Iconic Valley politician makes his exit but may be back for encore

December 9, 2022

When it comes to Mahoning Valley politics during the last four decades, few names are better known than Michael J. O’Brien. He’s held several different elected offices in Trumbull County during a 38-year political career. O’Brien was first elected to the 4th Ward seat on Warren City Council in November 1981 at the age of 26. At the time, he was a corrections officer with the city’s police department. O’Brien spent 11 years on Warren council. The first six he represented the 4th Ward and then five years as an at-Large member. After being elected the first time, O’Brien ...

Ballot proposal draws outrage

December 2, 2022

A proposal that would make it harder for citizen-initiated amendments to the Ohio Constitution to become law is drawing opposition from several organizations. Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose, a Republican, and state Rep. Brian Stewart, R-Ashville, recently announced they would seek to ...

New maps to give GOP more edge

November 18, 2022

Ohio Democrats who hated the latest state legislative and congressional boundaries approved by the Republican-controlled Ohio Redistricting Commission and ruled unconstitutional by the state Supreme Court will be even more upset with the next maps. They need to be redrawn for the 2024 ...

Color the Valley deeper red

November 11, 2022

The election results in Mahoning and, particularly, Trumbull show the once-reliable Democratic counties are anything but that — and trends indicate they’ll turn even more Republican in coming years. The biggest surprise is it has taken this long, as several other formerly Democratic stronghold counties in Ohio greatly changed. To compete statewide, Democrats needed at least 60 percent of the vote in Mahoning and Trumbull counties. Not that most of the statewide Democratic candidates had a chance in this election, but every one of them lost in Mahoning and Trumbull counties. That ...

GOP likely to do well Tuesday

November 4, 2022

Tuesday should be a good night for Republicans as they will gain control of the U.S. House and probably do the same in the Senate, while winning other elected positions, including in states that have long been Democratic strongholds. The only question is how many elections will Republicans ...

Maps go to US Supreme Court

October 28, 2022

Rather than draw a new congressional map, Republican state legislative leaders filed an appeal to the U.S. Supreme Court contending the one they approved is constitutional. Along political partisan lines, the Ohio Redistricting Commission on March 2 approved a congressional map that gives ...