Recent editorials of statewide and national interest from Ohio newspapers:
‘Be the Reason’ United Way meets its goal
The Canton Repository
Dec. 8
Many of you have decided you’re willing to “Be the Reason” more resources are within reach of our neighbors in need.
You have decided to “Be the Reason” we continue to grow into a stronger, more close-knit community that looks out for one another.
On behalf of the United Way of Greater Stark County, we offer our deepest gratitude.
Early Friday, our local United Way said it was within striking distance of achieving the fundraising goal for its annual campaign, an ambitious $6.17 million.
With one more push, we can “Be the Reason” the United Way can celebrate finishing over the top.
Have you got a dollar to spare? Yes, a little as $1 can make a big difference. United Way has calculated that “if every adult in Stark County gave just $1 today, we would exceed our goal” for this year’s “Be the Reason” campaign, which formally closed Friday but will remain open a little longer to meet with 100% success.
What does each dollar help accomplish?
It can create financial stability for individuals as their first step out of poverty, an issue we know is serious in Stark County, where nearly one-third of residents don’t earn an income high enough to keep pace with the cost of living. United Way-sponsored programs put “families on the path toward economic independence by improving access to affordable housing and promoting workforce development opportunities,” the organization says about one of its three main initiatives.
That dollar also can help foster more learning, the second primary initiative. United Way uses our contributions to increase the number of Stark County students who are kindergarten-ready and the number who successfully graduate from high school.
Donations also can be directed to United Way programming aimed at improving the community’s health and well-being. Efforts to reduce Stark County’s high infant mortality rate and combat the area’s opioid epidemic have shown measurable, positive results.
A few of the other ways our dollars have helped: nearly 4,700 local residents have received tax-filing assistance through the United Way’s Volunteer Income Tax Assistance program; and more than 2,000 households have kept their utilities turned on or have avoided eviction through its Emergency Assistance Collaborative.
Achieving a lofty fundraising goal is no small accomplishment with so many worthy nonprofits competing for attention and financial resources. It reflects our collective trust in the United Way of Greater Stark County to be good stewards of our donations and use them in ways to create the greatest impact.
“We are very fortunate our community is so very supportive of the people who need assistance,” Maria Heege, United Way of Greater Stark County’s president and CEO, said Friday. “If you have given already, we thank you. If you have not given, now is the time.”
The fact United Way is on the doorstep of reaching its fundraising target is a testament to this year’s campaign co-chairs: the dynamic duo of Tonya and Mark Wright.
“We have been overwhelmed with the support throughout Stark County,” Mark Wright said Friday. “Thank you to those who have donated. You are building a brighter future and a stronger community. We are very close to our goal and can definitely reach it with your support.”
Online: https://bit.ly/2P2E1JA
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As leaders fail, environmental threats grow graver
The Columbus Dispatch
Dec. 8
The past week’s news, at both state and global levels, highlights the cost that human industry has imposed on the environment and just how difficult it is to slow, let alone reverse the damage. The problem seems to be that too many people either don’t understand, don’t care or don’t believe the threats faced by this planet and its people.
A traditional divide - between liberals more concerned about environmental protection and conservatives more concerned about property rights and supporting businesses - has widened into a gulf.
When Americans in the 1950s and 1960s looked around and saw how polluted the air, water and land had become, protecting the environment seemed a common-sense apolitical endeavor. The next decades brought bipartisan triumphs including the Clean Air Act, Clean Water Act, Endangered Species Act and creation of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.
Land developers and polluting industries may not have welcomed restrictions that cost them money, but Americans in general valued a healthy environment and politicians acted accordingly.
How did protecting the environment become such a partisan issue? How did we arrive at a point where many on the right are willing to dismiss the warnings of scientists as part of a dishonest political scheme?
In Ohio, scientists know that much of western Lake Erie turns green from algae pollution in the summer because of excess phosphorus and that more than 85% of that phosphorus is washed into the lake from farm fields. Yet, after many years of study and talk, Ohio has almost no regulations requiring farmers to limit phosphorus runoff from their fields.
Unsurprisingly, the state isn’t on track to reach its goal, declared in 2015, of a 40% reduction in the amount of phosphorus flowing into the lake each year by 2025. For that to happen, a new study shows, 80% of Ohio farmers would have to adopt multiple strategies such as injecting fertilizer into the ground (instead of spreading it on the surface) and planting buffer strips to filter runoff.
