- “Ohio’s big win: Honda’s new $4.4B electric battery plant to bring 2,500+ jobs”
- “Company chooses Sidney for nearly 1,200 new jobs”
- “Fuyao proposing $46M expansion that would create 500 new jobs”
- “Local job commitments set records after historic foreign investments”
Our team of journalists has gone beyond the headlines, digging deep to make sure you know what’s really going on. And it’s not just the economy — we also saw groundbreaking reports from arts to sports to community news.
The Dayton Daily News joined the nation in celebrating the 75th anniversary of the Air Force. We focused on the impact it’s had on the Dayton region. Meanwhile, Kings Island celebrated its 50th anniversary, and we covered every angle of the birthday of this beloved local playground.
The arts came back strong after two years of pandemic closures. A new opera based on the life of Katharine Wright premiered in Dayton, and “Hamilton” brought sold-out crowds to the Schuster Center. Festivals also returned in-person. From the Wright State University Arts Gala to the Dayton Art Institute Art Ball, our reporters and photographers were there to mark every joyous moment.
In sports, Wright State men’s basketball won its first-ever NCAA Tournament game in the First Four at UD Arena, Alter Girls basketball won their fifth straight title, and the Bengals went to the Super Bowl for the first time in more than 30 years.
2022 was a year for the record books in politics, too. In addition to our comprehensive voters’ guide, provided free to the community, we covered two primary elections after redistricting efforts by the state legislature were ruled unconstitutional twice.
Beyond these milestones, we provided unique coverage available nowhere else but the Dayton Daily News.
Our investigative team tracked the billions of dollars in COVID aid coming to local governments and institutions, and outlined how cities and counties have decided to spend that money. We uncovered local cases of fraud and abuse, investigating whether enough is being done to address that fraud. We also created searchable databases so you can track exactly how money is being spent in your local community.
We looked into the ongoing economic impact of the pandemic and inflation on our region, covering stories of retirees who returned to work and the strain on local families and businesses.
We also investigated the issue of stolen checks from local post offices, attracting the attention of lawmakers who demanded changes to protect mail delivery.
We did a series of investigations about childhood vaccines, examining how the COVID pandemic interrupted regular medical appointments, increased parental exemption requests of required vaccines and ultimately left children more at risk of other diseases such as measles, mumps and polio.
We provided monthly Dayton Daily News Community Conversations, live virtual events in which our journalists convened local experts to seek understanding and solutions to the community’s most pressing issues, from school safety to the pandemic’s ongoing impact on education to immigration.
We also told the amazing stories of 52 local residents who were selected as Dayton Daily News Community Gems, a celebration of the good things happening in our community and the people who are making a difference. We toasted the Gems with a special event at the Dayton Dragons Day Air Ballpark. We marked the amazing accomplishments of local luminaries, including local businessman Larry Connor, who flew to the International Space Station; Dayton native Amy Schneider, who became the second-winningest contestant in Jeopardy! history; and local politicians Nan Whaley and Mike DeWine, who went head-to-head for Ohio governor with DeWine winning re-election to his second term.
Our 2022 Best of Dayton engaged thousands of local voters and honored hundreds of local businesses, restaurants and institutions, and throughout the year we provided unique seasonal guides to festivals, arts, craft shows and so much more.
We brought home the impact of national and international developments, including the war in Ukraine and inflation.
And our coverage made a difference, with real impact on the lives of our community members: a Xenia man couldn’t get a Medicaid lien in someone else’s name removed from his property until the Dayton Daily News got involved and contacted the Attorney General’s office; our 2020 investigation into alleged rental assistance fraud continues with one of the landlords now facing federal charges; and Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine in February signed a bill into law addressing some of the issues identified in our reporting of failure in the child welfare system in light of the death of Takoda Collins.
We do all of this for you, and we do it because of you. The Dayton Daily News has been a part of this community since 1898, and next year we celebrate 125 years of award-winning local news. We live here and are invested in the future of the Dayton region. Your support makes all of this possible.
2022 has also been a momentous year for me personally. In January, I was named editor of the Dayton Daily News and chief content officer of Cox First Media. It is a privilege to hold this position and to lead our newsroom. My promise to you is that we will continue the kind of accountability journalism and community coverage that only the Dayton Daily News can provide.
We are grateful to you, our readers, and excited for the future of our community. Here’s to a safe, prosperous and very happy 2023!
Ashley Bethard
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