ORCHID: To Trumbull Regional Medical Center and Hillside Hospital for making significant improvements in their kitchen operations. The kitchens in both hospitals received low marks in an inspection in June by patient-care ombudsmen. In a follow-up inspection in August, the ombudsmen noted noticeable improvements in cleanliness and in proper organization of supplies. Given the earlier fears of potential closing of the hospital resulting from the bankruptcy of operator Steward Health Care, the subpar reports from ombudsmen did nothing to restore public confidence in the viability of the medical center. Let’s hope the progress makes as it moves toward more stable long-term operations under new ownership.

ONION: To the vile thief or thieves who stole an ambulance from the Warren Township Fire Station last weekend. Fortunately, the ambulance was located and recovered in Homestead Park in Youngstown. Unfortunately, security video could not sufficiently identify the culprit or culprits. We urge that township and county sheriff’s office pursue this investigation aggressively and mete out stern punishment to the derelict thieves. The lack of that critical township ambulance, of course, clearly endangered the health and safety of the community.

ORCHID: To Brookfield native Sarah O’Brien for winning the 2024 Youngstown-Warren Regional Chamber Champion of the Valley award. O’Brien, inspired by an immediate love affair with the French croissant during a high school youth group’s trip to France, followed her passion in founding Little Tart Bakeshop. She now owns and operates three of the shops in Atlanta, as well as two Big Softie ice cream shops there. Word and taste of mouth has it these sweet-treat shops can’t be beat.

ORCHID: To the five Mahoning Valley journalists for their prestigious induction last week into the Youngstown Press Club Hall of Fame. The HOF awards celebrate members of our local communication, media and advertising community who have had long and distinguished careers. Such is certainly the case for each of this year’s honorees: William D. Lewis, former Vindicator and Tribune Chronicle staff photographer; Mona Alexander, former news director at WFMJ-TV; the late William Fleckenstein, former co-owner and general manager of WHOT Radio; Nick Rich, videographer for WYTV and WKBN-TV; Len Rome, 40-year reporter and anchor at WYTV.

ONION: To leadership of the U.S. Secret Service for their many failures in planning and communication that led to a gunman being able to open fire on former President Donald J. Trump on July 13 in nearby Butler, Pa. Members of a bipartisan Senate investigative committee came to those conclusions last week after investigating the attempted assassination attempt. “There were security failures on multiple fronts,” said Republican Rep. Mike Kelly who co-chaired the committee and who represents the Shenango Valley. Let’s hope those failures lead to meaningful Secret Service reforms to ensure that the negligence on display in Butler is never repeated.

ORCHID: To the Youngstown-Warren Regional Chamber for hosting a trade summit this week with representatives from nine Vietnamese companies and the Vietnam Chamber of Commerce and Industry. Officials said they hoped the summit will help grow the Mahoning Valley economy by expanding the region’s supply chain and by enticing Vietnamese companies to do business here. Export growth is one of the fastest growing components of the American economy, and we’re pleased to see the Valley aggressively pursue its share of that action.

ORCHID: To employees of Ultium Cells LLC of Lordstown for raising $3,500 to support the critically important good works of the Warren Family Mission. Employees of the electric-vehicle battery-manufacturing partnership of General Motors and Korea’s LG Energy Solutions produced jerseys inspired by the Korean Baseball Organization. Mahoning Valley Scrappers wore these “Power Goblins” attire at a recent game before auctioning them off to the public with all proceeds benefiting the mission. We congratulate Ultium and its growing workforce for its ongoing commitment to community service.

editorial@tribtoday.com