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Remembering efforts of those who built USA

No longer the precursor to the start of the school year for most students, Labor Day weekend now serves as the first three-day weekend break for most. They and their parents get one more chance to take it a bit easy before the grind of the fall semester and all its activities starts to take its toll. There will be sales and parades, backyard barbecues (maybe not everyone has closed their pools just yet?) and even a few ceremonies in which folks gather to remember the true purpose of the holiday: We owe the success of this country not to the politicians who want all the control and ...

Nation’s woke renaming trend is nothing but childish antics

As part of Donald Trump’s trade war with Canada that the administration claims isn’t a trade war, the president has signed an executive order, renaming Lake Ontario, “Lake America.” This follows his renaming the Gulf of Mexico the “Gulf of America.” These childish antics help no one, but Trump is not alone in changing names for political and woke purposes. There is a long road in Northern Virginia that for years has been called “Lee Highway.” It passes through Arlington and Fairfax counties. Arlington County politicians decided they didn’t like Confederate Gen. ...

Chopping cherry trees stands as crime against DC humanity

WASHINGTON — Sure, build a ballroom dwarfing the clean and classic design of the White House. Go ahead, murder the history of Lafayette Square with prison bars keeping tourists away from our traditional place of dissent. Close the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts since it will never be the same again, with your name spoiling the grandeur and memory of the slain president. Take it all away from the people who live and love it here. But don’t chop down our precious cherry trees by the Hains Point waterfront, Donald J. Trump. To repeat, don’t cut down our cherry ...

Orchids & onions

ORCHID: To the Mahoning County Board of Elections for its fiscally responsible plans to reduce the number of voting precincts in the county. Tom McCabe, board director, said last week the decision results from difficulties in recruiting sufficient numbers of poll workers for each of the county’s 212 precincts. It also comes at a time when more and more voters are casting ballots early, lessening the strain on precincts on general or primary election days. The county also has the dubious distinction of having the lowest number of voters per precinct among counties of similar size. The ...

American labor savors successes, faces challenges

On this weekend of the national holiday dedicated to the brains and brawn of the American worker, let’s take the pulse of our 170-million-strong U.S. labor force. More and more Americans are actively participating in the labor market. The most recent unemployment rates from July 2026 show only 4.1% of U.S. citizens are unemployed and even fewer Ohioans (3.4%) are out of work. Those percentages have dropped precipitously in recent years with Ohio’s rebounding economy reportedly adding 55,000 jobs this July alone. In addition, more and more of us are producing goods and ...

A message for men over 50

The diagnosis was not a surprise — well, yes it was, because like many men with a health issue we try to deny it, or delay treatment when everyone knows that “early detection” is critical to a cure. My PSA (prostate-specific antigen) had been slowly creeping upward for the last two years. When it reached 9.0 along with a Gleason score of 9, my doctor said it was time to do something about it. This meant a prostate biopsy. It came back positive for a cancerous tumor pressing against my rectal wall. Two options were explained to me — a complete removal of the gland, or radiation ...