Over the last three months, despite a slightly higher jobless rate in July at 4.6%, there is reason for optimism when it comes to the Chautauqua County economy. In the weekend before the Labor Day holiday, it appears major projects that bolster the region are working out. Last week, area ...
Until the recent story in the OBSERVER about Flock cameras appearing in New York State and Chautauqua County, I hadn’t paid a lot of attention to the subject probably because I took it for granted that “Big Brother” in some form or other felt a need to watch some of us. Now I don’t ...
Editorial Cartoon
I need a tissue just thinking about it. Sniff, sniff. It wasn’t until I realized that Labor Day is THIS WEEKEND that it hit me. Summer is almost over. How did that happen? Wasn’t it the first of August just last week? With the sun setting earlier, suddenly the evenings have become ...
Ten years ago, almost to the day, we lamented the difficulty in comparing results on state tests from year-to-year because New York's Education Department changed testing and assessment guidelines more often than most people change their socks. We noted, at the time, that proficiency rates in English language arts was 37.9% and 38.1% in math, truly depressing when one considered that meant only a little more than one-third of students were performing at an acceptable grade level. The state recommended at the time not to try to compare 2016 data to prior years, which would have been ...
For three years, Chautauqua County Legislature Democrats have called for reducing the budget surplus — that totals more than $30 million — by $2 million. Since they are the minority party, they have failed because Republicans have not once backed the idea. Considering the most recent meeting last week, that could be changing. Though a vote to give back the $2 million failed, there were Republican legislators who began to speak out about reducing the slush fund. Most notably, Legislator Fred Johnson of Westfield mentioned giving back some $15 million to $20 million. What’s most ...
