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Editorials

No special interest influence

U.S. District Judge Michael R. Barrett is right to avoid the mistakes made by politicians such as Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose, as he denies a group of anti-abortion advocates the ability to advise on litigation over abortion clinic transfer agreements. Barrett is working on how the abortion rights amendment Buckeye State residents approved last month will be affected by the case. The anti-abortion groups and individuals who banded together made it easy for Barrett to dismiss them when they told the court they have “direct and vital interests in objecting to any ...

Fake images a concern

Legal experts say faked sexual images of real people are so new that federal law dealing with the problem is lagging. The experience of a New Jersey high school should, however, motivate Congress and/or state legislatures to implement strong measures and penalties to battle this enemy of innocence and decency. An intentionally inflicted nemesis such as this can push a young mind to want to resort to suicide to escape his or her personal torment. The subject is not one people prefer to read about leading up to Christmas, but the time is now to understand the issue. An article in ...

Modernize Ohio laws

In pitching state Senate Bill 138 to revise Ohio’s franchise law and give small craft brewers more flexibility to deal with wholesalers, state Sen. Andrew Brenner, R-Delaware, said the old law “was written for the market of 50 years ago. “… Distributors worth hundreds of millions of dollars do not need protection from our local neighborhood breweries,” he said, according to a report by the Ohio Capital Journal, “and it’s time state law reflected that.” As Brenner does his work in the state Senate to free craft brewers of the crushing weight of laws written to ...

Bias in ballot language

Secretaries of State have a responsibility to oversee elections that are fair and constitutional. At least while they are carrying out that work, voters have a right to believe none of the office-holder’s own political leanings will make their way into the nuts and bolts of how an election is carried out. Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose (who is also chairman of the Ohio Ballot Board) repeatedly assured voters his role in developing November 2023 ballot language for Ohio’s Issue 1 was to write truthful and unbiased language. But even the Ohio Supreme Court ruled one ...

Cheers & Jeers

CHEERS to Belmont County commissioners for woking with the land bank to complete asbestos assessment of the former county jail. The historic structure is worth preserving. JEERS to word that the U.S. Postal Service is understaffed in the Flushing area. It’s not a good time of year for deliveries of packages and other mail to be delayed. CHEERS to Santa for spending long hours at the Ohio Valley Mall, hearing children’s Christmas wishes and posing with them for photos that will create lifelong memories for local families. JEERS to the fact that the redistricting debacle in Ohio ...

Increase local control

When lawmakers can move government out of the way for employers, most of them jump to do so. The same should hold true for educators, as the folks in Columbus consider a bill that would change the way teacher evaluations are handled. “Just like businesses, schools also benefit by removing unnecessary and burdensome regulations while maintaining strong accountability measures,” Tom Perkins, of the Buckeye Association of School Administrators told the Ohio Capital Journal. State Senate Education Committee members learned that Senate Bill 168 would “reduce burdensome and ...