Breaking News

Editorials

On oil, China far outsmarts US

We can thank China that gasoline prices aren’t higher than they are. By last month, China had cut imports of oil by 3 million barrels per day, the daily consumption of Italy and France combined. China’s economy, meanwhile, hums along. Americans agonize over how the price of oil affects gas at the pump. Were it not for China, a tank of gas would cost considerably more. “China is Propping Up the World Economy by Importing a Lot Less Oil,” reads a Wall Street Journal headline. There are several reasons China has been able to cut oil imports, but one is its move away from ...

Orchids & onions

ORCHID: To clergy and parishioners at St. Patrick Church of Youngstown for reaching their milestone 100th anniversary earlier this month. Hundreds of current and past congregation members and former pastors gathered for a special Mass and celebratory lunch to mark the proud achievement. The Gothic-style Oak Hill Avenue structure has been a landmark on the city’s South Side for 10 decades now. More importantly, the faithfulness of its members and their dedication to community involvement and betterment of it have long been trademarks of the institution. While throngs of other churches ...

State lawmakers must act promptly on 3 critical issues

The official start of summer this weekend also ushers in the end of state lawmaking in Columbus. Yes, the long summer recess gives our technically part-time state legislators time to relax and regroup in their home districts while gathering constituent input on a wide swath of crucial unfinished business that awaits them in the fall. Much of that unfinished business centers on controversial issues that require closure by the end of the year. Placed high atop that action agenda must be property tax reform, data center regulation and the death penalty. To its credit, this session of ...

Removal of Trump’s name a metaphor?

In what could be a metaphor for things to come, workers removed President Trump’s name from the Kennedy Center in Washington. U.S. District Judge Christopher Cooper ruled the rebranding of the Kennedy Center as the “Trump Kennedy Center” violated the law, writing, “Congress gave the Kennedy Center its name, and only Congress can change it.” Is America growing tired of Trump’s nonstop appearances? His disapproval ratings suggest overexposure could be a contributing factor. He goes on sometimes for more than an hour in his frequent Oval Office appearances and often repeats ...

Politician names on public works are free ads

When workers scraped Donald Trump’s name off the Donald Trump and John F. Kennedy Performing Arts Center, they should have kept going. They should have taken Kennedy’s name off as well and restored the building to its original, simple title, the National Culture Center. After President Kennedy was assassinated in November 1963, Congress renamed the center after him. The New York International Airport, charmingly referred to as Idlewild, suddenly became the John F. Kennedy International Airport. And hundreds of schools across the country plastered “John F. Kennedy” on their ...

It’s a requiem for privacy

When President Donald Trump appointed an obviously unqualified friend, a home builder executive, to be acting director of national intelligence, he inadvertently triggered attention to Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act. The director of national intelligence is the head of the umbrella agency that gathers intelligence from the 17 federal spying agencies and from that data prepares and delivers the president’s daily briefing. Sec. 702, which permits warrantless spying, expires this month. Trump prefers to receive his briefings directly from the CIA and its ...