Breaking News

Opinion

Ohio absenteeism rules support parents AND students

Editorials

"Every minute counts,” Heather Dodd, director of pupil services for Willoughby-Eastlake City Schools, told WKYC at the start of the school year. “If your child's late to school, those minutes count. If they have a doctor's appointment, those minutes count. They all count towards chronic absenteeism." Surprised? Ohio law changed this year, and parents will have to be aware that not only are schools keeping a much closer eye on chronic absenteeism (and doing a better job communicating with parents on the matter), but they are also tracking it in hours -- not just days. That means a ...

Cemetery cleanup took team effort

Editorials

Building a habit of connecting to and helping your community is an important part of what it means to grow and learn during the college years. Football players at Marietta College are getting a good start on that lesson by doing work such as the clean-up at Oak Grove Cemetery last week. Led by Marietta resident Roger Kalter last week, the players and other community volunteers helped to clear out a drainage ditch and clean up a sidewalk, among other tasks. Regarding his team, head coach Tom Hinkle said “They’re not coming to just play football. They’re coming here to learn life ...

Elks National Americanism Essay Contest 2026

Letters to the Editor

Building on the success of last year, Marietta Elks Lodge #477 is proud to offer all Washington County students in grades 5,6,7 and 8 the opportunity to compete in the 2026 Elks National Americanism Essay Contest. We are more excited than ever to invite you to participate this year, as last year several of our Lodge’s local winners took first place at the District Level, competed at the State level for all of Ohio, and we are proud to have our first ever National First Place Winner, in the 5th grade Division. This year, the topic for the essays will be “Explain a Constitutional ...

Do your research - properly - before voting

Editorials

Earlier this week, Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose urged voters to do their homework ahead of the November general election - not regarding a person, but regarding State Issue 3. Full text, official ballot language, certified explanation and arguments for and against have been made available at OhioSoS.gov, for the measure proposing a constitutional amendment to require voters to present photo identification when voting. “Transparency matters, and Ohio voters deserve to have all of the facts before deciding whether a photo ID requirement for voting should be included in the Ohio ...

Marietta’s gas aggregation

Letters to the Editor

I was doing an annual review of my natural gas bills recently and came across some interesting facts that I suspect very few Marietta residents know. In 2024, the City of Marietta entered into a municipal natural gas aggregation agreement with Eastern Power and Gas that was supposed to provide residents with a fixed price of $3.85 per MCF. Eastern subsequently told the city it could no longer perform under that contract. In March 2025, Marietta City Council approved an amendment that ultimately replaced our fixed-price protection with a variable rate tied to Enbridge's monthly Standard ...