I just finished an interview for the First Light Show airing nationally on Westwood One next week. We talked about how and why we need to bring manufacturing back to the USA creating high wage jobs. Our Region is advantaged because of our proximity to markets, abundant natural gas and natural ...

Do you ever think back to things you did when you were a child and wish you could do them again? Well, in many cases, there is no reason that you can’t (unless maybe the activity you have in mind involves being smaller or more flexible than you are today). Some time ago, I remembered ...

For the last 17 years, I have been blessed to take 60 to 75 kids, not including adults and junior counselors, camping. The majority of these kids are from kindergarten to the sixth grade. A number of them have never left the city and it is their first time camping. We enjoy seeing ...

It was first noticed in Los Angeles in June 1981. Five otherwise healthy, white gay men were diagnosed with a rare lung infection. All five also had other uncommon infections, leading doctors to believe their immune systems were compromised. All five died. The U.S. Centers for Disease ...

The spread of COVID-19 has affected all Ohioans. Our front-line workers, including health care professionals and first responders, and all those who went to work in uncertain times deserve our great thanks and respect. They and their families also deserve each of us doing all we can to limit ...

For Father’s Day, my oldest son gave me a wind chime. We hung it off the back porch. My wife, Lynnda, likes wind chimes and was looking forward to hearing it. Eating lunch out on the porch she complained, “The chime isn’t working very well.” I told her, “We don’t get a lot ...

This is the time of year when people tend to long for travel and adventure. Unfortunately, many vacation activities and destinations are considered risky right now, given the threat of COVID-19. So, instead of going on a trip, I decided to write about some of my past adventures not too far ...

Last week’s Times Leader (July 5, 2020) carried an op-ed by Greg Kozera, the director of marketing and sales for Shale Crescent USA. In the op-ed Mr. Kozera talked a lot about common sense and our need for fossil fuels: specifically, plastics. In a world drowning in plastic, common sense ...

I have to wonder if being sheltered for the last several months has somehow turned many of us into people we don’t even recognize anymore. I say this because we are fighting with our fellow man, destroying property we don’t own and killing one another without even thinking. The list ...

Maybe we all need more Disney movies in our lives. I will admit that I used to be a very big fan of all things Disney. Remember the weekly TV show “The Wonderful World of Disney”? Original episodes featured Walt Disney himself, but the reruns I recall aired on Sunday evenings and were ...

The "new normal" is a term being thrown around a lot today. I am not sure there is a "new normal," as I believe it is the same normal, but a few years into the future. Many of the things that experts are saying are going to be different were already on the way to becoming the future normal. ...

I was on a Zoom call this week with an executive of a company we would like to have located in our region. I asked him, “What keeps you awake at night?” His response — “The challenge of finding people with common sense.” — surprised me. Later I was talking to a friend whose ...

I believe that this year my garden will be a success! Of course I got it started later than I wanted to — that’s something most of my home projects have in common. But once my husband, Mike, and I got going, we did a more thorough job of preparing our plot than we have in the past. We ...

If I’m playing golf for fun with a group of friends and hit a bad shot, I like it when they say, “Take a mulligan.” That means a do over. I remember in school, occasionally we had a test most of the class didn’t do well on. Our teacher went over the material again and then said, ...

It might sound strange, but I really enjoyed the storm that passed through the area Thursday afternoon. With all the rain we’ve had this spring, it surprised me that I welcomed even more. This shower was different, though. It wasn’t a dreary, cold day when it seemed the rain would ...

Much is going on for us to process. We have endured 3 months of COVID-19 and lockdowns. Schools have been closed. Many have lost jobs. Businesses shut down. Some may never reopen. There is talk of a second wave of COVID-19. Vacations, meetings, return to school and fall sports ...

Have you noticed the increase in activity? It’s only just begun, but it seems people are eager to embrace the transition of getting back to business as usual. In March, Gov. Mike DeWine, working in conjunction with state health department Director Dr. Amy Acton, closed schools and ...

In recent weeks, I have heard and read some debate about whether local communities are getting a fair deal out of the economic development agreement reached with PTTGC America for the proposed ethane cracker complex in our community. This debate is both healthy and important. As county ...

What have you rediscovered amid the COVID-19 pandemic? What I mean is, what old favorite or soothing things have you recalled or revived while following stay-at-home orders? I, for example, had forgotten just how refreshing a glass of Kool-Aid can be. A lot of people are complaining that ...

I do not intend to speak for everyone during this pandemic, which is dividing an already divided society; divided on many subjects including politics, religion, economy, and now, how we deal with higher education during a pandemic. However, I will speak to how this pandemic has affected ...