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UPMC is here for our communities

Peoples column

Editor, OBSERVER: The health needs of a community can change over time, especially in rural areas. What matters most is making sure people can get care close to home, when they need it. You may have seen that Bradford Regional Medical Center recently closed its inpatient and emergency department services. Changes like this can be difficult for patients, families and the community — and can raise questions about where to turn for care. At UPMC, our focus is to make sure care remains accessible, reliable, and easy to navigate. We are committed to supporting people where ...

Coach, teacher touched many lives

Commentary

When I was in fourth grade at the Babcock Elementary school in Silver Creek, I can remember our teacher telling us we had a new gym class instructor. Apparently he was fresh out of college (22 years old) and everyone was very excited to meet him! As it turned out, Mr. Curt Raymond would ...

North county meetings always ready for ruckus

Editor's corner

It was an unusual police call on Monday, May 11 in Fredonia. Officers were being summoned to Village Hall — the same building where its headquarters are stationed on the lower level. After the public access cameras at the trustees meeting went dark, there was a definite commotion. Residents ...

Court restricts racial gerrymandering

Commentary

Let’s pick up where we left off 12 weeks ago. Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act was before the U.S. Supreme Court again, this time in Louisiana v. Callais. * * * Writing for the six-justice majority, Justice Samuel Alito ...

Just one more Memorial Day remembrance

Commentary

Editor’s note: Marcy O’Brien is in New England with family graduation festivities. Parts of this column have appeared previously. Memorial Day was a particularly important day of remembrance for my mother. Every year, she made sure we wore commemorative red poppies to honor her youngest brother, the family hero. Kenneth Arthur MacMillan was the youngest of four children. When their mother died, my mother, Alberta, was 6 and the siblings were 4, 2 and baby Kenny was months old. He never knew his mother who spent the last months of her life in a tuberculosis sanitorium. Alberta ...

The OBSERVER’s View: Region has a dislike for data centers

The OBSERVER’s View

Take a drive through Brocton-Portland and there are signs of discontent. It stems from the announcement earlier this spring that a possible data center was looking at the former Sugar Hill golf course on Route 5. That opposition also is evident in last week’s observertoday.com poll: Are you concerned about data centers in Chautauqua County? Final results show 503 as being “yes” votes with another 270 in the “no” category. Our region, however, is not alone. Seven in 10 Americans oppose constructing data centers for artificial intelligence in their local area, including ...