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ORCHID: To owners of Penguin City Brewing in downtown Youngstown for their ongoing renovations to its taproom and ballroom that will add restrooms, improve handicapped accessibility and update event spaces. In recent years, the massive 37,000-square foot event space has become a highly popular destination for entertainment and socialization for customers from the Valley and beyond. We're confident the latest improvements, scheduled for completion next spring, will draw in more events and more excitement to the hot downtown night spot.
ORCHID: To Ohio Attorney General Andy Wilson for last week activating a $9 million grant program to help school districts throughout the state improve safety and security in and around their buildings. The grant funding is intended to give school leaders flexibility in determining how to improve student safety. Potential uses include certification training for school resource officers, active-shooter response training and equipment, educational resources for all grade levels and training to identify and assist students with mental-health issues. Leaders of school districts throughout the Mahoning Valley would be remiss to ignore this opportunity to ensure maximum security for their charges. To apply online, visit the Ohio School Safety Center and Ohio Grants Portal.
ORCHID: To Struthers Middle School students and the Boo Squad, an organization that teaches the value of volunteerism to youngsters 7 to 13, for their success in a pre-Thanksgiving food drive. Their collections of hundreds of food items will help more than 100 Valley families enjoy a traditional holiday meal.
ONION: To CoreCivic, operators of the Northeast Ohio Correctional Center on Hubbard Road in Youngstown, for the incessant pattern of major violence inside the private prison. Just last week, yet another inmate was stabbed to death inside the facility. That comes on top of more than two dozen stabbings, some fatal, over the past two years. It's time for city and state officials to pressure CoreCivic to crack down on such endemic violence. If that cannot happen, perhaps it's time for the Ohio Department of Rehabilitation and Correction and federal government agencies to end their contracts with NEOCC and place their inmates in a much safer state or federal prison environment.
ORCHID: To the Mahoning County Convention & Visitors Bureau for its eye-popping success at bringing $1.1 billion in economic impact to the county in 2025. That figure is included in a recent report issued by the bureau that also noted specifically how the county's many tourist attractions bolster the local economy and benefits taxpayers. Visitor activity directly supported 9,949 jobs, provided $257 million in wages and generated $140 million in taxes, resulting in an estimated $717 in tax savings per household. Given the growing wealth of museums, concert venues, theaters, art galleries, festivals and special events here, we look for that impact to balloon even more this year.
ORCHID: To Hubbard High School’s Future Educators of America Club and its respected adviser Josh MacMillan for continuing their public-service tradition of visiting Fairhaven School in Niles to lead children in its school and workshop programs in a variety of art projects. In last week’s Hubbard Art Day visit, Fairhaven students colored, constructed artworks and engaged in other creative endeavors under the guidance of the high schoolers and MacMillan. The project, now in its 14th year, wields a double whammy of advantages. It benefits Fairhaven students by providing them an outlet for creative expression, and it benefits the Hubbard students by giving them up close and personal experiences in hands-on teaching of young people.