Breaking News

Editorials

Continue Improving Our W.Va. State Parks

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 ...

Give Help To Our Youngest

Ohioans know our state has its challenges, but generally speaking we think of ourselves as better off than those in some other parts of the country — or world. For our youngest and most vulnerable residents, that is not always the case. Given the number of politicians who want us to believe the lives of babies are of the utmost important to them, it is astounding that the infant mortality rate here is STILL considerably above the national average. Efforts to address the problem have made some progress. We are down to 6.6 deaths per 1,000 live births in Ohio, compared with the ...

The Wall That Heals A Great Event For The Ohio Valley

The people and the communities of the Ohio Valley have made some of the greatest sacrifices in history when it comes to military service. Thus, the people and the communities of the Ohio Valley have long been some of the most ardent supporters of the U.S. military and the veterans who have returned home. This was on full display this past weekend, when The Wall That Heals made a four-day stop at the Belmont County Fairgrounds. The wall, a touring three-quarter scale replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial, brought more than 8,000 visitors to the fairgrounds in that span. That total ...

Creativity Needed To Fix Employment Slump

Those struggling to find employment in our region already know what a recent report by the National Federation of Independent Business spells out. Hiring has slowed down — everywhere; and jobs that are available require education or skillsets that not everyone has. According to the group’s September jobs report, a seasonally adjusted 32% of owners do report they have job openings they cannot fill. But that is down from August. The Small Business Employment Index measures the state of the small business labor market. It declined 1.2 points in September to 100.6, falling below the ...

Helping Our Communities

Years ago, a few politicians and elected officials began to understand it was irresponsible to ignore the downturn in the coal industry. Though acknowledging it at the time drew significant pushback from those clinging to bygone days, today we welcome the support of those in state and federal government who are rooted enough in reality to be looking for ways to support individuals and communities affected by that downturn. This week, the Governor’s Office of Appalachia, along with the Ohio Department of Development, announced more than $6 million in funding from the Appalachian ...

Rail Safety Reform Must Happen Before It’s Too Late

Rail safety reform is not a matter of partisan politics – or it shouldn’t be, anyway. But since February 2023, when a derailment in East Palestine, Ohio, ignited renewed calls for reform, politicians in Washington, D.C., have sat on their hands while their friends in the railroad industry made promises and assurances that weren’t worth the paper their public relations teams hoped it would be printed on. This week, U.S. Sens. Jim Justice, R-W.Va., and Gary Peters, D-Mich., are giving it another shot, with a bill that would increase pay for federal railroad inspectors and ...