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Data supports benefits of distracted driving law

After a year, Ohioans now have clear data to show the benefits of the state’s new distracted driving law. According to a report by the Columbus Dispatch, the law is being credited with an 11.6% decrease in crashes, a 19.4% decrease in fatalities — and a LOT more tickets issued. During the past year, state troopers have handed out 25,310 tickets for distracted driving. That’s a 263% increase over the previous year. That last data point might not sound like a good thing, but it is fantastic news. Before implementation of the law on Oct. 4, 2023, there were 55,857 crashes ...

Supporting our parks would come with a very small price

We get the part that many of you have already voted. But if not, certainly give consideration to supporting Columbiana County’s gem of a parks system. On the Nov. 5 ballot is a new .10 mill, five-year levy asking voters to help maintain park properties which includes the vastly popular Greenway Trail. If approved, the levy would generate about $258,000 annually — costing the owner of a $100,000 home a total of $3.50 per year. That’s not a typo: $3.50 per year or a bit over 29 cents per month. Columbiana County has so much to offer. We are blessed with thousands of good, ...

Portage County voters will not be intimidated

Portage County Sheriff Bruce Zuchowski behaved so badly via social media that the U.S. Department of Justice is planning to send in election monitors to ensure compliance with federal voting rights laws during early voting and on Election Day. Remember last month Zuchowski felt comfortable suggesting on social media that households with political signs in their yards supporting Kamala Harris should have their addresses written down. He suggested that, should a Democrat win the presidency, illegal immigrants should be sent to live in those households, and he called those immigrants ...

Law enforcement agencies continue to fight trafficking

“We have to attack this scourge by curbing the demand,” Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost said Monday, referring to those who seek to buy sex in the our state. He was announcing the arrests of 132 people as part of a statewide human-trafficking operation that involved more than 100 law enforcement agencies, with major activities in Akron, Columbus, Cleveland, Marietta, Portsmouth, Toledo and the Mahoning Valley. Operation END-OHHT, named after the state’s human trafficking hotline, had three purposes: round up as many suspects as possible, help those victimized by human trafficking ...

Animal tranquilizer emerges as a new drug abuse danger

Just as Ohio is beginning to see signs the tide is weakening (though not quite turning) in the substance abuse epidemic, a new danger rears its head. Xylazine-related overdose deaths are on the rise. Xylazine is an animal tranquilizer — not for use by humans — that is becoming popular. Speaking to WTOL about his observations in other cities, Matt Bell, the chief executive officer and founder of Team Recovery, said the drug is frightening. “These folks in Philadelphia, their drug of choice is Xylazine,” Bell said. “And in fact, if they know that someone has fentanyl, and ...

Ohioans hope for a rosy future, as politicians hand us promise after promise to distract from reality. We know there is potential, but numbers don’t lie, and the Ohio Department of Development’s Office of Research took a look at population projections from 2020 to 2050 to show us what the trends really suggest. Population change: Ohio’s population is projected to decline by approximately 675,000 (5.7%) by 2050 if current rates of fertility, mortality, and migration remain unchanged. Ohio is currently the seventh most populous state. Georgia and North Carolina will likely surpass ...