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Rockefeller Truly Cared About West Virginia

In 1964, a young Harvard graduate and scion of one of the wealthiest families on the planet made his way to Emmons, W.Va., as part of his work with Volunteers in Service to America. At the beginning of that year, President Lyndon B. Johnson had declared “unconditional war on poverty,” and John D. Rockefeller IV was one of its warriors. But rather than doing some light work for a few photo ops and then abandoning West Virginia, the man we all knew as “Jay” fell in love with the Mountain State, and spent the rest of his life working for it as a true public servant. He broke ...

Consider Helping Ohio County Animal Shelter

The Ohio County Animal Shelter isn’t in the doghouse. Right now, it is the doghouse. Shelter staff recently had to seize 15 dogs from one location due to poor living conditions. They’re being housed at the shelter in the quarantine area, along with the 24 dogs that already were there. The main shelter has a capacity for 26. That’s a lot of dogs and not a lot of room. Getting some of them adopted would help, but shelter manager Dave Campbell said dog adoptions have slowed significantly recently. Now, the shelter is looking for anyone to adopt or foster some of these ...

Diabetes Remains A Major Problem

National Diabetes Awareness Month takes on a different significance in Appalachia, and WalletHub’s “2026’s Most Overweight and Obese States in America,” gives some idea why. Obesity is one of the bigger risk factors and primary cause of type 2 diabetes, and West Virginia is the most obese state in the country. Ohio is 15th. Digging into the data gets more and more disturbing. The Mountain State is first for the percentage of obese adults and the percentage of adults with type 2 diabetes. It is seventh for the percentage of overweight children, second for the percentage of ...

If You Haven’t Voted Yet, Now Is The Time To Go

Today is the day. If you have not already done so, it is time to weigh in on decisions that will affect every level of our government. From our schools and libraries to the U.S. Senate, what is decided today could be felt for years to come. It seems as though the sense of urgency has already taken hold for some, as West Virginia Secretary of State Kris Warner’s office reported 169,350 early and absentee ballots were cast in the early voting period. That’s an astounding 24% increase over the number of early ballots cast in 2022. Ohio, too, is seeing massive increases in early voting ...

Gateway Center Is What Wheeling Needs

For a long time, it was disappointing, if not depressing, to make the turn from Wheeling Tunnel onto Main Street in downtown Wheeling. One of the first things a motorist used to see is the old Wheeling Inn, a decrepit building that continued to deteriorate with each day. It made people’s first view of downtown Wheeling look old, tired and run down, not the image a city wants to portray when it’s trying to attract people. This past week, shovels dug into dirt to ceremonially begin the revitalization of that space with the construction of the Wheeling Gateway Center, a new ...

Sports Referees Need Our Support And Safety

Refereeing isn’t supposed to be dangerous. But those who (often volunteer to) do so are increasingly facing dangers to their mental health and wellbeing AND their physical health while they are trying to do their jobs for our kids. During a Steubenville-New Philadelphia boys soccer game this week, an official was injured so badly he had to be hospitalized. Video evidence shows a Steubenville player who may have been reacting to a red card being given to a teammate charging at the official, knocking him to the ground. According to published reports, the referee suffered a collapsed ...