Breaking News

The OBSERVER’s View

The OBSERVER’s View: Hochul can veto cannabis wage board

Both houses of the state Legislature approved legislation (A.11562/S.10643) that would create a wage board for the state's cannabis industry. It's a bill that both state Sen. George Borrello, R-Sunset Bay, and Sen. Liz Krueger, D-New York City, opposed in the state Senate. It's one of the few areas of cannabis policy on which Borrello and Krueger have found agreement on over the past few years – a fact that we hope will help sway Gov. Kathy Hochul as she decides whether or not to sign the legislation and create a wage board for a fledgling industry made up of small businesses ...

Applauding U.S. workforce contributions

As this year's Labor Day observance approaches, America's workers, traditionally part of the "cement" that holds this country together, are concerned increasingly about what effects robots and Artificial Intelligence will have on their work lives - and lives in general — going forward. And, that worry is destined to continue, although "people in the know" remain certain that humans' important places in businesses and industries will continue - albeit, in many cases, in different capacities. For now, though, Jorgen Pedersen, CEO of the Advanced Robotics for Manufacturing Institute, ...

The OBSERVER’s View

Ten years ago, almost to the day, we lamented the difficulty in comparing results on state tests from year-to-year because New York's Education Department changed testing and assessment guidelines more often than most people change their socks. We noted, at the time, that proficiency rates in English language arts was 37.9% and 38.1% in math, truly depressing when one considered that meant only a little more than one-third of students were performing at an acceptable grade level. The state recommended at the time not to try to compare 2016 data to prior years, which would have been ...

The OBSERVER’s View

For three years, Chautauqua County Legislature Democrats have called for reducing the budget surplus — that totals more than $30 million — by $2 million. Since they are the minority party, they have failed because Republicans have not once backed the idea. Considering the most recent meeting last week, that could be changing. Though a vote to give back the $2 million failed, there were Republican legislators who began to speak out about reducing the slush fund. Most notably, Legislator Fred Johnson of Westfield mentioned giving back some $15 million to $20 million. What’s most ...

The OBSERVER’s View

In March, intense rains doomed the Fredonia water system for the 10th time in 37 months forcing a boil-water order. Last week was a very different result. After heavy downpours on the morning of Aug. 23 and throughout the day, Canadaway Creek was rising quickly after more than 4 inches of lake-effect rain in 24 hours. Fortunately for users, there were no troubles with the village water system. That is a good thing. It shows the efforts by trustees, specifically Paul Wandel, have led to improvements at the archaic and troubled plant. In June, Wandel mentioned the much needed ...

In new era, always someone watching

Flock Safety is at least acknowledging the privacy concerns that have been raised by members of the public and by civil liberties groups over the past several months by announcing changes to its platform. We aren't sure those changes go far enough, though they do appear to be a step in the right direction. Flock operates a vast nationwide network of automated cameras that record the license plate numbers and other characteristics of all passing vehicles every day. Thousands of law enforcement agencies in 49 states can search and share Flock's data across jurisdictions to aid their ...