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McDowell ‘town hall’ shields Youngstown mayor from accountability

When public officials promise a “town hall,” they invoke a sacred American tradition of open dialogue, direct accountability and unvarnished truth. They promise to face their constituents, look them in the eye and answer the hard questions. But Youngstown Mayor Derrick McDowell’s recent virtual town hall was not a town hall. It was a tightly managed infomercial. It was a masterclass in modern political theater, carefully staged to project the illusion of transparency while aggressively shutting out the public. From start to finish, the event was engineered to shield the mayor ...

2 crime families don’t make 1 honest town

In tribal politics, we are not supposed to raise this. Someone should, and the truth does not care about your feelings. Republicans built a decadelong movement on two promises: drain the swamp and expose the Biden Crime Family. That investigation established Biden relatives took more than $10 million from foreign sources but never tied a payment to an official act. Set that standard against this administration’s own disclosures. The men who promised to drain the swamp are cashing in. Start with crypto. President Donald Trump’s 2026 disclosure put his income above $2 billion last ...

Watchdog over county water loses its bite

When launched 15 months ago in the immediate aftermath of substantial rate increases for some water customers, the Trumbull County Water Advisory Board had great potential to rise as a vigilant, forward-thinking consumer watchdog. Sadly, that promising watchdog has lost any semblance of bite. Its members — mostly township trustees — were charged by the Board of Trumbull County Commissioners with overseeing from local governments’ and users’ perspectives the operations of the county’s Sanitary Engineer’s Department, the lead agency overseeing water distribution in the ...

Beware of flamboyant candidates

Four New Yorkers were killed by Legionella bacteria last week, tragedies that were preventable if the city had performed its core, lifesaving duty to monitor and inspect air conditioning cooling towers. But New York City Mayor Zohran Mamdani is focused on creating a socialist utopia instead of keeping the city running. The current outbreak is in the three ZIP codes. City officials claim the worst is probably over. But the truth is, all signs point to more Legionella outbreaks — and a city unprepared to stop them. Short of staying inside, there’s little you can do to avoid ...

Lesson for Americans from World Cup

The World Cup showed why you shouldn’t be ashamed of America’s heroes and heritage. While only Argentina and Spain made the World Cup final, citizens of many countries enthusiastically cheered on their teams. Norwegian fans became an internet phenomenon for their “Viking Row” cheer. Sitting like they were in a longboat, fans moved their bodies backwards and forwards in unison while pretending to row. To complete the cheer, they chanted, “Ro!” They rowed in stadiums and Times Square. The Norwegian soccer team rowed after defeating Senegal. Norway’s soccer team embraced ...

Put in reverse Trumbull’s spike in traffic deaths

Esteemed researchers earlier this week trumpeted results of international studies that concluded traffic crashes and fatalities in the United States and most developed nations on the globe continue to cruise on a steady downward slide. Global rates of road injuries and deaths each fell more than 30% over the past four decades, according to the study published Monday in Lancet Public Health, a highly prestigious medical journal. The World Health Organization within the United Nations this week added its own spin to that encouraging news in reporting road traffic deaths declined by 21% ...