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Ohio infant mortality rate deserves full attention

Editorials

Ohioans know our state has its challenges, but generally speaking we think of ourselves as better off than those in some other parts of the country — or world. For our youngest and most vulnerable residents, that is not always the case. Given the number of politicians who want us to believe the lives of babies are of the utmost important to them, it is astounding that the infant mortality rate here is STILL considerably above the national average. Efforts to address the problem have made some progress. We are down to 6.6 deaths per 1,000 live births in Ohio, compared with the national ...

Resources encourage kids to become better citizens

Editorials

Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose seems to have his eye (rightly) on the future with his new initiatives to help educate young people about active citizenship, entrepreneurship, civic engagement and, yes, elections. Resources include Start Up Squad, which helps students explore entrepreneurship and access educational resources from Junior Achievement; Future Voter ICivics game; Become a Civics Superstar, which includes an online quiz inspired by the official U.S. citizenship test; resources for teachers, including ways to help students become elections workers and voter packets for ...

Living Democracy: Early voting is the way to go!

Local Columns

Early voting, also called absentee voting, begins Tuesday and runs through Sunday, Nov. 1. Below are the early voting hours at the Washington County Board of Election. Nov. 3 General Election: Oct. 5 voter registration deadline. Early voting hours: 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Tuesday through Friday (this week, in addition to the weeks beginning Oct. 12 and 19); 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Oct. 24; 7:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. Oct. 26; 7:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. Oct. 27; 7:30 a.m. to 8:30 p.m. Oct. 28-30; 8 a.m. to 4 p.m. Oct. 31; 1-5 p.m. Nov. 1. The Washington County Board of Election is around the back of 204 ...

Letter to the Editor: Basic needs come first in Marietta

Letters to the Editor

As the November midterm election approaches, candidates are competing for voters’ attention with arguments about foreign policy, cultural disputes, and the latest national political controversy. Those issues matter. But candidates seeking votes in Marietta and Washington County should remember something much closer to home. Before people worry about the top of the pyramid, they worry about its foundation. I learned that lesson in Marietta more than half a century ago. I came to Marietta College as a student and graduated in 1969. That same year, I began teaching history and civics in ...

Guest opinion: Investigation, prevention necessary to avoid injection well catastrophe

Local Columns

Re: Acton’s Injection Well Proposal Draws Industry Opposition; Marietta Times, Sept. 19, 2026: The opposition expressed in this article is just the kind of statement that angers and frustrates a lot of people in Washington County — namely, people living outside the county with a profit motive, imposing their will on the county residents. Many people in Washington County are sick and tired of our county being the dumping ground for the high-pressure hydraulic fracturing, i.e., fracking, industry. Our county has the highest volume of waste water injection in the state with 40% of this ...

Cracking the Code: Changing thinking changes the future

Local Columns

One of the things I like about athletics is lessons can be learned and changes made quickly. Learning from a mistake in business and fixing it may take weeks or months. In sports, we can see results in days, hours or minutes. On Tuesday evening, our high school soccer team played our longtime rival in Huntington. They were undefeated and ranked No. 1 in AA in the state. We were 3-5-1 entering the game. But in our last five games, we outscored our opponents 14-5 and lost to the No. 1 undefeated AAA team 2-1 in a hard-fought game. On Tuesday, our rival dominated at the beginning. They ...