August 1, 2025

Now, on to the news…

Ohio was once filled with flourishing industrial cities. Jobs were plentiful, wages were high, and the population was booming. Now? The state is perhaps the most striking symbol of Middle America’s hollowing out. Cities like Middletown and Dayton are struggling thanks to deindustrialization, and residents face bleak economic prospects.

But one Ohio city stands out for its success: Columbus, “a growing metropolis attracting diverse industries and gaining national stature,” Jordan McGillis writes in our summer issue. He visited the capital to find out what it’s doing right and what other cities could learn from its prosperity. Read his report here.

Last week, a federal court ruled that Oregon could not deny adoption placements to potential parents who refuse to affirm a child’s preferred gender identity. The state’s rule had required applicants for foster or adoptive parenting to support a child’s gender expression.

The Ninth Circuit’s decision “marks a win for parental rights, religious liberty, and parties reasonably concerned about the psychological and medical risks of social transitioning,” John Ketcham and Colin Wright argue. Read more about the ruling here.

President Trump’s recent executive order on lowering drug prices pledges “to end global freeloading” and to ensure that drugmakers “offer American consumers the most-favored-nation lowest price.”

But, as Chris Pope points out, America’s high drug prices are self-inflicted—“the product of deliberate policy choices to let manufacturers charge what is necessary to motivate investment in pathbreaking new drugs.” And the elevated prices will continue until “insurers and government programs gain the freedom to say no to overpriced treatments,” he writes.

Charles Fain Lehman, Carolyn Gorman, Renu Mukherjee, and Ilya Shapiro discuss the deadly shooting in Manhattan on Monday, exploring issues of mental health, gun violence, and the political implications for the upcoming mayoral election. 

“Interested to see who the first Canadian politician will be to turn over his luxurious home to an indigenous person. Not holding my breath.”

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Lex Orandi, commenting on the “indigenous identitarianism” movement

Photo credit: Isaiah Williams/Alamy Stock Photo