Ryan’s new position brings controversy

February 21, 2023

Former Congressman Tim Ryan’s new job as a member of the two-person leadership council of Natural Allies for a Clean Energy Future, an organizations that promotes natural gas as clean energy, raised eyebrows from some environmentalists and fellow Democrats. Dave Scott, a former Sierra Club president, tweeted in response to the decision: “Tim Ryan has done a lot of good things for working Ohioans. This is a sellout of Americans’ future. Read the science. There’s no feasible path to the cuts we need that includes investment in new gas. Gas means carbon and a lot of it.” Others ...

Questions remain over the arrest of reporter

February 13, 2023

My newsroom staff and I spent much of last week working with our sister newspapers in Columbiana County covering the devastating train wreck in East Palestine that threatened people’s homes, health and even their lives. Every day — every hour, really — something new developed in what very likely someday could become the script for a blockbuster movie. We reported rapidly the developments, repeatedly adding new Breaking News posts at www.vindy.com. Like the entire community, we held our collective breath when crews worked to rid the twisted rail cars of deadly chemicals that easily ...

Demolish any proposal making it harder to amend constitution

February 9, 2023

There are many compelling reasons Ohioans should demolish any proposal to make it harder for them to amend their state constitution. The most logical and hard-headed: Maintaining their ability to influence how they are taxed. Since the 1850s, not including bond issues, Ohioans have decided more than 40 tax-related proposals to amend the state constitution. Since 1912, all have been decided by simple majority vote. The most significant, in terms of creating a more equitable tax system, were approved with less than 60 percent of the vote. Among them: On Sept. 3, 1912, by a 52-48 ...

Priorities facing legislative scrutiny

February 7, 2023

Gov. Mike DeWine hit the right notes on several priorities in his State of the State address, legislators from the Mahoning Valley said, but how many of them will survive scrutiny and be funded after review by the General Assembly? During last year’s State of the State, DeWine listed several priorities with some getting passed, such as clamping down on driving while texting and investing in Appalachia. Others went nowhere, like increasing penalties for “dangerous felons.” The Valley’s state legislative delegation had largely positive things to say about DeWine’s speech and ...

Backpack bill likely casualty in Columbus

January 28, 2023

Legislation sponsored by state Sen. Sandra O’Brien, whose district includes all of Trumbull County, would make significant changes to school funding by providing public dollars for students to attend private schools. While it’s probable the bill eventually will pass in the state Senate, it faces a much greater challenge in the Ohio House. Republicans have supermajorities in both legislative bodies, but are having an internal fight in the House. A companion bill to O’Brien’s Parent Education Freedom Act — also known as the backpack bill — is a likely casualty. That companion ...

Rebuilding our nation’s mineral supply chains begin with permitting them

January 26, 2023

An American mining renaissance is within reach. Congress and the Biden administration have worked to support development of the secure, reliable, and responsible mineral supply chains that our economy, energy future, and national security demand. But for all the momentum to rebuild and modernize our industrial base, a failure to address the nation’s broken mine permitting process threatens to undercut the entire effort. Permitting challenges are ubiquitous across American infrastructure. In fact, they’ve become outsized obstacles to modernizing and building the roads, electricity ...