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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 ...

Teaching Our Young People

Ohio Secretary of State Frank LaRose seems to have his eye (rightly) on the future with his new initiatives to help educate young people about active citizenship, entrepreneurship, civic engagement and, yes, elections. Resources include Start Up Squad, which helps students explore entrepreneurship and access educational resources from Junior Achievement; Future Voter ICivics game; Become a Civics Superstar, which includes an online quiz inspired by the official U.S. citizenship test; resources for teachers, including ways to help students become elections workers and voter packets for ...

School Attendance Policy A Good Step

One of the biggest roadblocks to a good education is the student not showing up to school in the first place. Ohio County Schools is trying to cut down on the number of students who miss too much school. At the last Ohio County Board of Education meeting, Ohio County Schools Attendance Director Raquel McLeod informed the board on the changes the district is making to its attendance policy to cut down on “chronic absenteeism,” defined as missing more than 10% of the days in an average school year — 18 days based on the West Virginia public school calendar. A statistic McLeod ...

Low Voter Turnout Is No Good For America

Considering sitting out this November’s General Election? There are plenty of people who feel either so fed up or so helpless and hopeless that they think the best option is to not vote. Nothing could be further from the truth. Low voter turnout tends to lead to more extreme results; and a whole lot of people who remain unsatisfied AND had no say in the matter. The solution isn’t to sit out. It’s to do your research and determine which candidates align most closely with the representation you want in local, state and federal government. It doesn’t mean you’re going to find ...

Job Growth Needs A Boost

A new analysis shows that while Ohio officials have a little reason to be proud of relatively low unemployment rates, the bigger picture is disturbing. Job growth is slowing to a crawl. Policy Matters Ohio reports one reason for slowed job growth alongside low unemployment is that employers are more cautious about hiring. Nationwide, there is stronger than expected hiring, but Policy Matters researcher Molly Bryden told the Ohio Capital Journal that signals more a recovery from an earlier slowdown than a continued upward trend. And here in the Buckeye State, the number of people ...

Ohio Valley Shows Love For The Wall That Heals

Way to go, Ohio Valley. The committee that put together this week’s visit of The Wall That Heals — a three-quarter scale replica of the Vietnam Veterans Memorial ­ —was hoping that its journey from The Highlands in Ohio County to the Belmont County Fairgrounds would be met with celebration and support from the community. And you didn’t disappoint. From the start of the trek to the finish, people from all over the Ohio Valley made sure that this important historical display received a warm welcome. Let’s start at beginning, as dozens of people riding motorcycles and ...