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Numbers reflect giving ways of Ohio residents

Ohio residents are giving, helpful people. We already know that. But it is encouraging to get confirmation in the form of WalletHub’s “Most Charitable States for 2024,” in which Ohio ranked 10th in the nation. According to the study, Ohio is 28th for number of charities per capita, 26th for the percentage of the population who donated time, 3rd for the percentage of the population collecting/distributing food, 27th for volunteer rate and 24th for volunteer hours per capita. Nearly 61 million people volunteer in the U.S., serving a combined total of 4.1 billion hours per year, ...

Parents must be vigilant against threat of predators

Law enforcement agencies across Ohio continue to work diligently against sexual predators of all kinds — from human trafficking to online crimes against children. It is a fight that never ends. But late last week, the Cuyahoga County Prosecutor’s Office, on behalf of several authorities in the region, announced the arrest of 14 people for online sex crimes in Northeast Ohio, according to a report by WOIO. The accused men were allegedly interacting with children through popular social media in a sexual manner, WOIO reports. Well, they thought they were, anyway. The victims were ...

Salem voters should support levy passage

Salem voters will decide Tuesday the fate of a new school levy. The topic became a flashpoint last spring when the issue was on the May ballot. It failed by 200-plus votes. A concerted pro-levy movement has been ongoing. Levy money would lead to the construction of a new K-8 school building. There would be money way down the line should a new high school need built. You have seen the dozens of letters to the editor in support of passage of the levy. You have read our page A1 stories. From our viewpoint, an extraordinary opportunity awaits Salem voters. With passage, the state provides ...

Like for breweries, some laws in Ohio need updated

In pitching state Senate Bill 138 to revise Ohio’s franchise law and give small craft brewers more flexibility to deal with wholesalers, state Sen. Andrew Brenner, R-Delaware, said the old law “was written for the market of 50 years ago. “Distributors worth hundreds of millions of dollars do not need protection from our local neighborhood breweries,” he said, according to a report by the Ohio Capital Journal, “and it’s time state law reflected that.” As Brenner does his work in the state Senate to free craft brewers of the crushing weight of laws written to restrain large ...

State Senate Bill 168: Removing regulations

When lawmakers can move government out of the way for employers, most of them jump to do so. The same should hold true for educators, as the folks in Columbus consider a bill that would change the way teacher evaluations are handled, as well as some contracts and school screening requirements. “Just like businesses, schools also benefit by removing unnecessary and burdensome regulations while maintaining strong accountability measures,” Tom Perkins, of the Buckeye Association of School Administrators told the Ohio Capital Journal. State Senate Education Committee members learned ...

Extremist religious violence is wrong

No matter your thoughts on one social issue or another, most decent human beings can agree those differences do not warrant resorting to violence. But time and again over the past few years we see instances in which those who have bought in to the fear-and-hatred method of buying votes believe they are justified in translating their extreme views into action. Sadly, that has been — repeatedly — deadly. In the case of a community church in Chesterland, Ohio, the damage was only to a building, but the situation could have been much worse. Aimenn Penny, of Alliance, has pleaded guilty ...