Latest news with #KentStateUniversity
Chicago Tribune
04-07-2025
- Politics
- Chicago Tribune
Editorial: America is soon to turn 250. Remember the warmth of the bicentennial?
Friday marks the start of a countdown to America's 250th birthday next year, and rarely has the nation felt so divided. Or at least it hasn't felt so divided since the run-up to America's big milestone birthday. In 1976, 200 years after the Declaration of Independence, America celebrated its bicentennial in spectacular fashion, with parades and fireworks, festivals and historical reenactments. Tall ships graced New York Harbor, while a stirring ceremony got underway at Independence Hall in Philadelphia. A covered-wagon train passed through Illinois on its way to Valley Forge, Pennsylvania. More than 90% of the population participated in at least one 1776-related celebration. Red, white and blue were everywhere. The bicentennial arrived during a difficult time for the country, arguably more difficult than today. In 1976, social and political changes were coming quickly in the wake of the Civil Rights Movement, a lost war and a political crisis. The nation had just witnessed the Watergate scandal, including the shocking resignation of President Richard Nixon and what was, to some, the equally shocking pardon of Nixon by hand-picked successor Gerald Ford in 1974. The Vietnam War had ended in 1975, after many years of bitter protests, including the deaths of four students gunned down by Ohio National Guardsmen at Kent State University. Almost 60,000 Americans died in the war, and at least 3 million Vietnamese civilians and combatants. At the same time, America was locked in a dangerous Cold War against the Soviet Union. Thousands of nuclear warheads on a hair trigger were aimed at each nation's cities and military bases. The economy wasn't giving anyone a reason to celebrate. The Dow Jones industrial average barely cracked 1,000 that year, versus its current level of 44,000-plus. The annual inflation rate was 5.7% in 1976 and headed to double digits by the end of the decade. Today, it's 2.4%. Unemployment stood at 7.7%, nearly twice today's jobless rate of 4.1%. Worse yet, the seeds had been planted for the Rust Belt recessions that devastated American manufacturing workers in the early 1980s, forever changing the face of Chicago and the Midwest. Even the music and hairstyles were divisive in the mid-1970s, not to mention the clothes — from the powder-blue leisure suits and skin-tight disco duds to denim, denim and more denim. Yet despite all that, Americans put aside their worries, prejudices and battle scars to come together for the country's 200th birthday. A wave of patriotism and nostalgia swept the nation, ushering in a renewed commitment to the ideals of liberty and equality enshrined in the Declaration of Independence. In his aptly named autobiography, 'A Time to Heal,' President Ford accurately described the bicentennial as a moment when Americans began to recover their pride and faith in the country. That was 50 years ago. Can it happen again next year for the 250th? Yes. The American people can come together to demonstrate their resilience and work toward a more perfect union. If that sounds impossible, consider how impossible it sounded in 1976. Planning for the 2026 birthday celebration is in the hands of a nonprofit with a multimillion-dollar budget operating under the banner of In a recent report to Congress, the group promised to deliver, 'The largest and most inspiring commemoration in our nation's history.' Former Presidents George W. Bush and Barack Obama have agreed to serve as honorary national co-chairs, along with the former first ladies. There are big-money corporate commitments and strategic partnerships. A national celebration is planned for Washington on July 4, 2026 — not far from 1600 Pennsylvania Ave., where the biggest wild card in planning the event resides. President Donald Trump, the success of this celebration in bringing together a divided country depends on you as much as anyone. Follow a self-centered, attack-dog script, and half the country will turn away, disgusted and convinced the Republic they love is in unworthy hands. Rise above the defensiveness and name-calling, show the capacity for leading the country as one, and perhaps the whole country will respond, as it did during the bicentennial. This nation needs to heal, and as 1976 demonstrated, a big birthday bash can indeed help to inspire a national reconciliation. America is crying out for it now just as much as it did then. Let's make it happen.
