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Today is a great time to commit to generosity

Editorials

We’ve made it through Thanksgiving, Black Friday, Small Business Saturday and Cyber Monday. Maybe we even managed to get the decorations up and catch a little football. What’s next? Giving Tuesday. In what’s been billed as a global generosity movement since 2012, today is a chance to take a deep breath and reflect on how we can make a difference for others — then take action. According to Giving Tuesday Data Commons, an estimated $3.1 billion was donated during last year’s event. Since its establishment 12 years ago, the event has brought in more than $13 billion. “We ...

Vigilance must be ongoing with East Palestine cleanup

Editorials

More than a year ago, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and Norfolk Southern celebrated the “last load of contaminated soil” being removed from a site near the derailment of an N&S train in February of that year. Now, Chris Hunsicker, overseeing remediation efforts in East Palestine, has had to go before the Village Council to report exceedances of vinyl chloride, benzene, trimethylbenzene and 2-butoxyethanol have been detected through confirmatory sampling. “We are not saying it’s perfect. Nobody is saying that, but we are getting toward the end of the process,” ...

A great time to discuss driving with the elderly in your lives

Editorials

How many of us greeted one of the more senior members of our family as they arrived for the Thanksgiving feast and wondered how in the world that person was still able to drive safely? How many threw in an extra “watch for deer” to that person on the way out the door, just in case? It may seem unfair to have such worries simply because of their age, but according to the U.S. Department of Transportation’s National Highway Safety Administration, fatal traffic accidents involving drivers over the age of 65 increased by 4.7% between 2021 and 2022, to 7,870 nationwide. That number was ...

Supporting your local retailers is supporting your own communities

Editorials

Tomorrow is Small Business Saturday. Not to be confused certainly with everything going on today —  Black Friday — which seem to have become some kind of national holiday. Saturday is special because it reminds us that our small, locally-owned businesses are the heart of our communities. We all shop at the big stores. Certainly there are local folks working for the big guys. But the reality is that when you spend at least some of your shopping money with a locally-owned small business, you make an immediate impact — perhaps for an individual, a family, and your community as a ...

There are always reasons for each of us to give thanks

Editorials

There is some debate over exactly when the first Thanksgiving was celebrated on our soil. Many trace it to a 1621 celebration in Plymouth in present-day Massachusetts. That feast and thanksgiving was prompted by a good harvest. It was, according to historians, actually celebrated between the Pilgrims and Indians. It’s been going on ever since. The message is timeless: giving thanks for an array of reasons. Even those we all take for granted day in, day out. Year in, year out. Pause and take a deep breath. Then let it release slowly. Be thankful for a simple breath of air. And it ...

Difference between consuming news and being influenced by it

Editorials

During an age in which a universe of information is at most people’s fingertips, it is no surprise to learn some are changing their approach to how they consume what they consider to be news. In fact, Pew Research Center analysts, with funding from the Knight Foundation, reported last week a study showing approximately 20% of Americans say they regularly get what they consider to be news from digital influencers — most of whom (85%) are found on Elon Musk’s social media platform X. Only a slightly higher number of those who responded said they were Republicans than Democrats. This ...