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President Trump, Area Deserves FEMA’s Help

It’s been four weeks since devastating flash flooding changed life for many here in the Valley Grove and Triadelphia communities of Ohio County. To ensure ongoing recovery, it is imperative that President Trump issue a major disaster declaration to facilitate federal assistance for the affected communities. The flash flooding, which occurred in the evening hours after 4 inches of rain dropped within just 30 minutes, led to the tragic loss of nine lives. Entire neighborhoods in Valley Grove and Triadelphia were inundated, with homes destroyed, roads washed out, and critical ...

New Drone a Big Bonus

WVU Medicine Wheeling Hospital and WVU Medicine Reynolds Memorial Hospital deserve the community’s thanks for stepping forward to provide a much-needed tool to the Ohio County Emergency Management Agency: an underwater drone. The drone now can be deployed during swift-water rescue operations, flooding, drownings and even police investigations, EMA Director Lou Vargo said. It could have been particularly useful during rescue operations following the June 14 flash flooding. “The drone can confirm the images that we see on the side-scan sonar before we send a diver or swift water ...

Disasters near and far have deepened the desire in many to help — to somehow do something amid all this suffering and struggle. In many of the hardest hit places, the American Red Cross is helping — and if we can’t be involved in those direct efforts, we can certainly do something to help that organization fulfill its mission of helping save lives. Part of that mission is, of course, keeping hospital shelves stocked with blood and blood products. The need for that never ceases. At the moment, the national organization is asking especially for those with type O to donate blood, ...

Federal Assistance Needed In Ohio Co.

What happened in Texas July 4 was unfathomable. Flash flooding and its aftermath took the lives of —at this writing — approximately 120 people. Families and communities are devastated. Help from all corners is still desperately needed —and will be for months to come. And that help is coming, even from the federal government, which rightly wasted no time in quickly delivering a robust response. President Donald Trump approved Texas Gov. Greg Abbott’s request for a major disaster declaration only one day after it was submitted, just a few days after flooding began. That ...

Seat Belts Save Lives. Buckle Up

Seat belts. For the vast majority of us, putting on a seat belt when entering the car is second nature — it’s done without a thought. But for some, apparently, the act remains optional — and that’s leading to fatal results. In Ohio over the Fourth of July weekend, 10 people died in car crashes, according to the Ohio State Highway Patrol. Of those 10 fatalities, six were not wearing seat belts. The issue goes deeper. According to the Columbus Dispatch, during the Fourth of July weekend troopers issued 2,286 seat belt and child safety seat violations. How is that ...

Don’t Give Money Away

Nothing spurs Buckeye State residents to action like sports fandom — or, at least, it’s tempting to leap to that conclusion after a report that visits to Ohio’s unclaimed funds website skyrocketed after lawmakers suggested paying for a new Cleveland Browns stadium with some of that money. According to the Akron Beacon Journal, there is approximately $4.8 billion of Ohioans’ money sitting unclaimed, with some Republicans in the state Senate wanting to spend approximately $1.7 billion of what has been unclaimed for at least 10 years on sports and cultural projects. That would ...