Opinion

But many critics say taxpayers got hosed Amazon recently announced it will place half of its second headquarters (HQ2) in Queens. This will eventually bring 25,000 good-paying jobs to the Big Apple. New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio and New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo proclaimed this as a huge victory. But many a critic […]

One thing we should be proud of in New York state is our history. And, because of technology, it has never been easier to learn about our past. With the advent of online archives and searchable databases, what once required a trip to the local court house or hours sifting through library archives has, in

The results of [the recent mid-term] election are in — Americans delivered a split decision on the makeup of the next Congress. In the House, Democrats won control from the Republicans and now hold the majority. In the Senate, Republicans maintained power and even [likely] added [two] seats to their majority. This means that we’ll be

Everyone knows that New York’s property taxes are among the highest in the nation. According to the Tax Foundation, New York’s state and local property taxes on a per-capita basis were $2,789 making them the 4th highest in the nation. The main reason is unfunded mandates. In Oswego County, 80 percent of the county’s budget

Debate in Congress has always been contentious. The levels of vitriol may seem especially acute these days, but confrontation is not new. I can remember times on Capitol Hill when “debate” was actually more of a screaming match than a civil discussion.  Back then, we had a colleague who invariably stepped forward at these times

Some of us face peril at Thanksgiving and Christmas. And at other times when we gather with friends and family at the dinner table or in the living room. The peril is that someone may set off a firestorm. By spitting out words that are as incendiary as Molotov cocktails. Examples include: Trump, Judge Kavanaugh,

In the 15 years since I moved back to Syracuse, I have never seen the level of economic activity across industry sectors that we do today. The current macro-economic environment is strong and reflected in the fact that we celebrated a record 302 companies and organizations as “Economic Champions” [on Oct. 30]. All told, they

Attracting venture capital from outside the region for startup companies is critical to the success of those companies. Historically, that type of capital was hard to come by in this region. Which is why it is truly exciting to share that over the previous six months, more than $56 million in outside investments have been made

The U.S. economy continues to grow at a sustainable pace and that is good news for America.  The slightly cooled 3.5 percent inflation-adjusted, annualized third quarter gross domestic product (GDP) gains should be seen by the Federal Reserve as evidence that the economy is not overheating. And when combined with the 1 percent increase in inflation

Upstate New York’s recovery from the Great Recession is the weakest of any U.S. region, according to a recent study. You can examine all the nooks of upstate’s economy. Most every one is daubed with lackluster, papered with anemic, and writ large with blah. Yawn.  Upstaters grew accustomed to this long ago. Our motto should be