to generate excitement by releasing bits and pieces of their goal-setting speech a full month before the speech actually takes place in ...

DUNKIRK No holiday spirit in tax increase

City of Dunkirk taxpayers have a real lump of coal in their stockings this Christmas. Despite months of knowing about the fiscal crisis, elected officials did nothing to hold constituents harmless when it came to passing the buck. On Saturday, council approved an 84% property tax increase. That hurts, especially for 18% of the population that is classified as a senior citizen and on a fixed income. It is painful for the more than 25% who are living in poverty. Even if these residents do not own homes, rents will be going up to compensate for that massive increase. If there is a ...

POWER Hochul’s veto on grid disappoints

The New York Independent System Operator continues to raise concerns about the reliability of the state’s electric grid in coming years - particularly in New York City - as questions continue to arise about the planning behind New York’s transition to an emissions-free power grid. It’s one reason why, in our opinion, Gov. Kathy Hochul’s decision to veto a Grid Modernization Commission created by the state Legislature makes little sense. The governor says the decision is about cost, with the grid commission vetoed along with several other commissions that the governor said ...

COUNTY: No minimizing big money woes

About a decade ago when Vince Horrigan served as Chautauqua County executive, our newspaper did an editorial referencing how this area’s curse is minimizing continuing tax increases. At that time, Horrigan noted the county tax rate was increasing by pennies per $1,000 of assessed valuation. Never mind that costs for property owners were going up, it just wasn’t at a large margin. For the record, there is no minimizing what is happening in the city of Dunkirk or what could be coming for the village of Fredonia. City officials are cobbling together a budget plan for 2025 that will ...