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Missing money, scams

Catching up: • There are a lot of press releases and other submissions that flow through the newsroom on a regular basis. A couple that have turned up in the e-mail during the last several weeks seem to have brought a little more interest with them than some of the others. For example, on June 12, the Division of Unclaimed Funds of the Ohio Department of Commerce issued an update on the amount of money that is being held, just waiting for someone to step up and claim it. According to the information provided by the department, the state is in possession of about $4 billion in ...

History in the Hills: Looking at early news

A few weeks ago, I read the editorial in the Steubenville Herald-Star that commemorated the birthday of the newspaper. According to the story, June 7, 1806, “was the day Lowry and Miller published the first edition of their newspaper, the Western Herald, from a small house on North Third Street in Steubenville. After surviving several mergers and changes in ownership, that publication became the Herald-Star in the late 1800s.” Thinking about the age of the paper, it is fascinating to imagine that there was a fully operational newspaper in the town considering it had been a ...

Guest column/Case for state funding for Ohio board of education

The Ohio State Board of Education faces a financial crisis that threatens the future of public education in Ohio. To sustain its mandated operations and avoid detrimental impacts on teacher retention and recruitment, the SBOE urgently needs additional state funding. Without this support, Ohio’s classrooms risk severe teacher shortages, negatively affecting student learning and community well-being. The SBOE requires approximately $17 million annually to operate, including $6 million mandated for non-licensure responsibilities. Licensure fees generate between $9 million and $11 ...

Today we celebrate national ‘Let it Go Day’

I read online that today is national “Let it Go Day.” I can take that as meaning one of two things. First, I can let things go and not worry about them. Like the dishes or the laundry. Or running the vacuum or cutting the grass. Just let it go and not have to worry about it for those 24 hours. And yet, whenever I actually do put things off and instead, focus on myself and do things which make me happy for a little while, I feel as if I haven’t done anything productive with my day. It is as if I have thrown away the time God gifted me. Believe me, I would ...

A look at some numbers

There’s one thing you can be sure of anytime there is a special election: The turnout will be lower than you would expect to see in a normally scheduled primary or general election. That’s the case in the special election that was held Tuesday across Ohio’s 6th Congressional District. According to unofficial results from the Ohio Secretary of State’s Office, only 59,702 of the 532,899 registered voters across the 11-county district took the time to cast a ballot in the race to select who would fill the remainder of Republican Bill Johnson’s term in the House of ...

Some can only remember on this Father’s Day

Today is Father’s Day. For many of us, it is an extremely difficult 24 hours to get through. When I think of my dad and grandfather who have been gone from this world for too long, I am filled with regrets of things I didn’t say and sadness for some of the things I did. For whatever reasons, my father and I didn’t share that closeness that some fathers and daughters share. Coming from divorced parents, there were times growing up when he was too busy to see my brother and me. Then, as an adult, I became too busy. Busy with work. Busy with my children. Busy with my own life. ...