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Marshall Memo: Traveling Trunk; Students Honored; and Art Show

Launched in January 2023, Cockayne’s traveling trunk program has continued to grow this year. Last year the program featured two trunks — one covering life during the Victorian Era, and one focused on WWII local history. This year Cockayne has completed various visits in surrounding schools. Several schools that got a visit came to the farmhouse on field trips. There are several upcoming events at the Marshall County Historical Society and Cockayne Farmstead. This Monday, March 18, a banquet to be held at the Strand Theatre will introduce new board members and the 2024 History ...

Looking Back at the Legislative Session

As I write this Sunday morning following the end of this year’s 60-day session of the West Virginia Legislature, I’m trying to wrap my head around everything. When one looks back at this particular session, I have no idea what the takeaways will be. I stand by my contention a few weeks ago that this was largely a lackluster session. I decided to do some compare and contrast. As of the stroke of midnight Saturday, 280 bills had completed the legislative process, meaning they were passed by both the House of Delegates and the state Senate (38 of those bills have already been signed ...

Protecting Our Kids From Social Media

Like many of you, I am concerned about the effect that social media is having on America’s youth. I have eight grandchildren, and while I am glad that we are able to connect and stay in touch via social media, I am devastated to see the negative effects these platforms can have on children. It’s important that we do all we can to protect our children from online threats that pose a great risk to their development and their safety. These platforms must be responsible for the content provided to our youth and tools must be in place to prevent harm. According to a U.S. Surgeon ...

Marshall Memo: OnTrac Award; Softball Tourney; and Entrepreneurs

Four representatives of the city of Moundsville — Mayor Sara Wood-Shaw, Vice Mayor David Wood, Secretary Sara Jasenec and City Manager Rick Healy — traveled this past week to Charleston for the OnTrac Award Ceremony. The four were presented with a Certificate of Recognition signed by Gov. Jim Justice for being designated as an OnTrac Community. Healy said, “We also had the first official training for the program.” It was announced that Mayor Wood-Shaw and Secretary Jasenec would be the co-liaisons for the program. “This is an exciting step forward for our Historic ...

Pandemic Aid Confusion Impacts Budget Process

A poor explanation of a federal obligation led to a panic last week that the state of West Virginia was going to have to give back $465 million to the U.S. Department of Education. Even the word “clawback” was used, but as it turns out, it’s not really a clawback at all, at least in the short term. But depending on negotiations with the department for a second and final waiver, the state might have to — heaven forbid — spend an additional $465 million on education. And if we don’t do that, then the clawback commences. As a colleague — Mountain State Spotlight state ...

Asking Our Veterans To Serve Us Once Again

Democracy runs on elections. And elections run on volunteer poll workers. In spite of the importance of these volunteers, in the past three national elections, our nation has seen a critical shortage of volunteer election workers all across the country. This lack of volunteers has forced election officials in several states to make tough decisions, such as combining voter locations and having fewer voter check in tables available. These changes created situations that often made it difficult for many Americans to exercise their right to vote. In every statewide election held in ...