Baseball fans must adapt to changes, good or bad

December 20, 2020

It was just a few short months ago when I used this newspaper space to question how loyal Cleveland baseball fans would remain if and when the major league baseball team’s owner dropped the team’s name, the “Indians.” We’re about to find out. Owner Paul Dolan announced Monday the team would drop the name that has existed in Cleveland for 105 years. While it’s been debated for years, the review process “officially” began in July, only hours after the NFL’s Washington team dropped its controversial name. Last week’s announcement did not sit well with some fans. ...

Seriously? Texas GOP suggests secession?

December 13, 2020

I’m not sure what Republicans in Ohio’s state Legislature were thinking when they urged Ohio’s Attorney General Dave Yost to get involved in a Texas lawsuit challenging election results in four states that President Trump lost. Ohio wasn’t among those states. Trump, of course, won Ohio in the Nov. 3 election. In a rare turn to red, Trump also won both Trumbull and Mahoning counties. Perhaps that’s why state Rep. Al Cutrona, R-Canfield, felt empowered by his Mahoning Valley constituency to jump on board with more than 40 Republican members of the Ohio House in signing a ...

French law could limit sharing police videos

December 6, 2020

Allegations of police brutality aren’t exclusive to the United States. And neither is the growing trend of passersby — often random members of the public — stopping to video record police stops and arrests. We are blessed in America with liberties that our founders had the foresight and fortitude to create, granting us rights that are unfathomable to citizens in many countries. They include things like photographing and video-recording public activities. Now, even France, (a representative democracy like most Western-style governments) is challenging that freedom. The ...

CARES funds spent on more than basics

November 29, 2020

Improving technology to give students better remote access to their teachers seems like good use of CARES act funding. So does purchasing ambulances or personal protective equipment for first responders treating COVID-19 patients. This year’s Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Stimulus bill set aside billions of dollars to help in the economic fallout from COVID-19. It’s supposed to help individual Americans get by, pay for unemployment benefits, create a Paycheck Protection Program for forgivable small business loans and offer aid to large corporations, and to provide relief ...

Easier voting can also mean easier fraud

November 22, 2020

Voting in the Nov. 3 general election in Ohio probably could have been easier. For instance, in the name of voting ease, several states mailed ballots ahead of the election to every registered voter. To help make the process more convenient, some countries across the globe now even are experimenting with online voting. But adding ease and conveniences like this undoubtedly also adds opportunity for improper voting or, to use the current favorite buzzword of our president and his supporters, voter fraud. The connotation that comes with the term “voter fraud” often leaves ...

Everybody knows it’s not over until it’s over

November 15, 2020

There’s a vast difference between the 5 million popular votes that separate Donald Trump and Joe Biden in the race to the White House and the small margin of 370 votes separating Trumbull County candidates Michael O’Brien and Martha Yoder in the race to the Ohio statehouse. But the two political battles have one major thing in common. Votes still being tallied might make all the difference. As they say, it ain’t over till it’s over. Indeed, Democrats in Ohio’s 64th statehouse district, which covers parts of Trumbull and Ashtabula counties, probably don’t want to hear ...