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Balancing the Books for All in West Virginia

Members of the state House Finance Committee are working toward some important changes to safeguard taxpayer dollars, ahead of a planned “universal expansion” of the Hope Scholarship educational voucher program. Without many of the planned changes, the program will remain wide open to waste, fraud and abuse, as too many have taken advantage of the state’s failure to install guardrails earlier. The originating bill, which has not yet been numbered, would cap the annual Hope Scholarship award to eligible families at $5,250, with $250 going to the State Treasurer’s Office for ...

Helping Ohio Students

Not every student has the same path to follow after high school graduation. They don’t have the same skill sets, interests or aspirations. So why would we limit the options they have for assessing their readiness to proceed on those paths? In Ohio, there may be other options available, if lawmakers give serious consideration to state House Bill 326, introduced by Reps. Kevin Ritter, R-Marietta, and Johnathan Newman, R-Troy. “Regarding the use of nationally standardized assessments in public and chartered nonpublic schools and state institutions of higher education,” it would ...

Housing Task Force Is a Necessary Move

There are plenty of things in the city of Wheeling that make it attractive for people to move here. Recreation is a gift, with places like Wheeling Park and Oglebay Park Resort to visit. There are great schools, both public and private, that will help children achieve. But there’s one big thing of which Wheeling is in short supply, a sizable hurdle that can serve as a deterrent for people to become part of the community: a lack of new and affordable housing. Combining those words “new” and “affordable” is important. In Wheeling, new housing is rarely affordable for young ...

Pats on the Back

- To Kloe Nguyen, an eighth-grade student at Bridge Street Middle School, who won the Ohio County Schools Spelling Bee this past week. - To the Lansing Sportsmen’s Club, which recently donated a jaw-dropping $99,999 to Bridgeport City Schools for the walking track around the district’s new multipurpose facility, “The Bridge.” - To Bob Contraguerro Jr., who was named the 2026 Upper Ohio Valley Italian Heritage Festival’s Italian-American of the Year, joining a long list of notable names in the community. - To the Community Foundation for the Ohio Valley, which awarded ...

Small Businesses in West Virginia Need Help

Though the usual suspects have tried again this year to get a few bizarre socio-cultural bills in front of lawmakers, the majority have displayed an impressive dedication to the goal set at the beginning of the session: put Jobs First — Opportunity Everywhere. In fact Senate Bill 1, the Small Business Growth Act, made its way to the governor’s desk unusually quickly. In a nutshell, the act establishes the West Virginia First Small Business Growth Program, with specialized growth funds collecting capital from investors to provide financing to eligible small businesses that ...

Business Alliance Paying Off

Good news came this week out of the U.S. Commerce Department, which says Japan is planning to fund three projects totaling approximately $36 billion in the coming years — one each in Ohio, Texas and Georgia. According to Reuters, this is the first wave of investments in the planned $550 billion reportedly pledged as part of a trade deal with the U.S. The Ohio project is expected to be a $33 billion natural gas-fired power plant in Portsmouth — perhaps the largest ever, according to U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick. Reuters reports Lutnick said the plant would have a 9.2 ...