America's
manufacturing sector was established in Ohio. But decades of
deindustrialization have left once-thriving communities across the state
in ruins. Ohio's manufacturing jobs were slashed to half by 2016, and
median household income fell below the national average.
At the same time, tens of thousands of Ohioans lost their jobs,
became depressed under financial pressure, and from 2008 to 2017, the
suicide rate in the state jumped 24%, according to the Akron Beacon Journal.
Some of the highest rates were located in Appalachian Ohio, the
southeastern part of the state, and the suicide rate among men was four
times greater than women.
Rates skyrocketed 80% among young millennials (children 14 and
younger) and 57% for baby boomers, according to a report published by
the 28-organization public-private Ohio Alliance for Innovation in
Population Health.
During the period, there were 15,246 suicides across the state, for
an average annual rate of 13.3 deaths per 100,000 people, the report
says, which equates to more than 520,000 years of life were lost over
the decade.
Summit County had 786 suicides from 2008 to 2017, at a rate of 14.51
per 100,000 population. Summit's economy experienced deep
deindustrialization over the years, leaving surrounding communities in a
state of shock.
Other counties and their suicides and rates were: Stark (591, 15.74),
Medina (206, 11.95), Portage (189, 11.71), Cuyahoga (1,461, 11.41) and
Wayne (125, 10.92).
Lori Criss, director of the Ohio Department of Mental Health and
Addiction Services, said the suicide crisis is a significant concern for
the State Health Improvement Plan.
"Our department and a number of others have initiatives that address
suicide prevention and support families impacted by losing a loved one
to suicide," Criss said. "This gives us a chance to really look at those
and to grow them in intentional ways to have the impact that we need
with specific communities or populations who are at higher risk."
The report shows nine of the 10 Ohio counties with the highest suicide rates are located in the Appalachian region.
Orman Hall, the study's author, explained these areas had experienced economic deprivation through deindustrialization.
Michelle Price, program director at the Ohio Suicide Prevention
Foundation, added that these counties had seen incomes collapse for
farmers and industrial workers.
Other findings: The highest suicide rates were among white Ohioans;
rate increases were more in rural communities than in metropolitan
areas, and firearms accounted for half of all suicides.
With a manufacturing recovery nowhere in sight and a deepening trade
war, it's likely suicide rates across the state will continue to move
higher into 2020. When the next downturn strikes, one-off factors
relating to financial asset losses could drive the rate to record highs.
RACINE — Uptown's tangled red
sculpture is showing its age; some edges are speckled with rust but in
some places, particularly inside the artwork, whole stretches are more
rust than paint.
The
sculpture was commissioned by former Mayor Gary Becker to herald a new
era for the neighborhood as an arts district, a vision that quickly fell
apart after Becker's arrest in 2009.
Now,
Visioning a Greater Racine's revitalization team is reviving the dream
of an arts district but on a smaller scale; instead of inviting artists
across the country to flock to Uptown, they hope to beautify and
revitalize the district through public art that also promotes local
"artists, creatives and influencers."
Kristina
Campbell, owner of The Branch, 1501 Washington Ave., is spearheading an
initiative, along with the local nonprofit Visioning a Greater Racine,
to show the sculpture some love.
Herbie: I don’t have insurance either, but a
check-up at the doctor’s is a no-win situation. Say you’re feeling kind
of OK but it’s time for your regular physical, so you go and the doctor
gives you a gold-star clean bill of health. What have you accomplished? Emil: Fock if I know. Herbie: You’ve kissed off a couple hours of your
precious time, not to mention the big-ass bite your checkbook just took.
It’s like putting on a pair of brown shoes in the morning and then
asking the first guy you pass on the street to tell you what color your
shoes are. He says, “Your shoes are brown, fockstick.” And you say,
“Thank you, sir. Here’s a check for $350 bucks.” Well that’s just crazy,
I don’t care who you are. Ernie: You got a point there, Herbie. Ray: And speaking of fockstick… Little Jimmy Iodine: Hey, Artie! Over here. Put a load on your keister. Art: Hey gents, what do you hear, what do you know. Ernie: I heard Aaron Rodgers was on that “Thrones” TV game show last Sunday. Ray: I saw it. And like most focking Sundays the last couple years, he was on the losing side. Julius: And I know the wife is telling me she wants
to sign us up for such a thing, some kind of dancer-cize class. You get
to dance with the exercise to boot, she says. Ray: You got to be jerking my beefaroni. Dance and
exercise? What the fock, how can dancing possibly be good for you. You
ever see these ballerinas? How can possessing the physical stature of a
prisoner-of-war possibly be healthy for you’s? Those gals need to eat
more, and I don’t mean “dining,” I mean “chowing.” Skip the tutu; put on
the feedbag. Herbie: Dancing is one of those human baggage things
we Homo sapiens still lug around from prehistoric times, like
appendicitis. Dancing was discovered by the cavemen, who often stepped
on sharp objects ’cause they had yet to evolve the necessary brainpower
to invent shoes or the flashlight. Ernie: And exercise can kill a guy, what the fock.
