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Strategy can stabilize, strengthen Valley housing market

The housing complaints come with increasing frequency. They come from employers whose workers reside an hour away in places like Cranberry, Pa., and Solon. They come from company executives who live in places like Chagrin Falls and Hudson. That means the jobs we work so hard to create here — jobs for which we devote community resources such as tax incentives and workforce programs, jobs that require local infrastructure investments — are resulting in growing the tax base, growing school enrollment, growing volunteerism and philanthropy elsewhere. Recently, we began changing ...

New tax would make employer-provided health plans unaffordable

Ohio's dismal 44th place in national health value demonstrates a harsh reality: We face higher medical expenses and poorer health outcomes compared to most other Americans. And things will get even worse if Congress adopts a new federal law to tax employer-sponsored health plans as if they are ...

Regional Chamber presents its goals for 2025

According to research conducted by the Federal Reserve Bank of Cleveland’s Community Development team, the disconnect between where jobs are and where people live continues to grow. And, according to Fed research, our region’s slow post-Great Recession housing recovery means that some homeowners, because home prices have remained lower here, are unable to use home equity as a tool to build wealth. This data, and other studies, reassures us at the Youngstown / Warren Regional Chamber and our partnering agencies that our strategic economic development priorities are the correct ...

Bill could create un-level field in turf industry

Aren’t sports meant to be played on natural turf? That’s what I thought when I first heard Mount Union College (now University) was trading in its natural grass for an artificial field in the summer of 2002. It wasn’t until after I investigated this new breed of synthetic turf that my perspective changed, and it led to my new career in the synthetic turf industry. Today, the proposed House Bill 605 would require Ohio professional sports stadiums that seat 10,000 or more and host preseason, regular season, and postseason events to be 90% natural grass. While this may sound ...

Shipbuilding essential to US

Thank you, Sen. Brown, for taking the helm on shipbuilding. I served five years in the U.S. Marine Corps, maintaining radar packages on the warplanes based aboard aircraft carriers. That experience left me with deep respect not only for my fellow service members in the Navy but for the American workers who manufacture the aluminum, steel and other components that go into the vessels our sailors take to sea. Many sailors told me they sail into harm’s way with profound trust in ships put together by the most highly skilled and dedicated workers in the world. Sadly, America ...

East Palestine on our minds

More than a year after the derailment, East Palestine continues to rebuild — long after the media spotlight has faded, and most reporters have moved on. We all remember the sight of dark smoke billowing over the small Ohio town. These disturbing images came shortly after a Norfolk Southern freight train carrying hazardous materials derailed on the evening of Feb. 3, 2023. Since then, the lives of thousands in the vicinity have been turned upside down as toxic chemicals infiltrated neighborhoods, schools and every corner of our community. As lifelong Ohioans, we have spent the ...