Ohio

How JD Vance's Ohio hometown defied his expectations

Published

1 year ago

July 26, 2024

How JD Vance's Ohio hometown defied his expectations

By Nicholas P. Brown

MIDDLETOWN, Ohio (Reuters) – In his bestselling 2016 memoir, Republican vice presidential hopeful JD Vance questioned whether rural, white Americans, like those in his native Middletown, Ohio, had the drive to reverse their economic decline. But as Vance was writing, his hometown was in the thick of the grassroots revitalization he envisioned.

Vance’s “Hillbilly Elegy: A Memoir of a Family and Culture in Crisis” tried to explain the mindset of white Appalachian voters at a time when many Americans were baffled by the popularity of Donald Trump, who would win the presidential election later that year.

The Yale-educated Ohio senator, who was tapped earlier this month to be Trump’s running mate in the Nov. 5 election, urged this struggling cohort to take more responsibility for its problems, stop looking to government or big companies for solutions, and work harder to improve its lot.

Chunks of Middletown still encapsulate the hackneyed images of the disenfranchised industrial hubs Vance wrote about: shabby strip malls sit along sprawling, potholed thoroughfares in a city where Trump flags fly from pickup trucks.

But there’s a different vibe in the southwestern Ohio city’s downtown. A brewery, wine bar, art collective, and even an opera house surround intersections bridged by sleek brick crosswalks and walls brightened by murals. Rainbow flags, left over from last month’s LGBTQ Pride celebrations, hang in several windows.

It’s part of a revitalization that, while far from complete, conflicts with the 2016 book’s portrayal of a community that is a “hub of misery,” and whose people react “to bad circumstances in the worst way possible,” according to some 20 locals interviewed by Reuters.

“We’ve been through this before, where we’ve had to reinvent ourselves. That’s what I think people lose sight of,” said Sam Ashworth, trustee and former executive director of the city’s historical society.

Ashworth noted that the city’s population, which is about 78% white, experienced industrial shifts throughout the 20th century that saw the loss of jobs in the tobacco and paper industries. “JD’s time in Middletown was very short,” said Ashworth, 83.

The Middletown of Vance’s youth was reeling from contraction and labor disputes at its AK Steel plant, which in 2003 – the year Vance graduated from high school – employed around 4,000 people, sharply down from its heyday in the 1970s.

The 2007-2009 recession compounded the strain, triggering a decline in city property tax revenue. AK Steel continued to downsize, employing about 2,300 people in 2012, municipal financial records show. The plant is owned today by Cleveland-Cliffs Inc.

Vance’s memoir referred to disenfranchised white communities as “a pessimistic bunch,” asking rhetorically if they were “tough enough” to hold themselves accountable for their plight and reverse their fortunes. “We created the (problems), and only we can fix them,” the future U.S. senator wrote.

Middletown, part of a staunchly conservative congressional district that voted overwhelmingly for Trump in the 2016 and 2020 presidential elections, is trying to do just that.

Between 2012 and 2022, the city’s income tax revenue spiked from $19.7 million to $33.6 million, according to official records. Optimism has been further fueled by Cleveland-Cliffs’ announcement this year of a $2 billion investment in its Middletown Works steel plant, and the city has approved a new, $200 million commercial development on 50 acres of municipal land.

The city, with a population of about 51,000, still grapples with high poverty and low median income, and the 75-bed Hope House Mission, a local homeless shelter, remains consistently full, said Tim Williams, the shelter’s vice president of homeless services.

But the situation is improving, and locals credit that to the kind of bootstraps-style initiative whose prospects Vance had questioned. “He makes it sound like this place sucks you in and that you’re destined to fail,” said Rochelle Zecher, a 42-year-old shop owner. “But this community builds itself up.”

Vance’s press secretary had no immediate comment on Reuters’ reporting.

FEDERAL FUNDS

In 2011, the city government and the Middletown Community Foundation created Downtown Middletown Inc, a nonprofit organization that helps market the city’s commercial district. With capital limited after the recession, city leaders got creative in finding money, including by using funds left over from a previous redevelopment loan.

That same year the city persuaded Cincinnati entrepreneur Jim Verdin to refurbish a building that now houses the Pendleton Art Center, creating space for 30 art vendors at little cost to Middletown.

