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Opinion

Invite ABC speakers to Chautauqua’s main stage

Commentary

CHAUTAUQUA — Those who have read, listened to, or watched the news this year know that some are shocked at the ascendancy of socialism among Democrats. They’re right to be shocked in the sense of left aghast. Yet no one should be shocked in the sense of surprise. Step by step, socialism has been gaining a foothold among Democrats since the ascendancy of Woodrow Wilson to the presidency in 1912. Has socialism’s progress among Democrats always been linear? That is, has it always gained ground at a constant rate? No, socialism among Democrats has ebbed and flowed, yet the net ...

Economic silver linings evident near Labor Day

Editor's corner

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 ...

Questions remain regarding Flock cameras

Commentary

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 ...

Rounding Third

Commentary

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 ...

The OBSERVER’s View

The OBSERVER’s View

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 ...