Look at all these knobshines keeling over left and right from this
jogging malarkey. All exercising does is to put the unnecessary wear and
tear on your muscles, your bones and your what-not. Emil: I’ll bet you’s a buck two-eighty the
Neanderthal man never came back home from a day-and-a-focking-half of
hardcore hunting and gathering and told the wife to hold supper for a
bit ’cause he wanted to put on his shorts and go for a goddamn jog,
ain’a? Art: Any you’s guys see in the papers that some kind
of researchers with fossil records are saying the so-called modern
humans 40,000 years were porking the Neanderthals, who happened to be a
different focking species? Ray: A different species? Big focking deal. You ever been to Tijuana? Little Jimmy: You kind of got to feel sorry for
those Neanderthals. I don’t know much about them, but it seems they were
like the trailer trash of the human line of evolution, then one day all
of a sudden they’re scoring some booty from some hot piece of new
species and the next thing they know, they’re extinct. Art: I’d sure like to shake hands with the first
ape-type guy who had the good sense to walk about on only two legs.
Focking-A, at the time the rest of his gang probably considered it only a
cheap parlor gag, but I wish I had a time machine so I could go back
and give this genius some kind of reward for having the presence of mind
to understand that a couple, three million years in the future, mankind
couldn’t be running around on all fours when he would need two of them
to pause the remote, light a cigarette, start the car, or point to
someone in the audience at a presidential debate. Little Jimmy: It’s really a shame. I just wish that
the video camera would’ve been discovered before the cavemen found the
wheel or invented fire so that we’d have an accurate record of this
stuff and be able to give credit where credit’s due, ain’a?
(It’s getting late and I know you got to go, but thanks for letting us bend your ear ’cause I’m Art Kumbalek and I told you so.)
RACINE — A development of about 190
market-rate apartments and a five-story hotel — an investment of more
than $40 million — is proposed for a key Downtown redevelopment site.
At
his office Tuesday morning, Mayor Cory Mason announced a partnership
with Hovde Properties of Madison to build on the former We Energies
property at 233 Lake Ave., the southeast corner of Lake Avenue and
Gaslight Drive.
The project
includes two multistory apartment buildings, a hotel, a green central
courtyard and an enclosed parking structure with a total value exceeding
$40 million when completed.
Mason
said of the plan: “It provides two things that we need more of:
market-rate housing and hotel space, so it seems a good fit for the
site.”
Hello, my children! How are you? Our weather may actually be catching up to spring. Or we'll all wear winter coats to the 4th of July Parade. I'm very disappointed with the weather this spring. We've had snow and slush on a couple of occasions. This is autumnal weather. I keep counting the days till Christmas. I wouldn't mind a cool summer, but I don't want a cold one. That seems to be the direction we're headed in. Climate Change is nasty and can kill thousands of species of animals. Just what the planet needs: more death. A couple of days ago there was as much CO2 in the air as there was 300 million years ago. That was a totally different world than ours. But we could get there. What do you think of the idea of redesigning Monument Square? I think it's idiotic Why does money burn such a hole in politician's pockets? We're hiring some sort of firm to oversee the new design. Always we hire some outside firm for just about everything. It appears that Racine lacks the talent to do the job ourselves. In any case, the Square does not need it. Just you wait: sooner or later someone will suggest removing the monument. And they'll seriously consider it. We have a large crew of "outsiders" running this city. None of them come from here. And some come from less than savory backgrounds. I'm so tired of people who know nothing about Racine telling us what to do with our city. They're just more suits standing in Mr.Mayor's welfare line. If he likes you, you're in. If he doesn't, you're out. Mr. Mayor and his wife appears to be quite well off. Especially with the help of the city assessor who valued the Mason's home and lot at about half of what his neighbors received. It's good to be king. I'm still waiting for Foxconn to fold. Maybe it won't happen until the plant is fully engaged. They have lied so much that I think they could give Lying John a run for his money, Lies, secret courts, sealed documents, etc., etc. are the fruits of Mason's tree. And Mr. Gou is running for president of Taiwan. What a mess. All of the housing developments because of Foxconn have to pause when Foxconn stalls. When it finally dumps on us, we'll be left with a mess of housing and no one to live there. Mr. Mayor Mason will have to come up with some sort of dog and pony show to keep the developers happy. So it's a waiting game to see what and when Foxconn builds, and how much housing they'll need. @NorthBeach might turn into a water park after all. Downtown, downtown, downtown, It's all you ever hear about. The rest of the city flounders while downtown flourishes with the constant injection of money into the area. The areas outside of downtown should secede from Racine. Let downtown try to stand on its own feet. Ha! It would fall flat on its face. Without a steady stream of subsidy money from the taxpayers. Oh, the injustices! Will they ever end? Only when man changes himself.
