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Celebrating Community Foundation Week

By TORY IRGANG and DIANE HANNUM Each year, from Nov. 12 to 18, Community Foundation Week marks a time to celebrate local impact and recognize the increasingly important role of these philanthropic organizations in fostering collaboration and innovation to address the needs of the communities they serve. Community Foundation Week was established in 1989 by former President George H.W. Bush to honor the work of community foundations nationwide and their unique ability to bring together the public, private, and nonprofit sectors to strengthen communities. For more than a century, ...

Mamdani’s grand promises are unsustainable

I think after Zohran Mamdani takes office in January that we should start calling the “Big Apple” “Havana or Caracas on the Hudson.” Though I already knew the outcome of the election long before election night, the next day I was so depressed that I streamed a documentary on the Black Death which decimated Europe in the 14th Century killing 25 million people or one-half the continents population. Some of you might say that watching a documentary on a deadly pandemic in the middle ages would depress me even more, but here’s the point: the black death killed 25 million people ...

Winter has already arrived

I hate to admit it, but winter is here! I have never been a big winter guy. I think I would be happiest if we had continual rotations of spring and fall - but such is not the case. Winter is a reality, especially around here. A good friend calls me about this time every year to discuss the shortness of days. We both get a little down as the daylight hours get shorter and the nights become longer. But, she is an optimist, and I am more of a pessimist. “Just think,” she says, “next month we will have the shortest day of the year, and then the days will start getting ...

Saluting unending service

Being elderly is a tough thing to admit. At least for me. I’m quick to dismiss the reminders-countless wrinkles, nagging aches and pains, doctors appointments every week, forgetting words and names. The latter is particularly galling. Over half the people I run into say “Hi, Ray,” and I answer” hi” back without knowing who the hay they are. But the other day I had an experience which couldn’t be dismissed. During a visit to a nearby convenience store, I was standing in line to be cashed out. In front of me was an older guy with a little boy, probably his grandson, ...

State must reject calls to enable suicide

Soon, Gov. Hochul may authorize medical professionals all across New York state to dispense, upon request, a deadly cocktail of poison to patients who are deemed “terminal.” Hopefully, Gov. Hochul will veto this bill. Although New York spends millions of dollars trying to prevent suicide, this law would make it easier to commit suicide. If the basic purpose of government is to protect its citizens, then spending money to prevent suicide surely serves that purpose while assisting suicide does not. What is wrong with assisting suicide? Religious people of many denominations accept ...

Handling the SNAP crisis: County GOP underwhelming again

What are we to make of Trump’s handling of the SNAP “crisis”—one of his own making? Because he hasn’t offered a logical explanation of why anyone would want their fellow Americans to go hungry when the government is sitting on the resources they need, we have to read the contextual tea leaves. Before we do, a crucial caveat: the government shutdown isn’t an excuse; SNAP benefits have never been curtailed during previous shutdowns. This time, a federal court has ordered the administration to continue these benefits, but Trump is resisting that order. Given Trump’s ...