With the end of any year comes many annual reports.

They offer an easy way for groups, organizations and government agencies to offer a glimpse into the things they were able to accomplish in the previous year.

And, 2025 was no exception.

Several have come into the newsroom during the past six weeks, and while each is interesting in its own right, there have been a few that have seemed to stand out.

One is from Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose. His 2025 Year in Review includes a lot of information — his office, as the cover of the report indicates, helps “Ohioans pursue the American dream of building a business and participating in democracy.”

That’s a lot of territory to cover, but improvements in technology are making it easier for state officials to track information — and for members of the public to be able to access that information.

For example, the secretary of state’s office in November launched a new business data dashboard.

Using that information, members of the public are able to track a great deal of information, including notary and ministerial license information, to view new business growth through the years and to get details about incorporations.

That includes the number of new businesses that were started in Ohio during 2025 — a number that hit 189,859 as of Dec. 29, LaRose’s report said. That’s the most that’s been recorded since 2021, the report added.

Enforcement is a part of the office as well, and the report shows that 203 fraudulent business filings had been canceled between October 2024 and last Dec. 29.

The secretary of state’s office also is responsible for keeping an eye on elections across the state. Through Dec. 29, the report shows, 362,249 voter registration records had been corrected, and 1,200 potential election fraud cases had been referred to the U.S. Department of Justice.

Technology on the election side has been updated as well, with an elections results data dashboard started on April 16 and a voter registration dashboard launched on Oct. 6.

And, the office reported that the post-election audit accuracy rate was listed at 99.9 percent.

The office also reported sending out 154,790 voter registration packets to high school seniors across the state,

According to the report, Ohio had 3,399 participants in the Safe at Home confidentiality program, as of Dec. 30. That program has been established to keep private the personal information of survivors of domestic violence, sexual battery, human trafficking, rape, or menacing by stalking, the secretary of state’s website explains.

Attorney General Dave Yost was among those who also issued a report at the end of the year.

Information released on Dec. 30 centered on the progress his office has been making in its battle against human trafficking. It’s all thanks to the work of task forces around the state that have been created under the Ohio Organized Crime Investigations Commission, the report says. They bring together local, state and federal law enforcement agencies to investigate and prosecute traffickers, the report adds.

“Our message is simple: Don’t buy sex in Ohio,” Yost said. “Every time we arrest a trafficker, raid an illicit massage parlor or free a victim from a tormentor, we move closer to the day when no human is bought or sold in our state.”

Among the operations singled out in the report was an October joint operation between the Steubenville Police Department and the Mahoning Valley Human Trafficking Task Force that led to the arrests of eight men who allegedly were looking to buy sex.

“Human trafficking can happen any day, anytime and anywhere,” Yost added. “But with the task force teams we have in place, we are moving the needle and helping Ohio — one day at a time.”

Some interesting numbers to reflect on as 2026 continues.

(Gallabrese, a resident of Steubenville, is executive editor of the Herald-Star and The Weirton Daily Times.)