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Brenda J. Linert

Share your grateful thoughts with us this season

Just last week I finally got around to hanging the autumn wreaths on my doors at home, along with the fabric “ghosts” that my mother gave me years ago, to blow around as the wind whips onto my front porch. The weather has gotten extremely “crisp,” seemingly overnight, and my dad recently pointed out to my husband that he doesn’t recall the leaves ever falling from the trees as quickly as they have this year. Then, as I was cooking dinner this week, it suddenly struck me that it is a matter of mere weeks when I will be doing this — albeit on a much larger scale — for ...

‘Go pink’ to raise breast cancer awareness

Headlines carried beneath our newspaper’s flag emblazoned in rare pink last week spoke of the “War” against breast cancer, “Pinking out” in Austintown, and “Warriors” who gathered for the large annual luncheon intended to honor local breast cancer survivors. It occurred to me ...

Believe it or not, it’s that time again

A co-worker recently posted a photo on Facebook depicting the Christmas displays at a local home improvement store. With it, he offered a simple one-word caption. “Really?” Yes, Christmas decor is a bit premature, but what isn’t premature is the arrival of autumn about 10 days ago. With it comes cooler nights, onset of fall foliage and, yes, election season. In my business, this is the time of year when our workload ramps up. Much like disbelief and frustration of Christmas lights in September, election season also comes with seemingly premature presidential debates for a ...

Our error doesn’t change our position

An editorial that appeared on last Sunday’s Opinion page called on local school districts to consider consolidating administrations to help save hundreds of thousands of dollars countywide. The concept of regionalization and consolidation among Mahoning Valley school districts is one that our newspaper has promoted for years. It makes good sense and we continue to stand by it. Unfortunately, some enrollment data that we published last week to help make our argument drew comparisons between some 2019 and 2022 enrollment figures that, frankly, should not have been compared. That’s ...

‘First they came for the journalists’

This month marks four years since the Tribune Chronicle took over publication of The Vindicator after its previous owners announced the operation would cease. At the time, The Vindicator’s former owners said the decision to shutter the Mahoning County-based newspaper came after operating in the red for some 20 years. The loss of the newspaper — the valued fourth estate, so critical to a democracy in which the government is accountable to the people — would have been a horrible blow to our area. Recently, I’ve reflected a lot on that day, Sept. 1, 2019, thinking about where ...

My memories of the days following Sept. 11

My son, who was 3 years old on Sept. 11, 2001, recently has been very engaged in the Netflix series “Turning Point: 9/11 and the War on Terror.” The documentaries were released in 2021, and, as expected, trend in September. After watching an episode last week, he asked me if I remembered where I was that morning. Like most of us who were born before Sept. 11, 2001, I recall vividly where I was that morning when the world forever changed. I first heard the news reports of an airplane striking one of the Twin Towers on my car radio. At that point, I didn’t fathom a thought ...