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Brenda J. Linert

Believe it or not, it’s that time again

A co-worker recently posted a photo on Facebook depicting the Christmas displays at a local home improvement store. With it, he offered a simple one-word caption. “Really?” Yes, Christmas decor is a bit premature, but what isn’t premature is the arrival of autumn about 10 days ago. With it comes cooler nights, onset of fall foliage and, yes, election season. In my business, this is the time of year when our workload ramps up. Much like disbelief and frustration of Christmas lights in September, election season also comes with seemingly premature presidential debates for a ...

Our error doesn’t change our position

An editorial that appeared on last Sunday’s Opinion page called on local school districts to consider consolidating administrations to help save hundreds of thousands of dollars countywide. The concept of regionalization and consolidation among Mahoning Valley school districts is one that our newspaper has promoted for years. It makes good sense and we continue to stand by it. Unfortunately, some enrollment data that we published last week to help make our argument drew comparisons between some 2019 and 2022 enrollment figures that, frankly, should not have been compared. That’s ...

‘First they came for the journalists’

This month marks four years since the Tribune Chronicle took over publication of The Vindicator after its previous owners announced the operation would cease. At the time, The Vindicator’s former owners said the decision to shutter the Mahoning County-based newspaper came after operating in the red for some 20 years. The loss of the newspaper — the valued fourth estate, so critical to a democracy in which the government is accountable to the people — would have been a horrible blow to our area. Recently, I’ve reflected a lot on that day, Sept. 1, 2019, thinking about ...

My memories of the days following Sept. 11

My son, who was 3 years old on Sept. 11, 2001, recently has been very engaged in the Netflix series “Turning Point: 9/11 and the War on Terror.” The documentaries were released in 2021, and, as expected, trend in September. After watching an episode last week, he asked me if I remembered where I was that morning. Like most of us who were born before Sept. 11, 2001, I recall vividly where I was that morning when the world forever changed. I first heard the news reports of an airplane striking one of the Twin Towers on my car radio. At that point, I didn’t fathom a thought ...

There is so much to learn from AI flub

“Is ‘AI’ good or bad? Depends on who you ask” was the headline on my April 16 column here. Right now, I suspect there are some Columbus newspaper readers not calling it “good.” Advances in artificial intelligence, or AI, continue, and new forms known as “Generative AI” are still picking up steam. Generative AI is a form of AI capable of generating text and other content in response to user prompts. It’s able to read, write and understand text-based data well. But as I stated in that April column, despite all the high-tech advances, robots still lack a very ...

Staffer has surreal role in bringing sci-fi to Warren

“Surreal” is how Trumbull County Historical Society Executive Director Meghan Reed described the donation of some 500 science fiction movie props to her organization by Warren native John Zabrucky of Los Angeles. I had a similar reaction several months ago when our newspaper’s entertainment writer, Andy Gray, spelled out to me his involvement in helping to facilitate the donation. The props, which can be spotted in hundreds of Hollywood productions, soon will be on display in a Warren science fiction history museum for all the world to see. Entering retirement age, Zabrucky, a ...