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Letters to the Editor

To the editor: Recent letters to the editor contain content that I would like to address. The author of a letter about the Equal Rights Amendment asked women if their insurance premiums are higher than men’s premiums. My late husband and I had identical life insurance policies. We were born in the same year. I had hypertension and he had no chronic health problems. His premiums were higher than mine. The author of that letter also stated that women who take their husband’s last name when married could have problems using their birth certificates as proof of citizenship at the ...

Guest column/Universities must lead the way on freedom of expression

Local Columns

Freedom of speech has always demanded courage, and courage is the one virtue universities cannot delegate. When free speech becomes fatal speech — as it did recently with the assassination of Charlie Kirk on a college campus — Americans demand — and deserve — a change. As president of Youngstown State University, I feel compelled to make a commitment to help make that change, and I believe our nation’s university presidents like me can lead the way. The facts already announced by authorities are enough to deduce that the killer of Charlie Kirk opposed the viewpoints he ...

Improving oral health in Ohio

Editorials

In the Buckeye State, particularly in rural or lower-income regions, not all children are able to get regular care from a dentist. It’s a generations-old problem, but between 2022 and 2024, CareQuest Institute for Oral Health and Oral Health Ohio tried a pilot program to do something about it. Through Medical Oral Expanded Care, the project incorporated oral health checks into annual well child visits with pediatricians, according to a report by the Statehouse News Bureau. The pilot involved more than 1,000 children. Rebekah Mathews, vice president of health transformation ...

Free speech should be non-negotiable

Editorials

Freedom of speech is on a lot of minds these days — even Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine, who spoke at the state Department of Higher Education’s Trustees Conference recently. According to a report by the Ohio Capital Journal, DeWine felt it important to remind policymakers on college campuses that an environment in which people are comfortable speaking freely is essential. His remarks were inspired, of course, by the killing of Charlie Kirk and its aftermath, though he noted the notion of whether Kirk’s death could have been prevented was a security issue, not a speech issue. ...

Riverfest helps open fall season

Editorials

The fall season officially arrived Monday afternoon, and with it an expectation of cooler temperatures and a change in the look of the world around us. What better way to welcome the season, then, than by attending one of our local autumnal community events? New Cumberland’s Fall Riverfest is set to take place Saturday and Sunday with a variety of vendors, entertainment and other activities for all ages. The festival will kick off Saturday with the Riverfest 5K Walk and Run, with registration at 8 a.m., and the race at 9 a.m. The course begins at the Hines Park gazebo, ...

Redistricting process shows some promise

Editorials

Though the results of Ohio’s latest redistricting attempt have yet to be seen, state House Speaker Matt Huffman, R-Lima, should be commended for one thing: He says he will not give in to pressure from the White House to draw maps that meet the approval of President Donald Trump. “I’m most interested in what residents of the state of Ohio have to say,” Huffman said when asked about Trump and national influence, according to the Ohio Capital Journal. “Of course, the President of the United States is an important person too, but there are 11 million+ people in the state of ...