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Tourism Isn’t Just Big Fun in Ohio—It’s Big Business

As summer nears and calendars begin filling with weekend getaways, community festivals, and family road trips, it’s the perfect time to recognize a vital force driving local prosperity: tourism. While often associated with leisure, hospitality, and scenic views, the tourism industry is far more than a vacation planner’s playground—it’s a powerful economic engine that fuels jobs, small businesses, infrastructure investment, and quality of life in our communities. In fact, tourism may be one of the most overlooked drivers of economic development. In Ohio alone, tourism is a $70.7 ...

Is the grass greener? You bet it is, and then some

Apparently, the grass in Belmont has completely recovered from last year’s drought. Nobody was happier than I was to see the grass everywhere turn green again this spring. The dry, brown, straw-like stuff that covered lawns across the region by last fall was pretty concerning. Not only was it not very attractive, but I wasn’t sure it wouldn’t die off completely. But a fairly wet winter followed by spring storms brought it — and just about every other type of flower, weed and foliage — bouncing back. Already, we have fallen behind on our mowing. Yes, we have definitely ...

Silence isn’t golden — communicate in love, business and more

Recently, I had a conversation with a friend from India. Shale Crescent USA is working with his company now for over seven years. They expanded to the Ohio Valley and have already created hundreds of construction jobs. They will be operational in the near future. I asked, “What has been the biggest challenge?” He responded, “Communication. Poor communication has delayed the project months and cost the company a lot of money.” Their biggest problem wasn’t technical or construction related. It was human beings who couldn’t effectively convey their idea or message to ...

Powering Ohio’s Future: Why Coal Still Matters and Innovation Can’t Wait

Right now, California faces rotating power outages previously only seen in third world countries. Pretty soon, they’ll be coming to Ohio too – unless we do something about it now. Fortunately, President Donald Trump took a major step earlier this month to address this looming crisis by issuing three executive orders to revive the coal industry—keeping aging coal plants online, accelerating mining leases on federal lands, and rolling back burdensome climate regulations. Coal shouldn’t be treated like a four-letter word in America; we should embrace it. Last year, the rest of the ...

A spring vacation of our own making

Well, we did it again — my husband, Mike, and I took a few days off from work for our annual spring project kickoff. We jumped in with both feet, working on everything from painting to installing vinyl post wraps, planting flowers and using stone to freshen up our landscaping. The front porch that we have long labored over is finally starting to look the way we envisioned it. Not only have our raw, wood posts been wrapped, but we have brightened up some other faded surfaces with fresh, white facades. In addition to the post wrapping material, we also ordered plastic end caps ...

Good beats perfect just about every time

Monday we flew back into Canton-Akron Airport from our family trip to Florida. Our rental car in Florida was a Toyota RAV 4. We loved it. The agent at CAK offered a RAV 4, I grabbed it. When I tried to start the vehicle nothing happened. The lights on the dash came on but the engine wouldn’t start. I was puzzled. It acted like a dead battery but the lights indicated everything was working. After several more minutes, I headed back to the rental counter to explain my problem. The agent apologized, “I forgot to tell you. That vehicle is a hybrid, an EV with a gasoline engine that ...