In the News

By Sabrina Eaton -- Plain Dealer

WASHINGTON - A service dog named Liberty has liberated retired Marine Corps Sgt. Michael Garvey of Maryland from some of the post traumatic stress disorder symptoms he experienced upon returning home from Afghanistan.

"He is my grounding rod, he calms me down so quickly," said Garvey. "If I ever get disoriented, he is like my little rock."

By Jessica Wehrman & Jana Heigl -- The Columbus Dispatch

WASHINGTON — During Thomas Alva Edison’s youth in northern Ohio's Milan, he was known as a restless and imaginative boy whose teacher nevertheless reported to his mother that he was “addled” and “too stupid to learn.”

That curious boy grew up to invent the light bulb, the phonograph, the telegraph, cement and an electronic vote recorder that he unsuccessfully tried to sell to Congress when he was 22. (They eventually embraced the idea, 104 years later.)

WASHINGTON, D.C. - Everyone wanted a piece of Thomas Alva Edison on Wednesday afternoon.

Speaking at a U.S. Capitol dedication ceremony for a statue of the prolific inventor from tiny Milan, Ohio, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell recalled Edison's time working in a Kentucky telegraph office.

House Democratic Leader Nancy Pelosi likened Edison's laboratory in Menlo Park, New Jersey, to Menlo Park, California: ground zero for Silicon Valley's innovation.

Sheet covering new Edison statue falls off just before the dedication ceremony -

Guests at the dedication of the Thomas Edison statue in the Capitol on Wednesday got a sneak peak — by mistake.

Five minutes before the start of the Statuary Hall ceremony, the fabric covering the statue accidentally dropped.

Members of the Capitol Police Honor Guard then took a few minutes to try and get it back on.

While the crowd laughed as the guards struggled to refit the sheet, a guard lifted his hand, jokingly implying that people shouldn’t look.

FEATURED EDITORIAL

Before Congress recesses for the election season, it has one very important piece of business to conduct — the funding of the recently passed Comprehensive Addiction and Recovery Act.

There should be no debate, no partisan bickering. Failure by congressmen to reach a deal to fund the opioid overdose fight would be irresponsible and a dramatic failure in meeting the needs of the constituents they serve.

LORAIN, Sept. 19, 2016: Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur (OH-9), along with representatives of the Smithsonian Museum, the Ohio Commission on Hispanic and Latino Affairs (OCHLA), the Lorain Historical Society, and the Lorain Arts Council, presented the Congressional Gold Medal, the nation’s highest civilian award, to: Miquel Berlingeri, Carlos Móntes, Julio Santiago-Montanez, and Francisco Colón, four members of the U.S. Army’s 65th Infantry Regiment in recognition of their pioneering military service.

WASHINGTON (Gray DC) -- Maine Congressman Bruce Poliquin knows the effects of addiction all too well.

"He would be with us today if he were able to solve this problem," Poliquin (R-ME-2) said.

Poliquin lost his brother to drug and alcohol abuse after a decades-long struggle. Now, Poliquin is asking House leadership for help so other families can get treatment before it’s too late.

“We need to make sure we have the funding necessary to take care of those in need," Poliquin added.

WASHINGTON (Gray DC) -- "If they care about life this is an arena where we need a lot of attention," Ohio Congresswoman Marcy Kaptur (D-OH-9) said.

According to the National Institute on Drug Abuse, every 25 minutes a baby is born with opioid withdrawal. It’s just one consequence of America’s drug crisis.

"Just imagine starting your life out with the tremors, the shakes, the sensitivity to light, to touch, to sound," West Virginia Congressman Evan Jenkins (R-WV-3) added.