Ohio
I work in New York but commute from Ohio — it’s cheaper than living in NYC
He’s wingin’ it.
With rents in the Big Apple hitting record highs last year, Wall Street Journal reporter Chip Cutter is going above and beyond by “supercommuting” from his home in Columbus, Ohio, to NYC three days a week.
“When it came time to return [to the office] in 2022, I was underwhelmed at the housing options in my price range. I toured one-room studios facing brick walls and climbed crumbling staircases to reach dank apartments with ancient fixtures,” Cutter wrote in an essay this week.
“I thought I could keep my expenses — rent in Ohio, plus travel costs — at or below the price of a nice New York studio, or roughly $3,200 a month,” Cutter added, noting that he covers his own travel expenses to spend three days a week in the office.
The bold strategy isn’t entirely unorthodox — it’s actually gaining steam with the younger crowd as one Gen Zer boasted that she routinely commutes to Newark, NJ, from South Carolina to save money.
In Cutter’s case, he had relocated from NYC to an apartment near family early in the COVID-19 pandemic.
He planned to use travel miles and hotel points to make the journey worthwhile.
“To get to the office on time, I set my alarm in Columbus for 4:15 a.m. and hustled to the airport for 6 a.m. flights,” he penned. “When everything went according to plan, I made it door-to-door in three hours. If delays occurred, I scrambled to rebook on other flights.”
Cutter initially enjoyed swanky stays at high-end hotels like The Beekman — but such a lifestyle was unsustainable, he found.
“To conserve hotel points,” he traded Manhattan luxury — his newsroom is in the heart of Midtown on Sixth Avenue — for a South Queens hotel near Aqueduct Racetrack in the vicinity of JFK Airport and the Van Wyck Expressway.
“My rooms overlooked a sea of empty parking spaces, but required half as many points as Manhattan alternatives,” he shared.
And that was after staying at a Midtown Hampton Inn two days prior.
Inconsistency aside, supercommuting also exacted a social toll, Cutter lamented.
“I came to dread the go-to question asked at parties and work events in New York: ‘So where do you live?’” he sighed.
Not to mention, he’s trying to make it work in the nation’s inflation capital.
“Costs mounted in the fall, New York’s prime tourist and business-travel season. Friends teased me for embracing a life of chaos,” Cutter wrote.
“They weren’t wrong. Without a refrigerator or stove, late-night dinners often consisted of yogurt and fruit purchased from a 24-hour CVS. Needing to pack light, I stored shoes under my desk and left spare outfits on an office coat rack.”
Cutter eventually yielded to the yoke of planes, trains, and automobiles.
“In the end, the math didn’t work. I blew my budget by 15% and drained my miles balance,” he admitted. “But I flew so much and stayed in so many hotels that I kept my elite status with Hyatt and American.”
Still, he’s not ready to throw in the towel just yet — even as one co-worker demanded he “get a f—ing apartment.”
“My lease is up, but hotel rates in Manhattan this winter have plunged now that the holidays are over,” Cutter wrote. “Maybe that New York apartment search can be put off a little longer.”
Ohio
Geauga County plane crash kills 3: Report
MIDDLEFIELD, Ohio (WKBN) — The Ohio State Highway Patrol’s Chardon Post is investigating a fatal plane crash that killed three people around 3:30 p.m. Saturday.
According to a press release, about one mile east of the Geauga County Airport, a Piper Comanche 250 crashed into a field.
The plane sustained major damage — killing three Ohioans who were identified as Thomas A. Cunningham, 76, of Rome, John W. Taipale, 71, and Alexander C. Taipale, 40, both from Geneva.
OSHP was assisted by the Geauga County Sheriff’s Office, Geauga County Coroner’s Office, Geauga County Emergency Management Agency, Middlefield Fire Department and Community Care Ambulance.
The Western Reserve Port Authority, Youngstown-Warren Regional Airport’s executive director, Anthony Trevena, reached out to our team with a statement regarding the crash.
