Breaking News

Credit unions won’t apologize for success that benefits Ohio

As we get set over the next few years to not only celebrate the 250th anniversary of the United States as a nation but also the 225th anniversary of Ohio, and the 100th anniversary of the credit union movement in this country, there is a lot of history to celebrate and reflect upon. And it ...

Immigration program won’t go away

The last two decades have been a continuous adventure in redefining the phrase “white supremacy” to include less and less pertinent things. The latest is that the Supreme Court has allegedly joined forces with President Donald Trump to “advance an authoritarian, white-supremacist agenda” — in the words of Illinois Democratic Rep. Delia Ramirez — by saying he can end so-called Temporary Protected Status for immigrants. A headline in the left-wing magazine The Nation read, “The Supreme Court Once Again Endorses Trump’s Racism.” The court decision is facially ...

The trouble behind Ohio’s job numbers

Ohio — particularly poorer, more rural regions — has begun to experience a trend with which neighboring West Virginia is all too familiar. While the country added 172,000 jobs in May, Ohio lost 2,400. Unemployment, on the other hand, fell; but not for the reason we would all hope. Unemployment data measures only those who are in the labor force. As researcher Molly Bryden, with Policy Matters Ohio, pointed out to the Ohio Capital Journal, that figure does not include those who were unable to work because of age or physical condition, or simply have left the state or stopped ...

The cost of cowardice at City Hall

The tragedy of Youngstown is not that its problems are unsolvable. The tragedy is that those entrusted with solving them have become experts at managing decline while pretending to fight it. For years, residents have been subjected to a continuous performance of political theater — press conferences, photo opportunities, studies, committees, strategic plans, and carefully crafted talking points. Yet beneath the spectacle lies a city still burdened by poverty, unemployment, abandoned neighborhoods, population loss and growing despair. The mayor’s recent virtual town hall was no ...

The anti-socialists strike back

Those of a certain age — meaning roughly 65 or older — will recall the “Bicentennial Minute.” These were one-minute homages to the mostly good history of America that ran on CBS 1974 through 1976 to mark America’s 200th anniversary. Politicians, celebrities and average Americans of all political stripes appeared in the videos. It was a mostly unifying time following the divisive Vietnam War and the political scandal known as Watergate. As socialism appears to be sweeping big cities and universities as we approach our 250th anniversary, a small organization has decided to ...

Orchids & onions

ORCHID: To the North Jackson Historical Society and prominent Jackson Township business owner Tim Lehotsky for their roles in restoring a more than two-century old cemetery in that community. Lehotsky has earned high praise from NJHS leaders — and rightly so — for playing such a crucial, hands-on role in revitalizing the historic Covenanter Cemetery. He manually repaired and righted numerous fallen gravestones, unearthed bases that had sunk underground,and painstakingly chipped away at a tree to free a gravestone encased in its trunk. Among those he restored were those of American ...