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Burton Cole column | VIEW ALL

Stuff left on the steps eventually turns invisible

It’s Valentine’s Day and you forgot again, didn’t you? She was expecting candy or flowers or a card or at least something. Boy, are you in trouble! Here’s some advice from your ol’ Uncle Burtie — tell her you left it right there on the steps. Of course, you’ll want to actually ...

Taking a good look at life in living color

“Why?” Laura asked. Her oldies — I mean “real music” — station had just played Elton John’s 1983 hit “I Guess That’s Why They Call it the Blues.” “Why is sadness associated with the color blue? Why not call it the grays if it has to be associated with a color?” Why ...

Baby, it’s brrrr outside!

As I write this, wearing my mittens and three pairs of socks, the weather has warmed up to 14 degrees, with a feels-like factor of 4. Yes, you read that right: WARMED UP to 14. As an unnecessary reminder, water freezes at 32 degrees. So, if it was twice as warm outside, we still could turn ...

Getting my kicks (and a nap) with birthday 66

It wasn’t much of a snow — not for someone who grew up in the North Coast snow belt. Oh, sure, a swirling wind had drivers guessing whether they were still on the road — mundane stuff for northeast Ohio kids. I know that 16-year-old Burton would have been behind the wheel, adrenaline ...

Society | VIEW ALL

Engagement: Kapel-Bianco

The engagement and approaching marriage of Kayla Kapel and Santino Bianco, are being announced by the couple’s parents, Greg and Marriane Kapel of Lyndhurst, and Tina Bianco of Girard. The groom-elect is also the son of the late Philip Bianco. The bride-elect is employed as a registered ...

Anniversary: Murphys’ 75th

Don and Grace Murphy of Cortland will celebrate their 75th wedding anniversary Tuesday. The Murphys were married in 1950 after a huge snowstorm postponed the wedding scheduled for the weekend before. They are both 93 years old and still live together independently in the 150-year-old ...

Anniversary: Slater 50th

The children of Larry and Darla Slater are announcing their parents’ 50th anniversary. Larry Slater and the former Darla McMahon were married Aug. 2, 1975, in Leavittsburg. They have three children, Mandy (Brent) Boggs, Billy (Valerie) McMahon and Nicole (Dominic) Chiarella; and nine ...

Anniversary: Singley 55th

Dennis and Carol Singley of Austintown are celebrating their 55th anniversary on June 7, 2025. Denny and the former Carol Harmon were married June 7, 1970, in Fowler. They have one son, Nathan, at home. After graduating from Warren Harding High School in 1963, Denny served his country for ...

Home and Garden | VIEW ALL

Time to can pie filling

Yesterday, the warm scents of apples, cinnamon and nutmeg were wafting from my kitchen. While the temperatures outside may not yet feel like fall, transparent apples are ready, and that means it’s time to can apple pie filling. If you’ve read my column for a while, I’ve written about ...

Springtime blooms of serviceberries

One of the loveliest spring-blooming trees on our property is the serviceberry, Amelanchier x grandiflora. It is a cultivar called “Autumn Brilliance,” a name that hints at its beauty in another season. Ours is a hybrid of the native serviceberries Downy and Allegheny, which would make it ...

Bring the rainforest home with orchids

We were looking for a quick escape from the winter chill when a friend and I decided to make the trip to the Cleveland Botanical Garden to check out its annual orchid show. “Love In Bloom” is the theme this year, and what a gorgeous feast of flowers for the winter-weary — 3,000 blooms ...

Valley Grows calendar

Here are upcoming gardening events through the Ohio State University Trumbull County Extension Office. Contact the extension office, 520 W. Main St., Suite 1, Cortland, at 330-638-6783. For a complete list of events, visit https://trumbull.osu.edu/. Learn About Growing Degree Days What: ...

Lifestyles | VIEW ALL

Looking at assisted living?

NEW YORK — Sometimes it’s a fall that brings a broken hip and a loss of mobility. Or memory problems that bubble into danger. Or the death of the partner who was relied upon for care. The need to move to a nursing home, assisted living facility or another type of care setting often comes ...

Hints from Heloise: Shower caps in garden

DEAR HELOISE: Here’s an idea that I’ve benefited from for years. Whenever I stay in a hotel, I save the shower caps that are usually provided for free. Because I garden, I regularly track in grass clippings and dirt on my shoes. Putting the shower caps on over my shoes when I go outside ...

To Your Good Health: Husband hit by sudden case of delirium

DEAR DR. ROACH: Over a 30-day period, my 84-year-old husband went from being mentally sharp, to going into a fog, to not being able to recognize simple objects or name the president. He was admitted to the hospital as a possible stroke victim. His CT, EEG and MRI were negative. He had been ...

4 tips to save moneya and stay well this seasonsd

StatePoint The beginning of the year is a natural time for a reset, especially when it comes to budgets and better-for-you habits. With the cold and flu season still in full swing, it’s also a time when many people start thinking about how to stay healthy without spending more than they ...

Lisa Resnick Column | VIEW ALL

When your closet is a size 6, but your life is a size 10

Here’s an embarrassing fact I’m choosing to share publicly — mostly because I know I’m not alone and partly because laughing at myself feels healthier than crying in my closet. I have two closets. Walk-in closets. Plus a dresser. All full of clothes. And yet everything is bursting at ...

When the show ends and you’re left with… yourself

I think it’s time for a small confession. I might have a problem. Not the kind that requires an intervention — unless that intervention involves someone gently taking the remote out of my hand and suggesting I go outside. I’m talking about shows. Favorite shows. Comfort shows. The ...

Weathered, worn and still standing (with snacks)

Ever find yourself in other places in the world — or even just neighboring states — when the weather is not the best? Rain pouring down like the sky cracked open, snow blanketing the earth in that deceptively quiet way, or temperatures so frigid it doesn’t matter how covered you are, ...

Where the mind goes when life hits pause

I’ll start with a confession: I can absolutely be that person. You know the one. In “Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood,” there’s a line where someone says she likes to chew on a problem until all the flavor is gone — and then stick it in her hair. That’s me. I will think ...

Ticket | VIEW ALL

‘Arsenic and Old Lace’ opens in Ashtabula

The 13th Street Theatre stages the classic comedy “Arsenic and Old Lace” starting Friday. Joseph Kesselring’s play ran for more than 1,400 performances in its original Broadway run from 1941 to 1944, and it spawned a 1944 film version starring Cary Grant, multiple TV adaptations and a ...

Joyce Manor album delivers nostalgia, polish and punk

LOS ANGELES — In his seminal 1981 book “Simulacra and Simulation,” cultural theorist Jean Baudrillard argued that Disneyland is emblematic of reality’s collapse into perpetual imitation. “Disneyland is presented as imaginary in order to make us believe that the rest is real, whereas ...

YSU takes part in celebration of author Toni Morrison

Youngstown State University will mix some jazz with some “Jazz” to celebrate Ohio-born author Toni Morrison. A community reading of Morrison’s 1992 novel “Jazz” is planned on campus on Wednesday, which would have been her 95th birthday. The reading will run 9 to 11:30 a.m. and 2 ...

YSU Theatre turns sci-fi spoof into radio play

Howard Korder’s play “Episode 26” is a spoof of the serialized sci-fi tales that used to run with the Saturday matinees in movie theaters in the 1940s and ‘50s. When Todd Dicken first read the play in the ‘90s, he had a different idea. “It's written to be an actual play with ...