“We were heartbroken to learn that members of our extended YNG and Youngstown aviation family, were victims in today’s crash in Geagua County. Our deepest condolences go out the Cunningham and Taipale families. We ask that their privacy please be respected during this difficult time. The FAA and NTSB are leading the investigation to determine the cause and will provide any updates as information becomes available.,” Trevena said.
The Federal Aviation Administration and National Transportation Safety Board were notified of the crash.
The crash remains under investigation.
Ohio
Restrictions on social media use among children restored in Ohio
COLUMBUS, Ohio (WSYX) — As concerns have grown over the impact of social media on young people, lawmakers are pushing to keep protections in tact to keep children safe online.
This week the Sixth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that Ohio’s law, the Social Media Parental Notification Act, requiring parental consent for children under the age of 16 to use social media must be restored. Gov. Mike DeWine signed the act into law in July 2023.
Netchoice, the trade group that represents Tik Tok, Snapchat, Meta and other tech companies contested Ohio’s law in 2024, arguing that it was overly broad, vague and represented an unconstitutional impediment to free speech.
“An unconstitutional law protects no one, and we remain focused on ensuring the First Amendment rights of Ohioans are protected,” Paul Taske, NetChoice Litigation Center Director said.
Cincinnati-based Sixth Circuit’s panel does not agree with this view point, determined that the law is not unconstitutional and had the block on the law’s enforcement vacated.
“At bottom, the Act imposes a parental consent requirement,” Judge Eric Clay wrote. “That requirement constitutes a marginal burden that precisely targets the multi-faceted problem that Ohio has identified: Children’s unsupervised assent to terms and conditions for use of platforms that take advantage of and harm them.”
The Social Media Parental Notification Act is a way to protect children’s mental health against the “intentionally addictive” nature of social media, according to U.S. senator Jon Husted.
The law requires companies to get parental permission for social media and gaming apps and to provide their privacy guidelines so families know what content would be censored or moderated on their child’s profile.
Ohio Attorney General Andy Wilson says the ruling is “a win for Ohio families.”
“The court agreed that parents –- not social media companies –- should get a say in what kids see online,” he said in a statement. “We have an obligation to keep our children safe, and today, the most dangerous place for our kids is the internet. This decision gives parents the tools to be involved and provide oversight.”
Ohio
Black bear spotted in Licking County as sightings rise across Ohio
LICKING COUNTY, Ohio (WCMH) — When you think of wild animals in central Ohio, a black bear likely isn’t the first thing that comes to mind. That’s why one Licking County family said they couldn’t believe their eyes.
It was an average afternoon drive home for father and son, Justin and Aaron Rhodes, when something walked into the road in front of them.
“I didn’t even think it was real at first, so that’s why I had to do the double take,” Justin said.
Aaron said he thought it was “just a weird looking dog”.
To their disbelief, it was a bear. The sighting comes just one year after the animal was spotted in Licking County for the first time in more than two decades.
“It’s kind of hard to believe that they’re even around this area,” Justin said. “I’ve lived in this area for about 24 years now, so it’s been quite a while, and I’ve never seen one before.”
These sightings are becoming more common. The Ohio Division of Wildlife said the black bear population is growing in the state, and they expect those trends to continue. Ohio saw a record number of confirmed sightings in 2025.
Lindsey Krusling, a wildlife communications specialist with the Ohio Division of Wildlife, said they are seeing more breeding females establish homes in the state, signaling the species is returning. Experts said the work restoring natural forest land is a big reason why.
“We’re starting to get some black bears coming in from neighboring states like Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Kentucky,” Krusling said. “They’re naturally crossing those state borders and coming back to Ohio because we have more of that habitat available to them, especially those forested areas.”
As the black bear population grows, the Division of Wildlife is expanding its research. They are putting radio collars on some bears they find in the state to help track data, such as if the bears are staying here, how far they’ve traveled and if they’re successfully having cubs.
“We’re trying to get quite a bit of data from these bears, and we’re super excited to see where this takes us,” Krusling said.
The research is in the beginning stages, but they expect population growth to continue, Krusling said.
Sighting reports can be submitted here to help the Division of Wildlife track black bear populations throughout the state.
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