Triple Moon Coffee Company, across the street from the art center, was launched in 2015 by lifelong Middletown resident Heather Gibson, who opened it with funds from her partner’s long-forgotten AK Steel retirement account.

The cafe is one of at least five LGBTQ-owned businesses in Middletown, said Duane Gordon, spokesman for the Middletown Pride Committee, who added that the city’s outreach to a wider array of communities helped spur its economic revitalization.

Middletown navigated the coronavirus pandemic with help from the federal government, receiving $19 million from Democratic President Joe Biden’s American Rescue Plan of 2021. City businesses got a combined $75 million from the Paycheck Protection Program – a business loan initiative signed by Trump and later extended by Biden – according to the federal government’s pandemic spending database.

The Republican Party’s 2024 platform promises to “rein in wasteful federal spending” as a way of “promoting economic growth,” and Vance has voiced skepticism about how much federal policymakers can do for local communities.

But Gibson, who used her PPP loan to open a drive-through behind her cafe, said federal money saved her business.

“It was a sink-or-swim moment,” she said.

(Reporting by Nicholas P. Brown; Editing by Paul Simao)

Source link

Related Topics:donald trump Featured JD Vance middletown Middletown Community Foundation Ohio Sam Ashworth white Americans

Click to comment

Ohio

No. 2 Ohio State Wins Top 10 Battle over No. 9 Wolfpack, 26-10 | Ohio State

Published

4 hours ago

December 12, 2025

Press Room

No. 2 Ohio State Wins Top 10 Battle over No. 9 Wolfpack, 26-10 | Ohio State

COLUMBUS, Ohio — No. 2 Ohio State (8-0) remained undefeated with a 26-10 win over visiting No. 9 NC State (5-3) Friday at the Covelli Center.

How it Happened

125 – (1) Vincent Robinson (NCST) def. Brendan McCrone (OSU), MD, 12-3

Robinson opened the scoring with a takedown followed by a McCrone escape to send the bout to the second with NC State up 3-1. McCrone chose top to open the second after Robinson deferred choice. Robinson got the reversal to lead 5-2 after a McCrone escape. Robinson added a takedown to lead 8-2 after five minutes. Starting neutral, Robinson made it 11-2 with a takedown. McCrone escaped but with a point for riding time, Robinson won by major decision, 12-3.

133 – (2) Ben Davino (OSU) def. Zach Redding (NCST), D, 7-1

After two minutes, Davino scored the opening takedown for a 3-0 lead to go to the second. Davino chose bottom to start the second and quickly escaped for a 4-0 lead. Davino added a late takedown to lead 7-0 after two periods. Redding escaped to start the third to make it 7-1 Buckeyes. That’s the way if ended for a Davino win by decision, 7-1.

141 – (1) Jesse Mendez (OSU) def. (6) Ryan Jack (NCST), TF, 21-6

Mendez went on top 3-1 with a takedown and Jack escape. Mendez added another takedown on the edge of the mat to finish the period up 6-1. Mendez added three takedowns quickly to jump to a 15-4 advantage. Another pair of takedowns ended the match for a Mendez win by technical fall, 21-6.

149 – (6) Ethan Stiles (OSU) def. (7) Koy Buesgens (NCST), D, 4-3

There was no scoring in the opening the period. Stiles chose bottom to open the second and took the 1-0 lead with an escape for the only points of the middle period. Buesgens evened the bout at 1-all with an escape to open the third. Stiles was awarded a takedown that was challenged by NC State but upheld after video review for a 4-1 lead for the Buckeyes. Buesgens scored a late reversal but Stiles held on for a 4-3 win by decision.

157 – (4) Brandon Cannon (OSU) def. (11) Jackson Arrington (NCST), MD, 9-1

Cannon struck first with a late takedown for a 3-0 lead. Cannon chose bottom to start the second after Arrington deferred. Cannon scored a reversal for a 5-0 advantage after five minutes. The third period started neutral before a Cannon takedown made it 8-0. Arrington earned an escape but with a point for riding time, Cannon got the win by major decision, 9-1.

