News from the Noteworthy: Have a plan: Start the conversation New York State is 50th in the nation for hospice utilization, and I wish I knew why. I believe most people know about hospice. It is a service that helps and supports those with life-limiting conditions to address their symptomatic needs. Additionally, hospice supports the patient families, including bereavement care after the patient passes. New York has a hospice utilization of 30 percent, meaning only 30 percent of those who…
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Opinion - Page 188
Letter: Diplomacy the only route After fighting in Afghanistan for 20 years and spending more than 1.5 trillion dollars and accomplishing nothing but starvation for millions and political instability in the country, the withdrawal was the correct step. What did the United States learn from this terrible mistake, which cost the American taxpayer $300 million a day for 20 years? It seems that our current government had not learned anything to avoid making the same mistake again in Ukraine. Let’s…
Oh, there’s a surprise! By Ted Potrikus We New Yorkers used to leave it up to our state Legislature to fulfill the once-a-decade duty of redrawing congressional and state election district lines. They got so good at it they made the map of the state’s voting boundaries look like the inside of a lava lamp. We New Yorkers got a little tired of it, so we voted in 2014 to amend our state constitution to establish an Independent Redistricting Commission.…
Editorial: The Sideshow “New York will create a bureaucracy out of anything.” So wrote one of this newspaper’s Facebook followers after reading a post about the state’s new “Office of Cannabis Management,” set up as the agency tasked to regulate legal weed and its derivations. The Office was a long time coming; ex-Governor Andrew Cuomo had stalled his appointment of potential agency leadership and then he stepped down. His successor moved (relatively) quickly and, voila, we have a new state…
They’re just words now “Your call is very important to us. Please hold.” There’s one that’s hard to believe, particularly after you’ve been on hold for an hour with a faceless conglomerate whose digital operator’s repeated reassurance becomes more grating than helpful. “Thank you for your service.” A thoughtful and once-meaningful sentiment that recognizes our heroes who serve or have served our nation during war and peace. It keeps its intended depth on a one-to-one or small group setting, and…
Bound Volumes 210 YEARS AGO Pocket Book Found! Picked up between Moss’ store in Burlington and DeForests’ tavern in Edmeston on Wednesday the 25th—a Red Morrocco Pocket Book; a good deal worn, containing a number of notes and a small sum of money. The owner can have it again by proving property and paying charges. Roswell Patterson. January 25, 1812…
News from the Noteworthy: Gov’s budget a reason to be cheerful Happy New Year! I had difficulty celebrating the 2022 New Year. I was certainly unable to make any resolutions. After all, I’ve spent the last two years being very resolute. As the third year of the pandemic loomed, I saw the year beginning with a continued onslaught of information, from new or revised protocols, to new plans to protect our health, our community, and our way of life. But…
Letter: Farms can’t afford threshold The future of agriculture locally may be in the hands of a three-member board. The decision they make will impact our farms immediately. The decision to be made — should the overtime threshold for farm labor move from 60 hours to 40 hours? The answer — no. According to a study from Cornell’s Dyson School and College of Agriculture and Life Sciences (commissioned by New York State) 72 percent of workers stated they would not…
Letter: The Babe’s grandson weighs in on Hall vote Today, January 25, the National Baseball Hall of Fame makes its annual announcement of who has made the cut and has answered the call. This should be a number one priority on the daily news shows if baseball is America’s Pastime, but the truth is baseball is the game that time has passed. Tom Brady’s speculated retirement has commanded a seven-minute segment on “The Today Show” promoting football’s greatest player before…
Don’t underestimate her By Ted Potrikus Her beloved Buffalo Bills lost in a weekend heartbreaker, but aside from that, Governor Kathy Hochul has had a pretty good couple of weeks. She’s able to talk about turning the corner against the winter Omicron surge, with seven-day averages for new hospital admissions, new cases, and cases-per-100,000 declining in every part of the state. She laid out a blueprint for New York’s upcoming fiscal year, a $216 billion bonanza adorned with property tax…
