Commentary
Remember the golden rule?
One of the first moral lessons Americans learn as children is the golden rule — some version of “treat others the way you want to be treated.” Many of us may have learned the principle from Jesus’ “Sermon on the Mount,” but the value exists everywhere from Islam (“as you would have people do to […]
The many cliffs of American health care
I saw the Instagram ads before a birthday party had even crossed my mind. Scrolling through my social media feed months before, the federal government started reminding me — in Instagram ads, Facebook ads, and emails — that as of my 26th birthday, I would no longer be eligible for the health insurance I depended […]
Tecumseh and the war for the Northwest Territory
October 5 is the anniversary of the killing in battle in 1813 of Ohio Shawnee chief Tecumseh, born near Chillicothe in 1768. His efforts to build a permanent territory for a confederacy of Indigenous American tribes, bordered by the Great Lakes in the north, the Ohio River in the east and south, and the Mississippi […]
How Ohio can reduce poverty
Last month, the Census Bureau released its 2022 report on poverty in America. This report confirmed that poverty numbers increased dramatically in 2022 as the pandemic expansion of the child tax credit lapsed. With after-tax poverty increasing more in a single year than ever before and child poverty more than doubling in 2022, the outlook […]
Ohio Senate Republicans throw online temper tantrum over being held accountable by media
Finally. News you can trust. From politicians with a grudge. Ohio Senate Republicans made a foray into counter-media programming with a new website called “On the Record” featuring partisan content and podcasts that they assert “will deliver the real story directly to the people.” It’s the gospel according to Ohio Sen. President Matt Huffman preaching […]
On education vouchers and faith-based leadership, Ohio might learn something from Texas
You read that headline correctly. It may come as a shock to readers to know that with all the issues confronting Ohio, it hasn’t been listed in recent surveys as the worst place to live and work. That honor, according to a new CNBC survey, goes to Texas. The survey methodology targeted a range of […]
Ohio politicians used redistricting for gerrymandered horse-trading. Kick them out of the process
It should be abundantly clear to all fair-minded Ohioans at this point that politicians have no business being involved in the redistricting process after lawmakers used the latest round of Ohio House and Senate district mapmaking to strike a bipartisan deal that amounts to little more than gerrymandered horse-trading. Fittingly under the cover of darkness […]
Ohio Oil and Gas Land Management Commission can – and should – deny fracking in our public lands
By Cathy Cowan Becker, Roxanne Groff, Loraine McCosker, Jenny Morgan, Randi Pokladnik, and Melinda Zemper of Save Ohio Parks Ohio’s Oil and Gas Land Management Commission met Sept. 18 to discuss the fate of our beloved state parks, wildlife areas, and public lands. At issue were nine applications, called “lease nominations,” by unidentified oil and […]
Ohio Republicans work to politicize our schools, destroy power of elected state school board
Last fall I voted for a serious candidate to be my levelheaded voice on the Ohio Board of Education. Like many voters, I was fed up with the far right craziness that had infiltrated the ed board at the expense of real issues roiling public education in the state — unconstitutional school funding, under-resourced schools, […]
Opinion: Recognizing progress and opportunities for our railroads during Rail Safety Week
By Jeff Buddle The writer is president of the Professional Fire Fighters of Maryland. Every three hours in the United States a person or vehicle is hit by a train, and 60% of collisions occur at crossings that are equipped with lights and/or gates. More than 2,100 people across North America are injured or killed […]
Long Covid isolates sick people and their loved ones
My girlfriend’s idea felt brilliant to me: Put out a call on Facebook for Covid-cautious people in our area to rent a theater together. We could watch the Barbie movie while wearing high-quality masks to keep each other safe. The plan turned out to be quixotic. No one responded to Sarah’s request. She scrolled through […]
Vouchers awards public Ohio tax dollars to discriminatory private religious schools
Public financing of parochial school prejudice is the law in Ohio. Take a minute to process, I’ll wait. The state has opened its coffers to Catholic schools that discriminate. The overwhelming amount of Ohio’s voucher money — free taxpayer money to offset private and religious school tuition — goes to Catholic schools. The Catholic Diocese […]