Breaking News

The OBSERVER’s View

MAYVILLE: DEC soil testing is needed, welcome

Uncertainty over how the state DEC will administer its legislatively required work under the state’s Freshwater Wetlands Act can sometimes color area residents’ perception of the DEC. But the agency’s work in Mayville underscores the agency’s importance on less controversial, but no less important, areas that affect county residents. DEC officials have begun testing soil in the Mayville area to determine the extent of previous PFNA acid in the wake of the December 2020 discovery of PFNA chemicals in a village drinking water well. A new well was put on line about three weeks ...

BASKETBALL: Area flavor missing from tournament

College basketball fans around the nation are rejoicing as the men’s and women’s tournaments begin this week. For the men, the games start this evening with a pair of games as well as two more on Wednesday. But there is definitely some madness missing for our region. No Western New York teams are in the tournament this year. Despite a hot start, St. Bonaventure will be playing in the National Invitation Tournament, losing in the second round of the Atlantic 10 tournament. The University at Buffalo women also are heading to the NIT after falling short in its tournament. Without ...

ENFORCEMENT: Common threads for law officers

There are very real threads between the recently ended strike of state corrections officers and local policing that we’re seeing on our streets every day. We noted recently that one thread that local mayors, county executives and town supervisors have to be watching carefully is what the wildcat strikes in prisons around the state mean for the state’s Taylor Act, which is supposed to prevent strikes by public employees like the wildcat actions that spread like wildfire in late February. The state’s unwillingness to simply invoke the Taylor Law quickly could, in our opinion, ...

DUNKIRK: Joy has been lost in $10M award

City of Dunkirk residents have reason for frustration. An 84% property tax hike payment is about to come due and the $10 million Downtown Reinvestment Initiative that was announced by state Gov. Kathy Hochul in early 2023 seems almost irrelevant. Other than work taking place at the former bank location at Central Avenue and Fourth Street, there has been little to be excited about. Jamestown Community College pulled out of plans in December to locate its north county campus near City Hall and the community seems uncertain on the efforts for Memorial Park. During a recent meeting, ...

Economy: Having two takes on U. S. tax policy

The story of Republican tax policy in the Trump era is the contest between pro-growth ideas and anti-growth income redistribution. An example of both was on display in President Trump’s recent speech to Congress. The good idea was Trump’s proposal to let companies deduct the full cost of capital expenditures in the year they are made. Trump’s 2017 tax reform provided such “bonus depreciation,” which began to phase out in 2023 and is set to expire at the end of next year. Trump on Tuesday pitched extending full expensing retroactively to this January. “It was one of the ...

HANOVER: There’s no harm in second hearing

There is no denying the high interest associated with the potential battery storage system that is being proposed for the town of Hanover. At the public hearing last month, it was standing-room only. For three hours, residents spoke about concerns with few voicing support for the facility that would be located on Stebbins Road near the Silver Creek Central School. Interestingly, however, the mood of the hearing was different from a recent survey. All of the data from a survey on-site at the recent meeting, coupled with a poll online and correspondence from residents was compiled by ...