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Veterans Appreciation Picnic a success

Letters to the Editor

To the editor: The 22nd annual Veterans Appreciation Picnic was held Saturday, July 12th, in the Calcutta Square in Calcutta, Ohio with 650 veterans and guests in attendance. Two WWII Veterans, Roy Shetler, 99, of New Waterford, Ohio and Dohrman Rosenlieb, 98, of East Liverpool, Ohio were recognized. A picnic lunch was served to attendees and music was provided by Dave & Casie. The American and POW flags were presented “Special Delivery” via Jimmy Drummond and Padrick Carnahan from Skydive Rick’s Alliance Sport Parachute Club in Petersburg, Ohio. The Tri-State Burial ...

Nancy Murray’s legacy lives on

Letters to the Editor

To the editor: It’s been said that true leaders plant seeds for trees they’ll never sit under. In Wellsville, Ohio, the roots of recovery and resilience bear the unmistakable mark of Nancy Murray—a determined public servant whose impact still echoes through the streets of our village. I’ll never forget the moment I walked into her office in East Liverpool, petition for councilman in hand, asking her to be the first to sign after I decided to drop out of the mayor’s race. Without hesitation, she did. What followed was a long, hot summer filled with strategy talks and hopes ...

Officials need to make dip in fertility rates part of plan

Editorials

As Ohio’s elected officials continue to hope for economic growth, there’s a factor some may not have considered. According to a report by the Ohio Capital Journal, the state’s fertility rates are dropping — standing at 56.2 births per 1,000 women in 2023. That’s an 8.9% decrease from the state’s average of 61.9 per 1,000 between 2011 and 2020. Interestingly, births to mothers younger than 20 and ages 20 to 24 both fell dramatically compared with 2007 data. “Historically, fertility rates have dipped during economic downturns but tended to recover as conditions improved,” ...

Speaker of Ohio House endorsing Ramaswamy

Columns

In 2012, I was invited to a conference held by the Milton Friedman Institute in Indianapolis. The Institute invited 20 or so legislators from around the country to discuss school choice issues and how much progress had been made to that point. Like most conferences we heard from a variety of speakers, one of whom was Tony Bennett (not the singer and not the basketball coach), the Superintendent of Education from the State of Indiana. Bennett oversaw the institution of educational reforms including expanding School Choice options for then Indiana Governor Mitch Daniels. Bennett made a ...

Stay vigilant in avoiding threat of West Nile Virus

Editorials

We all know that mosquitoes can, well, bug the heck out of us. If you are outdoors regularly and it is muggy and hot, they are likely buzzing around licking their chops. But some are more than mere nuisances. Some carry serious diseases. Such as the West Nile Virus. Public health agencies diligently monitor this, utilizing mosquito surveillance traps. In our area, there have been several recent reports of mosquitos detected with the West Nile Virus. If there are a few around, you can be sure there are many around. We know of no human infections yet. But the virus has infected humans ...

Full federal funding needs to continue for Fraud Control Unit

Editorials

As officials at the federal level go on and on about reducing spending on Medicare and Medicaid by eliminating fraud, waste and abuse, officials at the state level are showing they’ve already been working diligently on that front. Earlier this month, the office of Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost filed indictments against nine Medicaid providers accused of stealing a total of $1.2 million from the program. These suspects are home health aides and mental health specialists who are accused of billing Medicaid for services they did not actually provide. One suspect, James Ferguson, 28, ...