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LaRose’s plan helps celebrate first-time voters

Editorials

Have you ever gone to a major theme park and been given a button to wear that says “First visit!” or some other form of celebration for the occasion? Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose has a similar idea in mind when it comes to those about to cast their first ballots. The First-Time Voter Initiative will allow newcomers to the polling place the chance to scan a QR code to request a personalized state proclamation “recognizing them for casting their first ballot in an Ohio election, as well as graphics to share on social media. If a first-time voter chooses to cast their ballot ...

France's warning to the west

Guest columnists

Rioting is part of the political furniture in France. It's just what they do. But beyond the core of these latest riots — ostensibly over education policy, albeit expressed through the looting of stores, the ransacking of businesses and proud displays of the Palestinian flag — there's a deeper warning for not only France, but for the West: Eventually, you will run out of money. For decades, France has offered the rest of the Western world a masterclass in political cowardice, demonstrating what happens when governments respond to public outrage and mass riots by throwing taxpayer ...

All of Trump's men: Don't blame them

Guest columnists

WASHINGTON — Once upon a time, a theory made waves in political science courses that it didn't matter who the president was because the U.S. government was so mighty that it would run itself without any one person in charge. That's ridiculous. I hope that professor lived to see what hell we're burning in now. His grade: F. One man has changed everything and is still coming for you, your neighbors, your city, the air you breathe, the water you drink, and the affordable golf course here in Washington. He just chopped down hundreds of trees, which were on public land, under cover of a ...

Why are so many Ohioans in favor of book bans?

Editorials

School book ban trends come and go, but there are always groups of people who want to keep their children from having access to reading material that might expose them to new ideas or, worse, ask questions. The problem is particularly bad in Ohio, which ranks third among the states in PEN America’s study of school book bans for the 2025-26 school year. The free-expression advocacy group counted 117 instances of school book bans in the Buckeye State during that period. Only Texas and Florida were worse. Across the country, 11,982 books — 7,370 unique titles — were banned in public ...

Medicare for nobody, courtesy of Democrats

Guest columnists

Political pros will remember that a dozen or so years ago, the Democrats produced a famous (or infamous) TV ad showing a man wheeling an elderly lady in a wheelchair up a path to an overlook on a mountain. At the end of the ad, the man pushes the woman out of her chair and off the cliff. The person pushing the wheelchair was a lookalike of Paul Ryan, the then-Republican speaker of the House. The idea of the ad was that congressional Republicans had a secret plan to take away Medicare from elderly Americans dependent on the program. There was never any such doomsday plan, just a series ...

Why the death penalty can be pro-life

Guest columnists

The value of something is reflected by the punishment given for destroying it. Two very different death penalty cases have been in the news recently. Each raises a different objection to capital punishment. At the end of last month, Tennessee officials gave Christa Pike what was supposed to be a lethal injection. Pike survived. She has left the hospital and is back in prison. What went wrong and whether Tennessee will execute her — again — is unclear. This case is an example of the logistical objections to the death penalty. Some object to the cost of executing an inmate and ...