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MONDAY, NOV. 3 Wellness Initiative for Senior Education program (WISE) Sinclairville Fire Hall, 30 Main St., 9:30 to 11:30 a.m. Register at NY Connects 716 753-4582, ask for WISE class. See https://chqgov.com/office-aging for programs, services. This week’s topic: Valuing Cultural, Generational Diversity. Memory Cafe National Comedy Center, 203 W. Second St., Jamestown, 10 a.m. Free event for those with dementia or memory loss and their caregivers. Explore exhibits, enjoy refreshments followed by short program. To register call 716 484-2222. Patterson Library presents: ...

Speeding technologies: It’s time to put the brakes on AI

When 50 state attorneys general warn that Artificial Intelligence is a danger -- we should take notice. The areas of concern expressed by attorneys general include AI generated data related to law enforcement, healthcare, employment, educational content, election results, sexual predation of children, and digital surveillance. The federal government (in The Big Bill) planned to suspend AI regulation prompting state attorneys general to object in a letter to the federal government asking for states’ right to regulate AI. Subsequently federal deregulation was not included in ...

Weekend voices: Your vote greatly impacts local elections

Vote. If you haven’t already taken advantage of the early voting schedule that began on Saturday, Oct. 25, it extends through this Sunday from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. The closest early voting site for north county is at the Dunkirk fairgrounds. You will have all day on Tuesday, the traditional election day, from 6 a.m. to 9 p.m. to go to your assigned polling place and vote. The process is quick and easy, the ballots very clear to read, with trained poll workers there to answer questions and help you out. You do not need to present ID, your signature must reasonably match the ...

Partisan politics blocks honest debate

CHAUTAUQUA—Did you read the page-one story about local elections in last weekend’s edition of this newspaper? If you didn’t, pull it out of your pile of recyclables, because it’s well done. The bottom line today is that this episode in state government was a missed opportunity to engage in honest, thoughtful debate about an issue that was worthy of honest, thoughtful debate. What stood in the way of honest, thoughtful debate? Yes, you guessed it: Partisan politics. ≤≤≤ If you follow local politics, you know that many county- and local-government elections are ...

Rounding Third …I still pine for pinecones

Preparing for this weekend’s garage sale, I came across a canvas bag I hadn’t seen in years. It was filled with pinecones. Giant Sequoia pinecones. Some of these babies are almost a foot long, and my memory of first seeing them goes back to 1949. 1949? Yes, I was alive then – and out of diapers. In fact, I was out of third grade. But the huge pinecones that my mother brought home from California fascinated me for their pure size. I studied redwood trees and the giant Sequoias, and I knew I had to see them for myself someday. My mother’s first trip to California in 1944 ...

Traffic circles drive some motorists crazy

John D’Agostino’s recent Editor’s corner on roundabouts got me thinking about roundabouts or as they are called in Massachusetts “rotaries.” I want to begin with the admission that I absolutely hate those narrow paved circles no matter the soothing words state Department of Transportation highway engineers give us about how safe they are. I base this on the number of times I have been nearly blindsided by idiots driving north on Route 60 who have violated my right of way as I make the three-quarter circle from Route 60 to 20 heading to Silver Creek. I first encountered ...