A Matter of Opinion

Editorial: Fehrenbach was right to confront Obama

By the Dayton Daily News | Saturday, July 4, 2009, 01:52 AM

Air Force Lt. Col. Victor Fehrenbach, a Wayne High School graduate, was doing his duty when he confronted President Barack Obama on Monday about the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy on gays.

Lt. Col. Fehrenbach, 39, was among 250 to 300 gays and lesbians who came to the White House on the 40th anniversary of the Stonewall Rebellion that helped launch the gay rights movement. In his two-minute discussion with the president, the highly decorated aviator said he emphasized that his comrades didn’t care about his sexual orientation, that they saw it as a “non-issue.”

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Permalink | Comments (6) | Post your comment More: Civil Rights, Editorials, Scott Elliott, Wright Patterson Air Force Base

Editorial: States should count grads same way

By the Dayton Daily News | Thursday, July 2, 2009, 04:45 PM

Summer may be down time for students and teachers, but it is the busy season for education data. Right now, Ohio’s school districts are double-checking reports from the state about test scores and attendance and graduation rates, in preparation for the August public release of their report cards.

That’s when an odd problem with graduation rates will resurface.

Ohio’s most recent official data shows a statewide graduation rate of 86.9 percent, which sounds pretty good. Except that rate might not be real. A nonprofit group called Editorial Projects in Education says the percentage is actually 10 points lower.

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Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment More: Editorials, Education, Scott Elliott

Check out this mountain biking video

By the Dayton Daily News | Thursday, July 2, 2009, 04:06 PM

Check out this video from mountain biking at MetroParks’ Mountain Biking Area.

Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment More: Kevin Riley, Sports and Recreation, Transportation

Kevin Riley: Go mountain biking

By Kevin Riley | Wednesday, July 1, 2009, 04:46 PM

When you tell someone around here you’re going mountain biking, they assume you’re going out of town.

When you tell them, no, you’re going mountain biking in Dayton, you get a funny look.

But it can be done here — and in a big way.

Watch a video where I prove it.

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Permalink | Comments (9) | Post your comment More: Columns, Dayton Creative Class Initiative, Economy, Kevin Riley, Sports and Recreation, Transportation

How about this NCR “For Sale” ad?

By the Dayton Daily News | Tuesday, June 30, 2009, 05:59 PM

Lorraine Russell won this Mike Peters cartoon

We have a winner! Earlier this month, we asked readers to write the “for sale” ad for NCR’s corporate headquarters. Two dozen of you took us up.

We liked Lorraine Russell’s submission best.

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Permalink | Comments (0) | Post your comment More: City of Dayton, Ellen Belcher, Local Business, Local History

Martin Gottlieb: Righter-than-right forces tug at local Republicans

By Martin Gottlieb | Tuesday, June 30, 2009, 05:53 PM

If you were to judge by the headlines in Butler and Warren counties in this no-big-elections year, you might get the sense the real action in politics these days is on the political right.

The hard right. The righter-than-right right.

If, on the other hand, you have followed the national media all year, you know there’s been a lot of hand-wringing about whether the conservative movement has lost appeal beyond the Republican base and whether the party must move toward the center.

When some political people talk about the party’s base, they use the phrase “Southern, white males.” They’re exaggerating for effect, of course. Still, they might add the exurban Northerners, the people who live beyond the suburbs that surround a big city. John McCain beat Barack Obama by well over 2-1 in Warren County and by about 5-3 in Butler.

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Editorial: Strickland, Republicans play chicken

By the Dayton Daily News | Tuesday, June 30, 2009, 05:46 PM

If an important principle were behind the bitter stalemate between Gov. Ted Strickland and Senate Republicans, maybe they could be forgiven for their inability to pass a budget.

But the disagreement about whether to allow electronic slot machines at Ohio’s seven horse racing tracks does not come down to principle.

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Permalink | Comments (2) | Post your comment More: Editorials, Ellen Belcher, Ohio government, Ohio politics