Breaking News

Opinion

Sound off!

Letters to the Editor

If style, grace and truth were the recipe of the world’s most delicious soup, Trump would be a fork. Claiming to feed the nation, he would appear working furiously at that bowl. The nation would starve as he forked it up, fed himself and was still Trump. — Canfield Approximately 90 million has been taken from our National Parks’ revenue for 47’s selfish vanity projects aided by the Interior secretary. This denies essential maintenance, improvements and safety within the parks that are visited by millions of Americans and international travelers. Every whim by this president is ...

Don’t miss your last chances to cast ballots

Editorials

Few would dispute the notion that Republican President Donald J. Trump and Democrat former President Barack Obama make the strangest of bedfellows. On virtually every public policy issue imaginable, the two stand universes apart. But on one key contemporary issue, the two men are in lockstep with each other. Both argue that Tuesday’s general election in Ohio and the United States ranks as one of the most critical mid-term elections in American history. At a campaign rally in Cleveland last weekend, Obama implored Ohioans to exercise their right to vote by Nov. 3 and labeled this ...

Can all corners of Ohio draw large employers?

Editorials

Experts looking at the jobs landscape in Ohio have mixed feelings about how to present the picture, as job growth in some sectors is accompanied by less stable circumstances for others; and low unemployment is accompanied by worryingly low labor force participation. First, the good news: Ohio’s unemployment rate is 3.4%, compared with the 4.2% national average; and there is growth in fields such as engineering, data and coding, construction, plumbing, electrical and metal work. Health care continues to be a field facing worker shortages, too. But the rest of the picture, according ...

Mahoning, Trumbull are pivotal to statewide candidates

David Skolnick

For decades, Mahoning and Trumbull were reliable Democratic counties. If Democratic candidates didn’t get at least 60% of the vote in Mahoning and at least 55% support in Trumbull, they stood no chance of winning Ohio. Even with those vote totals, Democrats sometimes would be disappointed in the results from the two counties. I recall during a post-2000 presidential election forum that an Ohio Democratic Party official specifically criticized the results in Mahoning and Trumbull as being a key reason why Democrat Al Gore lost the state to Republican George W. Bush by 3.51%. Gore ...

LaRose was right: Voter fraud is rare in Ohio

Editorials

Despite repeated attempts by others to instill fear that Ohio’s elections are riddled with fraud, interference and illegal ballots cast, the public official best equipped to accurately assess the situation, Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose, has said, “voter fraud is rare in Ohio.” An analysis of data from the Ohio Crime Statistics Dashboard by the Ohio Capital Journal bears that out. Since taking office in 2019, LaRose has referred for investigation 1,200 voting/election-related cases. According to the crime statistics dashboard, only 16 resulted in felony convictions — nine ...

As mayor, I never lost faith in free and fair elections

Guest columnists

For 18 years, I held elected office in Youngstown, Ohio, as a school board member, a city councilman, president of council, and then as mayor. Being mayor was the best job I ever had. I had a chance to shine a light on the kind of people we are and the kind of community we can be when we all come together to help each other. I never lost faith in that, and I still haven’t. As mayor, you are also never too far from the people — they remind you every day that their needs come first, whether it is housing, education, clean streets, or public safety. My job was to make sure I heard ...