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ORCHID: To the Board of Mahoning County Commissioners for recently allocating $60,000 of federal opioid settlement funds toward hiring a mental health professional for the county’s jail. That “navigator” will serve as a liaison among jail staff, inmates and the county court system. He or she will ensure that court officials are informed of mental-health challenges prisoners face and to determine what resources they need, particularly to avoid reincarceration. Given that local and county jails have effectively become de facto mental health hospitals for many inmates, the potential ...

For the love of God, don’t allow children access to your guns

No parent in his or her right mind would allow a child to play with a chainsaw or a blowtorch. Even the thought of allowing children access to dangerous tools like those or others is ridiculous. But some parents and guardians of young children continue to leave guns within easy access of those they are supposed to protect. We read about the bloody results of that carelessness or indifference or watch it on TV all too often. On Aug. 15, 2025 — almost exactly one year ago — a 3-year-old boy in Struthers died when he got his hands on an unsecured handgun and accidentally shot ...

Why can’t we fix the oil problem?

“We are the United States of America and there is nothing we can’t do if we do it together.”- President Joe Biden I am not in the habit of favorably quoting the former president, but he was right when he said this. Why, then, are we still beholden to Iran and Saudi Arabia for so much of our oil needs? A Wall Street Journal headline says: “Gulf States are Resigned To Iran Control of Strait (of Hormuz).” Must we also be resigned to an unending dependence on Middle East oil? Presidents since Jimmy Carter have said we must overcome that dependence and loosen their grip on our ...

Mainstream Dems taking back the wheel?

You couldn’t find a wackier candidate than Francesca Hong, the Democratic Socialist vying to become the governor of Wisconsin. She wanted to defund police and abolish ICE, topping it all off with a call to end Thanksgiving. “Saturday Night Live” couldn’t have made her up. Hong lost the Democratic primary but left behind some sobering thoughts. She finished second by only a hair and against a sterling Democrat with relevant experience. The winner, David Crowley, is the Milwaukee County executive and an African American born into poverty. Crowley will face off against ...

In a world full of AOCs, become a Leavitt

Even famous and successful women can’t avoid the reality of trade-offs. Earlier this month, Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez announced on Instagram that she is freezing her eggs. The 36-year-old congresswoman even gave herself an injection on camera. AOC said she would have to give herself another round of shots before her upcoming appearance on ABC’s “This Week.” “I want you all to see that, because women can do anything,” she said. “And I think it’s badass that I’m gonna be, you know, giving myself shots in the green room, get my glam on, roll out, talk ...

Not winning? Just change the rules

What binds the new Democratic Party to the new Democratic Socialists is a set of shared issues and values. That is, the radicalism of the Democrats in the age of Trump Derangement Syndrome — lawfare, de-balloting, the Mar-a-Lago raid and calls to destroy the Electoral College, the nine-justice Supreme Court, and the filibuster — helped give birth to the socialists. But the overriding commonality among those on the new left is that if they do not get their way, they blame the “system.” Then they seek to change the rules, no matter how hallowed those laws and conventions may have ...