Yahoo
26-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Myrtle Beach Rabbi shares thoughts on Iran and Israel conflict
MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. (WBTW) — A Myrtle Beach-area rabbi is weighing in on the conflict between Israel and Iran as the two nations work toward a ceasefire after weeks of hositlity. Rabbi Josef Naparstek said generations ago, Iran's huge Middle Eastern footprint has driven the nation's leaders toward reclaiming that land — with Israel standing in its way since 1948. 'The U.S. showed that the conflict is not just between Israel and Iran, it's between the free world and Iran,' Naparstek, a rabbi at Chabad, said. Over the past two weeks, Naparstek said Israel took the initiative to defend itself against Iran after years aggression by it and proxies like Hamas — which is why a defensive attack was needed. 'They started building the nuclear bomb. And they're stating clearly that their goal is to destroy the state of Israel. So definitely, the intention, it's not for peaceful reasons, he said. 'It's not something that they say it's only for themselves.' * * * Gabby Jonas joined the News13 team as a multimedia journalist in April 2024. She is from Columbus, Ohio, and graduated from Kent State University in May 2023. Follow Gabby on X, formerly Twitter, Facebook or Instagram, and read more of her work here. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Yahoo
17-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Commit to Ohio schools with Fair Funding Plan
I am a proud graduate of a public school education: Glenwood High School in Canton; Kent State University (bachelor's and master's degrees in education). These institutions encouraged critical thinking, reasoning, creativeness and problem solving while giving me the tools of knowledge and information. I took these skills into a career as a public school educator, retiring after 32 years of service in K-12 schools and an additional 12 years at the college level. And now our state representatives are choosing to dismantle this system of public schools created in the Ohio constitution by decreasing funding, using 2022 data to determine the cost to educate K-12 students and restricting school cash balances — not following the Fair Funding Plan. Their budget wants buildings with a less than 60% capacity to be sold to outside entities with no regard for its usage — many housing technical programs and special needs classes that require larger spaces. And were paid for by our tax dollars. Why? What possible benefit would our children have by reducing staff, programs and services if these cuts are passed? The only benefits will be to charter schools that are not held accountable for spending, curriculum or outcomes. What happens to bus service, to lunch programs, to extracurricular programs including sports and arts, to advanced placement and International Baccalaureate opportunities? Public schools were created to educate all children regardless of aptitude, ability — both physical and cognitive, or economic standing. It's time to commit to public schools with Fair Funding to give Ohio students the high-quality education they deserve in order to prepare them for success. Joann Smith, Canton This article originally appeared on The Repository: Commit to Ohio schools with Fair Funding Plan | Letter
Yahoo
14-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Megan Giles Cooney column: Now is the time to remember tragedy of Kent State
I am a kid of the tragedy at Kent State University. I wasn't there, but I had a front-row seat to the awful aftermath of Ohio National Guard troops firing on protesting unarmed students, killing four and wounding nine others. 55 years ago, my father Robert Giles was the managing editor of the Akron Beacon Journal at the time of heightened national conflict over U.S. military involvement in the Vietnam War. A child at the time, I still have strong memories of the campus standoff between the armed troops and the anti-war students. The events and fallout impacted dad for the rest of his life. He wrote a book about his professional experiences during those unsettling days in May of 1970, titled 'When Truth Mattered: The Kent State Shootings 50 Years Later.' It isn't difficult to close my eyes and see how the scene now unfolding in Los Angeles with protesters and deployment of the National Guard and U.S. Marines is uncannily similar to Kent State. Large crowds protesting what they see as government overreach and the government responding with armed troops to control them. I fear a dreaded crack down inching toward confrontation. Nothing good will come from this. The events of May 4, 1970, at Kent State bear witness to potential tragedy. But will we look back and learn? It wasn't just the chaotic, awful day of the campus shootings; I also remember the phone calls my dad fielded nightly at home from the parents of some of the student victims. The shock, misery, and sorrow of those conversations reverberated around our breakfast nook as dad, phone to ear, listened to the grief, the human toll of the armed response on students who gathered to protest, but not to die. I hope the defiant people who are burning cars and spraying graffiti in protest of ICE arrests in Los Angeles and the armed soldiers who are there to ensure order let cooler heads prevail. Don't take steps that can't be revoked. Protesters stop burning cars, vandalizing buildings and don't spit on troops. and military leaders, don't rattle the situation by threatening to shoot citizens who have a constitutional right to free speech. Can we please prevail with reason so we don't repeat the mistakes that were of such national consequence in the past? We have many records of the event that happened at Kent State, including the lyrics 'Four Dead in Ohio.' The events burned like the words from the Crosby, Stills and Nash song that laid out the mess — civil unrest, armed National Guard troops, confusion and death. Collectively, we can't afford another heartbreak in Los Angeles. No good comes from hot-headed and violent conflict.
Yahoo
06-06-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Amid Devastation in Gaza, a Deepening Environmental Wound
The ongoing war in the Gaza Strip has obliterated trees, crops, and grasslands, according to a new assessment of the impact. Amid fighting that has killed more than 50,000 people, including more than 16,000 children, the Israeli campaign has also devastated farmland in Gaza, says He Yin, a geographer at Kent State University. For a recent study, Yin tracked the loss of vegetation in Gaza by evaluating satellite images through September 2024. The research showed massive destruction of orchards and croplands. In an update to that study, Yin tabulated the losses through the end of May 2025, sharing his findings with Yale Environment 360. The latest accounting shows damage to 78 to 98 percent of fallow fields and grasslands; 71 to 98 percent of annual crops; and 90 to 94 percent of tree crops. As most farms in Gaza span less than two acres, Yin told Yale E360 earlier this year, 'the loss of a single tree can be devastating.' In Gaza War, the Environmental Devastation Runs Deep
