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Praising God for another trip around the sun

As my high school and college classmates and I have gotten older, I have noticed that when birthday shoutouts go out on Facebook, many say they thank God for “another trip around the sun.” This wasn’t a saying that I grew up hearing, but it definitely has special meaning now in the middle years of middle age. When I posted my birthday selfie on Facebook in August, thanking friends for their “warm and loving” well wishes, I got comments saying how beautiful and amazing I looked, which made me giggle a bit since I was rocking my Ohio State gear and hyping the upcoming college ...

Were the bombs of August 1945 ‘demonic?’

Did demons create the first atomic bombs? Every August, debate renews over both the wisdom and the morality of dropping the two American atomic bombs, 81 years ago, on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima (Aug. 6, 1945) and Nagasaki (Aug. 9, 1945). August 2026 was no exception. As ever, many critics have faulted the United States for the bombings: two gruesome blasts — aimed at dual-use military and industrial targets in both cities — that may have caused some 100,000-120,000 immediate deaths among combatants and civilians. And not all these critics are on the Left. Two years ago, ...

Lesson learned in New Philly

A New Philadelphia municipal court’s creative sentence for a 21-year-old’s 17 wildlife crimes is fitting, yes; but also an important reminder to all of us about the boundaries we seem to forget when social media is at our fingertips. According to a Yahoo News report, Carter J. Hickey pleaded guilty to charges involving taking wildlife out of season, hunting without permission, illegally possessing animals, using a vehicle to spotlight and kill wildlife and failure to follow game-check rules. A U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service investigation spanned 17 states. That investigation ...

Mayor McDowell, where are the deliverables?

Youngstown Mayor Derrick McDowell likes the language of business. Strategy. Transparency. Action. Results. And, perhaps most importantly, deliverables. It is a good word. In fact, it may be the perfect word for evaluating the McDowell administration. Because a deliverable isn’t a vision. It isn’t a listening session. It isn’t a slogan, a social-media post, a committee, a meeting or another promise that something better is coming. A deliverable is something that was promised — and then delivered. Mayor McDowell took office Jan 1. His campaign website laid out an ...

Ohio’s childcare crisis continues nearly unabated

Though policymakers have made a few attempts at increasing Ohioans’ access to childcare in recent years, the problem is as bad as ever. In fact, advocates are labeling it a crisis. “We are using the word, and we don’t use it lightly, but we are calling this a childcare crisis,” Tasha Booker, president and CEO of Action for Children, told Spectrum News 1. “In order for childcare to be considered affordable in Ohio, families should be spending no more than about 8% of their income.” Instead, some families with two young children are spending up to 33%. If your reaction ...