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EPA announces that Ohio’s air is now cleaner

Editorials

There are still environmental worries to be addressed, and policymakers must not lose momentum on that front. But there was good news this week as the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced Ohio is no longer on the list of states that do not meet clean air standards. “The air is cleaner. What that means for families in Ohio: Your children are healthier. What it means for businesses in Ohio is that they are more competitive,” said U.S. EPA Region 5 Administrator Anne Vogel. This is not only a success to celebrate, it could also mean a change for Ohio drivers one day. ...

Ohio lawmakers explore measures on affordability

Editorials

Ohioans are facing increasing struggles with “affordability.” In fact, we have been for several years now. Lawmakers know that, but aren’t always clear on what to do. A group of state representatives has come up with a collection of ideas they believe will gain bipartisan support. “Ohio is too expensive for too many, and it’s time that legislators and leaders stepped up to take action,” Ohio state Rep. Beryl Brown Piccolantonio, D-Gahanna, told the Ohio Capital Journal. “For too long, politicians in Columbus have steered the economy in the wrong direction.” Ideas ...

Opposition to data centers grows

Editorials

It appears that folks living in the gently rolling farmland of southwestern Ohio don’t want a 2-million-square-foot data center plopped down the road from their front porches. What’s wrong with them? Are they snotty not-in-my-backyard liberals? Not quite. Wilmington, Ohio, is a very Republican region marked by modest incomes. Such demographics may have made the locals, and other rural Americans, look like an easy sale to the tech companies hunting for places to plop their massive data centers. Amazon Web Services, which is proposing this nine-building data center on about 500 ...

Trump must do more in Iran

Editorials

In Western civilization, Christian ethics still, in some ways, dominate society. Murder is wrong. Stealing is wrong. Lying is wrong. Iran is dominated by Shiite Muslims who, at heart, embrace Taqiyya, or religious dissimulation, in ways Sunni Muslims tend to reject. It is why more must be done to Iran. Taqiyya, in practice, means lying to the infidel. The Hadith, or traditions of the prophet, says “war is deceit” and commanders may use lies to advance their cause. The Iranian regime outmaneuvered the Obama administration with peace talks. To this day, Democrats insist Iran was not ...

Short-staffed city police force deserves to be paid overtime

Letters to the Editor

DEAR EDITOR: We have had the front of The Vindicator show the amount of overtime the police force has brought in over the past year. Do we want our city streets and homes to stay safe? If your answer is obviously yes, then do allow them to do whatever needs to be done. This only indicates to me how short-staffed our police force is. Working as an RN for 25 years, hospital nurses were short-staffed severely starting in the 1990s. There are many times working the night shift, that I could get double time, and even triple time. Let’s not forget that these service people need to ...

Orchids & onions

Editorials

ORCHID: To the Oak Hill Collaborative under the leadership of Patrick Kerrigan and to Charter Communications Inc., doing business as Spectrum, for their successful efforts in narrowing the digital divide in the Mahoning Valley, particularly in Youngstown. For its part, Oak Hill over the past year has given away more than 500 computers and taught nearly 950 classes on navigating the internet. For its part, Spectrum recently donated $20,000 to the collaborative to add momentum to its noble and highly needed mission. How needed is it? Sadly, the city of Youngstown ranks as the second least ...