Give Justice Antonin Scalia credit for candor. In joining the unanimous decision of the Supreme Court last week that human genes cannot be patented, the justice added a brief concurring opinion. He noted how the ruling plunged “into fine details of molecular biology,” adding he is “unable to affirm those details on my own knowledge or even my own belief.”
Summer recess is around the corner for the Ohio legislature, but the prospect of an expanded Medicaid remains as murky as it was when John Kasich proposed it in February. In short, the governor has let the initiative get away from him, his Republican colleagues now seeming to drive Medicaid “reform” in all directions.
No winners arise when you sift through the mess uncovered during the recent trials involving the Allen Metropolitan Housing Authority.
A strong push from law enforcement agencies, churches, veterans’ and fraternal organizations, casinos and horse tracks finally resulted in passage of a bill that would effectively ban sweepstakes parlors. Gov. John Kasich’s signature made it a consensus that many of the unregulated, unapproved storefront operations are harboring illegal gambling and are havens for money laundering, human trafficking and other serious criminal activity.
Most of the incidents involving junk car complaints in Lima are being dealt with amicably. A police officer makes a resident aware of an issue and the resident takes care of the problem — moving the car into a garage or paying to have it towed.
The 29-year-old former CIA agent who admitted over the weekend to leaking documents about the National Security’s Agency’s targeting of phone records, email accounts and Internet use of millions of Americans exemplified the ethical dilemma facing those who consider themselves government whistle blowers: They may firmly believe their fellow citizens have a right to know what the government is doing in their name, but if everyone with access to sensitive information felt justified in betraying the secrets entrusted to them, the government couldn’t function.
Seven years after Goldman Sachs bought a hunk of China’s Shuanghui International Holdings, the meat-processing giant has returned the favor by offering to acquire America’s largest pork producer, Smithfield Foods. If the deal survives the scrutiny of Smithfield’s shareholders and the U.S. Treasury Department, the $4.72 billion deal would be the largest takeover of a U.S. company by a Chinese firm.
Medicare, the health program for seniors, is a vast enterprise. Total spending in 2012 is estimated at $551 billion, accounting for roughly 16 percent of the federal budget. The program currently covers about 50 million beneficiaries and pays more than 4 million claims a day to some 1 million care providers and suppliers. Enrollment and spending are projected to grow rapidly as baby boomers become eligible.
Motorists have been warned. Now it’s time to pay attention.
By Fort Worth (Texas) Star-Telegram
The Lima News
The Akron Beacon Journal
Circling the wagons, to pick a popular Washington cliché, only helps if you’re inside the circle.
Congress and the president are jousting once again over the cost of college loans, a perennial dilemma that faces a July 1 deadline to avoid a doubling of federally subsidized interest rates that would discourage thousands of potential students from seeking a college diploma.
An old cartoon showed a building with a sign over the entrance: “Department of Redundancy Department.” There are many things it makes sense for the federal government to do. The trouble arises when those in charge decide that anything worth doing is worth duplicating.
Congress is again debating what to do about interest rates for federal student loans, which are set to double July 1, to 6.8 percent. Several proposed solutions are being debated, but none tackles the real issue: skyrocketing college costs.
Akron Beacon Journal
Pharos-Tribune (Logansport, Ind.,)
By the end of a recent Senate hearing, committee members had hurled plenty of praise at Apple, sharing testimonials about their favorite i-products. They almost seemed to forget why the witness, Timothy Cook, the company’s chief executive, was sitting before them. Apple rates, as Sen. John McCain put it in anticipation of the hearing, “among America’s largest tax avoiders.”
By The Herald Bulletin Anderson, Ind.
An immigration bill passed the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee last week, a first step toward revamping the nation’s immigration laws. Three Republicans joined 10 Democrats to move the legislation to the full Senate. The vote reflects a willingness that is becoming rare in Congress to make compromises on major policy issues.