In the meantime, try to do right and believe in a Higher Power. Stay small. Stay quiet. Stay simple. Let your Higher Power find you. It's the only way to salvation. _________________________ Please donate: paypal.me/jgmazelisIf you don't like PayPal, send me a note at madamezoltar@jtirregulars.com and I'll send you my street address so you can send a check or money order. Thank you.
The Journal Times newspaper in Racine told state officials Monday it will cut 39 production jobs. (Photo: Rick Romell, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel)
he Journal Times plans to cut 39 jobs that appear to be associated with production of the daily newspaper in Racine.
Positions
being eliminated include press operators, maintenance workers and
packaging associates. The Journal Times, part of Lee Enterprises Inc.,
notified state officials of the job cuts Monday. The layoffs are
expected to take place on July 14.
Mark Lewis,
president and publisher of The Journal Times, referred an inquiry to the
Lee corporate offices in Davenport, Iowa. Lee’s communications
director, Charles Arms, told a reporter to contact The Journal Times.
Lee
publishes about 50 daily newspapers, including several in Wisconsin.
Among the Wisconsin dailies are the Kenosha News, which Lee bought in
January; the La Crosse Tribune; and, through the company’s stake in
Madison Newspapers Inc., the Wisconsin State Journal.
Contact Rick Romell at (414) 224-2130 or rick.romell@jrn.com. Follow him on Twitter at @RickRomell
A new study finds that private hospitals close to ambulances more
quickly when a nearby public hospital, that has more uninsured patients,
goes on ambulance diversion. (Photo: File image)
Hospitals that temporarily shut their
doors to ambulances have long argued the decision is driven purely by
volume, so sick patients don't have to endure long waits for care in
crowded emergency rooms.
But a new
study has uncovered evidence of another motive for the practice:
Hospitals may be turning away ambulances for financial reasons
by avoiding treating patients with government health insurance or no
coverage at all.
Using data from California, the study found
evidence that suggests private hospitals are more likely to go on what
is known as "ambulance diversion" if a nearby public hospital, which
treats more indigent patients, is already turning away ambulances.
In
other words, researchers found private hospitals acted differently — by
three separate measurements — depending on whether the nearby hospital
turning away ambulances was public or private.
The researchers termed this behavior "strategic diversion."
Earlier
studies have documented "defensive diversions," where a hospital will
close because its ER is being overrun with patients after nearby
hospitals also have closed.
I've been dealing with doctors and hospitals quite a bit lately. I don't find this the least bit surprising. Turns out the further you go to the top of hospitals, the more pork you find.
Then there was Keith’s take on Mick’s private parts. In
Life, the Stones guitar player mocked the frontman’s “tiny todger.”
Again, it wasn’t the sort of thing you like to hear from an old pal.
(Mick said an apology from Keith “a prerequisite” for their relationship
to continue following the publication.)
Above: Aerial view of the four structures of the
Mississippi River Old River Control Structure, looking downstream to the
south. Water flows from the Mississippi River through the four
structures, to the Atchafalaya River (right). Image credit: U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
America has an Achilles' heel. It lies on a quiet, unpopulated
stretch of the Mississippi River in Louisiana, 45 miles upstream from
Baton Rouge. Rising up from the flat, wooded west flood plain of the
Mississippi River are four massive concrete and steel structures that
would make a pharaoh envious: the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ greatest
work, the two billion-dollar Old River Control Structure (ORCS). The
ORCS saw its second highest flood on record in March 2019, and flood
levels have risen again this week to their fifth highest level on
record. While the structure is built to handle the unusual stress this
year's floods have subjected it to, there is reason for concern for its
long-term survival, since failure of the Old RIver Control Structure
would be a catastrophe with global impact.
This first part of a
3-part series will study the history and importance of this critical
structure, and how it almost failed in 1973. Part II, scheduled to run
on Monday, is titled, Escalating Flood Heights Puts Mississippi River’s Old River Control Structure at Increasing Threat of Failure. Part III is titled, If theOld River Control Structure Fails: A Catastrophe With Global Impact, and will run later next week.
What’s going on in Racine County? Is there any real difference between
the Republicans and Democrats, or are they working together against the
People? Once you are accepted into the true inner circles of power,
there are NO Republicans or Democrats, just Political Opportunists ruled
by Corporate Interests. The reward for complying is just more pay
raises, tax-free fringes of $30,000, $40,000+, retirements, double
dipping, loot and scoot (take your taxpayer funded retirement and move
to a State with no income tax), no accountability (just ask Rich and
Jennifer Chiapete or Tim Zarzecki). You sit on Boards of non-profit
Organizations which are taxpayer funded, but not subject to Wisconsin’s
Open Records Laws, and spend hundreds of millions looted from the
taxpayers which benefit the politically correct connected. If your
political career is in jeopardy because of personal sins, there are
taxpayer funded Non-Profits and Corporations which will employ you and
see you through. Meanwhile, the Little People are abused, jailed and
fined, and the tax and fee hikes just keep coming! But that’s how it
works in a kleptocracy – and that’s the form of government which
operates throughout Racine County.