165 – (19) Will Denny (NCST) def. (11) Paddy Gallagher (OSU), SV-1, 6-5

Denny got on the board first with a takedown at the edge of the mat. Gallagher escaped to make it 3-1 Wolfpack at the end of the opening period. Gallagher closed the gap with an escape early in the second before taking the lead with a takedown to make it 5-4 after a Denny escape. The third started with Denny choosing bottom. He tied it at 5-all with an escape. The match then went to sudden victory. Denny got the win by decision, 6-5 when Gallagher was called for stalling.

174 – (5) Carson Kharchla (OSU) def. (3) Matthew Singleton (NCST), D, 8-4

Neither wrestler scored in the opening three minutes. Kharchla got the reversal for the first points of the match. Singleton then escaped to make it 2-1 Buckeyes. Kharchla scored a takedown to make it 5-2 after a Singleton escape. Singleton chose bottom to start the third and escaped to cut it to 5-3. Kharchla quickly added a takedown for an 8-4 advantage and a win by decision.

At 174, No. 5 Carson Kharchla (Ohio State) earns an 8–4 decision over No. 3 Matthew Singleton (North Carolina State). pic.twitter.com/Zz1SBQeaIT

— Saturday Night Lights (@WrestlingSNL) December 13, 2025

184 – (6) Dylan Fishback (OSU) def. Don Cates (NCST), MD, 12-1

Fishback opened the scoring with a takedown at the edge of the circle. Cates escaped before another Fishback takedown made it 6-1 before the end of the first. Fishback upped the lead with an early escape before adding another takedown for a 10-1 lead. Fishback finished off the match to win by major decision, 12-1.

197 – (14) Luke Geog (OSU) def. Cason Howle (NCST), MD, 17-4

Just a minute into the bout Geog scored the opening points with a takedown. Howle escaped before Geog added a takedown and a four-point nearfall to lead 10-1 after three minutes. Howle added an escape point to open the second. Geog, leading 10-2, escaped to open the third before adding a takedown for a 14-3 advantage. Another takedown got the win by major decision, 17-4.

HWT – (2) Isaac Trumble (NCST) def. (3) Nick Feldman (OSU), D, 5-1

Trumble jumped to a 3-0 lead with a takedown and built nearly 90 seconds of riding time before a Feldman escape make it 3-1. Trumble escaped to open the second to take a 4-1 lead into the third. Trumble finished off the match with a 5-1 win by decision with a point for riding time.

Up Next:

Ohio State will travel to Nashville Dec. 21 for the 2025 Collegiate Duals where they will take on Little Rock and No. 3 Iowa State.

Wt.	No. 2 Ohio State vs. No. 9 NC State	OSU	NCST
125	(1) Vincent Robinson (NCST) def. Brendan McCrone (OSU), MD, 12-3	0	4
133	(2) Ben Davino (OSU) def. Zach Redding (NCST), D, 7-1	3	4
141	(1) Jesse Mendez (OSU) def. (6) Ryan Jack (NCST), TF, 21-6	8	4
149	(6) Ethan Stiles (OSU) def. (7) Koy Buesgens (NCST), D, 4-3	11	4
157	(4) Brandon Cannon (OSU) def. (11) Jackson Arrington (NCST), MD, 9-1	15	4
165	(19) Will Denny (NCST) def. (11) Paddy Gallagher (OSU), SV-1, 6-5	15	7
174	(5) Carson Kharchla (OSU) def. (3) Matthew Singleton (NCST), D, 8-4	18	7
184	(6) Dylan Fishback (OSU) def. Don Cates (NCST), MD, 12-1	22	7
197	(14) Luke Geog (OSU) def. Cason Howle (NCST), MD, 17-4	26	7
HWT	(2) Isaac Trumble (NCST) def. (3) Nick Feldman (OSU), D, 5-1	26	10
	Attendance: 3,895

#GoBucks

Source link

Ohio

Ohio Goes to the Movies announces lineup for free, yearlong statewide film festival

Published

16 hours ago

December 12, 2025

Press Room

Ohio Goes to the Movies announces lineup for free, yearlong statewide film festival

CLEVELAND, Ohio — Ohio Goes to the Movies, the statewide film festival launching in February, is coming into focus. Organizers have released the initial schedule for the nearly yearlong event. Part of the state’s America 250 celebration, it will bring more than 280 screenings to all 88 counties. Each film is tied to the Buckeye State in some way, and all screenings are free.