Almost 12 years after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, the country is due for a discussion about how to proceed in its long struggle with Islamic extremists and their campaign of terrorism. That is what President Barack Obama set in motion with his speech last week at the National Defense University. He rightly wants to move away from the posture established in the immediate aftermath of that ghastly day, Congress giving the president wide authority to prosecute the fight.
When a U.S. military commander suggests medical facilities at the prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, may have to be upgraded to care for aging terrorism detainees, it’s a clear sign that President Barack Obama needs to redouble efforts to deliver on his 2008 campaign pledge to close the embarrassing facility.
In times of trouble, Americans find inspiration and willpower in the flag.
State Sen. Shannon Jones has the right idea when it comes to the Ohio Open Meetings Act. The Springboro Republican has introduced a bill in the state Senate that would open more meetings among public officials to public scrutiny. She believes that it is better to err on the side of keeping citizens fully informed.
A salute to veterans of
Republicans in charge of the state legislature frequently point to the federal government in explaining their opposition to expanding Medicaid. They may share Gov. John Kasich’s view about aiding the working poor and those suffering from mental illness. They just don’t trust the feds to hold up their end of the bargain, a commitment to pick up 100 percent of the cost at the start and then 90 percent for the duration.
Ideally, governmental bodies would refrain from including prayers — even ecumenical, “lowest-common-denominator” ones — in their public proceedings. But if prayers are to be offered, they certainly shouldn’t be monopolized by a single religious tradition. That is how the Supreme Court should rule in a case involving a town in New York state.
As good news goes, this would have to do: First thing Tuesday, the medical examiner in Moore, Okla., announced that the death toll had gone down overnight.
Chicago Tribune
The Lima News
Americans have made it abundantly clear they want the ability to make informed decisions about what they eat. The United States should join every European Union nation as well as Japan, Australia, Russia and China in requiring food producers to label the genetically engineered foods sold in stores and supermarkets.
Three things in a two-week span this month tell you plenty about the way U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan approaches his job in Congress.
The Lima News
Baltimore Sun
In a proposal to strengthen judicial elections in Ohio, Maureen O’Connor readily dismisses the best way forward, merit selection. The chief justice of the Ohio Supreme Court points reasonably to the repeated rejections by state voters of the method, judges first appointed on their qualifications, then standing for retention elections.
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Chicago Tribune
The Akron Beacon Journal
The story out of Cleveland about three young women kidnapped and held captive for a decade is a horrific tale that is only likely to get worse as the details emerge.
Fort Worth Star-Telegram
The Ironton Tribune
The news that sexual assaults in the armed forces last year were estimated to be up 35% over 2010 brought a swift response from President Obama — that he had “no tolerance” for sexual crimes in the ranks and that perpetrators would be prosecuted and punished.
The Lima New
Bigger isn’t always better, as the Ohio Northern University College of Law will attest.
Chicago Tribune
Administrators at Elida Local Schools are running out of tricks when it comes to offering a quality educational experience on minimal funding.
Voters will be deciding the future of Johnny Appleseed Park District on Tuesday.
• Lima, Bluffton schools: Voters in Lima and Bluffton aren’t being asked for new money to fund school operations, only to continue to pay the same amount in the future that they are paying now.
Here’s what is at stake in Tuesday’s election for the Apollo Career Center.
At his news conference Tuesday, President Barack Obama made a powerful plea for ending the humanitarian and diplomatic disaster created by the continued detention of more than 160 prisoners at Guantanamo Bay, more than 100 of whom are engaged in a hunger strike that necessitated the dispatch of an emergency medical team. The problem is that Obama has contributed to the crisis by acquiescing in congressional obstruction of his promise to close the facility. We hope he is serious when he says he will now “re-engage with Congress that this is not in the best interest of the American people.”
Chicago Tribune
The Lima News
Chicago Tribune
John Kasich should prepare his veto pen. Substitute Senate Bill 48 reflects the mischief-making, or just plain cynicism, that erodes public confidence in the way state lawmakers do business. The trouble with the legislation isn’t its primary thrust, easing the licensing fee for small craft brewers in Ohio. That makes sense. Where lawmakers went astray was in adding a provision with little public notice or discussion, all apparently to favor the wishes of a special interest.
