commentary

The headlines on the Pentagon budget unveiled by Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel this week were all about austerity: the smallest U.S. Army since 1940; ...

One of our favorite political stories took place during Barry Goldwater’s presidential campaign in 1964. A friend was standing outside a Goldwater ral...

Perhaps it all could be summed up by the old saying, “You win some, you lose some.” That’s what was running through my mind this week when I read abou...

WASHINGTON — It’s no secret that Americans are fed up with the ongoing conflict and gridlock in Washington. While the partisan brinksmanship over the ...

As reported by the Associated Press’ Tom Hays on Feb 21, a federal judge in Newark, N.J., decided that the New York Police Department has been within ...

There’s a simple plan to increase investment in education in New York state without raising taxes. It’s called the Education Investment Tax Credit. A ...

Does the housing finance system require government guarantees? We’re often told it’s worked so well for so long, reforms should only tweak things. The...

I knew of a dog that lived in very bad conditions. It was a short-haired dog on a very short, heavy chain and it only had a pickup-truck cap to get un...

PARIS — Not long ago, I attended a colloquium of French scientists and philosophers in Corsica, France, called “How to Think About the Future.” With f...

When I appear at book festivals or give readings, lots of folks want to know what the Founding Fathers would do or say about our currently dysfunction...

Faced with bad options in Syria, President Obama is reviving a tactic he tried in an earlier war: leading from behind. “Leading from behind,” you’ll r...

CORNING — U.S. Rep. Tom Reed's campaign announced Monday that the two-term congressman has become the first candidate in New York to sign the Shooters...

Three days a week, volunteers leave Olean at about 6 a.m., driving vans to take veterans to appointments at the Western New York VA Hospital in Buffal...

As a concerned resident — and a member of a volunteer fire department — I am writing in regard to the young woman who was fired from her McDonald’s jo...

Please allow me to commend the Olean Times Herald for a wonderful, informative and timely article in the Feb. 18 edition regarding the Barnes family a...

Reports by presidential commissions are often like those statues that dominate public squares in Washington: massive in size, but opaque in origin and...

Attorney General Eric Holder, long dutifully obedient to his boss's vandalizing of the Constitution, now emerges as a vital opponent of one of the mos...

James Guy Reswick — called Jimmy — was born June 26, 1953, in Olean with a severe mental disability complicated by other medical issues. At the time, ...