PLAIN DEALER OPINION

Our Views and Yours: Editorials, Columns and Letters

The clearest driver for efforts to move the Cleveland-Cuyahoga County Port Authority from its prime downtown lakefront spot to someplace else is public waterfront access. Opening up that part of the Lake Erie shore for parks and open space is contemplated in nearly every city and lakefront plan -- the only variation being where exactly to put a relocated... Full story »

Even if Cleveland's temperature tops out in the low 50s today, as predicted, it will be no less perfect a day for ice skating -- outdoors. Throw on a light sweatshirt, grab your skates -- don't stop to sharpen them -- and head for Wade Oval, where the "ice" opens at noon for the first time this season. It... Full story »

Actions to enforce trade laws will keep jobs in America by bolstering U.S. manufacturing, and will contribute to a greener global environment. The best place to make things is not in China, but here in the United States.  Full story »

An effective, affordable insurance program spreads the risks. What's ironic is that many Republicans in the past have agreed with this inescapable logic. They were for the mandate before they were against it.  Full story »

What can force accomplish against Iran's nuclear program? There is little doubt that we could set it back, maybe for years. But that would not eliminate the threat, and would almost certainly stiffen Iran's resolve to proceed.  Full story »

Nationwide telephone poll asks opinions on U.S.-China relations.  Full story »

Port Auth. Sludge Full story »

Not that long ago, the Cleveland Clinic's idea of upgrading Huron Hospital's Level II trauma center to Level I status touched off a battle with the MetroHealth System. MetroHealth officials and others questioned, credibly, whether the area could sustain more than one Level I unit. Clinic officials, to their credit, backed off. And they did more than that. They... Full story »

CHEERS . . . to Cleveland Airport Director Ricky Smith for allowing Cleveland Hopkins International Airport to make the switch to free Wi-Fi access throughout the terminal. Local nonprofit OneCommunity is providing the service. Travelers are going to be pleased. JEERS . . . to Cleveland Clerk of Courts Earle Turner for dropping a cloak of secrecy over the... Full story »

The sweeping overhaul of the health care system -- which Congress is halfway toward enacting -- would create new, open-ended medical entitlements that threaten higher deficits and would do little to suppress surging health costs.  Full story »

Unless the Obama White House finds more realistic ways of paying for the promises included in the House's health care bill, it is simply setting the public up for more frustration -- and itself for a political backlash.  Full story »

Attorney General Eric Holder is displaying an exaggerated respect for the work of federal prosecutors in New York by asking them to make the case against five 9/11 conspirators, in a circus atmosphere, with an uncertain chain of evidence.  Full story »

Turkey tips Full story »

Who are Americans today? What do they really want? The next 12 months will tell the tale. Full story »

Without a doubt, Ohio's most effective economic development initiative is the Third Frontier program of investment in commercially promising, cutting-edge technologies. Since 2002, the Third Frontier has encouraged the work of scientists and entrepreneurs, the formation of new companies and the creation of an estimated 41,000 high-end jobs. It also has leveraged far more private investment than even its... Full story »