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Address Ohio County 911’s Staffing Issues

The most important voice an Ohio County resident may ever hear is that of a stranger. It might come in the middle of the night, when a loved one stops breathing. It might come after a terrible crash, when someone is trapped inside a vehicle. Or it might come when a parent discovers a child is missing. It is the dispatcher’s voice on the other end of a 911 call. This past week, Ohio County residents learned that the people responsible for answering those calls are working through a significant staffing shortage. Ohio County 911 Director Rick Pritt told county commissioners that ...

A Family That Cares

The Contraguerro family and their company, Panhandle Cleaning & Restoration, once again showed their love and devotion to the Ohio Valley community with a $150,000 gift to the soon-to-be-built WVU Medicine Golisano Children’s Robert Sonneborn Family Pediatric Outpatient Center on the campus of WVU Medicine Wheeling Hospital. That donation will sponsor the center’s new reception area. And that’s far from the first gift the Contraguerros and Panhandle have made to WVU Medicine or the Ohio Valley at large. The family and the company long have been champions of the community, ...

Is Deep Debt Worth It For A College Education?

It seems as though the school year has just gotten under way, but families across our region are beginning conversations about next steps with students who will graduate in the spring. Part of that conversation will inevitably be “Can we afford college?” For generations, part of the answer to that question has been student loans. Many young people believe they have bright futures ahead of them, and that post-high school education will give them what they need to bring home paychecks from which they can pay off those student loans quickly. Parents hope for the same. Reality is far ...

Save A Life Day Reminds Us To Remain Prepared

It’s no surprise an observance such as today’s Save A Life Day was born in West Virginia — a state ravaged to a greater degree than any other by the substance abuse epidemic that continues to plague us. From a humble pilot meant to increase access to naloxone and help prevent overdose death, the day has become a nationwide push to take action. In the Mountain State alone there will be 220 events today, with the West Virginia First Foundation noting the sense of urgency means the number of events could continue to grow. Access and awareness of naloxone is essential, as is ...

Stop Flock Camera Abuse

As wariness (and outright anger) over the use of Flock cameras in our communities increases, Ohio Attorney General Andy Wilson is right to be joining organizations such as the Fraternal Order of Police of Ohio in seeking greater regulation of the surveillance devices. Investigations, including those by news organizations such as the Ohio Capital Journal, have turned up multiple instances of misusing the data. Further, the Capital Journal’s public records search of Shaker Heights’ license plate reader data over approximately four months showed the data was accessed more than ...

Kudos To A Quick TCI Building Demolition

It would be hard pressed to find a way that the demolition of the old TCI building in Wheeling’s Elm Grove neighborhood could have gone better. Wheeling City Manager Robert Herron recently told Wheeling City Council members that the project, which knocked down one of the neighborhood’s biggest eyesores, could be done three days early. That means that the Junior Avenue Bridge, which many folks who live in that neighborhood use to get to their homes, and local shops and restaurants, will open early, too. The bridge has been closed during the demolition. “There is still a little ...