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Husted among few still fighting for EP residents

More than three years after a disastrous derailment in East Palestine, Congress has continued to sit on its hands rather than upset its friends in the railroad industry by implementing desperately needed rail safety reform. Well, most of Congress, anyway. A few have repeatedly tried to push change. Most recently, a bipartisan group that includes U.S. Sen. Jon Husted, R-Ohio, has introduced the Railway Safety Act of 2026. “Three years ago, many Ohioans understandably lost faith in the safety and reliability of our nation’s railways after the accident in East Palestine, Ohio. Since ...

Ohioans can take steps to engage in better fitness

All that technology we drag around with us all the time is giving researchers data that provides insight into everything from our travel to fitness. If you have a habit of checking your health and fitness data through a smart watch and app, you are not the only one keeping track. Data from participants, provided by Apple, helped researchers produce the “Apple Heart and Movement Study.” “The heart is an incredible organ, working tirelessly every second of every day,” report beings. “Understanding how various heart metrics reflect your overall well-being can empower you to lead ...

Due praise for the work of Future Farmers of America

National Future Farmers of America Week is being observed Feb. 21-28. The organization “Future Farmers of America” — or FFA as we all know it — was founded in 1928 by young farmers. Its mission was to prepare subsequent generations with the task of feeding a growing populace across our country. Farmers have done just that. And living where we do in counties like Columbiana and Mahoning we can appreciate that. If you aren’t a farmer in our parts, you certainly know someone who is a crop producer, beef, dairy or poultry farmer. Living where we do, where so much farming and ...

Balancing books for all in West Virginia

Members of the West Virginia House Finance Committee are working toward some important changes to safeguard taxpayer dollars, ahead of a planned “universal expansion” of the Hope Scholarship educational voucher program. Without many of the planned changes, the program will remain wide open to waste, fraud and abuse, as too many have taken advantage of the state’s failure to install guardrails earlier. The originating bill, which has not yet been numbered, would cap the annual Hope Scholarship award to eligible families at $5,250, with $250 going to the State Treasurer’s ...

Advocating Multiple Sclerosis awareness

To the editor: In 2006, I was diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis (MS). When diagnosed, I did not know what MS was. Others, along with myself, experience the various challenges of MS, and no two people experience the same effects. No one has chosen to live with MS; it has chosen us. There are things known and things unknown regarding MS. Every hour, someone is diagnosed with MS, a chronic disease of the central nervous system for which there is no cure. MS interrupts the flow of information between the brain and the body. A few of the impacts of someone with MS could be one or more of ...

Skating on air

It was two weeks ago that grandson Bob called to tell me something about our farm pond, but his words made no sense. “What do you mean, ‘collapsed’?” I said. “The ice collapsed. It’s laying on the bottom of the pond.” “What happened to the water?” “I don’t know. Gone.” When I got there I saw the pond had become a giant bowl of ice, and Bob was ice skating around on the bottom of it. Fissures showed around the edges and through the center of the upper pond where it was shallow, but a large area of thick ice in the center, thickest we have ever seen, had ...