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Brenda J. Linert

Consider nominee’s qualification, not party

And the race was on. It took just about 30 minutes from the start of Donald Trump’s nationally televised announcement Monday unveiling Brett Kavanaugh as his U.S. Supreme Court nominee until four unsolicited statements from elected Ohio leaders popped into my Tribune Chronicle email. U.S. Rep. Bill Johnson of Marietta was first in at 9:16 p.m. He said the “Supreme Court is no place for Justices who want to rewrite the Constitution.” It should be no surprise that the Republican congressman said he believes Kavanaugh fits the needed profile. A statement from Ohio Sen. Rob Portman ...

Event gave heroes deserved recognition

Warren Carah told the crowd of nearly 100 people gathered last week at the Samuel E. Lanza Veterans Resource Center in Warren that he was hoping his story would enlighten and teach today’s youth about the amazing sacrifices made during World War II. While I know I’m not what he meant by “today’s youth,” I can say for sure Mr. Carah’s story enlightened me. Carah, of Michigan, is the son of World War II B-17 co-pilot John Carah, who was flying a mission over occupied France 75 years ago last week. On July 4, 1943, his plane was brought down by enemy fire, leaving the crew of ...

Five dead, but Md. newspaper will prevail

It was Thursday evening, just hours after the targeted carnage that unfolded inside the Capital Gazette newsroom, a place where news is reported — not where it’s supposed to be made — and the Annapolis, Md., newspaper tweeted this: “Yes, we’re putting out a damn paper tomorrow.” Some of my family and friends who don’t work in the news industry expressed surprise by this strong resolve. I was not surprised. This is what we do, after all. Journalists are taught from day one of j-school that in this business we should expect only one thing — to be available and ...

Stop kicking immigration can down road

The ongoing issue of illegal immigration is in the forefront of all Americans’ minds. And by “ongoing issue,” I don’t mean just the hot button topic that has been in the news recently. No, I mean going on and on and on. Last week, Republican congressional candidate Chris DePizzo described the issue like this: “Immigration is absolutely, probably the situation that has most been kicked, kicking the can, down the street, kick, kick, kick, since the Reagan administration.” He’s right. And whether you like Donald Trump, it’s hard not to admit he has been one of ...

Sit back and relax; here comes the future

The photo provided by General Motors is simple but very telling. The passenger compartment of this new GM sedan appears sleek and comfortable. But look closer. The added roominess comes, in part, from elimination of a few minor things — like, say, the steering wheel, the gear shift and the foot pedals. Nobody’s quite ready for flying vehicles yet, but we are getting increasingly closer to George Jetson-like transportation. Ohio is among the states in the forefront of testing and preparing Americans for autonomous — that is, driverless — vehicles after Gov. John Kasich ...

Recreational pot referendum problematic

It was 2016 when Ohio’s medical marijuana legislation passed, yet state officials said last week they won’t be able to meet the upcoming September 8 deadline to have the program in place. (That announcement came one day after Ohio announced the selection of 56 locations where medical marijuana can be sold, including two locations in Warren and Youngstown.) As you’ll recall, the state legislature had picked up the pace back then to pass the legislation, hoping to head off wider ranging ballot initiatives being developed by citizens that would have legalized both medical and ...