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Opinion

New York State: Assembly Dems put on rural reps

The OBSERVER’s View

When Assemblyman Andrew Goodell, R-Jamestown, debated a bill or spoke on a bill’s merits, he knew he wasn’t speaking to Democrats in the Assembly. The same is true for Goodell’s successor, Andrew Molitor. But, during the latter part of Goodell’s tenure in the Assembly the Jamestown ...

Finding clarity in protests over ICE

Commentary

By THE REV. MEL McGINNIS “We are seeing two movies on one screen,” the late Dilbert creator Scott Adams once said. Minneapolis is exhibit one. One side calls it murder, the other, self-defense. One side says, “ICE is causing chaos.” The other side says, “ICE is there because of the ...

Natural gas best option for facility

Commentary

In early 2013, New York’s then-Gov. Andrew Cuomo showed up in Dunkirk on a wintry day to announce with great fanfare that the NRG power plant in Dunkirk would be converted from a clean-coal facility to natural gas-fueled power production. I was a Chautauqua County Legislator at the time and I ...

FREDONIA District has time to fix finances

The OBSERVER’s View

Fredonia Central School district residents did not need to hear the news from state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli to know of the troubling fiscal plight. Since a meeting in December, the district has been well aware of its money problems that will become more apparent as the 2026-27 budget gets ...

Authority debt often ignored in state

Peoples column

Editor, OBSERVER: It is strange that no mention is made of the enormous debt held by the numerous public authorities in Gov. Kathy Hochul’s budget message? She touts the $14.6 billion in reserve while failing to take into account the budget gap of $34 billion-plus which includes the ...

Freedoms being lost right before our eyes

Commentary

I am Antifa. I have been writing these commentaries for at least a decade and in that time I have consistently put forward the “Liberal Agenda.” We want a single payer plan for healthcare. We want everyone to have a good education and employment opportunities. We want clean water and clean ...