Little did we know when my eldest son, a senior at Youngstown State University, headed off in March to Fort Lauderdale for a last hurrah during spring break with his college friends that it REALLY would be a last hurrah for college. I recall my mother asking in the early days of the ...
Scotch-taped to the computer monitor in my very messy newsroom office are a few things critical to my daily routine that I have collected through the years. There’s a list of the telephone extension numbers for members of my staff. There is a photocopy of the AP Stylebook page delineating ...
For as long as I can remember, we’ve had a light-hearted saying in our newsroom: “All roads lead to the Mahoning Valley.” It originated because reporters and editors here always have marveled at how every big national news story seems to have some amazing connection to our Valley. ...
I noticed on Facebook last week a longtime friend’s post linking to a national news story discussing censorship in America. According to the Fox News report and host Tucker Carlson, YouTube, a worldwide online video sharing site owned by Google, recently removed a video posted by two ...
Undoubtedly, the most used buzzword today is “social distancing.” Until about two months ago, I can’t say that I ever had heard the term. And if I had heard it mentioned out of context, I might have assumed it referred to people like my mom who has never once engaged in any form of ...
Family members of loved ones who live in Ohio nursing homes and assisted living facilities absolutely have a right to know the extent of COVID-19’s effects on the nursing home, particularly these days of strict limitations on access and visitation. At this point in my life, I have no ...
Each April, gardens of hundreds of twirling blue pinwheels are planted in different areas of the Mahoning Valley. They aren’t there as a source of entertainment or to mark the onset of spring. Rather, they exist to draw attention to a dark truth that many of us don’t regularly think ...
Today is Palm Sunday, but like many, I won’t be spending an important part of my day in church hearing the reading of the Passion of Christ. And I won’t be collecting my palms and holding them up high for our priest to bless them before the start of the liturgy. Instead, I will ...
Dear readers, The last few weeks have been full of uncertainty for all of us when it comes to the COVID-19 health crisis. We take seriously our responsibility and the trust you place in us as your local news source, so we believe it’s important that we update you on how The Vindicator is ...
During the ongoing COVID-19 crisis, Republican Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine has been described as “an unlikely leader,” and has gotten mostly approval from national media for his handling of it. Likewise, DeWine’s counterpart in New York, Democratic Gov. Andrew Cuomo, has been receiving rave ...