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Property Protection Act warrants a closer look in Ohio Legislature

Editorial

Sometimes legislative proposals sound great on the surface — after all, the people who come up with names such as the “Ohio Property Protection Act” are hoping to persuade others to vote for it. But a deeper dive brings up serious questions. Ohio House Bill 1 and Senate Bill 88 are similar versions of the Ohio Property Protection Act, which would “modify the law that prohibits certain governments, businesses and individuals from acquiring certain real property.” Among the stated goals of the bills are to prohibit foreign adversaries from being able to own land within 25 miles ...

Will Ohio’s missing, their families get needed help?

Editorial

Government work groups and task forces don’t always come up with effective solutions (ask the Ohio Redistricting Commission), but the Ohio Missing Persons Working Group appears to have come up with some solid ideas to improve missing persons investigations in the state. In fact, according to a report by the Dayton Daily News, Gov. Mike DeWine and Ohio Department of Public Safety Director Andy Wilson announced 18 areas of improvement in matters such as communication between law enforcement and family members, sharing of information among law enforcement agencies, training and ...

Proposed bill halting noon OSU starts won’t reach the end zone

Local Columns

It’s not that state Rep. Tex Fischer doesn’t want to put an end to noon start times for Ohio State University football games, but he knows his bill to restrict them isn’t going anywhere. Even before Fischer, R-Boardman, formally introduced the bill on May 20, he received a significant amount of publicity — locally, statewide and nationally. Most of the responses fell into three camps. One, largely consisting of Buckeyes fans, was supportive. The second didn’t treat it seriously. The third was critical, questioning why Fischer wasted his time with this bill when there are ...

Holding Norfolk Southern accountable is just first step

Editorial

Norfolk Southern says it still expects site restoration in East Palestine to be “substantially complete by early/mid June.” This despite additional monitoring wells being installed as recently as the end of March, and sediment and surface water monitoring that continues to show evidence of the catastrophic derailment that occurred there more than two years ago. Charts made available by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency show there is still visible sheen on affected waterways — in fact, instances of heavy sheen being observed as late as April in part of Sulphur ...

Don’t let Memorial Day celebrations take away from the somber remembrance of the holiday

Letters To The Editor

To the editor: Hundreds of veterans and their families gathered all over the county to remember the men and women of our armed forced who gave the ultimate sacrifice. All veterans gave some but some gave all. Memorial Day is a celebration to remind us that we must never forget the high cost that was paid in order to establish and maintain our freedom and the liberties we all enjoy. The governor of the State of Ohio issued a directive that all flags be displayed at half staff until noon on Memorial Day. This is an honor that is granted limitedly because of the great significance that it ...

Yost’s predictable exit may not be his last goodbye to politics

Local Columns

The Ohio governor’s election is more than 17 months away, but I have already written a considerable amount of articles and columns on it as candidates come and go. Attorney General Dave Yost, a Republican, is the latest to go after coming to the realization that he wasn’t going to beat Vivek Ramaswamy, the wealthy biotech entrepreneur who has the endorsements of the Ohio Republican Party, President Donald Trump and several prominent Ohio and national Republicans. It did not take that long for Yost to read the room, announcing his withdrawal from the race May 16. It came a week ...