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The trouble behind Ohio’s job numbers

Ohio — particularly poorer, more rural regions — has begun to experience a trend with which neighboring West Virginia is all too familiar. While the country added 172,000 jobs in May, Ohio lost 2,400. Unemployment, on the other hand, fell; but not for the reason we would all hope. Unemployment data measures only those who are in the labor force. As researcher Molly Bryden, with Policy Matters Ohio, pointed out to the Ohio Capital Journal, that figure does not include those who were unable to work because of age or physical condition, or simply have left the state or stopped ...

The cost of cowardice at City Hall

The tragedy of Youngstown is not that its problems are unsolvable. The tragedy is that those entrusted with solving them have become experts at managing decline while pretending to fight it. For years, residents have been subjected to a continuous performance of political theater — press conferences, photo opportunities, studies, committees, strategic plans, and carefully crafted talking points. Yet beneath the spectacle lies a city still burdened by poverty, unemployment, abandoned neighborhoods, population loss and growing despair. The mayor’s recent virtual town hall was no ...

The anti-socialists strike back

Those of a certain age — meaning roughly 65 or older — will recall the “Bicentennial Minute.” These were one-minute homages to the mostly good history of America that ran on CBS 1974 through 1976 to mark America’s 200th anniversary. Politicians, celebrities and average Americans of all political stripes appeared in the videos. It was a mostly unifying time following the divisive Vietnam War and the political scandal known as Watergate. As socialism appears to be sweeping big cities and universities as we approach our 250th anniversary, a small organization has decided to ...

Orchids & onions

ORCHID: To the North Jackson Historical Society and prominent Jackson Township business owner Tim Lehotsky for their roles in restoring a more than two-century old cemetery in that community. Lehotsky has earned high praise from NJHS leaders — and rightly so — for playing such a crucial, hands-on role in revitalizing the historic Covenanter Cemetery. He manually repaired and righted numerous fallen gravestones, unearthed bases that had sunk underground,and painstakingly chipped away at a tree to free a gravestone encased in its trunk. Among those he restored were those of American ...

State board must deny parole for Valley cop killer

If all goes the way of one Fred E. Joseph Jr., that violent, psychopathic, unrepentant and incorrigible killer of a respected Niles police officer could be free to menace Mahoning Valley streets again as early as Sept. 1. That frightening scenario must never be allowed to play out. That’s why the Ohio Adult Parole Authority must unanimously and unequivocally deny parole for Joseph at his upcoming July hearing. As many older Valley residents will readily recall, Joseph, then 17, and his accomplice Randy Fellows, 18, arranged an undercover meeting on local drug activity with Niles ...

A word from the other side

President Trump and Vice President Vance spent most of last week trying to convince Americans the “Memo of Understanding” (MOU) with Iran is a good deal for the United States and world peace. That’s not what Iran believes. Hassan Khomeini, the grandson of the founder of the Islamic Republic, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, has hailed the MOU as a major “victory” for Tehran. The “greater jihad” would now begin, he promised, according to a speech aired by Iranian state media last week. You read that correctly. The greater Jihad. To some this might sound like the same ...