14-year-old speller should inspire us all

July 18, 2021

It seems odd, amid the heat of a stormy, Midwest summer, to be thinking about spelling bees. But then again, what hasn’t been odd about this year? The 94th annual National Scripps Spelling Bee, usually held Memorial Day weekend in Washington, D.C., this year was held July 8 in Disney World. Many of the kids competing hadn’t gotten there the usual way of working through middle school spelling bees and onto a stage somewhere in their hometowns to face off in a bee hosted by area media organizations. Some of those local “feeder” bees went forward, but many others — like ...

Vax-A-Million falls short of high expectations

July 11, 2021

Ohio’s COVID-19 vaccination lottery created by Gov. Mike DeWine with high hopes of using the lure of cold, hard cash to influence Ohioans to roll up their sleeves apparently was more splash than substance. Results of the so-called “Vax-A-Million” lottery, released when the promotion wrapped up last month, showed the state still failed to crack the 50 percent vaccination threshold it had been shooting for. The contest, of course, gave away $1 million each week for five weeks to five lucky people picked randomly from among vaccinated people who registered for the drawing. ...

Free press is one of our many liberties

July 4, 2021

On this holiday, when we give thanks for the many liberties that make America great, I reflect particularly on our press freedoms. Appreciation for this critically important freedom should grow as we witness it crumbling in other parts of the world. Sadly, just 10 days ago Hong Kong’s sole remaining pro-democracy newspaper was forced out. The Apple Daily published its final edition June 24 after five editors and executives there were arrested and $2.3 million in assets were frozen, all part of China’s increasing crackdown on dissent in the semi-autonomous city. The Associated ...

The majority, not officials, rule in America

June 27, 2021

I get frustrated with elected officials who think they know better than the voters, often somehow managing to forget it was those same voters who put them in office. They often imply, for instance, those voters didn’t REALLY mean to check “no” for a tax levy or the box for their political opponents. Consider how many times public bodies return a failed tax levy to the next election ballot, as if to see if voters really meant it. Then there are incumbents who refuse to accept defeat. Former Trumbull County Commissioner Dan Polivka seems to be having a hard time ...

Comic strip not representative of Vindicator

June 20, 2021

Tom Batiuk, author of the syndicated comic strip “Crankshaft” published regularly in The Vindicator, often strays from humor in his comic strips to bring attention to important, even sometimes tragic, issues. Through the years the Akron native has explored issues like adult literacy or Alzheimer’s disease and dementia. He often makes mention of historical events about World War II, including the Battle of Normandy. In his comic strip, Batiuk, a 1969 Kent State University graduate, even has made mention of the May 4, 1970, fatal shooting of four Kent State students by Ohio ...

IRS leak renews debates over income tax

June 13, 2021

Last week’s story naming America’s billionaires who manage somehow to pay little to no income tax set off outrage that varied largely, I’m guessing, on how much money you happen to have in the bank. The story by investigative journalists at ProPublica reported that, overall, the richest 25 Americans pay less in tax — an average of 15.8 percent of adjusted gross income — than most ordinary workers do. As expected, the story quickly heightened national debate over inequality between uber-wealthy and Americans like you and me. Discussions returned to whether Democratic Sen. ...