Hugs, mask shedding seem normal again

June 6, 2021

It was May 14, just a few hours after Gov. Mike DeWine announced that Ohio was amending its remaining pandemic-era health orders and would be lifting the state’s mask mandate effective June 2. I stood outside the Niles McKinley Memorial where hundreds of other proud parents had gathered to take snapshots of their high school juniors and seniors dressed to the nines for prom that evening. I recall glancing around and noting that I, quite literally, was the only person in this large expanse of people who remained masked. Perhaps that was because I always have been boringly obedient, ...

Understand, reflect on true meaning of Memorial Day

May 30, 2021

Editor’s note: Linert is on vacation. This column was first published Memorial Day weekend 2016. Monday is Memorial Day, a day that many Americans think of largely as the official start of summer. There will be picnics and family gatherings. Whatever you choose to do, please remember that Memorial Day represents so much more than just that. Memorial Day, originally dubbed “Decoration Day,” was first officially observed May 30, 1868, on an order by Gen. John Logan from his desire to honor the dead of the Civil War. Specifically, Gen. Logan said it would be for the ...

How I learned to cover the mob in Valley

May 23, 2021

Growing up in a tiny, rural community in southwestern Pennsylvania, I never encountered much drama, or crime. Right out of college, I worked briefly in the “big city” of Johnstown, and even then I car-pooled to work with my mom, who worked at a bank a half-block from the real estate developer where I was doing PR and marketing. Let’s just say I didn’t get out much. But when I settled in as a “cub reporter” at the Tribune Chronicle a few years later, I learned quickly. After all, this was the Mahoning Valley. I recall sitting at my newsroom desk, early on, quietly taking ...

Thankful for a more normal senior year

May 16, 2021

It’s that time of spring when the school year is winding down, and children are growing increasingly impatient for lazy summer days that can’t get here fast enough. And, for many students like a special one in my house, the end to their high school career is upon them. As my youngest son prepares to graduate from high school, my family’s calendar has been consumed lately with all those senior traditions — awards events, honors celebrations, sports banquets, senior athlete nights and, of course, prom. Many evenings and weekends in the early part of our approaching summer will ...

Good journalists own up to their errors

May 9, 2021

Former President Donald Trump, who first coined the phrase “fake news,” has been gone from elected office and also from most major social media platforms for more than four months now. Yet, those words — Fake News! — that make most journalists’ hair stand on end, still resonate around the country. Journalists at media outlets everywhere, including this newspaper, will tell you they still hear it frequently. Elected officials and other sources — especially those who might not particularly like critical stories we write about them — have lots of ammo to use on the media ...

What happens when transparency ceases?

May 2, 2021

He risks death or, at the very least, becoming physically and emotionally broken. But as much as the outside world can see, so far Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny remains resolute. Only a few months into his 2 1/2 -year Russian prison sentence on charges of violating terms of a suspended sentence while he was in Germany, Navalny somehow is remaining unwavering and relevant, even behind bars in a penal colony near Moscow. The sentence stemmed from a 2014 embezzlement conviction, but Navalny, the most adamant opponent and critic of Russian President Vladimir Putin, has ...