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Opinion

Best of luck to all of our local sports programs

Editorials

Ready or not, here it comes. Another school year has arrived. Yes, already! Classrooms are open or are poised to open soon. Fall sports have started. Doesn’t it seem many of the non-football fall sports begin earlier and earlier each year? Remember when all schools did not start activities until after Labor Day? Now it is only the schools with students involved in the Canfield Fair — like West Branch and United Local — that start after the holiday. Our area teams kick the 2025 football season off this tonight with Leetonia at Vanlue and East Palestine at Shadyside. And, yes, ...

Elderly suicide: The rise of a quiet crisis in Ohio

Columns

At 74, Jerry was a dedicated husband, father, and grandfather who always prioritized his family’s needs. As he faced mental and physical health challenges, he began to feel like a burden. Believing that his family would be better off without him, he lost his battle with depression and died by suicide. Right now, in Ohio, more of our seniors are dying by suicide at a rate higher than any other age group. In the most recent report from the Ohio Department of Health, 361 Ohioans aged 65 and older died by suicide in 2023. Most of them are men, and most by firearm. It’s a heartbreaking ...

Don’t let scammers take your money

Editorials

Across the country, scammers continue to find success — particularly with older residents and their families — with a seemingly endless supply of techniques for separating people from their hard-earned money. Among the latest efforts is a scam in which a person receives a phone call, email or text that says they need to pay a fine, but that they should do so with Bitcoin, a gift card or other virtual currency. And yes, the wording is confusing and aggressive enough that people continue to fall for these scams in droves. In Ohio alone, between July 1, 2024, and June 30, 2025, ...

Brown facing an uphill challenge

Columns

Democrat Sherrod Brown plans to run next year for the U.S. Senate, where he served for 18 years before losing in 2024. He faces an uphill challenge. Brown certainly provides Democrats with the best chance to win the seat because of his decades of elected experience and strong name recognition. But it also shows how much the Democratic Party is struggling in Ohio. If Brown didn’t run for the Senate, there wasn’t a real backup plan. The only other possible Democrat name of note mentioned to take on Republican Jon Husted, appointed in January by Gov. Mike DeWine to fill a vacant ...

Politicians again dragging feet on a significant issue

Editorials

Give them a hot-button topic that doesn’t actually affect the lives of ordinary people and politicians will waste no time hopping on and digging in. But when the issue is something of great significance to the rest of us — individuals and their employers — they drag their feet. That is the case with permitting reform. Last time it got any serious traction in Washington, D.C., former U.S. Sen. Joe Machin was leading the charge on the Energy Permitting Reform Act. Now, U.S. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., is bringing lawmakers’ attention back to the matter in the hope that ...

Be ready to obey laws regarding school buses

Editorials

School is already in session for many students and will be soon for all others. With the beginning of the school year comes a possible change to our morning or afternoon driving routines, as school buses filled with children will be everywhere. Get back in the mindset of giving yourself plenty of time to get to your destination during pick-up and drop-off hours. School buses may be a little slower and make frequent stops, but the drivers are not out to get you, personally. Their job is to make sure kids get to and from school safely. And they can do that because (most) drivers follow a ...