Breaking News

David Skolnick

In-person voting surges while mail balloting lags

People are coming to boards of elections to vote early-in person almost like it’s a presidential election, but those requesting ballots by mail have dropped off. It’s a trend happening all over the state, and the examples of Mahoning and Trumbull counties fit into that narrative. In 2022, the last election for all statewide executive branch seats, the Trumbull County Board of Elections mailed out 17,008 ballots to voters. For this election, it’s 10,837 so far — and that isn’t likely to increase by much. When you look at early in-person votes, Trumbull did 841 on Tuesday, ...

Ciccone appears safe despite controversies

Despite causing numerous problems and great embarrassment to Mahoning County, Clerk of Courts Michael Ciccone isn’t going anywhere. When I last wrote a column about Ciccone, a Republican, nearly 10 months ago, the county Republican and Democratic parties were united in an effort to have him ...

Can gas tax holiday boost Ramaswamy’s campaign?

With the price of gas, particularly diesel fuel, out of control, the Republican-controlled state Legislature will meet in special session Wednesday to vote on eliminating Ohio’s gas tax for 90 days. The session came at the urging of Vivek Ramaswamy, the GOP nominee for governor. Ramaswamy’s call for a gas holiday came about 6 1/2 hours after Amy Acton, the Democratic candidate for governor, said one was needed. A skeptic could describe what is happening as a political ploy as Ramaswamy and his allies have spent millions of dollars to discredit Acton and he needs something to help ...

Gerrymandering, big money make state legislative races in Valley noncompetitive

Gerrymandering and money — largely provided by special interest groups — mean there will be very few competitive state legislative races in Ohio, or the country for that matter. It’s no different in the Mahoning Valley. When the Ohio Redistricting Commission — consisting of five Republicans and two Democrats — unanimously approved the state Legislature maps in September 2023, its members gave the Mahoning Valley only one competitive district among the five House and two Senate seats in its boundaries. That contested seat is the 64th Ohio House District with state Rep. ...

Conspiracy theories on Acton altercation at fair condemned

While Amy Acton, the Democratic gubernatorial nominee, wasn’t attacked at the Canfield Fair, we don’t know what could have happened had her security detail not intercepted an armed man heading toward her, knocking people down. But it’s disturbing to read and hear conspiracy theorists dismiss the altercation as a hoax on the toxic playground known as social media. We don’t know the intentions of Patrick Havas, the 38-year-old Canfield man accused of lunging toward Acton at the Canfield Fair on Sunday. That will be up to a court to decide. Havas faces four misdemeanor counts: ...

Supreme Court lacks clarity in dismissal of abortion case

It wasn’t a surprise that the Ohio Supreme Court dismissed Trumbull County Domestic Relations/Juvenile Division Judge David L. Engler’s lawsuit seeking to stop abortions in the state, but the justices could have at least explained why. Instead, the justice ruled 7-0 Aug. 19 that the state’s “motion to dismiss is granted. Accordingly, this case is dismissed.” Besides that, the court’s four-sentence entry declared that the matter originated with it and the American Civil Liberties Union’s motion to have more time to file a brief in support of the motion to dismiss was ...