Mahoning Valley roads lead to … Mars?

February 28, 2021

“All roads lead to the Mahoning Valley.” You might remember I wrote about that little expression we commonly tout in our newsroom because, well, they just do. Over and over again, it seems that we read national or even international stories on The Associated Press wire only later to find some local connection to them. Well, here we go again. The words began bouncing around the newsroom again last week after our reporter Bob Coupland discovered a local connection to a big story. This time, though, it wasn’t national or even international. It was galactic. A microchip ...

Hiding with speed camera ‘not police work’

February 21, 2021

I had a conversation with a reader recently who called my office to discuss a government issue that’s been bothering him. Readers often call our newsroom to vent, sometimes because they know — based on the position we have taken on our opinion page — that they are in friendly territory because we will agree with their assessment of a situation. And sometimes they call to argue and point out all the reasons we have taken the wrong approach to a political issue. This day, the man who identified himself as a former police officer called to express his frustration at the growing ...

When country music pride turned to shame

February 14, 2021

Pride — in our nation, in our hometown, in our service men and women, or even in our family — has long been the recurring theme in country music. And while love of America and your hometown — not to mention your dog or your pickup truck or your favorite fishing hole — are good and sometimes fun reasons to listen, I can’t say it’s why I tune in each time I slide in behind the steering wheel of my Chevy Malibu. Despite the fact that most country music artists originate in America’s Deep South, areas commonly known for flying confederate flags and playing “Dixie,” I ...

Superfan goes to Super Bowl and to HOF

February 7, 2021

Who seriously ever gets to go to the Super Bowl? Sure, we all know people who have had really rare and cool sporting event experiences. Court seats at an NBA basketball game. Attendance at a college football championship game. Tickets to Game 7 of the World Series. Heck, the Steelers have hosted so many playoff games, I’ll bet countless readers have been there waving their terrible towels. But a Super Bowl? Really? And during a pandemic, to boot. Well, Ray Prisby of Youngstown, for one. Prisby earned his trip to Super Bowl LV after being selected as a finalist for induction ...

Late Christmas cards are least worrisome

January 31, 2021

The metered cost to mail a 1 oz. letter went up a penny this month. Good thing. Maybe the U.S. Postal Service will put the extra money to good use getting the mail delivered on time. Seriously, this is not a matter to joke about. Repeated and outrageous delays in mail delivery are leading many of us to rely less and less on the U.S. Postal Service. But that only exacerbates the problem. Like you, my family still is receiving Christmas cards. But that’s the least of my worries. Utility bills are arriving days after they’re due. And don’t even get me started on credit ...

Woman VP has been a long time coming

January 24, 2021

We have started down an incredible new path in history. Yes, given the events of the last four years, that statement is a no brainer. But I’m not speaking just about the presidential flip from Republican to Democrat, or from conservative to liberal, or even from unorthodox to traditional. Rather, I’m talking about the gigantic leap that garnered support from more than 80 million Americans who in November cast ballots for a presidential ticket shared not only by a woman, but by a woman of color. Indeed, it’s a new era for politics and a new era for America. It was Kamala ...