Don’t let ‘cloudy Ohio’ keep you feeling sad

June 19, 2022

As I write this, rays of bright sunshine are screaming through the window in my newsroom office and bouncing off my computer screen, nearly blinding me. It’s days like this that I realize I really shouldn’t have left my sunglasses in the car. The irony, however, is that the topic of this week’s column is about a recent report on the cloudiness of our region. According to a news release I recently received from an outdoor powersports company, Polaris partnered with The Weather Channel television network on a promotional idea that had to do with luring people outside. Good ...

Is history repeating on 50th anniversary?

June 12, 2022

I was a preschooler when the Watergate scandal broke in 1972. My most vivid memory was my frustration that PBS was broadcasting the Senate Watergate hearings gavel to gavel, pre-empting Sesame Street. Incredibly, it’s been 50 years since the “White House plumbers” were arrested June 17, 1972, at Watergate’s Democratic National Committee offices. I also (sort-of) recall Aug. 9, 1974, the day Richard Nixon, facing impeachment and almost certain removal from office, resigned his presidency. That situation was unlike the more recent impeachments of Donald Trump and Bill ...

Question and debate, but use care and logic

June 5, 2022

As we all struggle to make sense of an act that simply cannot be made sense of, families late last week began burying their children. America’s latest school shooting left 21 people — 19 fourth-graders and two teachers — dead and 17 others injured. The man who entered Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas, to open fire on May 24 also eventually was shot and killed by a border patrol agent who finally took matters into his own hands, entered the building and ended the siege. Investigators will continue to probe the situation seeking answers to questions like what set this ...

Never too young to learn about weather

May 29, 2022

I was a cub reporter here when the 10th anniversary of the region’s 1985 F-5 tornado was approaching. To be more specific, I was a Tribune Chronicle freelance correspondent really hoping to become a full-time cub reporter. One of my assignments back in those early days was to cover a Trumbull County Emergency Management Agency meeting where officials were to discuss disaster preparedness, sirens and other issues as the tornado’s anniversary neared. I got right to work researching background. I knew only tornado lore since I didn’t live here in 1985 — the year I graduated ...

UFOs just one more stressor for Americans

May 22, 2022

Wall Street, according to an “explainer” story I saw moving late last week on The Associated Press wire, is teetering on the brink of a “bear market.” That, of course, is the term used when an index like the S&P 500, the Dow Jones Industrial Average, or even an individual stock, has fallen 20 percent or more from a recent high for a sustained period of time. (Whatever you do, I’m warning you, do NOT look at your 401(k)!) Meanwhile, mothers of infants are frantic in their hunt for formula to sustain their babies. COVID-19 cases are, again, on the rise in Ohio, the U.S. ...

Voters really mean it when they say ‘no’

May 15, 2022

One of the biggest frustrations that comes with seeing tax levies on an election ballot isn’t that local governments or boards of education want to raise your taxes. Undoubtedly, most of us understand that over time, the cost of doing business goes up. Just like in private business, salaries, insurance and utilities will increase. Just like at home, transportation and other basic operating costs will rise. Sometimes capital expenditures are needed. New buildings or improvements to existing buildings may be required. Equipment needs to be upgraded. It’s true that no one ever ...