Breaking News

Opinion

End massive tax breaks for data centers in Ohio

Editorials

The explosive growth of data centers in Ohio in recent years has been matched only by an equally explosive growth in heated opposition to the high-tech facilities for housing, storing, processing and distributing massive amounts of critical data and digital applications. A plethora of communities in the Mahoning Valley and throughout the state understandably have enacted moratoriums on their construction. A statewide referendum campaign has gained steam toward banning construction of most new, large-scale hyperscale data centers altogether. Environmental and consumer advocates decry ...

Orchids & onions

Editorials

ORCHID: To Poland McKinley Elementary School teacher Samantha Alexee and all students in the school for recently wrapping up a compassionate and fantasmagorical fundraising drive to benefit St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital in Memphis, Tenn. The students raised a whopping $26,000 during the monthlong campaign in the community. As Principal Matt Beard aptly put it, “Our kids are always wanting to help others, and this year they took the ball and ran with it.” That penchant for giving carries on as well, as illustrated by Poland Middle School student Sophia Jones who led a ...

Is this a PTSD Nation?

Editorials

I was born just after the end of World War II. The first half of the 20th century marked a particularly difficult, violent era. But the 21st century so far has been, well, one trauma after another. It started with 9/11, followed by the grim wars in Iraq and Afghanistan. Then the Wall Street crisis of 2008 and subsequent Great Recession. The COVID-19 pandemic of 2020 and its own economic crisis. The attack on the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021. Then, beginning in 2024, President Donald Trump’s full-scale attack on democratic institutions, followed by his war on Iran and soaring prices. ...

Churches aid young adults

Editorials

We are nearing the end of Mental Health Awareness Month in May, and one of the main focuses this year has been urging people to seek help when needed, as more efforts are being made to reduce the stigma around struggling with emotional wellness. According to the National Institute of Mental Health, “(M)ore than 1 in 5 U.S. adults live with a mental illness (59.3 million in 2022; 23.1% of the U.S. adult population).” The NIMH classifies mental health conditions into two categories: Any Mental Illness and Serious Mental Illness. AMI includes “mental, behavioral, or emotional ...

Do we still have a Constitution?

Editorials

Last week, President Donald Trump announced that he plans to give away tax dollars without congressional or judicial authorization to his friends and allies whom he believes were mistreated by the Biden administration. Can he legally do that? Here is the backstory. During the last year of his first term in office, Trump’s tax returns were stolen along with those of 425,000 others by an IRS employee who leaked Trump’s to media outlets. The acts of stealing and leaking were, of course, criminal, and the now-former IRS employee who pleaded guilty to theft of government documents ...

Letters to the editor

Letters to the Editor

Protein, protein, protein … just stop DEAR EDITOR: Most fads are stupid, not the least of which is the excess consumption of unnecessary protein, and this fad has gone on long enough. Everywhere I turn protein this protein that, stop stop stop with this ridiculous protein craze. I am no scientist or dietitian (so they tell me) but my reliable instincts told me the average American overconsumes protein and this was demonstrably true per studies by Harvard and Johns Hopkins by 20-50 percent; so now, in case my unimpeachable instincts were not sufficient evidence for my argument, there ...