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Opinion

State’s energy policies absurd, costly

Commentary

Twenty years after “An Inconvenient Truth,” none of Al Gore’s wild speculations about climate catastrophe have emerged, yet people still cling to the climate nonsense, and New York state energy policy remains absurdly captive to that narrative. By way of example, climate fraud led New York to require houses built after Jan. 1 to use electric heat, and required the state have 70% “renewable” energy by 2030. The simple fact that these impossible regulations were devised by Albany politicians demonstrates the absolute incompetence of those who run New York. Reality recently ...

NORTH COUNTY Merger talks take look of lip service

The OBSERVER’s View

Urgency is always an issue for municipal governments when it comes to planning at the start of the new year. Both the city of Dunkirk and village of Fredonia, however, owe it to their residents — even with new representation — to be more accountable after recent budget train wrecks that upped taxes 84% and 54%. Since that time, both entities have talked about consolidations that would involve the fire and police departments. Unsurprisingly, this issue seems stalled. Both departments, we must note, carry some of the highest expenses in both municipal budgets. In Dunkirk, the cost ...

Region’s maternity care losses mirror U.S. trend

Editor's corner

Warren General Hospital administrators were fully aware they had been bucking a national trend. As the number of rural hospitals across the United States began closing maternity units over the last decade, this Warren County, Pa., facility was thinking primarily about care for its ...

It’s the season for snow, not rain

Commentary

Let’s pick up where we left off 148 weeks ago. Not even you, faithful reader of this column, will recall that we were well into March 2023. By turning on the snow machine then, Mother Nature appeared to be trying to make up for a lack of snow during the preceding winter. “No,” we told Mother Nature that day. Winter sports enthusiasts of all ages need snow in December, January, and February. But in March, it was too late to make up for what hadn’t fallen from the sky when we needed it. ≤ ≤ ≤ Fast forward to this winter. Children are looking forward to building snow ...

A small frame for life’s big picture

Commentary

Our family has cut way back on Christmas presents in recent years. We all still enjoy filling some desires from the grandchildrens’ wishlists. Honestly, they are the only ones who really need anything. But I have a problem, and it is probably a hangup going back to my childhood. I want everyone to have a package or two under the tree. A few years ago, we set a modest limit, so the gift shouldn’t be big, fancy, or expensive. It just has to be wrapped and tagged “to and from” so everyone gets to feel special. We are such a small family that giving each other a small gift is ...

Court is wild card in tariff talk decisions

Commentary

On April 2, the Trump administration citing the  International Emergency Economic Powers Act declared a national emergency on tariffs. At the time the administration announced reciprocal tariffs on imports from several nations. Reciprocal tariffs work this way; essentially, if Country A taxes Country B’s cars at 10%, Country B would impose a 10% tariff on Country A’s cars in return, creating a “tit-for-tat” system.  Targeted nations included China, Canada, Mexico. Japan, European Union, Vietnam, India, South Korea and Taiwan, which had all imposed much higher tariffs on ...