Tuesday, October 20th, 2026

Welcome to Tuesday’s edition of The Pennant. To listen to this newsletter, click the “Listen Online” link in the top right corner of this email.

On this day in 1977, a plane crash in Mississippi killed six people, including Lynyrd Skynyrd singer Ronnie Van Zant and two bandmates.

In today’s Top of the Fold, Ohio’s job market stalls as unemployment rises, and a judge rules party labels stay on Supreme Court ballots.

And Columbus is going nonstop to Frankfurt, with bookings opening today. Plus, today’s editorial: why the riots sweeping France carry a warning for America.

COLUMBUS — Ohio’s unemployment rate rose to 3.4% in September, its first increase in more than a year, as employers cut 5,000 jobs. 

Labor force participation slipped to 61.2%, a sign that fewer Ohioans are looking for work. Construction and manufacturing led the losses. 

The Buckeye Institute’s Rea Hederman Jr. said inflation-adjusted wages have fallen over the past year and urged lawmakers to expand Ohio’s workforce pipeline. 

The national rate is 4.2%. The Business Journal Daily has more here.

YOUNGSTOWN — Party labels will stay next to Ohio Supreme Court candidates’ names after a federal judge rejected a challenge from Justice Jennifer Brunner. 

Brunner, a Democrat, argued the 2021 law traps judges by forcing them to list a party while ethics rules limit what they can say about politics. 

U.S. District Judge Benita Pearson disagreed and said it was too late to change the rules with voting underway. 

Brunner faces Republican Colleen O’Donnell on Nov. 3. WFMJ has the full ruling details.

IRONTON — The Ohio River is now Ohio’s 18th official water trail, and at 167 miles, it’s the state’s longest. 

The Ohio Department of Natural Resources announced the designation at the Ohio River Way’s annual summit. 

The trail runs from Ice Creek in Coal Grove, just south of Ironton, to Shawnee Lookout Park near the Indiana border. 

The program helps paddlers find public access points and stay safe on the water. 

Local communities plan the trails, with guidance from ODNR. For more, go here.

COLUMBUS — Central Ohio will get its first nonstop flight to Europe in May 2027, when Lufthansa begins service between John Glenn Columbus International Airport and Frankfurt, Germany. It will be Ohio’s only nonstop flight to Germany.

Flights will run three times a week, on Wednesdays, Fridays, and Sundays. They leave Columbus at 4:20 p.m. and land in Frankfurt at 6:15 a.m. local time. Lufthansa will fly a 287-seat Boeing 787 Dreamliner. Bookings open today.

From Frankfurt, travelers can connect to more than 130 destinations across Europe, the Middle East, Africa, and India.

Germany is the third-largest source of foreign investment in Ohio, and German companies support about 41,000 jobs statewide. Thirty-eight German companies operate in the Columbus Region.

At The Pennant, we usually stick to Ohio news. We are in a contentious political season and, frankly, have our own problems.

But it is hard not to notice that France is on fire – and the flames are spreading quickly.

Last weekend, hundreds of thousands of protesters, many with their faces covered, marched across the country. Most were upset about rising prices and poor schools. Then things turned really ugly, and it stopped being a protest.

Rioters looted stores. They torched town halls, including a historic one in Limoges. Police detained more than 2,000 people, and more than 600 officers were hurt. At least one police officer and one protester are dead.

What caught our eye was the size of it. This was not one city. It was the whole country.

The Wall Street Journal’s editorial board says politics is part of the story. France picks a new president in April. Leaders on the right and the left both see a chance to seize power. The Journal warns France is in a “violent democratic funk” that may get worse.

In France, as in America, this kind of upheaval looks different depending on which side you’re on.

Many on the right say this is about law and order. They blame far-left groups and criminals who used the protests to spread chaos. They say weak leadership let it happen. French President Emmanuel Macron said much the same.

Many on the left say the anger is real. Families can’t keep up with costs. Schools and services are falling behind. Some, like far-left leader Jean-Luc Mélenchon, say police made things worse and fueled the unrest.

Sound familiar? After George Floyd’s murder and during COVID, Americans saw burning buildings and angry crowds. In 2021, rioters attacked the U.S. Capitol. 

France reminds us that trouble can become uncontrollable when people stop trusting their leaders and grow more angry than reasonable. Peaceful protest is a right all Americans share.

With Election Day around the corner, go ahead and vote, argue, and march in the streets. But when people start destroying property, call it what it is, and let’s not excuse it.

Setting fires and looting stores is not protest. It’s lawlessness pretending to be justice.

This editorial reflects the views of The Pennant Editorial Board. Questions or comments are welcome at [email protected].

The Pennant welcomes letters to the editor and guest columns from readers. Submissions may be edited for length, clarity, and AP style. The Pennant reserves the right to verify all information contained in submissions before publication.

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