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It was just announced that the White House is holding Medicaid benefits from both California and Minnesota. This impacts millions. How can anyone with a conscience do something so underhanded and nasty? The results may prove disastrous. Another White House poor decision. — Liberty Upon hearing of the death of Robert Mueller, Trump said, “I’m glad.” In the July 16 Vindicator, Ian Haworth wrote (regarding the death of Lindsey Graham): “Any society that celebrates the death of its fellow citizens based upon political disagreement is doomed, not just because it negates the ...

Americans are free to be suckers

Editorials

Many of today’s consumer loans are legal but abusive. Payday lenders and used car sellers often steer customers into costly contracts they barely understand. Low-income borrowers with jobs, and therefore, dependable cash flow to siphon off, are favored targets. Sure, there’s a sucker born every minute, as P.T. Barnum allegedly said. But now we have a federal government that’s gone backward in providing protection from predators just as they adopt sophisticated technology to ply their craft. Criminals now use AI to generate fake images and scrub their pitches of misspellings ...

Data centers produce myriad economic, practical benefits

Editorials

Last week I took a daylong field trip touring a giant data center near Dulles International Airport in Loudon County, Virginia. The facility is operated by CloudHQ. A “cloud,” by the way, is the hardware that stores trillions of data files, research, love letters, the entirety of the Library of Congress and virtually everything else ever written, invented or retrievable online. The cloud is synonymous with “data center.” Many people don’t realize that without these massive data centers — that have somehow been demonized by everyone across the political spectrum from ...

It’s beginning to look a lot like a close governor’s race

David Skolnick

It’s premature to handicap the Ohio gubernatorial race in July as a lot will happen between now and the Nov. 3 election. But it looks like the state will have one of its most-contested governor’s races in a number of years. Ohio governor races aren’t typically close. Since 1982, there’s only been three races that could fall into that category. In 1998, Republican Bob Taft beat Democrat Lee Fisher by 5.3%. In 2010, Republican John Kasich beat Democrat Ted Strickland, who was the incumbent, by 2%. In 2018, Republican Mike DeWine defeated Democrat Richard Cordray by ...

Michael Ciccone needs to go now

Editorials

It is beyond time for Mahoning County Clerk of Courts Michael Ciccone to read the room — or in this case the entirety of the local political scene — and resign. It should have happened last fall, when it became apparent in the wake of a scandal ignited after the firing of former deputy clerk of courts Jennifer Ciccone, that this man is not fit for office. Jennifer Ciccone was fired Oct. 17 after a falling out with her former boss and friend. Hours later, she took to Facebook and posted several incriminating and embarrassing text messages from and photos of Michael Ciccone. The ...

Bipartisan effort seeks to ensure Ohio is prepared for health crises

Editorials

Being prepared for potential public health crises is not a partisan issue, it’s common sense. In fact, it’s something about which it is easy to reach across the aisle and share ideas. (Or it should be, anyway). Former Ohio Gov. John Kasich, a Republican, and former Cincinnati Mayor John Cranley, a Democrat, are doing so as part of a commission that has put together a “Good Health Is Good Governance” roadmap, according to a report by Statehouse News Bureau. “Whether it’s opiate overdoses or a pandemic or a styrene leak out of a train, public health always rears its head ...