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Screen culture is destroying our children

We’ve been having a debate about “book bans” in recent years, but given the steep decline in student literacy, the deeper question is how anyone would notice whether a book is available in a school library or not. The New York Times published an eye-opening report on a study by the Educational Opportunity Project at Stanford documenting steep declines in student test scores, especially in reading. Over the past 10 years, reading scores have declined in 83% of school districts. What looked like a COVID-driven catastrophe is, instead, part of a long-running trend. Reading ...

ATHENA Award winner, nominees make Valley proud

As of last week, a highly accomplished and well respected executive of Howmet Aerospace in Niles has joined the pantheon of amazing women trailblazers and changemakers worldwide enshrined as an ATHENA Award winner. Gina Govojdean, vice president of sales and supply at Howmet, is in great company with the likes of such other ATHENA goddesses as former U.S. Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, former U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice, legendary tennis icon Billie Jean King and NASA astronaut Christina Koch. Govojdean received the Mahoning Valley’s 2026 ATHENA Award ...

Blame Biden for high prices

The new consumer prices report showing a 3.8% price rise in April confirms what Americans have been complaining about for months: Inflation is continuing to squeeze family budgets. It’s indisputable that oil and fertilizer supply disruptions in the Middle East are driving up prices here at home. But that’s only part of the inflation story. Consumer prices overall are up nearly 30% since COVID-19 derailed the U.S. economy six years ago. That’s the worst stretch of inflation since the bad old 1970s under Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford and Jimmy Carter, when inflation hit double-digit ...

Police failed troubled woman in Ky.

On March 27, the Louisville Metro Police Department in Louisville, Kentucky, responded to a 911 call requesting help for someone experiencing a mental health emergency. When police arrived, Katelyn Hall had locked herself in the bathroom with the intention of harming herself. At last week’s Bishop’s Table — a weekly community forum — I listened to Katelyn’s mother, Rebecca, recount what happened that night. Rebecca is grieving now because what began as a call for help ended with Katelyn losing her life. LMPD shot and killed Katelyn when she came out of the bathroom holding a ...

Orchids & onions

ORCHID: To U.S. Rep. Ro Khanna, D-Calif., for his aggressive campaign to recharge the U.S. electric-vehicle industry. Khanna recently toured the Ultium Cells EV-battery production plant in Lordstown and called it “impressive.” In the U.S. Congress, he has been a leading advocate for reinvesting in the industry with a focus on jump-starting domestic manufacturing and ensuring labor protection. He is working to block Chinese battery companies from receiving U.S. production incentives and has emphasized the need for American-made, non-foreign-licensed battery production. Given the ...

Legislature should act to enhance service delivery to Ohioans

If you’ve ever been puzzled, perplexed or perturbed while navigating the often slow-moving and sometimes problem-prone agencies of our state bureaucracy, rest assured, you’re not alone. Complaints regarding Ohio state-sponsored services and professional licensing are relatively common, with some areas seeing eye-popping increases. In one recent year, for example, the Ohio Attorney General’s Office handled over 20,500 complaints from state residents. Clearly, there is plenty of room for improvement in the delivery of Ohio services that could reduce bureaucratic hurdles for ...