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Ohio lawmakers owe it to taxpayers to address EdChoice

Editorial

Lawmakers who never bothered to complete the phase-in of Ohio’s Fair School Funding Plan, or update data that could have helped more equitably fund the state’s public schools, are now also operating with the knowledge that their beloved EdChoice voucher program has been deemed unconstitutional by an appellate court. (Interim state Attorney General Andy Wilson has already said he plans to appeal that ruling to the 6-1 Republican majority Ohio Supreme Court.) If their consciences weren’t already being prodded by the knowledge that they abandoned fair school funding, and that an ...

Ohio has some work ahead to avoid looking foolish in book bans

Editorial

School book ban trends come and go, but there are always groups of people who want to keep their children from having access to reading material that might expose them to new ideas or, worse, ask questions. The problem is particularly bad in Ohio, which ranks third among the states in PEN America’s study of school book bans for the 2025-26 school year. The free-expression advocacy group counted 117 instances of school book bans in the Buckeye State during that period. Only Texas and Florida were worse. Across the country, 11,982 books — 7,370 unique titles — were banned in public ...

‘Rowdy’ Jordan, a hoopie’s story

Local Columns

NEWELL, W.Va. - Loyal Glenn Jordan was a poor hoopie from Ritchie County, W.Va. Born in 1901, he came to the East Liverpool area in 1936 to find work. Later he moved a number of families up the river valley in his truck, a Chevy flatbed with wood sides and a tarp. The story of one hoopie ...

EdChoice voucher ruling provides chance to address school funding

Editorial

Thursday’s ruling by the Ohio 10th District Court of Appeals that the state’s EdChoice voucher program is unconstitutional will no doubt ruffle some feathers in Columbus. Good. Judge David Leland, who wrote the opinion for the three-judge panel, says the program violates the state constitution because it funds a separate school system, according to a report by The Blade, in Toledo. That violates the mandate for a SINGULAR public education system. It was the panel’s opinion that the voucher program also lacks meaningful state oversight, is unavailable to many rural Ohioans ...

Is Ohio for sale?

Letters To The Editor

Dear editor, I just saw where the GOP is pulling financial support from some races in other parts of the country so they can dump millions more into Ohio’s races for Senate and Governor. Billionaires have spent millions on this race. Why?? And What is all the money spent on? I suppose much of it’s spent on the hundreds of TV ads that bombard our prime-time watching. These ads are not fact-checked. They are full of nasty fear-mongering, intended to fire up the “culture wars”. There is little about policy. What will these candidates really do for Ohioans should they get elected? ...

Columbiana is building on its success

Local Columns

EDITOR’S NOTE: This column originally appeared in the Fall 2026 issue of Valley Business magazine. Several years ago, I began visiting relatives who moved to Apex, N.C. It didn’t take many visits to realize Apex is something special. Walkability. New housing starts. Quaint retail. A robust park system. A historically preserved downtown. A noticeable amount of infill where, during a difficult past, many houses were torn down. So I did some digging. Sure enough, publications like Money magazine consistently rank Apex as one of the best places to live due to its balance of rapid ...