October awareness campaign worth attention

October 6, 2026

Throughout this month, there are a number of events and initiatives to bring awareness to the fight against breast cancer. According to the National Breast Cancer Foundation, one in eight women will be diagnosed with the illness during their lifetime. That number is far too high. It is why the National Football League continues to annually team with the American Cancer Society. Crucial Catch helps more people catch cancer early, and addresses the unequal burden of cancer in under-resourced communities.Since 2009, Crucial Catch has raised more than $38 million reaching  over 2.7 ...

Best foot forward to help needy

October 5, 2026

One of the most highly requested items by people in need and the homeless are foot attire, specifically socks. Once again, SOCKTOBER — a month-long sock drive that collects warm new socks for distribution to individuals and families is underway. The Northern Chautauqua Community Foundation, in collaboration with Cattaraugus County Bank in Dunkirk and Lake Shore Savings Bank in Dunkirk, Fredonia, and Westfield branches, will accept sock donations. In addition, other drop-off locations, including individual classrooms, clubs, businesses, and congregations, continue to participate in ...

Attendance matters with big tax dollars

October 3, 2026

There is a lot of taxpayer dollars that CPL Architecture Engineering Planning receives from Chautauqua County alone. Just this week, the Silver Creek capital project including the new multi-sport athletic field — worth $36.1 million — was hailed as being handled by the firm. From all accounts, it is a job well done. Representatives from the North County Water District are not as jovial. Last month, CPL was criticized for its lack of attendance at the meeting. Rich Lewis, Portland town supervisor, also noted the group is failing to send reports. "This is totally unacceptable, ...

The OBSERVER’s View: Reality strikes state’s big spenders

October 1, 2026

It's pretty funny that it's a Democrat who is now taking aim at repealing the state's outside income limits for state lawmakers. Assemblyman Clyde Vanel makes many of the same arguments that Republicans made in opposition to the $35,000 outside income cap before the state Legislature approved them in 2022. Vanel, D-Queens City, argued in the legislative justification for A.11733 that the outside income cap wouldn't have prevented any of the laundry list malfeasance involving the New York's legislators in the 2000s. He also argues that the very costs that the state has struggled to ...

The OBSERVER’s View: Growing concerns with AI

September 30, 2026

AI is a trending and fantastic tool. From schools, government to private industry many are taking advantage of the technology to improve products and learning. Within the last month, however, warnings from the artificial-intelligence industry have revived debate over whether advanced AI models could escape human control and threaten humanity. The CEO of Anthropic suggests the industry should slow down developing the technology and put more safeguards in place. According to the Associated Press, worries that an artificial intelligence might exceed human abilities or be misused by ...

Is county budget plan realistic?

September 29, 2026

County Executive PJ Wendel is proposing a 58-cent tax rate decrease and no tax levy increase in his 2027 budget. Not increasing the levy is due, in part, to increased use of the county’s surplus while the county’s tax rate decrease is due, in part, to a 14% increase in the value of property in the county. It’s a good position for the county to be in - because we are pretty sure when we see budget proposals from Jamestown and Dunkirk in a couple of weeks the pictures won’t be nearly that pretty. In addition, the county plans to spend an additional $100,000 on Chautauqua Lake ...