Breaking News

Local Columns

Guest column/Minimum wage falling further behind cost of living

When the minimum wage does not go up, it goes down in buying power. The federal minimum wage has been stuck at $7.25 per hour since July 24, 2009. For full-time workers that amounts to $15,080 if you are paid for 40 hours a week, 52 weeks a year. The minimum wage is falling further and further behind the rising cost of living. The federal minimum wage peaked in buying power way back in 1968, when it was worth $15.09 in 2025 dollars, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Inflation Calculator. Too little, too late ­— minimum wage increases are the next best thing to ...

A letter to my grandson, please remember …

Dear Layne: There is something I would like for you to know, something no one else may ever say that I believe you should hear at least once in your life. As your grandma, I feel it is my responsibility to let you in on a secret. And no, I am not trying to persuade you into changing who you are or who you will one day become. That wouldn’t be fair. Just please know this … in case no one else ever tells you. You are growing up in a completely different society than the one I grew up in, different than the ones your grandparents and great-grandparents lived through, ...

Football has returned

It’s hard to believe that we haven’t been able to watch a Pittsburgh Steelers game in six months. The last time we saw them, they suffered a 28-14 loss in Baltimore in the wild card round of the American Football Conference playoffs. That loss, on Jan. 11, marked the team’s fifth in a row and brought an end to what had had all of the makings of a pretty good season just a month or so earlier. A lot has changed since that dreary Saturday afternoon — quarterbacks Russell Wilson and Justin Fields have moved on, as has wide receiver George Pickens. Both of the former ...

Guest column/Public meeting fell short on carbon capture facts

Recently, I attended an open-house meeting about carbon capture and sequestration. This process would capture carbon dioxide emissions from various industries and power plants and transport it through pipelines to our area to be injected underground — under our homes, farms, etc. The meeting was held in Cadiz and hosted by the Nebraska-based company Tenaska. There was no PowerPoint presentation and no explanation of the process — instead, attendees were encouraged to ask questions of Tenaska employees who were stationed beside bulletin boards surrounding the room. The open-house ...

Guest column/Override the vetoes — delivery property tax relief

Ohio’s business community is facing mounting challenges, and skyrocketing property taxes are at the top of the list. At the Ohio Chamber of Commerce, we represent more than 8,000 businesses of every size, industry and region across our state. When we surveyed our members last year, one message came through loud and clear: The most pressing tax concern for Ohio’s employers is property taxes. Since receiving those results, the Ohio Chamber has been working with other business associations, including Ohio Realtors and the County Auditors’ Association of Ohio, to study the property ...

A beauty that will live through your reflection …

The husband of a friend of mine died unexpectedly on the Fourth of July. Now, that sentence pretty much sums up what happened in about ... what, 12 words? Of course, that sentence is not so simple. First of all, when I say “a friend of mine,” I do not mean someone whom I have ever had the opportunity to meet. Well, not in person, anyway. So, I guess you wouldn’t exactly call us “friends.” Maybe I should have said acquaintances. Although, it’s not as if I know her just in passing. I’m not actually sure what I should call her now that I think about it. It just ...