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Congrats to all of our area’s 2025 graduates

The band plays, school choirs sing and parents hold steady their cellphone cameras — on silent mode, of course —as the dozens of students file down the aisle in their caps and gowns, tassels bouncing. They have entered the venue as seniors in high school. They will leave graduates — the first step toward their new future. Hugs are shared. Roses and handshakes are passed out along with diplomas. This day that seemed like it never would arrive finally is here. With it, every parent remembers his or her baby entering kindergarten. Within a blink of an eye, football games, formal ...

Parents: Stress common sense to your graduates

“My child would never do any thing like that!” Sure, of course not. “Some thing” and “any thing” in this case are interchangeable: parents referencing underage drinking by their children. You would guess those words are often uttered. And have been each and every prior spring. Here’s a not-so news flash to parents: If your child is intent on drinking he or she is not going to give you a heads-up. The prom season has come and mostly gone for area schools. And here comes commencements! High school youth are celebrating. As they should within the bounds of common sense ...

Ohio GOP officials rushed to endorse Ramaswamy

Ohio Republicans jumped the gun a bit in what some news outlets are reporting as one of the earliest gubernatorial endorsements in the party’s history. Last week, the state GOP announced its endorsement of Vivek Ramaswamy, the former co-chair of the federal Department of Government Efficiency, nearly a year before the 2026 primary election. This move comes despite members of the State Central Committee not even knowing yet who might enter the race. Lt. Gov. Jim Tressel says he is considering a bid for governor. Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost has already made his intentions clear. ...

Medicaid funding cuts would hit Ohioans hard

Elected officials across the country are bracing for proposed cuts to Medicaid as the federal government looks to change the way it spends taxpayer dollars. In West Virginia, Republican U.S. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito is concerned enough about how such cuts would affect her state that she has emphasized the need to root out fraud, institute a work requirement and include other accountability measures before looking to cuts. But, according to a report by The Commonwealth Fund, Ohio is among the five states that would see the greatest economic losses from cuts to Medicaid funding. ...

To all the good moms: Have a great weekend

A very heartfelt happy Mother’s Day weekend along with roses, hugs and smooches for all the good moms out there — from the first-time mothers to elderly moms who realize that being a parent does not end when a child became an adult. Granted, there are many “bad” moms out there. We all know who they are. This tribute isn’t for them. But aren’t we lucky to have oh so many great moms around here? There are no age boundaries. A parent is always a parent. And the good ones realize that and pass it along to their children — with heaps of affection shown throughout the years in ...

Lawmakers finally act to end a $400K daily burden

Ohio lawmakers finally acted in concert to rid Ohioans of a nearly $400,000 a day burden when they voted to end the subsidies for two outdated and unprofitable coal-fired power plants — one of which is in Indiana. The Ohio Valley Electric Corp. plants had been getting bailed out by a “legacy generation rider” in the infamous House Bill 6, back in 2019. For some, subsidies in HB 6 for coal-fired plants were deemed worse than those for nuclear plants, as the 1950s-era coal-fired plants were producing electricity that wasn’t needed, and are significant polluters. “It was an ...