February
“Franklin County Appeals Court Judge Tim Horton’s admission of acting ‘willfully and with criminal intent’ in filing false campaign finance reports — he tapped campaign donations to live the high life — raises serious questions about his fitness for the bench. Again.”
“Columbus taxpayers and impoverished schoolchildren will subsidize high-income housing in one of the city’s most thriving areas. A 10-year, 100 percent property-tax abatement, worth about $68 million on new housing, is to attract millennials and empty-nesters to Easton Town Center.” across the nation, but especially so in Ohio where more than 3,000 people died of overdoses in 2015.”
April
“(Ohio Attorney General Mike) DeWine said the (Rhoden-family murder) case has not grown cold, but to a frightened community, the investigation does appear stalled. Without someone having a case of conscience and providing information, the one-year anniversary could turn into two or three years or longer before these killers are brought to justice.”
“When the director of the Franklin County Board of Elections stands up in court and admits he’s crooked — he approved pay for an employee who was politically connected but chronically MIA — it undermines the public’s faith in this agency. It’s been a hard fall for William A.
Anthony Jr.”
May
“Spring means mosquitos in central Ohio. These little bloodsuckers aren’t merely itchy, they’re deadly, spreading diseases such as Zika, West Nile and Chikungunya viruses.”
“By Thursday, when Columbus had recorded 42 homicides, police noted this hadn’t been a typical year. Violent deaths had risen suddenly, but no one could explain why.”
“For sheer audacity, there is no precedent for the claims to Ohio taxpayer money being made by the Electronic Classroom of Tomorrow. The state’s largest online school, ECOT, demands more than $100 million per year from the treasury, while claiming the state — on behalf of taxpayers — has no right to document that students are actually logging in.”
“We have a bone to pick with the city of Columbus, following an edict by its health department reminding restaurants, pubs and coffee shops that dogs may not join their humans on patios.”
“It doesn’t matter if Ohio Supreme Court Justice Sharon Kennedy discussed kittens or craft beer, she should not have appeared as the keynote speaker in March for the Greater Toledo Ohio Right to Life” days after her court agreed to hear a Toledo abortion clinic’s appeal to stay open. Sharon Kennedy
June
“Obamacare’s rickety state and the uncertainty created by the GOP’s wobbling over a replacement can be made no plainer than the news that
July
“To the clever investors who scooped up property in Franklin County, or even those who just wanted a piece of the American Dream and bought a house: You look smart now. The values of those investments, in general, are expected to rise by double-digit percentages when Franklin County Auditor Clarence Mingo completes his countywide reappraisal in late summer.”
“Columbus sent a strong statement about its expectations for professional police conduct by firing a city officer (Zach Rosen) captured on video needlessly using brute force on a suspect.”
“Anyone who has seen the viral cellphone video of the horrific accident at the Ohio State Fair on Wednesday evening has to be struck speechless. Words are insufficient to convey the horror of watching a young man plunge to his death and other riders being hurtled into thin air after a thrill ride dissembled.” mark: The national debt exceeded $20 trillion for the first time in history.”
October
“The kidnapping and murder of Reagan Tokes in February exposed serious flaws in how Ohio handles violent criminals, and a series of bills sponsored by Franklin County lawmakers offers some realistic improvements.”
“The incredible efficiency of Stephen Paddock’s mass murder in Las Vegans makes one thing clear: The so-called ‘bump stock,’ a device that can make a semi-automatic rifle work like a machine gun, should be outlawed.”
“Ohio Treasurer Josh Mandel was once widely considered a rising star in the GOP — an earnest, baby-faced veteran and young father. He now is on his way to branding himself as the party’s untouchable for his tastelessness and opportunism.”