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Cheers & Jeers

Editorials

CHEERS to Belmont County Tourism for putting on quite an event to celebrate the beginning of construction to turn the Black Horse Inn into the new home of the Underground Railroad Museum. JEERS to ongoing tensions in the Middle East, where military action continues on various fronts. CHEERS to news that East Ohio Regional Hospital has been purchased by 360 Healthcare Inc. with plans to reopen the facility in the fall. Its closure in March left many people jobless and left a gap in available care for residents. JEERS to the ongoing heat wave that is smothering much of the country, ...

Enjoy Ohio this summer

Editorials

A stretch of suffocatingly hot weather may have made it tempting to just stay indoors as much as possible, but a recent study reminds us Ohio has a great deal to offer outside. The best part is, it just takes a switch from the air conditioning in your house to the air conditioning in your car to go enjoy it. WalletHub’s “2025’s Best and Worst States for Summer Road Trips” placed the Buckeye State at an impressive third in the country. The idea for this particular group of researchers was to find road trips that were fun AND wallet-friendly, which is a bonus for all of us. We ...

County fair season arrives

Editorials

Summer officially arrived at 10:42 p.m. Friday, and that means there will be a lot to do across our region in the coming months — including the opportunity to attend a county fair. The local county fair season opened Monday, when the Harrison County Fair got underway in Cadiz, renewing a tradition that started in 1847. County fairs have a rich tradition of offering something for just about everyone. Whether you enjoy seeing the displays presented by young people, like to admire the area’s top animals, listen to some live music, enjoy hearty helpings of fair food, are looking to ...

Answers for East Palestine

Editorials

Last week federal officials announced there are finally plans for long-term study of the possible health outcomes after the February 2023 train derailment in East Palestine, Ohio. The National Institutes of Health is launching a five-year, $10 million research initiative. In announcing the effort, U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. thanked Vice President JD Vance for continuing to press the matter. “The people of East Palestine have a right to clear, science-backed answers about the impact on their health,” Kennedy said. Once officials have reviewed ...

The reinstatement of ‘Shoeless’ Joe

Letters to the Editor

Dear Editor, Recently Major League Baseball Commissioner Rob Manfred reinstated one of the greatest baseball players of all time “ Shoeless” Joe Jackson along with seven of his teammates who were personally barred from this board by then commissioner Kenesaw Mountain Landis in 1921 for their alleged involvement in the fixing of the 1919 World Series in order that his team the Chicago White Sox would lose to the Cincinnati Reds which they did. However, this permanent banishment from Major League Baseball was done by baseball’s first commissioner Landis despite Jackson as well as ...

Positive changes at BMV

Editorials

Not every technological “upgrade” is a homerun, but at least one improvement in Ohio is paying big dividends for the state and its residents. With a change as simple as allowing certain transactions with the state Bureau of Motor Vehicles to take place online instead of in person, more than 10 million trips to BMV offices have been saved since 2022. Among the options available online are renewal of driver’s licenses or identification cards. More than 608,000 Buckeye State residents have taken advantage of that so far; and now the option has been expanded to commercial ...