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‘Empire’ strikes in upstate issues

Upstate struggles from It is said that New York is called the Empire State because of its historical significance, economic power, and cultural influence, particularly during the late 18th and 19th centuries.  The name is also attributed to a George Washington 1785 letter in which he referred to New York as “the Seat of the Empire”. I suppose that New York state was once the seat of the American empire, but the glories of the 18th and 19th centuries are nothing more than the glories of a past age and I suspect that if President Washington was afforded the opportunity to visit ...

Be wary of BESS solicitation

Gov. Kathy Hochul plans to issue more incentives for building lithium Ion Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) throughout New York State. (“Hochul Announces Bulk Energy Storage Solicitation,” July 29). There was no mention of the real costs and dangers BESS sites will pose to our rural communities. Several New York towns recognize the danger of thermal runaway BESS fires and have passed laws prohibiting the installation of Battery Energy Storage Systems in their towns. These towns include Amsterdam in Montgomery County, Duanesburg and Princetown in Schenectady County, Rush, in ...

Why neatness matters

While growing up on the farm, my father always stressed the importance of neatness in the way things were done. He didn’t make a lot of money in dairy farming, but he also never spared spending when it came to keeping the barn painted, maintaining the farm equipment, or mowing the lawn. To him spartan living did not mean slovenly living. It was important to keep things cleaned up, and to do the best with what you had. That has always stuck with me, and I give a “lot of points” to people and organizations who keep things neat and clean. In that vein, for example, I was pleased ...

Textbooks often reveal inconsistencies

“At the present time there exist upon the earth five races… each very different from the other. The first is the Ethiopian or Negro type originating in Africa and finally . .. the highest type of all, the Caucasians, represented by the civilized white inhabitants of Europe and America.” This brazen racist quote contradicted the biblical teaching of humanity originating from one set of parents, Adam and Eve. The anti-biblical quote came from the public school biology textbook at the center of a firestorm which resulted in a historic court case known as the Scopes or Monkey Trial in ...

New York state power: Energy gamble may mean lights out

On June 24, New York came frighteningly close to a blackout. A brutal heatwave forced air conditioners into overdrive, and the New York Independent System Operator (NYISO) declared an “Energy Warning.” That’s not a minor notice, it means our grid reserves were so low that officials were preparing for the possibility of cutting power to homes and businesses to avoid a total collapse. This is yet another wake-up call. As Zilvinas Silenas of the Empire Center recently warned in A Warning for New York’s Energy Policy, our state’s power grid is under mounting strain because Albany ...

Trump’s tariffs attempting to level playing field

Local commentators recently claimed that President Donald Trump’s general 10% tariff constituted a sales tax on consumers. That would be true if tariffs directly affected consumers, but the point of a tariff is to affect the behavior of producers and governments, not consumers. Trump’s retaliatory tariffs are bargaining chips to level the playing field for Middle America after years of being sold-out and de-industrialized by politicians who “fine-tuned” the tariff structure to benefit Wall Street Billionaires. Some commentators hilariously claim Trump’s tariffs are ...