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Interesting election season

It’s not often that statewide politics in Ohio take such a prominent position during an off-year election, but that’s where we find ourselves as we near the middle of July. In most cases at this point in the election cycle, there really aren’t a lot of candidates to talk about or issues to debate. Yes, there sometimes is talk about an upcoming congressional race or the occasional discussion about who might decide to run for village mayor or a seat in the U.S. Senate, but, by and large, it’s traditionally a time of quiet on the political front, with the unofficial start of the ...

Guest column/What’s happening around us is more than scary

The War on Drugs has an official start date. Actually there are several of them. The first one was June 18,1971. President Richard Nixon declared drug abuse Public Enemy Number One. He saw to an increase in federal funding for drug-control agencies and drug treatment, according to “The War on Drugs: History, Policy and Therapeutics — Research Guides” at research.dom.ed Looking to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the war continued with the first wave of the opioid epidemic of overdose deaths involving prescription opioids through the 1990s. In 2010, the second wave ...

Guest column/Ohio’s agricultural community is seeing savings

This year’s growing season is well under way, and many farmers across the Buckeye State have taken advantage of our office’s long-standing Ag-LINK program to drive down costs and save money. But as anyone in the agriculture community already knows, borrowing needs can still arise well after seeds have been put in the ground. For more than three decades, Ag-LINK has helped the industry save money on borrowing costs by providing interest rate reductions on new or existing loans. Each year, borrowers use the program to finance upfront costs for feed, seed, fertilizer, fuel, equipment ...

Guest column/Our American flags should be made in America

A couple of weeks ago, Ohioans and Americans across the country celebrated Independence Day, with parades and visits to monuments and memorials, where they proudly waved American flags. But right now, the laws on the books for the types of flags purchased by the federal government don’t reflect the values that our veterans sacrificed so much for. Today, the flags the federal government purchases are only required to be made from just 50 percent American-made materials. That means that half of the materials that our women and men in uniform fight under can be made in China. ...

History in the Hills: A Revolutionary hero

One of my wife’s favorite holidays is Independence Day. Typically, on that day, we enjoy a picnic at my aunt and uncle’s home, visit the pool and enjoy spending time together. My wife and I for many years have worked hard teaching our kids about the importance of the day and what we should remember and why it is significant. It’s easy to focus on the great folks who took significant risk for our national independence like George Washington; Thomas Jefferson; my wife’s ancestor, Gen. John Glover; and Patrick Henry. Had the outcome of the war for independence gone differently, ...

Be a part of the process

If you live in the state of Ohio and have been following the news at all during the past several months, you realize that there will be a special election in a little more than a month. The Aug. 8 ballot will contain one item: Ohio Issue 1. It’s a fairly complex issue that, if approved, will make a big difference in how residents are able to seek initiatives to amend the state Constitution. Right now, a proposed constitutional amendment can get onto the ballot by getting valid signatures from a number that is at least 10 percent of the people who voted for governor in the ...