Unorthodox November approaching quickly

October 25, 2020

These days, white silken ghosts hang from the hooks on my front porch that only recently held my purple flowering hanging baskets. Halloween is quickly approaching, and just like that, the Nov. 3 election will be here, and then Thanksgiving. (I already know what I’ll be thankful for this year — for this election to be over.) Seriously, this November, like the rest of 2020, will be unorthodox and, in many ways, even disheartening. As of this writing, it appears there won’t be an annual Trumbull County Veterans Day parade on Nov. 11. Sadly, it’s been canceled due to fears ...

We’re still fighting for fairness and balance

October 18, 2020

My office phone has been ringing a lot lately. In past weeks, I’ve seen a trend in the calls from readers taking on an accusatory tone that we, like all mainstream media, must be in cahoots to keep Donald Trump out of office. Amazingly, those two sentences actually appeared as the start of this column almost exactly four years ago — Oct. 30, 2016. Who says history doesn’t repeat itself? The only difference this year is that I seem to be receiving a similar number of calls and emails from equally accusatory readers who say this newspaper is way, way too far right. Daily, ...

Don’t forget to check out all Medicare options

October 11, 2020

Medicare open enrollment period is quickly approaching. While most Americans have been so wrapped up in the upcoming election, presidential candidate debates, the coronavirus and everything else that’s affecting all our lives, I thought it might be wise to take a moment to remind you of that. Medicare open enrollment is a topic that affects many readers of this newspaper, and certainly, it’s one that should not be allowed to slip through the cracks. The annual open enrollment period runs from Oct. 15 to Dec. 7, and allows Medicare plan enrollees to re-evaluate their coverage, ...

Despite debate debacle, don’t give up on voting

October 4, 2020

Perhaps after the debacle that was last week’s presidential debate, you might be rethinking whether you even want to vote Nov. 3. I watched the first debate broadcast from Cleveland last week, so if you’re frustrated, I feel your pain. Yes, it was a “presidential” debate, but these two men were anything but presidential. Even if you didn’t waste your time Tuesday night, you’ve probably already heard by now about the childishness of President Donald Trump and former Vice President Joe Biden that included cross-talk, butting in, speaking over one another, raising their ...

Rights, responsibilities come with 18th birthday

September 27, 2020

Today, I’m the mother of two adult children. Yep, it’s the day my youngest son turns 18. We will celebrate with dinner, and he will be showered with love, plus the usual gifts, cards and cash. At some point very soon, my husband and I will have the same talk with him that we had with his older brother at this crossroads. We’ll remind him that, as a legal adult, he now is solely responsible for all his actions. Suddenly, with one tick of the clock, any stupid youthful exuberance — planned or spontaneous — now has the very real likelihood of following him for the rest of ...

Shouldn’t we be making voting easier?

September 20, 2020

With just fewer than 50 days until Election Day, nearly 1.4 million absentee ballot applications have been received by county boards of elections in Ohio. Ballots requested by military and overseas voters — about 15,800 of them — were to begin being mailed out on Friday. All other ballots will be mailed to voters requesting them beginning Oct. 6. Undoubtedly, all these requests — with many, many more to come — are going to tax the U.S. Postal Service. We’ve all read and heard the debate over whether the new Postmaster General Louis DeJoy has intentionally attempted to ...