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Reporter’s Notebook: Under Review

Once upon a time, the Legislative Auditor's Office used to release many reports under the leadership of former Legislative Auditor/Legislative Manager Aaron Allred. The office enjoyed decades of independence during Allred's tenure under both Democratic and Republican majority leadership. But in 2024, the Republican supermajority leadership largely clipped the wings of the legislative auditor's independent authority. Sometimes it is easy to forget that the Performance Evaluation and Research Division and the Post Audit Division still exist, because their work product has slowed. But ...

Reporter’s Notebook: Remembering 9/11

It's hard to believe that Friday marked 25 years since terrorists tied to Osama bin Laden and al-Qaeda flew airplanes into the two World Trade Center towers and the Pentagon, with a fourth plane sent into the ground in a field in Pennsylvania due to the bravery of its passengers and likely saving more lives. A certain generation can remember where they were when they heard about the Japanese sneak attack on Pearl Harbor, bringing the U.S. into World War II. Another generation knows where they were when President John F. Kennedy was assassinated or when the Berlin Wall fell, signaling ...

John McCabe: Coming Full Circle on Ohio County Jail

I have a little history with the former Ohio County Jail on Eoff Street. Thankfully, it’s not the kind that involved fingerprints, mug shots or a phone call home. Rather, the jail was one of the first big stories I tackled after arriving in Wheeling as a young reporter and being handed the Ohio County government beat. Back then, West Virginia was working through a major change in how it housed prisoners. The Ohio County Jail had closed in 1994 with the opening of the Northern Regional Jail that year. By the beginning of 1998, the state was again housing prisoners at the Eoff Street ...

Hoppy Kercheval: 9/11: The Test Of a Generation Carries On

Has it really been 25 years since the September 11 attacks? Consider this: Nearly half the U.S. population was either not yet born or too young to remember when the World Trade Center towers burned and collapsed, when a hijacked plane crashed into the Pentagon, and when Flight 93 crashed near Shanksville. Perhaps for them, 9/11 will be what Pearl Harbor was for older Americans. Growing up, I knew well the significance of Dec. 7, and the immortal words of President Roosevelt declaring that the date would “live in infamy.” But the event was not burned into my consciousness as it ...

John McCabe: West Virginia’s History Deserved More Than a Ferris Wheel

I traveled to Marietta, Ohio, about two weeks ago for a girls soccer game between Wheeling Park High School and Marietta High School. (Really good game, by the way. It ended in a 0-0 draw.) I’ve always enjoyed Marietta and appreciated its place in our nation’s history as the first permanent settlement in the Northwest Territory. Outside of Wheeling, it probably has as much historical significance as any city in our wider region. The residents there understand that history — and, more importantly, they celebrate it. Knowing that, and knowing how well Ohio has promoted ...

Doing Due Diligence Not The Same As Rejecting Facts

Those who fear backlash against data centers misinterpret evidence-based skepticism for bad faith and replace transparency and action with respectability politics. The Sunday News-Register's Aug. 29 editorial (“Data Center Debate Demands Good Faith”) gets one thing right: Wheeling residents deserve concrete answers about Silicon Foundation’s proposed data center in Warwood. How much electricity will it use? How much water? How loud will it be? How many permanent jobs will it create? Will safeguards protect nearby residents? And what — beyond financial penalties routinely ...