columns

WASHINGTON — The great oil bust of 2014 is something to behold. Since mid-June, crude prices have dropped roughly 40 percent, from $115 a barrel for t...

Connie Smith stopped by our office to inform us of the accomplishments of her granddaughter Alyssa Smith. Alyssa, who will graduate from Wellsville (N...

WASHINGTON — The decisions by two grand juries not to indict police officers in the deaths of black men mark an opportune moment — both depressing and...

SAN DIEGO — Next year, when folks are looking for a grand marshal for a Labor Day parade, they should skip Rep. Lou Barletta. The Republican congressm...

WASHINGTON — We Americans pride ourselves on not having a “welfare state.” We’re not like Europeans. We’re more individualistic and self-reliant, and ...

She quietly walked into the classroom and stood there, just inside the door, against a wall. The professor, his back to her, continued his lecture, un...

SAN DIEGO — As the parent of three young children, I want my kids to get in the habit of following current events. While I cook breakfast, they’ll oft...

WASHINGTON — Intellectually undemanding progressives, excited by the likes of Sen. Elizabeth Warren, D-Mass. — advocate of the downtrodden and the Exp...

ST. BONAVENTURE, N.Y. — Who expected this? Even the most optimistic St. Bonaventure basketball fan anticipated the final installment of the Big 4 seri...

WASHINGTON — As the curtain closes on the latest episode of “Ferguson,” the media series, it is fair to wonder whether events might not have spiraled ...

WASHINGTON — In 2010, Plymouth, Conn., was awarded $430,000 for widening sidewalks and related matters near two schools. This money was a portion of t...

Well now, after a brief Johnny Manziel sighting, the Browns are going back to Brian Hoyer. Give credit to the Bills for bottling up the Browns offense...

WASHINGTON — On the subject of the Obama girls’ supposedly disrespectful behavior at the Thanksgiving turkey pardoning: not even close to unpardonable...

“The nation of which (Warren G.) Harding became president was not happy, and forces were underway which seemed likely, unless arrested, to bring more ...

ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. — Bills fans are nothing, if not optimistic. That’s what happens when the team you love goes 14 years without a sniff of the playof...

WASHINGTON — Two obstacles stand in the way of getting Reginald Latson, autistic and with an IQ of 69, out of the solitary confinement in which he’s b...

WASHINGTON — My hometown of St. Louis has given up its sad secrets. Journalists — like tourists taking in the sights of social dysfunction — have expl...

ORCHARD PARK, N.Y. — The Bills weren’t happy to lose Pro Bowl safety Jairus Byrd to New Orleans last spring. But franchising him for a second straight...

WASHINGTON — With Democrats acting like this, who needs Republicans? Chuck Schumer, the No. 3 Senate Democratic leader who would very much like to be ...

For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. — Newton’s Third Law of Motion WASHINGTON — America’s Newtonian Constitution might again fu...