Breaking News

Opinion

Reading between the lines on Ohio employment stats

Editorials

February job loss numbers tell a complex tale in Ohio, as despite the loss of 5,400 jobs, the unemployment rate actually went down. According to a report by the Ohio Capital Journal, that is because 2,000 Buckeye State residents simply left the workforce. On top of that, Molly Bryden, a Policy Matters Ohio researcher, said the state’s economy is also more vulnerable to economic turbulence because of federal policy decisions; and is STILL dealing with the changes in the employment landscape wrought by the COVID-19 pandemic. Cuts to federal and state government services (and, ...

Trump, cult of MAGA take sudden anti-Christian turn

Editorials

The past few days have featured the vice president of the United States lecturing the pope on morality and church doctrine; Sean Hannity making it official that he worships at the Church of Trump; Pete Hegseth quoting made-up verses from “Pulp Fiction” as if they were actual Scripture; and Trump styling himself as Jesus Christ. A few years ago, one might have wondered how these acts of contempt toward Christianity would go down with the religious right, but after 10 years of cultishness, it would be foolish to expect many defections. Still, as someone who came up in the ...

Southern Poverty indictment smacks of a political ploy

Editorials

When it comes to the U.S. Justice Department’s stunning announcement of criminal charges against the Southern Poverty Law Center, as an old saying goes, where you stand depends on where you sit. If you sit with the broad section of Americans who revere the legacy of the Civil Rights Movement and who look with distaste on the resurgence of white nationalism in American politics, it may come as no surprise that President Donald Trump’s DOJ is going after an organization with a long history of standing up to organized racism. If you sit with the Trump administration’s Justice ...

Why would Ohio nursing homes abandon patients at homeless shelters?

Editorials

Public officials well aware of Ohio’s problems with a shortage of accessible, affordable housing might not be aware of a growing problem related to that challenge. Nursing homes are sending patients to homeless shelters at a growing rate. A Signal Ohio report earlier this month looked at nursing homes transferring “older, poorer and medically fragile” patients to homeless shelters. In fact, seven nursing homes in Ohio have been faulted in the past few years for efforts to dump patients into homeless shelters. Eastland Rehabilitation and Nursing Center in Columbus caught one ...

What has passed is not always what was best

Editorials

Your memories will try to trick you. I thought about that as I was driving down a street near my house the other day, when I spotted a father walking down the sidewalk, his young daughter slung over his shoulder like a sack of coal he was hauling out of a mine. Her hair bounced along on his back and she looked thrilled. They had been out on a stroll, and she’d asked for a ride: That was the story the image told me. Adorable, I thought, for a second. But wait. What was that look of resignation on the dad’s face? Did I recognize that parental exhaustion myself, that feeling of ...

Let logic settle Poland library controversy

Editorials

The effort to “save” the Poland Library is well-intentioned and even noble. It is also, at this point, misguided and bordering on unhealthy. The Public Library of Youngstown and Mahoning County has spent the better part of a year — if not longer — studying, documenting, analyzing and contracting with reputable professional consultants about every aspect of the building. On April 9, the Library’s Building and Sites Committee heard everything library staff had learned through their efforts. They learned about the problems with the 25-year-old building, what it would cost to ...