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Schools Need Our Help With Attendance

Editorials

The assembly at Wheeling Park High School on Wednesday wasn’t just a celebration of the “Keep the Ball Rolling” initiative, which gives every public school in West Virginia $1,500 to provide students with essential items like food, clothing, shoes, coats and hygiene products to help improve school attendance. Now, that was a reason to celebrate. Auto dealership owner Shawn Ball, Marshall University President Brad Smith and his Wing 2 Wing Foundation, and West Virginia Treasurer Larry Pack and the Pack Family Foundation are stepping up to help students throughout the Mountain State ...

Mitch Carmichael: FLCA Is The 120-Day Clock That Can Rewrite Your Job

Local Columns

Imagine negotiating a contract that governs your pay, schedule and benefits, only to have someone outside your workplace decide its final terms. That could happen under the Faster Labor Contracts Act (FLCA), a proposal before Congress affecting first contracts between newly certified unions and employers. We all support good-faith bargaining and understand why workers and employers want a timely first contract. But a deadline that ends in a contract imposed by a government arbitration panel is the wrong way to achieve that goal. Negotiating contracts is and should remain the ...

John McCabe: Being Heard Doesn't Mean You Always Get Your Way

Local Columns

I’ve been a keen observer of Wheeling city government for nearly 30 years. Over that time, I’ve seen plenty of political disagreements over the city and its future. Zoning disputes. Council members arguing over public policy. A split vote and heated debate on whether to retain the city manager. And more. But the current moment, in many ways, may top the list. An effort to recall a sitting mayor? That’s a new one. City business owner Johnny Haught’s petition drive to recall Mayor Dennis Magruder strikes me as unprecedented in Wheeling, at least over the past half-century. I ...

Brian Abraham: Data Centers Are An Economic Opportunity For West Virginia

Local Columns

Affordable energy matters to every household and business in West Virginia. Electricity is essential to our homes, health systems, small businesses and manufacturers that support jobs across the state. That is why affordability must remain at the center of every conversation about West Virginia’s energy future. At Appalachian Power, we understand that rising electric rates are felt by families and businesses, and we take our responsibility to keep costs as low as possible seriously. If we are committed to lowering costs for customers, we need to look for opportunities to spread ...

Continue Improving Our W.Va. State Parks

Editorials

West Virginia’s state parks and forests are among the greatest treasures we have. Visitors come from all over the world to explore them, and those of us who sometimes take them for granted manage to get out and enjoy them once in a while, too. But they need a little love — in the form of cash to fund repairs and improvements that are long overdue. To that end, more than $19 million — $10 million in projects through the West Virginia State Parks Endowment Fund Board and $9.725 million from the FY27 budget surplus — will be used to “modernize, repair and expand facilities across ...

Editorials

If grocery store sticker shock is fading in Ohio, it is only because Buckeye State residents have gotten used to spending more than they’d like (or are truly able) to spend to feed their families these days. The reality is inflation simply isn’t letting up. But the problem is worse in some states than others. Disturbingly, according to WalletHub’s “Cities Where People Spend the Most and Least on Groceries,” three of the top ten most expensive cities in the country in which to buy groceries are in Ohio. No other state has more than one city in the top ten, out of 100 ...