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Financial distress and cost of living

One of elected officials’ favorite tricks is to drag out the line “But are you better off than you were (insert politically beneficial timeframe here)?” It gets people thinking: Am I better off? For West Virginians living in a state that hopes to win an economic “Backyard Brawl,” the answer may very well be “no.” But according to WalletHub’s “States with the Most People in Financial Distress,” the Mountain State is ranked 45th. In this case, that’s a good thing. West Virginia’s total score was 33.17. For comparison, the least distressed folks were in Hawaii, ...

Ohio officials working hard to crack down on Medicaid fraud

As officials at the federal level go on and on about reducing spending on Medicare and Medicaid by eliminating fraud, waste and abuse, officials at the state level are showing they’ve already been working diligently on that front. Earlier this month, the office of Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost filed indictments against nine Medicaid providers accused of stealing a total of $1.2 million from the program. These suspects are home health aides and mental health specialists who are accused of billing Medicaid for services they did not actually provide. One suspect, James Ferguson, 28, ...

Becoming equipped to teach others

Members of the Coolville Volunteer Fire Department had a chance to go back to school over the weekend, and they brought a few other local departments along with them. Coolville VFD was one of only 15 sites across the country chosen to receive free hazmat training under the Partner in Training Crew program from the National Volunteer Fire Council and U.S. Department of Transportation Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration. Fortunately, they were also allowed to play host to Tuppers Plains, Scipio, Pomeroy, Columbia, Carthage Township, Rome Township, Dunham Township, ...

Business is good, but…

Ohioans have always had an entrepreneurial and adventurous spirit. But according to a new report by CNBC, it now has the pro-business credentials to match. The news outlet ranked the top states in the country for business in 2025 — using 135 metrics in 10 categories — and the Buckeye State landed at fifth. (For comparison, neighboring West Virginia ranked 40th.) In fact, the only category in which Ohio received a letter grade below a C was for workforce, for which the state received a D+. Methodology for grading workforce was explained this way: “In addition to measuring each ...

Shared duty of vigilance

There are certain issues that go beyond politics, beyond petty disagreements, and the scourge of human trafficking in this country is certainly one of them. Policymakers continue to look for ways to stop it, and to find and protect its victims. Last week, Sen. Jon Husted, R-Ohio, announced he is part of a bipartisan effort to put in place measures that should strengthen that effort. Along with Sen. Elissa Slotkin, D-Mich., and U.S. Reps. Tim Walberg, R-Mich., and Lucy McBath, D-Ga., Husted is introducing the Enhancing Detection of Human Trafficking Act. It would direct the Department ...

Why wait when you can register now

Believe it or not, there is another election coming our way in Ohio this fall — a general election Nov. 4, to be exact. And while November may seem far away, deadlines related to that election are coming up quickly. For example, the deadline for petitions to be placed on ballots is Aug. 6. Those signatures collected by people running for elected office take time to acquire. “If they want to run for those offices then they go to the elections office here in Washington County and turn in their collected signatures which are then reviewed by board members,” said Mandy Amos, ...