Summer recess is around the corner for the Ohio legislature, but the prospect of an expanded Medicaid remains as murky as it was when John Kasich proposed it in February. In short, the governor has let the initiative get away from him, his Republican colleagues now seeming to drive Medicaid “reform” in all directions.
No winners arise when you sift through the mess uncovered during the recent trials involving the Allen Metropolitan Housing Authority.
A strong push from law enforcement agencies, churches, veterans’ and fraternal organizations, casinos and horse tracks finally resulted in passage of a bill that would effectively ban sweepstakes parlors. Gov. John Kasich’s signature made it a consensus that many of the unregulated, unapproved storefront operations are harboring illegal gambling and are havens for money laundering, human trafficking and other serious criminal activity.
Most of the incidents involving junk car complaints in Lima are being dealt with amicably. A police officer makes a resident aware of an issue and the resident takes care of the problem — moving the car into a garage or paying to have it towed.
The 29-year-old former CIA agent who admitted over the weekend to leaking documents about the National Security’s Agency’s targeting of phone records, email accounts and Internet use of millions of Americans exemplified the ethical dilemma facing those who consider themselves government whistle blowers: They may firmly believe their fellow citizens have a right to know what the government is doing in their name, but if everyone with access to sensitive information felt justified in betraying the secrets entrusted to them, the government couldn’t function.
Seven years after Goldman Sachs bought a hunk of China’s Shuanghui International Holdings, the meat-processing giant has returned the favor by offering to acquire America’s largest pork producer, Smithfield Foods. If the deal survives the scrutiny of Smithfield’s shareholders and the U.S. Treasury Department, the $4.72 billion deal would be the largest takeover of a U.S. company by a Chinese firm.
Medicare, the health program for seniors, is a vast enterprise. Total spending in 2012 is estimated at $551 billion, accounting for roughly 16 percent of the federal budget. The program currently covers about 50 million beneficiaries and pays more than 4 million claims a day to some 1 million care providers and suppliers. Enrollment and spending are projected to grow rapidly as baby boomers become eligible.
Motorists have been warned. Now it’s time to pay attention.
By Fort Worth (Texas) Star-Telegram
The Lima News
The Akron Beacon Journal
Circling the wagons, to pick a popular Washington cliché, only helps if you’re inside the circle.
Congress and the president are jousting once again over the cost of college loans, a perennial dilemma that faces a July 1 deadline to avoid a doubling of federally subsidized interest rates that would discourage thousands of potential students from seeking a college diploma.
An old cartoon showed a building with a sign over the entrance: “Department of Redundancy Department.” There are many things it makes sense for the federal government to do. The trouble arises when those in charge decide that anything worth doing is worth duplicating.
Congress is again debating what to do about interest rates for federal student loans, which are set to double July 1, to 6.8 percent. Several proposed solutions are being debated, but none tackles the real issue: skyrocketing college costs.
Akron Beacon Journal
Pharos-Tribune (Logansport, Ind.,)
By the end of a recent Senate hearing, committee members had hurled plenty of praise at Apple, sharing testimonials about their favorite i-products. They almost seemed to forget why the witness, Timothy Cook, the company’s chief executive, was sitting before them. Apple rates, as Sen. John McCain put it in anticipation of the hearing, “among America’s largest tax avoiders.”
By The Herald Bulletin Anderson, Ind.
An immigration bill passed the U.S. Senate Judiciary Committee last week, a first step toward revamping the nation’s immigration laws. Three Republicans joined 10 Democrats to move the legislation to the full Senate. The vote reflects a willingness that is becoming rare in Congress to make compromises on major policy issues.
Almost 12 years after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, the country is due for a discussion about how to proceed in its long struggle with Islamic extremists and their campaign of terrorism. That is what President Barack Obama set in motion with his speech last week at the National Defense University. He rightly wants to move away from the posture established in the immediate aftermath of that ghastly day, Congress giving the president wide authority to prosecute the fight.
