Former U.S. Rep. Tom Reed knew he would be walking into a buzzsaw in 2017 during town hall meetings with constituents. In a New York Times video taken in North Harmony in February of that year, Reed stood calmly — and composed — while listening to concerns of those in attendance about the ...

One of the most significant lessons schools, governments and elected leaders were supposed to have learned from the COVID-19 pandemic revolved around the hazards that come with giving away cash. The first windfall allowed to happen in 2020 was in the form of the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and ...

Do area communities continue to have an appetite for tax increases? While the north county has taken the brunt of the recent hits — specifically the municipal spending plans for the city of Dunkirk and village of Fredonia — are other voters throughout Chautauqua County worried or just ...

One of New York state Comptroller Thomas DiNapoli’s latest reports is enough to cause plenty of aches — to the wallet and stomach. Last week, his office released a report on the rapidly rising cost consumers are battling at the grocery stores. Though the numbers centered on the New York ...

Call it a longtime exercise in futility. For more than a decade, this newspaper has written opinion pieces and editorials advocating consolidations, warning that numerous local governments and schools were becoming a burden for a shrinking Chautauqua County population. Elected officials of the ...

Throughout his nearly five-year tenure as State University of New York at Fredonia president, Stephen Kolison has — at least publicly — come across as soft spoken. During press conferences and while leading meetings, he has rarely appeared to be too optimistic or overly ...