So far in most cases, Ohio lawmakers have created only voluntary guidelines for farmers, and no one is sure how many have adopted best practices. The phosphorus load isn’t decreasing by much.
The 2014 algae bloom wasn’t the worst ever, but that year some formed directly over the Maumee Bay intake valve for the city of Toledo’s water plant, leaving city taps dry for three days. It made national news and people were shocked, but it did not lead to significantly strengthened oversight.
Globally, alarm at the world’s collective failure to respond to climate change is reaching an ever higher pitch. As the world’s major countries are holding the 25th annual Conference of the Parties in Madrid through Friday to work on a global plan, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change has issued a grim assessment: Most countries aren’t even close to meeting the carbon-reduction targets they set in the 2016 Paris Agreement, and if they don’t, the result will be “untold human suffering.”
Already, we’re on track to lose coral reefs and tropical fisheries to warming oceans, according to the report; failure to speed up emissions cuts could lead to “feedback loops” such as widespread thawing of permafrost or forest die-off, which in turn release more carbon and further speed up warming.
This so-called “Hothouse Earth” scenario could trigger uncontrolled warming, with seas rising by as much as 200 feet, covering larger swaths of the planet.
Solutions exist, but they’re inconceivable to many people - especially in the U.S., where lifestyles would have to change the most: eating a lot less meat, driving a lot less and replacing all coal-fired power plants with renewables, for a start.
Not that the U.S. is the only nation foot-dragging on carbon reduction. According to the IPCC report, only 1 in 4 of the nations represented has pledged to reduce emissions by 2030 enough to get the job done.
China and India, the world’s highest and fourth-highest emitters, actually are on track to increase emissions by 2030, and 250 coal-fired power plants are under construction around the world.
The U.S. historically has been a leader in environmental protection, but President Donald Trump’s declared intent to withdraw the U.S. from the Paris Agreement and his relentless drive to dismantle environmental protection is a shameful abdication of that leadership.
Instead of leading the rest of the world toward solutions, Trump’s policy puts the world in greater danger because putting off the necessary change makes the ultimate impact much worse.
Central Ohio Republicans in Congress largely have been an obstacle to progress against climate change. The League of Conservation Voters gives Sen. Rob Portman and Reps. Steve Stivers of Upper Arlington and Troy Balderson of Zanesville abysmal lifetime ratings for environmentally friendly voting: 19%, 6% and 0%, respectively.
While Portman has been a reliable supporter of important conservation funding programs such as the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative and the Land and Water Conservation Fund, he voted to confirm the parade of climate-change deniers and fossil-fuel beneficiaries Trump put forward for important posts, including Scott Pruitt to head the U.S. EPA and Andrew Wheeler as deputy EPA chief. Portman also voted to confirm Wheeler’s promotion to administrator after scandals pushed Pruitt out.
In 2017, Portman voted to reject a Bureau of Land Management rule requiring gas companies to prevent methane leaks and flares. He supports the REINS Act, a proposed law that would give Congress more authority to block health, safety and environmental regulations.
Stivers has supported some clean-energy measures and voted against a bill that would have slashed EPA funding but voted for a measure that would prohibit the federal government from considering the economic costs of climate change. He also favored a bill that would tip the scales in favor of approving certain liquefied natural gas projects.
Ohio and the world face urgent threats from climate change and environmental degradation. The danger is greater because too many politicians, especially Republicans, refuse to acknowledge the perils, and Trump’s contempt for science and regulation has made the danger far greater. We need leaders who will reject ignorance and stand up for the future.
Online: https://bit.ly/351B9lI
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A promising start to Gov. DeWine’s H2Ohio initiative to protect Lake Erie and other freshwater resources
Cleveland Plain Dealer
Dec. 8
The specifics of Gov. Mike DeWine’s H2Ohio plan, unveiled recently, reflect a highly laudable effort to clean up, and keep clean, Ohio’s critical freshwater resources, especially its greatest water resource, Lake Erie.
The plan is constructive, aims at cooperation, not confrontation, and looks to Ohio’s future.
Top of the to-do list: helping the Ohio Agriculture Department promote best practices among farmers to reduce the agricultural runoff that feeds toxic algal blooms in western Lake Erie. That includes assistance to farmers to buy needed equipment and pay for soil tests.
