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Groups must rebuild trust

In April 2020, San Clemente, Calif., dumped 37 tons of sand into a skate park to keep teenagers out of it. Down the coast, deputies arrested a man for paddle boarding alone in the Pacific Ocean. Towns unbolted basketball rims. The mayor of Los Angeles told Angelenos that snitches get rewards, and, God help us, people snitched. Then Gavin Newsom went to dinner at The French Laundry. All that explains two fights now burning down county commission meetings, fights that look like they have nothing to do with COVID: data centers and Flock cameras. In March 2020, Americans closed their ...

Trump is mad — in both senses of word

WASHINGTON — The city takes a deep breath after the president’s IndyCar auto races came and went without crashing a precious Smithsonian artwork, and before Congress returns. Cicadas and tennis balls make background music. Thank god we didn’t lose a Cezanne or Renoir as IndyCar drivers circled the National Mall. Some diplomats were uninvited. I’m proud 100,000 people flocked to the daylong National Book Festival across town, outnumbering the sparse crowds at the races. We are a city of readers, the event covered by C-SPAN. Authors love to come here, and we have quite a few ...

Orchids & onions

ORCHID: To the Youngstown Fire Department for reigning supreme over other public safety forces in that city and from Warren in a recent Battle of the Badges softball tournament at 717 Credit Union Field at Eastwood. The Youngstown firefighters defeated their city police department in the opening round and then squared off against the Warren Fire Department, which had defeated that city’s police force in an earlier game. As an added bonus, the YFD plans to donate proceeds from the victory to a worthy local charity. But regardless of the results, members of all of the safety-force teams ...

Restore death penalty in Ohio, then expand it to rapists of children

The pendulum on the hypercontentious death penalty in Ohio shows promising signs toward swinging clearly in the direction of growing popular support for its application. Consider: • A July 2026 Pew Poll of 3,354 Americans found 68% of respondents view the death penalty as morally justified for those committing murder while only 28% viewed it as wrong, reversing a decadeslong general trend of majority support for its abolition. • The pace of executions across America is accelerating. The U.S. carried out 47 death-penalty sentences in 2025, nearly doubling the 25 executions from ...

Find your purpose, work your gift

During the opening week of the fall semester, I had the honor of giving the convocation remarks for The Ohio State University’s Lima campus incoming freshman class. It was a perfect autumn morning, even though I still find northwest Ohio a little nippy during this time of year. The students were engaged, appearing eager to get college underway. I began by telling them to reflect on their key life milestone of graduating from high school as they start the next chapter with their beginning courses and eventually declare a major to prepare for their future careers. I then shifted my ...

Never trust a politician

The woman in the grocery store checkout line had an accent. While we waited for our items to be rung up, I asked her where she was from. “Argentina,” she said. “Is the inflation rate in Argentina under 100 percent yet?” I asked. She smiled, “ That’s what the politicians say, but I never trust a politician.” I laughed. What a wise woman, I thought. That sentiment is getting around. I immediately thought of the American politicians who defended former representative and former candidate for Calif. governor, Eric Swalwell (D-Calif.). Some background for those with ...