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Republicans ignore fairness with map

It was obvious Ohio Senate President Matt Huffman and House Speaker Bob Cupp, both Lima Republicans, were driving the Ohio Redistricting Commission’s plan to ignore a vote-approved constitutional amendment to draw fair state legislative districts. They seemed content to forego bipartisan support on 10-year maps. Instead they drew four-year legislative maps that don’t reflect voting trends in Ohio, which was a major item the commission was supposed to consider. Despite the concerns expressed by the three other Republicans on the seven-member board — Gov. Mike DeWine, Secretary of ...

When things are serious enough, we learn more

Everyone is aware of the substance misuse problem that has been labeled a public health epidemic. Everyone does not pause to think about more than the superficial: there is a drug problem. We don’t think beyond that until someone puts a new term in front of us, like “polysubstance dependence.” What does that mean? You ask with wrinkled brow. Polysubstance dependence is the mixing of multiple substances, with no particular preference. Alcohol is most commonly reported as a second abused substance according to published reports. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention ...

Music can help Alzheimer’s patients

Editor’s Note: This column was originally published Nov. 16, 2019. Alzheimer’s disease, especially in its later stages, can put a wall between the sufferer and the outside world. As cognitive abilities deteriorate, the sufferer usually becomes increasingly confused and agitated. They may lose (or seem to lose) memories, become disoriented and lost, misidentify people, lash out or throw tantrums, or withdraw completely. In extreme cases, they may seem entirely shut off from the world. One treatment for Alzheimer’s that has gained more and more attention in recent years is music ...

Insuring access to treatment for mental health disorders

Can you remember a time when you knew you needed help with a medical problem or some issue had your mental side all messed up but you didn’t have the money to pay out of pocket for it, you didn’t have health insurance, and even if you did, most likely your insurance wasn’t going to cover it? Have you looked around at the people who populate your life and noticed how they look, how they have changed in the past two years or so? Aging. Stress. Fear. Paranoia. Contention. Where is the joy? The laughter? The truly living life? Some periodicals say that the country is ...

U.S. needs energy reliability and affordability, not outages

Americans have been hoping for economic recovery and a return to normalcy. Instead, they’re experiencing ongoing pandemic concerns and the ravages of wildfires and hurricanes. And adding to their woes, they’re now increasingly worried that the electricity grid on which they depend could fail when they need it most. Blackouts in the West this summer, frequent power conservation notices, and a week-long blackout in Texas this past February (that cost hundreds of lives) have left Americans increasingly concerned about grid reliability. According to new polling, 72 percent of Americans ...

In a situation … what do you do?

I made a business call. The young man who took my phone call was very willing to help me to get the information that I was looking for. But it took only a moment for me to think something might be terribly wrong. The speaker’s words were slurred, sometimes to the point that I couldn’t make out what he was saying. And when he had to put my call on hold, he breathed into the phone as if he were having trouble with the task. We all have read or heard that Covid-19-induced work-from-home has seen a rise in the misuse of alcohol and drugs. At one point I was on hold for so long I was ...