Breaking News

Editorials

Enjoy end of fish fry season

The Lenten season, a time of fasting, reflection and preparation for Easter among Christians, is drawing to a close this week. The coming Maundy Thursday marks the end of Lent, with Good Friday and Easter falling on the following Friday and Sunday. While traditions have evolved so that observant Christians may abstain from any number of indulgences during this period, the time-honored tradition of not eating meat on Fridays during Lent has led to another long-standing custom — the Friday fish fry. Numerous local churches offer fish frys to feed hungry people who do not eat meat on ...

Vote ‘yes’ on Issue 2

Off-year spring ballots can be full of significant decisions for voters — often the kind that affect us in ways that hit closer to home than what is happening in Washington, D.C. In Ohio, voters will be asked on May 6 to decide on Issue 2 — renewing and increasing the state spending cap for its public works projects. Since 1987, Ohio voters have renewed the Local Public Infrastructure Bond Amendment three times, and more than 19,000 grants and loans have been funded for projects all over the state — roads, bridges, retaining walls and other public works. It allows municipalities, ...

Cheers & Jeers

CHEERS to the arrival of Ohio River Sweep season, a time when volunteers gather at various events to remove debris from the banks of the Ohio. JEERS to the fact that some employees of East Ohio Regional Hospital still have not received wages they earned in the facility’s final days of operation. CHEERS to Barnesville officials for moving to repair the roof of the historic B&O Depot JEERS to word that the facade of the former Dollar General building on Fourth Street in Martins Ferry is crumbling, posing a danger to people on the street below. CHEERS to news that construction of a ...

Feeding Ohio’s youth

Ohio lawmakers are going to have to start making difficult decisions about where they want to gain political points and where they want to do better for Ohioans. The two goals are not always reached by the same path. Continued economic uncertainty, rising food insecurity and changes at the federal level mean hundreds of thousands of students could be at even greater risk of being hungry throughout their school day (and beyond). But a bill proposed by state Sens. Bill Blessing, R-Colerain Twp., and Kent Smith, D-Euclid, aims to do something about that. It would make school ...

Don’t drive distracted

Plenty of us are guilty of hearing the alert from our phones and finding it difficult to resist the temptation to glance down, maybe even tap out a quick response. But during National Distracted Driving Month in April, law enforcement agencies are reminding us that it’s not just against the law, it could be deadly. Distracted driving can be anything from use of a cellphone to trying to feed a toddler in the back seat. It is anything that keeps a driver’s attention away from the road. In Ohio, the law against drivers using or even holding a cell phone or other electronic device ...

Closing schools is no solution

Ohio Sen. Andrew Brenner is again pitching an idea that seems to have zero support in Columbus. Earlier this month, he spoke in support of Ohio Senate Bill 127, which would automatically close low-performing public schools. Brenner, R-Delaware, told the state Senate Education Committee, “It is my hope that this bill will help to standardize the law surrounding school closures for public and community schools and help ensure that each student in Ohio receives the best education possible,” according to the Ohio Capital Journal. For Brenner’s purposes, a low-performing school is ...