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The second coming of DOGE

Editorials

President Trump has signed an executive order creating a task force to crack down on fraud in government programs. Vice Ppresident JD Vance will head it. This is the administration’s second effort to reduce government misspending and overspending following Elon Musk’s effort as head of the Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE. As we approach another April 15 with a $38 trillion debt, addressing fraud ought to be a bipartisan goal. The fact that it hasn’t been a priority for politicians is largely because, I suspect, it isn’t their money being wasted. It might also be ...

Sammy’s Law brings GOP, Dems together

Editorials

A bipartisan group of lawmakers in Washington, D.C., has been working on ways to better protect kids online by giving parents the right to receive safety notifications through Federal Trade Commission-regulated third-party providers. Versions of Sammy’s Law, introduced in both the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives, are meant to help alert parents when their children are taking part in potentially risky interactions. U.S. Sen. Jon Husted, R-Ohio, has joined Sens. Mark Warner, D-Virginia, and Katie Britt, R-Alabama; along with U.S. Reps. Debbie Wasserman Schultz, D-Florida., and ...

Is affordability really a crisis?

Editorials

At some point, the headlines turned “affordability” from a concern into a “crisis.” But what does affordability mean? For most of us, that depends on what we consider our minimum requirements for happiness. If you look at TikTok, life in New York City is a fairy tale of chic bars, eggs topped with caviar and everyone looking conspicuously stylish. For much of Gen Z, TikTok is what they know of the expensive cities they and plenty of others dream of frolicking in. The music. The sunsets. The screenshot bait. They set their hearts on the pricey neighborhoods paraded across the ...

Coaching, teaching are matters of trust

Editorials

Teachers and coaches are supposed to be people you and your children can trust. But hardly a day goes by without news of yet another authority figure blurring the line between those who work in schools and the students in their charge. At Ursuline High School last year, the allegations included members of the team’s then-football coaching staff — including a veteran state-championship coach — looking the other way as some players committed acts of brutal hazing against teammates during a camp trip across several states in June. School and team officials downplayed what ...

Press panic at Pentagon threatens Stars & Stripes

Editorials

Oh, no. Stars and Stripes is under fire again. Controversy is not exactly unknown to the legendary military newspaper. Born during the Civil War, Stars and Stripes has taken all sorts of flak and survived, impressively for a publication owned and operated by the U.S. military that nevertheless calls itself an “independent” voice. As someone who served overseas as a drafted Vietnam-era army journalist, I can tell you that military journalism is not an oxymoron. Or, at least, it’s not supposed to be. But “Stripes,” as it’s commonly called in the service, has a new and ...

Ohio residents face economic insecurity woes

Editorials

Buckeye State residents don’t have to be reminded, but research from the Urban Institute might help elected officials and policymakers remember a significant number of their constituents are struggling with economic insecurity. According to a report by the Ohio Capital Journal, the institute updated its 2023 research with help from U.S. Census Bureau data to look at “income fragility,” and other factors here. For example, the cost of average rent, groceries and day care for two in Ohio is more than $55,000 per year. That means even those who aren’t sitting at or below the ...