ORCHID: To the Youngstown Business Incubator and its many community and corporate benefactors for successful completion of a stunning $900,000 makeover of its main West Federal Street building. The major renovations were unveiled at a recent ribbon-cutting ceremony. The building now looks like it’s moved into the modern era with an open and brightly lit workspace, upgrades to its technology infrastructure and new offices and work areas designed to strengthen YBI’s support for entrepreneurs, startups and advanced manufacturers. The eight-month project makes the internationally acclaimed incubator primed for even more growth and success, particularly with the new Youngstown Innovation Hub for Aerospace and Defense moving into its building on West Front Street that for decades had served as the headquarters of The Vindicator.

ONION: To students who bully their classmates and to school officials who do not take sufficient and concrete actions to rein in such verbal and physical harassment. In the Lowellville Local School District, a group of parents recently confronted the board of education about the seriousness of the problem there and the need for it to be addressed. Parent Sarah Page said she had to hospitalize her child after a bullying episode and that “nothing changed” when she reported the repeated badgering to principals. We urge school officials there and in districts throughout the Valley to implement and sternly enforce stringent anti-bullying policies. The physical, emotional and physical harm bullying inflicts on its victims demands nothing less.

ORCHID: To Norfolk Southern Railway for committing $20 million to Youngstown State University for design and construction of a first responder training center in East Palestine. It will operate as part of the university’s Department of Chemical and Biological Sciences and Forensic Science and will include space for fire, police and emergency medical services first responders to train on emergency scenarios. This public-private partnership among the university, the Ohio Department of Public Safety, Norfolk Southern and the village of East Palestine also will rise as an institution committed to avoiding disasters or lessening their impact in the aftermath of the tragic February 2023 NS derailment that forever scarred the Columbiana County village.

ORCHID: To the Federal Home Loan Bank of Cincinnati’s Affordable Housing Program for awarding nearly $2.5 million to the Youngstown Neighborhood Development Corp. to accelerate a variety of housing initiatives in the city and throughout the Mahoning Valley. The funds largely will be used to help finance home repairs for 84 units of owner-occupied housing in Mahoning and Columbiana counties. They will also provide down payment assistance of up to $10,500 per unit to 75 home buyers in the Valley. With strong additional local support for these programs from Farmers National Bank, Huntington Bank and CareSource Reinsurance, momentum is bound to only grow for YNDC’s noble mission to expand and improve our region’s housing stock.

ORCHID: To Youngstown State University public art students and other visual artists in the Valley for creating mural paintings that have been accepted in the Ohio Arts Council’s Murals Across Ohio program in conjunction with the state’s observance of the nation’s 250th birthday next year. Students of instructor Dragana Crnja created the colorful and colossal murals on Andrews Avenue, Mahoning Avenue and near the entrance to the Vallourec Star mill in Youngstown. The Vallourec mural also has been selected for inclusion in the America 250-Ohio 2026 wall calendar. Other murals in Mahoning and Trumbull counties included in the statewide program are those at Dave Grohl Alley in Warren and Risi Pizza in Canfield.

ONION: To drivers of all-terrain vehicles who have been inflicting mayhem and safety hazards in some Mahoning Valley communities by riding them noisily on public properties at all hours of the day and night. City officials in Girard are to be commended for fighting back. They have placed barricades, guardrails and signage at a park to curtail an onslaught of ATV nuisances and serious safety hazards. Over five recent years, ATVs were the type of vehicle involved in 92 percent of off-highway vehicle injuries in the state, according to the U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission. It also notes more than 800 deaths and an estimated 100,000 emergency department-treated injuries involving OHVs are reported annually in the U.S. Such evidence makes a strong case to slam the brakes on out-of-control ATV antics in communities large and small across the Valley.

ORCHID: To the football teams of Cardinal Mooney and McDonald high schools for their superior play all season that catapulted them to the semifinal games for state championships last weekend. Though both the Cardinals and the Blue Devils fell in heartbreaking defeats, they have nothing to feel sorry for. Their strong talents and strategic play have brought glory to themselves, their teams, their schools and their communities.