The last year has been one of the roughest in recent memory. Mainly due to the pandemic, we as Americans have experienced loss, hardship and new challenges that haven’t been seen in several decades. As many of us try to leave 2020 behind, we can look towards the hope the new year will ...
We are at a tipping point. COVID-19 infection rates and hospitalizations continue to climb. Our cumulative positive rate is now above 5%. 1,518 West Virginians have died. The entire state is a sea of “red” on the DHHR map, showing high infection rates and daily percent positives. Public ...
Marshall County Chamber of Commerce executive director Scott Reager this past week announced special events for 2021. Via Chamber Chatter, the weekly newsletter of the Chamber of Commerce, the dates of seven events which the Chamber will hopefully be able to sponsor were announced. Along with ...
For years, the ultra-green crowd has been forcing Californians to abandon reliable energy sources in favor of so-called alternatives such as solar and wind power. That has resulted in some of the highest prices for electricity in the nation, as well as reduced reliability seen during brownouts ...
On Nov. 3 and during the weeks leading up to it, 155,507,248 ballots were cast in the presidential election. And each and every one of them was voted honestly and counted accurately. Some politicians want us to believe that. As a fairy tale, “Cinderella” pales in comparison. One ...
Our nation wasn’t built by the people whose names you see in the history books. It was the invention of your great-times-six grandmother who raised children in a wilderness, the great-times-four grandfather who died preserving the Union, the elderly uncle who worked in the steel mill and the ...
As a child, my favorite Christmas story was a little volume, a gift from my mother, Henry Van Dyke’s “The Story of the Other Wise Man.” As Van Dyke related the story there were four Magi, not three, who set out to find the newborn King of the Jews — Caspar, Melchior, Balthazar and ...
If ever something unthinking such as a virus could be thought of as evil, COVID-19 is it. It has taken from us so many good people, among them, just this month, one of the very best men I’ve ever met. Some readers will know immediately who I mean. So it is impossible to think there could ...
And finally it’s Christmas. A time for remembrance of happy Christmas past; for enjoying happy Christmas present; for anticipation of happy Christmas future. Many years ago, Francis Church of the New York Sun wrote a famous editorial in reply to a letter from an 8-year-old girl, Virginia ...
Attempting to compete with big cities would have been a fool’s errand for those attempting to rebuild Wheeling. With a few exceptions — a very notable one being that Oglebay Park is both bigger and better than New York’s Central Park — the Friendly City just can’t compete in the big ...
Often, I use this column to write about politics. But this is Christmas week. What on earth does Jesus Christ have to do with politics? Quite a lot, actually. We Americans have a tradition more than two centuries long of bare-knuckle politics. Too often it seems that winning office and ...
As I watched videos of the first COVID-19 vaccine being administered throughout the country Monday, I remembered the moment, 65 years earlier, when I trooped from my second-grade classroom to the “sick room” at the old Bethany School. It was April 21, 1955. The U.S. government had ...
Christmas is an event that has emerged in bits and pieces from out of the mists of antiquity. The tradition of giving gifts at Christmas time dates back to a practice in vogue in pagan Rome. Each year, on December 17 and 18, ancient Romans celebrated the festival of Saturnalia, honoring Saturn, ...
Mount Rose Cemetery in Moundsville and Arlington National Cemetery in Arlington, Virginia, will have something in common today (Saturday). Both cemeteries will have wreaths laid in honor of military veterans who are buried at the two locations. There will also be wreaths laid at cemeteries ...
By Scott Shalaway It has been more than nine months since my last column, so I owe my readers an explanation. Back in February I had major back surgery and was told my recovery and rehab would take at least 10 months. My progress has been steady, but very slow. Between the surgery and the ...
Millions of American families and scores of thousands of businesses are nearing the ends of their financial ropes because of COVID-19. Yet I have heard of not a single local or state government in desperate financial straits because of the epidemic. Liberals in Congress continue to insist ...
I met Santa Claus on Saturday. Not the Santa’s helper who sits in some stores, posing for pictures at a safe distance, but the real one. My wife and I, with our two grandchildren, were Christmas shopping in a local store. During a couple of trips up and down the aisles, I’d noticed a ...
Here’s an idea: Let’s call billionaire Jeff Bezos at his Beverly Hills, California, home and ask him to hire a couple of Wheeling residents to work remotely for his online Amazon empire. While we’re at it, let’s ask Jeff for a donation to the youth baseball program in St. ...
While COVID-19 is the most prominent issue at the present time connected to the operation of public schools, there are also other issues which were discussed at the quarterly meeting of the Marshall County Schools Pride and Progress held this past Thursday morning. Due to the increase in ...
As the days get colder and shorter, many Americans will experience what we call “seasonal depression.” Lack of vitamin C, personal interactions and social events are the root for many that experience this illness. It can cause folks to lose interest in activities, feel tired or even gain ...