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Dodging accountability

Despite Norfolk Southern’s assertions that it would make things right in East Palestine — after a derailment back in February 2023, the company appears to continue to resist doing so. Most recently, it filed motions in federal court seeking to EXCLUDE expert testimony presented by the state of Ohio and the United States as part of ongoing litigation. The proposed $315 million federal settlement between Norfolk Southern and the U.S. Department of Justice is still pending. Among the challenged witnesses are three medical doctors who support Ohio’s effort for a long-term medical ...

Shopping local has its benefits

Those who have endured the madness of Black Friday and still have plenty of holiday shopping to do should consider using this Small Business Saturday to explore retailers (and gift ideas) that will help add a personal touch to your giving. Since 2010, the annual event has celebrated small, independent businesses in our communities. American Express estimates as much as $22 billion was spent on Small Business Saturday in 2024. For the 99.9% of businesses in the U.S. that qualify as “small,” according to Forbes, that kind of spending is essential. It helps employ more than 62 ...

Essential professionals becoming scarce

U.S. Department of Education officials missed the mark badly when they decided, purportedly in a revision that is part of the Big Beautiful Bill, to eliminate nursing, physical therapy, public health and other fields from those graduate study fields in which students are able to borrow loans up to the cost of their degree. Those programs are not, in the opinion of bureaucrats in Washington, D.C., “professional.” In fact, only the following fields are now defined as professional programs, according to the Education Department: pharmacy, dentistry, veterinary medicine, chiropractic, ...

Happy Thanksgiving, everyone

While the origins of our modern Thanksgiving Day are more a matter of many traditions eventually running into a single idea than the straight line from familiar paintings of the Plymouth Colony’s observance more than 400 years ago to our holiday tables today, there is a common theme: gratitude. Thanksgiving is a day on which we celebrate with friends and family (for which, presumably, we are grateful) with an abundance of food, parades, football and other traditions that also help us remember how richly blessed many of us are, here. It is a day on which many can be grateful there ...

Serving families, not fraudsters

Lawmakers do love an alphabet soup when it comes to naming their legislation. But for some, if the clever name helps it stick in the minds of those who will be voting for it, the wordplay is worth the effort. Such is the case with the Adoption Deserves Oversight, Protection and Transparency (ADOPT) Act (and its accompanying Hospital Adoption Education Act) being introduced by U.S. Sen. Jon Husted, R-Ohio. According to Husted’s office, the aim of the bill, which is co-led by U.S. Sens. Amy Klobuchar, D-Minn., and Katie Britt, R-Ala., is to fight exploitation by unlicensed adoption ...

Questionable intentions

It’s tempting to ask what members of the Ohio House of Representatives were thinking last week, but there is evidence they simply were not. They passed House Bill 486, which comes with the heavily coded moniker the “Charlie Kirk American Heritage Act.” It would “permit teachers in public schools and state institutions of higher education to provide instruction on the influence of Judeo-Christian values on history and culture.” Those wondering whether instruction will include lessons on all people and groups who said they were acting in the name of “Judeo-Christian ...