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Transition back home after a stroke can be challenging

Local Columns

Editor’s Note: The following column was originally published June 18, 2022. Thanks to breakthroughs in medicine and nutrition in recent years, we are living longer than ever before. But this increase in life expectancy also brings an increase in the number of diseases, injuries and impairments that affect older adults. With this in mind, we at the local Visiting Angels office in Salem have created this series of articles to keep our older population and their families informed and to offer some practical advice for meeting the challenges faced by seniors and those who care for them. ...

Civics 101 briefing

Letters to the Editor

To the Editor: Civics 101 briefing. Washington D.C., state, county, and township governing entities and an overlooked body of elected representatives significantly affect your daily life. Every county in Ohio has, as defined by law, namely the Ohio Revised Code 3517.03, a county Central Committee being the controlling committee elected by you, respective to each major party. Each county’s distinct voting precinct district citizens elect one representative. Under its authority are its officers, formed Executive Committee, and sub-committee(s). The Central Committees’ primary ...

Broadband internet no longer a luxury, it’s an urgent necessity

Editorials

While Bill Johnson was serving Ohio’s 6th district in Congress, he tried twice — in 2021 and 2023 — to introduce legislation that would help Americans (particularly those living in rural areas) have easier access to broadband internet. His successor, Republican U.S. Rep. Michael Rulli, has taken up that mantle and has again introduced the Wireless Broadband Competition and Efficient Deployment Act. It may be an uphill battle, as others have also tried. U.S. Rep. Diana Harshbarger, R-Tenn., introduced the same bill in 2024 after Johnson resigned. None of these efforts ever left ...

Food banks need our help now to handle a cut in state funding

Editorials

As part of Gov. Mike DeWine’s budget proposal, food banks across Ohio could see a significant reduction in the amount of state funding they receive. Most of this is due to the loss of what had been a one-time $7.5 million appropriation in the previous budget. But that decrease has food bank organizers worried. “It’s about 3.4 million Ohioans who live in households that are under that income limit (200% of the federal poverty line),” Joree Novotny, executive director of the Ohio Association of Foodbanks, told the Ohio Capital Journal. “SNAP in Ohio, there’s only about 1.5 ...

Political gains and what is best for Ohioans not always the same

Editorials

State lawmakers are going to have to start making difficult decisions about where they want to gain political points and where they want to do better for Ohioans. The two goals are not always reached by the same path. Continued economic uncertainty, rising food insecurity and proposed changes at the federal level to programs such as the Community Eligibility Provision mean hundreds of thousands of students could be at even greater risk of being hungry throughout their school day (and beyond). But a bill proposed by state Sens. Bill Blessing, R-Colerain Twp., and Kent Smith, D-Euclid, ...

Vaccination against influenza can still be effective precaution

Editorials

While lawmakers in neighboring states debate loosening vaccine requirements for school-aged children, Ohio is facing a frightening example of how quickly potentially dangerous (and deadly) illnesses can spread. In fact, doctors in the Buckeye State are stressing that even at this point in the season, it is important to get vaccinated against influenza — if you have not done so already. Among those urging getting the flu shot was Dr. Mia Antinone, Ohio Health’s family resident physician, who spoke with WSYX after the state recorded its first pediatric flu death of the 2024-25 ...