HERE'S TO YOUR HEALTH It is time to speak out about how wrong Kennedy is
I think I've been silent regarding our Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Opinion
Read MoreHERE'S TO YOUR HEALTH It is time to speak out about how wrong Kennedy is
WINE AMERICA PERSPECTIVES Diversity: Magic in every bottle
The magic of wine is in every bottle, each a unique blend of colors, aromas, flavors, and stories. I live on Keuka Lake just outside of Penn Yan, New York.
O'MARA: 'Unsustainable spending remains expensive and dysfunctional'
A recently released report from the federal Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services offers a timely update on what has long been one of New York State's most alarming concerns: explosive growth in Medicaid spending. In analyzing the federal findings, which summarize nearly $1 trillion in nationwide spending on Medicaid for the fiscal year ending in September 2024, the Albany-based Empire Center for Public Policy writes, "New York's Medicaid program remained a spending outlier in 2024, with per-resident outlays that were 24 percent higher than those of any other state and 77 percent above the national average." Many of us in the Legislature have long decried this out-of-control spending, which, for many years, has been the heaviest of burdens for counties and local property taxpayers.
FLXJP Your Healthcare and the 'Big Beautiful Bill'
The news is not good these days, and it just keeps coming. The man who ran on the platform of releasing the Epstein List is now desperately spinning, declaring not just that the List doesn't exist, but also that it was something Obama created.
Agri-business and the economy: A Yates Conversation on July 31
BENTON — Following the success of its initial conversation which engaged several local experts connected to a variety of specialties, Concerned Citizens of Yates County is organizing a second event. The session will be held from 6 to 8 p.m.
O'MARA: 'NY's all-electric school bus mandate needs an overhaul, too'
Now that Governor Hochul and Albany's Green New Deal Democrats appear ready to finally rethink their strategy of imposing far-reaching energy mandates on all New Yorkers – a strategy that up to now has recklessly ignored affordability, feasibility, and reliability -- it will be important for the rest of us to keep highlighting exactly what needs to go back to the drawing board in the months ahead. Right near the top of any list, in my view, is a mandate we have repeatedly spotlighted that could prove to be the most costly, unfunded state mandate ever imposed on New York's local school districts and school property taxpayers.
AFTER THOUGHTS What can your neighbors tell you about the future?
While agriculture's roots in Yates County are plentiful and deep, there is a bounty of agri-business knowledge here as well. Look a little closer at the farmer clad in well-worn coveralls at the diner counter who might be a highly-regarded agricultural expert.