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Local Columns

Great Literature Still Matters in Our Shared Experience

Do stories matter? Does our collective human experience matter? Does the power to inspire, to love, and to feel sorrow matter? Think of what great literature has given us: “Moby Dick,” “The Scarlet Letter,” “To Kill a Mockingbird,” “Huckleberry Finn.” Tales which, ...

President’s Policies Prove Crime Easily Solved

On Aug. 11, 2025, President Trump took decisive action by deploying the National Guard to Washington D.C. For years, our nation’s capital has been plagued by out-of-control crime, with more than 91% of residents calling it a major problem. President Trump campaigned on a promise to crack ...

A Good Man

West Virginia is a small state, and state government is not large, so the longer you cover certain politicians, the more chances you have to see the human side of the people you cover and even become friends. That’s the way it was with Tim Armstead, the late justice of the West Virginia ...

The School Choice Option Nobody Talks About

In The Hunt Institute’s April 2025 article, “School Choice in the 2024 Election: Pros, Cons, and What Voters Want,” a key point was bulleted at the beginning of the article: Choice for some should not come at the expense of others. I just started my 23rd year of teaching, and I’ve ...

We Cannot Lose Another West Virginian to Suicide

September is National Suicide Prevention Month, and here in West Virginia, the urgency couldn’t be higher. Our state is no stranger to hardship, but the current mental health crisis demands clear-eyed attention and bold action. In 2023, West Virginia’s age-adjusted suicide rate stood at ...

Avoiding The Malaise

Herbert Hoover was well-liked in his day, praised for his engineering prowess which he used to tackle major worldwide problems following World War I. He was a natural choice for president in 1928. But then the 1929 stock market crash happened, followed by the Great Depression. None of these ...