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Truth about Trump’s big birthday bash

Editorials

In light of my recent Substack post about Trump’s plans for a Trump rally on the mall to celebrate the start of America’s 250th birthday festivities — designed, in his words, for “patriots” and promising to be “wild” — several of you wanted to know more about how it’s being planned and paid for. This year’s 250th anniversary events, commemorating America’s founders’ refusal to be bound by a tyrant, were supposed to be planned by a nonpartisan, nonprofit group created by Congress in 2016 via a bipartisan congressional caucus of more than 350 members. That ...

Artificial intelligence: A modern Tower of Babel?

Editorials

On May 25, Pope Leo XIV released his first encyclical, “Magnifica Humanitas: On Safeguarding the Human Person in the Time of Artificial Intelligence.” This pastoral letter has been much anticipated by the Catholic Church, and immediate news headlines expressed intrigue that the pope addressed the moral dilemma of AI and compared it to the story of the Tower of Babel in Genesis. He also discussed Nehemiah, the cupbearer to Persian King Artaxerxes I during the 5th century B.C. In a detailed breakdown of the pope’s central points in “Magnifica Humanitas,” Our Sunday Visitor ...

Get all the lead out responsibly but realistically

Editorials

The public-health jury has been in for some time now, and its verdict on lead pipes is clear and stark. Lead pipes providing drinking water to American households are guilty of serious, toxic and sometimes life-threatening health risks to children and adults. For children, lead leached into drinking water is tied to behavior and learning problems, lower IQ, hyperactivity, slowed physical growth and hearing problems. For adults, the dangers include heightened blood pressure, hypertension, decreased kidney function and reproductive problems for both men and women. That’s why state ...

Orchids & onions

Editorials

ORCHID: To the Warren Heritage Center for recently adding a tribute exhibit to astronaut Ron Parise at the Neil Armstrong First Flight Lunar Module replica exhibit off Parkman Road in the city. The addition, in the form of a large illustrated biographical sign, stands as a worthy and needed addition to the site that pays homage to local heroes in space travel. Its main attraction is a half-scale replica of the Apollo 11 Lunar Landing Module on the site where Ohioan and first man on the moon Neil Armstrong made his first airplane ride. Warren-born Parise more than earned his place at the ...

State’s OhioSEE program coming clearly into focus

Editorials

At the end of the school year, Gov. Mike DeWine attended an event at Dublin City Schools elementary school, during which he did a countdown that ended with several young students putting on their prescription glasses for the first time. It was the lead-in for DeWine to talk about the expansion of the OhioSEE program. And, for those of you who remember what it was like to put on glasses and see clearly for the first time, likely quite an effective one. According to a report by the Ohio Capital Journal, OhioSEE has so far administered approximately 1,900 eye exams, with nearly 1,200 ...

Tressel reflects on enormity, complexity of his state post

David Skolnick

Gov. Mike DeWine surprised many people when he announced Feb. 10, 2025, that he was nominating Jim Tressel, the retired Youngstown State University president and a former football coach at YSU and Ohio State University, to be lieutenant governor. While a longtime Republican like DeWine, Tressel had never held or run for elected office before the selection. During Tressel’s time as lieutenant governor, DeWine repeatedly said he had the utmost confidence that he would do a great job and if something happened to the governor, he was certain Tressel could run the state. A couple of ...