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2026 looks to be interesting

With the beginning of every year comes a sense of hope and the feeling that the future ahead of us is at least a little brighter than the past that is behind us. That’s the case as we say farewell to 2025 and welcome to 2026. Education and health care have played significant roles in our region’s economy for many years now, and that figures to continue, with major changes coming. The property where the former Eastern Gateway Community College sat along Sunset Boulevard in Steubenville will be taking on a new look, as Youngstown State University is preparing the building and ...

Our lives remain touched by many

It’s likely that you lost a cultural icon who meant something to you during 2025, whether from the world of religion, politics, the arts or sports. Whether they helped to entertain us, on stage, on film or on television; whether they dazzled us through their accomplishments in athletics; or whether they helped to change the course of the world, each served as a reminder about the importance one person can have on countless numbers of lives. At least one of those deaths had a connection to Steubenville. Clint Hill, the Secret Service agent who jumped onto the back of President John ...

No excuses for impaired driving

New Year’s parties are about to get under way, and it is a good time to again remember not to get behind the wheel of a car after drinking or using any impairing substance at one of those events. National statistics offer a sobering look at the dangers of driving while impaired. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 12,429 people were killed in alcohol-impaired driving crashes in 2023, the latest year for which statistics are available. And, NHTSA adds, about one third of traffic fatalities involve drivers with a blood-alcohol content of .08 or higher. ...

Bowl season still evolving

If you are a fan of the college football bowl season, there’s some good news and some bad news. We’re right in the middle of the bowl schedule, with the sport’s second round of playoffs set for later this week, and some pretty good matchups filling up some of the other slots. That’s the good news. The bad news is that as the College Football Playoff expands — a move that could come again as soon as next season — the bowl system as we have come to know it will look a whole lot different. Bowl games have certainly come a long way since they were first played in the ...

Aging population a concern in Ohio

Elected officials and policymakers in Ohio have plenty to work on in the coming years. We talk a lot about the loss of population, but there’s a follow-up to that: The Buckeye State’s population is shrinking and aging. Data projections show that by 2040, the percentage of residents 65 or older will rise to 25 percent, while the percentage of those 85 and older will make an even more significant leap. This is not just an Ohio problem, of course. “For the first time in our nation’s history, we will have more older people than young children,” Ursel McElroy, director ...

Merry Christmas

The simple greeting, “Merry Christmas,” has been the subject of one of the biggest battles society in general has faced in recent years. In fact, in many places and in many situations, that greeting has been replaced by the all-inclusive, yet far less meaningful, “Happy Holidays.” That, however, removes the meaning of what this season is all about. It is not just about being charitable or sharing warm and fuzzy feelings. It is not about toys or shopping for that special gift. It is not about cookies or a big home covered with hundreds of colored lights or a holiday ...