H2Ohio money will also be used to bolster anti-pollution efforts along the state’s waterways and to help the Ohio Department of Natural Resources protect and create wetlands – nature’s water filters – in the coastal and upland wetlands of Lake Erie’s imperiled western basin, as well as statewide.
Most Ohioans surely are, and will remain, supportive of what DeWine aims to do. That is, public support shouldn’t be a challenge.
But keeping the General Assembly’s noses to the grindstone may be.
H2Ohio recognizes that agricultural runoff is the No. 1 water-quality threat Ohio faces. But Statehouse buckling in the face of factory farm lobbying has got to stop. Now.
The legislature needs to be reminded that what Mike DeWine wants for Lake Erie, and for all Ohio’s water resources, is what most Ohioans want, too.
DeWine also wants to improve wastewater collection and treatment; replace failing septic systems; and prevent lead contamination in “high-risk day care centers and schools.”
The goals of H2Ohio are critical — to protect the state’s irreplaceable freshwater resources.
But H2Ohio also is ambitious, and ambitious programs can be pricey. Yet the long-term funding is uncertain.
The two-year state budget signed into law last July provided the new H2Ohio Fund with $172 million from surplus General Revenue Fund revenue on hand last June 30. For this fiscal year, which will end next June 30, legislators specifically earmarked a combined $85.2 million.
For next fiscal year, which will begin July 1, the budget earmarked 50 percent of any surplus General Revenue Fund revenue on hand next June 30, but the dollar amount won’t be known until next July.
Given the scope of the tasks that H2Ohio is being asked to undertake, it’s a fair question whether DeWine and/or legislators should devise a more predictable or at least a more consistent funding plan for H2Ohio.
The Ohio Constitution forbids the legislature from making any appropriation for more than two years at a time. But H2Ohio’s mission is big, and its horizon long-term.
Whether by voter-approved bond issue or some other set-up, budgeting for H2Ohio needs some predictability. Legislators and other Statehouse officials come and go – but H2Ohio’s to-do list will take years to complete. And history teaches that relying on the General Assembly’s stated commitments can be a bad bet for Ohioans.
Online: https://bit.ly/357bjN8
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Give rape victims accountability
The Toledo Blade
Dec. 9
Ohio’s process for making full and effective use of the physical evidence provided by rape victims is nearing an important milestone. But the process is taking too long and needs to be implemented quickly.
Under legislation passed last year, the state government must set up a system that will enable victims to check on the status of their rape kits, which contain physical and DNA evidence from rape cases. Sexual assault evidence kits will be given scannable barcodes or tracking numbers, which will be provided to victims.
Ohio has selected the statewide tracking system that will allow victims to anonymously check the status of their evidence from the time it is collected, to when it is tested, and as the kits are later stored or destroyed, the Cleveland Plain Dealer reported. The system was built from scratch by the state of Idaho, which then provided it at no cost to other states.
The Ohio law, passed in December, 2018, gave a one-year window from the time the tracking system is created for entities that are part of the “chain of custody” for rape kits to start utilizing it.
Attorney General Dave Yost’s office says the next step in bringing the checkable database online includes working with medical, lab, law enforcement, and victim-advocacy partners to develop guidelines a state rules committee will have to approve. Mr. Yost’s office has hired a contractor to make sure the Idaho software system is integrated and accessible for all the different agencies that will need to share information.
That process will be done around March, according to the AG’s office. Mr. Yost should continue to ensure that the pace of establishing the machinery for this important resource is moving ahead with all the urgency it demands.
The status of rape kits in Ohio is politically potent. As a former Republican U.S. senator, Mike DeWine in 2010 made the issue central to his successful campaign against incumbent Democrat Richard Cordray for state attorney general. Mr. DeWine promised to accelerate the testing of those rape kits and committed to having the state take over the cost of testing that scientific evidence.
As the unsuccessful Democratic nominee for governor in 2018, Mr. Cordray tried to turn the tables on Mr. DeWine for taking nearly his full two terms as attorney general to ensure that nearly 14,000 backlogged rape kits got tested.
Ohio has come a long way from the years when rape kits were left stacked up and forgotten in police evidence closets, and rapists were able to commit repeat offenses. But it has a ways to go. This system needs to be put into place as soon as possible.
Online: https://bit.ly/2Pt9unb
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