Opinion

Rising prices squeeze Ohio families in Head Start programs

For 50 years, Alta Care Group has supported children and families across Ohio. As the local Head Start provider, we serve 1,210 children and families across 21 centers and 64 classrooms in Trumbull and Mahoning counties. But the cost of providing those services continues to rise. As Congress considers funding for Head Start for fiscal year 2027, lawmakers should recognize the financial pressures programs are facing. Costs of food, transportation, utilities, insurance, facilities, and classroom supplies have all increased. When federal funding does not keep pace with those costs, ...

U.S.-China summit will hinge on critical minerals

The world will be watching closely when President Trump hosts China's President Xi later this month. And considering the ongoing Russia-Ukraine war, and the conflict with Iran, there's plenty for the two to discuss. But one issue is absolutely paramount for the two leaders to solve — Beijing's threat to cut off metal and mineral exports to the United States. Critical minerals have become the indispensable inputs for cell phones, cars, medical equipment, and nearly every weapons system used by America’s military. That's why it was so worrying last year when Beijing announced sweeping ...

Editorial cartoon, 9/24

Cutrona bill could be just what Flock critics want

As wariness (and outright anger) over the use of Flock cameras in our communities increases, Ohio Attorney General Andy Wilson is right to be joining organizations such as the Fraternal Order of Police of Ohio in seeking greater regulation of the surveillance devices. Investigations, including those by news organizations such as the Ohio Capital Journal, have turned up multiple instances of misusing the data. Further, the Capital Journal’s public records search of Shaker Heights’ license plate reader data over approximately four months showed the data was accessed more than 700,000 ...

The Saudis, the Houthis and Israel

Is the Houthi crisis a diplomatic opportunity? Saudi Arabia has come running to Washington and even to Israel in its hour of need. Meanwhile, Riyadh’s feud with the United Arab Emirates continues to backfire, and the safeguard-breaking Saudi nuclear deal with President Trump has been submitted to Congress. With all of these moving pieces, there may be a checkmate forTrump to find. The point isn’t that he must answer the calls of Saudi Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman for U.S. airstrikes. Instead the Houthi blockade on Saudi oil has already become the impetus for the kind of ...

Mum’s the word on Qatar’s influence peddling in the US

Topping the chart of the truly brilliant propaganda successes those wishing Israel to disappear have achieved since Oct. 7, 2023, has been their skill in establishing the fashionable line that Israel, the victim of a genocidal invasion by those vowing genocide, is actually guilty of genocide. It doesn’t get much more brilliant than that. But honorable mention surely goes to their success in painting the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, supported entirely by American citizens, as nefarious for contributing tens of millions to American political campaigns while Qatar, a ...