Breaking News

Local Columns

America’s power grid is facing real trouble

There are two reasons why consumers experience a power outage. The first is obvious: a storm comes along and knocks down trees and power lines. That’s what typically happens. But there’s now a second reason for power outages in the United States—there simply isn’t enough electricity to go around. Power generation in the United States has always been an extremely dependable commodity. But recently, there’s been a startling decline—and both Texas and California have offered previews of this worrying trend. In February 2021, portions of Texas’s natural gas infrastructure and ...

Forced unionization for refineries would mean higher gas prices

Our country was founded on the principles of opportunity, individual freedom and less government control. The ideals of less government and free markets have been successful strategies in American competitiveness for more than 200 years. Yet Ohio lawmakers are considering legislation — Ohio House Bill 235 — that could tip the scales, choose winners and losers and allow for additional government control. House Bill 235 would write into law specific hiring practices for privately-owned oil refineries, limiting who they can hire by mandating ratios of apprentice-trained employees. ...

A Perfect Night for Spring Peepering

The April night was cold and rainy, perfect for the Millers’ annual spring peeper hunt. We started this tradition when Shark and Seed were small, and they have perpetuated it with their children. Shark and her boys, Lamppost Head and The 747, drove to our house so I could ride with them on this year’s hunt. The boys each had a flashlight; I had a headlamp. The main catch, as usual, was toads, and they had almost more than they wanted before the hunt was officially underway. There were so many toads on our long brick driveway that they constantly had to stop and pick them up to ...

Rebuild our industrial base from the mine up

As our European allies scramble to disentangle themselves from dependence on Russian energy—and as American consumers struggle with soaring prices at the gas pump—there are ever-louder calls for a renewable energy and electric vehicle (EV) future. These technologies, as the thinking goes, will finally offer the United States a clean break from petro-dictators that has eluded us since the oil crisis of the 1970s. But a pivot away from oil hardly means an easy or clean break from resource geopolitics. In fact, a potentially accelerated energy transition means America’s energy ...

New, more despicable meaning of ‘fake news’

“Fake news!” is the frequent frustrating chant we, in my business, hear too often. Often, the allegation comes from people who disagree with or choose not to believe verified news reports. Sometimes, cries of “fake news” come from people actually in the news story who, for obvious reasons, might be attempting to discredit news reports about them. Other times, journalists are accused of fake news because we’ve made honest mistakes that could be construed as “fake” because, well, it is. That is, incorrect information has been reported unintentionally. When that happens ...

Victim Liaison/Victim Advocate Spotlight

Columbiana County is fortunate to have two outstanding Victim Liaisons (sometimes called “Victim Advocates”) that work for the Prosecutor’s Office. Victim Liaisons play a vital role in the criminal justice system, and a brief history of victim advocacy is in order to truly understand their role. Shortly after WWII, it was widely determined that victims of crime should be entitled to financial reimbursement if they suffered a hardship due to crime. The first victim compensation laws were passed in New Zealand in 1963 and in the United States in 1965. Victim advocacy is widely ...