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Build on business success with focus on southeast Ohio

Gov. Mike DeWine and Lt. Gov. Jim Tressel took a victory lap of sorts after CNBC said Ohio is the No. 1 state for business, with a nine-stop "Heart of Opportunity Tour" that wrapped in Springfield at the National Advanced Air Mobility Center of Excellence. Other stops were in Cleveland, Youngstown, Toledo, Lima, Piketon, Middletown, Columbus and Cincinnati. Regarding his stop in Springfield, DeWine said. "The investments we’re making in aviation infrastructure, workforce, research, and innovation are creating an environment that’s allowing companies to build the future of flight ...

Accessible data should improve outcomes for students, Ohio

Want to know more about how well Buckeye State public schools are preparing our young people for the next phase of their lives? The Ohio Department of Education and Workforce announced last week a couple of new tools: one tracking the education level of high school graduates, and another tracking career outcomes. According to a report by WFMJ, the idea is to help families, educators and policymakers learn more about their prospects and how to continually improve them. “Parents want to know their child’s education leads to a brighter future,” said department Director Stephen D. ...

Make affordable childcare a priority in Ohio

Though policymakers have made a few attempts at increasing Ohioans’ access to child care in recent years, the problem is as bad as ever. In fact, advocates are labeling it a crisis. “We are using the word, and we don’t use it lightly, but we are calling this a childcare crisis,” Tasha Booker, president and CEO of Action for Children, told Spectrum News 1. “In order for child care to be considered affordable in Ohio, families should be spending no more than about 8% of their income.” Instead, some families with two young children are spending up to 33%. If you’re ...

Resource Fair guides residents toward a hand up

GoPacks’ Community Resource Fair in Marietta helped connect local families with resources ranging from food to physicals Aug. 23. GoPacks is well known for making sure students in Marietta and the surrounding areas have access to nutritious food as it works to connect families with resources to fight food insecurity. But there is more to health and well-being than food, and the resource fair brought together Memorial Health System, Marietta City Schools, Washington Morgan Community Action, the Washington County Family and Children First Council, House of Hope, the American Red Cross, ...

Small business success must be just the start

Some public officials in West Virginia have understood for years that we need to expand and diversify our economy -- and that maybe the best way to do that is to start small. Efforts to help people start and sustain small businesses here have strengthened to the degree that a study conducted by Franchise Opportunities has named the Mountain State the leading state for new business survival. That's a big deal. Plenty of small business owners will tell you it is easier to start one than to keep one going. Franchise Opportunities chose a five-year period that included the Covid-19 years ...

Don’t give Columbus more control over college education

Students across the country have already showed what they think of the government-mandated “intellectual diversity centers” popping up in some states. Further, voters’ rightful displeasure with such a blatant attempt at government overreach has been evident. Yet calculating politicians just can’t help themselves. Ohio Sen. Jerry Cirinio, R-Kirtland, has introduced Senate Bill 461, Enact the Strengthening Ohio Civics Act, which would give the Salmon P. Chase center for civics, culture and society — a purportedly independent unit within Ohio State University — “all the ...