When a U.S. military commander suggests medical facilities at the prison at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, may have to be upgraded to care for aging terrorism detainees, it’s a clear sign that President Barack Obama needs to redouble efforts to deliver on his 2008 campaign pledge to close the embarrassing facility.
In times of trouble, Americans find inspiration and willpower in the flag.
State Sen. Shannon Jones has the right idea when it comes to the Ohio Open Meetings Act. The Springboro Republican has introduced a bill in the state Senate that would open more meetings among public officials to public scrutiny. She believes that it is better to err on the side of keeping citizens fully informed.
A salute to veterans of
Republicans in charge of the state legislature frequently point to the federal government in explaining their opposition to expanding Medicaid. They may share Gov. John Kasich’s view about aiding the working poor and those suffering from mental illness. They just don’t trust the feds to hold up their end of the bargain, a commitment to pick up 100 percent of the cost at the start and then 90 percent for the duration.
Ideally, governmental bodies would refrain from including prayers — even ecumenical, “lowest-common-denominator” ones — in their public proceedings. But if prayers are to be offered, they certainly shouldn’t be monopolized by a single religious tradition. That is how the Supreme Court should rule in a case involving a town in New York state.
As good news goes, this would have to do: First thing Tuesday, the medical examiner in Moore, Okla., announced that the death toll had gone down overnight.
Chicago Tribune
The Lima News
Americans have made it abundantly clear they want the ability to make informed decisions about what they eat. The United States should join every European Union nation as well as Japan, Australia, Russia and China in requiring food producers to label the genetically engineered foods sold in stores and supermarkets.
Three things in a two-week span this month tell you plenty about the way U.S. Rep. Jim Jordan approaches his job in Congress.
The Lima News
Baltimore Sun
In a proposal to strengthen judicial elections in Ohio, Maureen O’Connor readily dismisses the best way forward, merit selection. The chief justice of the Ohio Supreme Court points reasonably to the repeated rejections by state voters of the method, judges first appointed on their qualifications, then standing for retention elections.
Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
Chicago Tribune
The Akron Beacon Journal
The story out of Cleveland about three young women kidnapped and held captive for a decade is a horrific tale that is only likely to get worse as the details emerge.
Fort Worth Star-Telegram
The Ironton Tribune
The news that sexual assaults in the armed forces last year were estimated to be up 35% over 2010 brought a swift response from President Obama — that he had “no tolerance” for sexual crimes in the ranks and that perpetrators would be prosecuted and punished.
The Lima New
Bigger isn’t always better, as the Ohio Northern University College of Law will attest.
Chicago Tribune
Administrators at Elida Local Schools are running out of tricks when it comes to offering a quality educational experience on minimal funding.
Voters will be deciding the future of Johnny Appleseed Park District on Tuesday.
• Lima, Bluffton schools: Voters in Lima and Bluffton aren’t being asked for new money to fund school operations, only to continue to pay the same amount in the future that they are paying now.
Here’s what is at stake in Tuesday’s election for the Apollo Career Center.
At his news conference Tuesday, President Barack Obama made a powerful plea for ending the humanitarian and diplomatic disaster created by the continued detention of more than 160 prisoners at Guantanamo Bay, more than 100 of whom are engaged in a hunger strike that necessitated the dispatch of an emergency medical team. The problem is that Obama has contributed to the crisis by acquiescing in congressional obstruction of his promise to close the facility. We hope he is serious when he says he will now “re-engage with Congress that this is not in the best interest of the American people.”
Chicago Tribune
The Lima News
Chicago Tribune
John Kasich should prepare his veto pen. Substitute Senate Bill 48 reflects the mischief-making, or just plain cynicism, that erodes public confidence in the way state lawmakers do business. The trouble with the legislation isn’t its primary thrust, easing the licensing fee for small craft brewers in Ohio. That makes sense. Where lawmakers went astray was in adding a provision with little public notice or discussion, all apparently to favor the wishes of a special interest.
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