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Don’t sit out this election in Ohio, W.Va.

A disturbing number of intelligent, well-informed people have taken a look at the state of our government and decided to wash their hands of it by removing themselves from the voting process. How often have you heard, “It’s all a mess. Neither side cares about anything but winning. No one represents me. I’m just not going to vote?” And so, elections are increasingly decided not by those who feel as though they are caught in the middle, but by those who are happy to fall toward one of the extremes. It is an understatement to call that less than ideal. “In West Virginia, ...

Homeland Security agency rises as danger to citizens

“True is it that we have seen better days.” — William Shakespeare Pearl Harbor brought out the best in the American people. We responded by pulling together for a major mobilization when an act of war landed on our soil in 1941. That December day, which Franklin Roosevelt eloquently declared would “live in infamy,” is within living memory. Twenty-five years ago afterthe Sept. 11 terror attacks, the opposite happened. The George Bush White House sowed a society of suspicious, separate and scared strangers. When the World Trade Center towers fell in crumbling clouds of ...

Let’s not turn stay-at-home mothers into welfare queens

The Trump administration is drafting a rule that would let married couples with a stay-at-home spouse collect federal welfare benefits. The money comes from a 1990s Health and Human Services fund meant to cover daycare so low-income parents could work or go to school. About 870,000 families draw on it now, roughly 80% headed by a single working mom, and it pays about $9,000 per child per year. Vice President JD Vance champions the change, and the administration intends to do it without a vote in Congress. Superficially, the policy sounds good. Children raised in two-parent, ...

Orchids & onions

ORCHID: To Lisa Hill for her well-deserved promotion to Mahoning County dog warden last week. Hill has been working for over 17 years with organizations committed to the welfare of our beloved four-legged friends. For the past 10 years she has worked at the dog warden’s complex on Meridian Road as a kennel canvasser and supervisor. Clearly she brings a wealth of experience and a passion for humane treatment of dogs to the post. We’re also impressed with her goals of much stronger community outreach and education on the roles and responsibilities of pet ownership. Given the seeming ...

Legislators face large agenda but little time

Time is rapidly running out for our great state’s lawmakers to address a wide host of critical public policy issues gnawing at Ohioans. Too bad they plan to squander most of that potentially productive time. Now that summer is unofficially over, you’d think our state legislators would be rip-roaring ready to high-tail it to the Statehouse to get back into action. If so, you’d be sadly mistaken. The Senate plans to convene this coming week for committee work and a possible full session with only a handful of other dates on their legislative calendar for the next two months. ...

Don’t ever forget 9/11

I was sitting in my home office not far from the Pentagon when it happened. The TV behind me had the sound lowered but I suddenly became aware of a major development. I reached for the remote and cranked up the audio. A plane had struck one of the twin towers in New York. TV anchors initially speculated it must have been a small plane that had run off course, but soon a much larger plane struck the building and then a second one hit the other tower. It quickly became clear America was under attack. I saw smoke rising from the Pentagon and went up on the roof to get a better look. My ...