“Ohio has played a significant role in the history of American film and continues to attract talent, productions and storytelling that resonate around the world,” Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine said in a statement. “Ohio Goes to the Movies ensures that residents in every community can participate in the America 250 celebration and rediscover the films that connect us.”

From classic movies starring or made by Ohioans to Hollywood blockbusters shot in downtown Cleveland, the lineup highlights the depth of the state’s influence on the film industry. The festival is also meant to encourage movie fans to explore the state by attending screenings all over Ohio.

Here’s a list of events planned for Northeast Ohio’s seven-county region.

CUYAHOGA COUNTY

“Close Encounters of the Third Kind.” Feb. 12. Phoenix Theatres Great Northern Mall.

“Major League.” March 1. Cinemark Strongsville at SouthPark Mall.

“Draft Day.” March 1. Cinemark Valley View.

“Welcome to Collinwood.” March 12. Cleveland History Center.

“Major League.” April 5. Capitol Theatre.

“Cool Hand Luke.” April 12. Cedar Lee Theatre.

“Draft Day.” April 23. Atlas Cinemas at Shaker Square.

“Toy Story 2.” June 24. Chagrin Documentary Film Festival HQ.

“The Scarlet Letter.” July 11. Cleveland Silent Film Festival at Cleveland Public Library.

“Captain America: The Winter Soldier.” July 11. Great Lakes Science Center.

“More Than a Game.” Sept. 11. AMC Ridge Park Square.

“Superman.” Sept. 18. AMC Westwood Town Center.

“Passing Through.” Sept. 19. Cleveland Institute of Art Cinematheque.

“Kill the Irishman.” Oct. 6. Atlas Cinemas Lakeshore.

GEAUGA COUNTY

“A Christmas Story.” June 11. Mayfield Road Drive-In Theatre.

LAKE COUNTY

“White Boy Rick.” March 11. Regal Willoughby Commons.

“Superman.” April 8. Atlas Cinemas Great Lakes Stadium.

“Air Force One.” July 7. Atlas Cinemas Diamond Center.

LORAIN COUNTY

“The Princess Bride.” April 22. Apollo Theatre.

“The Hunger Games.” Sept. 18. Regal Cobblestone Square.

MEDINA COUNTY

“Major League.” March 7. Hickory Ridge Cinema.

“Draft Day.” Sept. 12. Regal Medina.

PORTAGE COUNTY

“Unstoppable.” Feb. 22. Atlas Cinemas Barrington.

“Dog Man.” March 8. The Kent Stage.

“The Philadelphia Story.” March 19. Kent State University Museum.

“A Christmas Story.” June 10. Midway Twin Drive-In Theatre.

SUMMIT COUNTY

“The Big Short.” Feb. 21. Regal Hudson.

“The Avengers.” April 12. Akron Civic Theatre.

“Howard the Duck.” May 21. The Nightlight Cinema.

“Down by Law.” June 13. Akron–Summit County Public Library Main.

For a complete guide, go to ohiogoestothemovies.org.

Source link

Ohio

Multiple homes destroyed by fire in Meigs County, Ohio

Published

1 day ago

December 11, 2025

Press Room

Multiple homes destroyed by fire in Meigs County, Ohio

POMEROY, Ohio (WCHS) — A fire destroyed one home and damaged two others Wednesday evening, but then rekindled early Thursday morning and destroyed another home, police said.

The fire was first reported just after 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday night in the 300 block of Wetzgall Street in Pomeroy, according to a press release from the Pomeroy Police Department.

According to police, the fire spread to the two homes on either side of the original home on fire. Firefighters contained the fire and saved the two surrounding homes, but the home that first caught fire was deemed a total loss.

Then, just after 3 a.m. on Thursday morning, the fire rekindled and spread to one of the other homes, resulting in a total loss of that home as well, police said.

Pomeroy police said both homes were occupied at the time of the fires, but all occupants of each home were able to exit their homes safely. Police also said that there were no reported injuries, though both families lost everything they owned due to the total losses of the homes.

The cause of the fire has not been determined, and the incident is still under active investigation by the Ohio State Fire Marshal’s Office, according to police.

Source link