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Brenda J. Linert

20 amazing youths to be honored this week

This week, the Tribune Chronicle will join with our partners, Akron Children’s Hospital Mahoning Valley and Kent State University at Trumbull, to celebrate the latest class of Twenty Under 20 honorees. It’s hard to believe five years have passed since our newspaper first began this program that recognizes and honors the most impressive young leaders in Trumbull County and the awe-inspiring acts they do that make them the cream of the crop. It’s similar, in part, to the Tribune Chronicle’s long-standing annual Community Stars program that celebrates local people who make ...

High-poverty schools see more challenges

When school report cards were released earlier this fall, Warren City School District experienced a significant jump in K-3 literacy from a failing grade last year to a “C” this year. The city school district also improved its four-year graduation rate from its failing grade last year. Superintendent Steve Chiaro said those were areas the district had focused on, and he was pleased to see the payoff. Still, a lot of work remains as the district is still struggling in areas including “indicators met,” which analyzes whether student performance on state tests meets ...

Welcomed openness disappearing from society

It was about a year ago when I sat in church as usual on Sunday morning, and my priest addressed the congregation about a decision he and Parish Council had made. Based on the shocking number of violent attacks inside American places of worship, our church now would start locking the doors at the start of Mass. Going forward, the monsignor said if a parishioner or visitor arrived late, they would have to ring the new doorbell at the main entrance, and an usher would come to open the door. So much for openness. That welcoming comfort of Sunday morning Mass had gone the way of ...

Draw line at easing cellphone searches

Legislation approved 71-10 this fall by the Ohio House of Representatives would allow police to issue tickets to drivers caught using electronic devices, like cellphones, while driving. The bill targets a very serious growing problem. Distracted drivers using electronic devices contributed to nearly 14,000 automobile crashes in Ohio last year. That should startle anyone venturing onto area roadways. Still, the House bill makes distracted driving only a secondary offense. That means police must stop the driver for a separate offense before they can give a ticket for distracted ...

Silence on blast furnace razing disheartening

It was a brisk November day in 2012 when I stood outside the grimy, soot-covered monster of a blast furnace along Austintown Warren Road. As then-business editor for this newspaper, I was doing a story about what we all suspected was a bleak future for the mill, but we were trying to remain optimistic. Longtime Tribune Chronicle photographer Mike Semple and I were invited inside to chronicle work intended to preserve the idled mill and the Mahoning Valley’s last remaining blast furnace against the onset of the harsh northeast Ohio winter. The mill had last been operated in May ...

Efforts continue to seek opioid solutions

President Donald Trump last week declared the nation’s opioid crisis a national public health emergency. “We will overcome addiction in America,” Trump said Thursday. “As Americans, we cannot allow this to continue.” His words rang strong, yet the president received crticism for the measure because it fell short of committing much-needed dollars to battle this scourge that kills nearly 100 people per day nationwide. In Ohio alone, opioid overdoses kill about 14 people each day. No one has definitive answers. Certainly, funding for longer-term treatment programs to help ...