Local officials have begun to talk about reopening various municipal and county facilities, such as city buildings and county courthouses. A good first step would be reopening parks and other outdoor recreation areas. Wheeling City Manager Robert Herron suggested last Tuesday that this ...
Black people are about 7.2% of the COVID-19 cases diagnosed in West Virginia, according to the state Department of Health and Human Resources. They are only 3.2% of the state’s population. What does that tell you? Not much, yet. What’s important is to find out why the coronavirus seems to ...
How old am I? One of the big stories over the past few months before the coronavirus took over was that Prince Harry and Meghan Markle were quitting their duties as the royal family. I don’t know how many times that has happened, but I know they are not the first. Yet still, the act, the ...
Several members of the Marshall County Health Department staff this past week acknowledged one of their co-workers who plays a dual role in the community by posting a recognition on Facebook. That individual is Tom Cook, the MCHD’s administrator, who has also been involved in Boy Scouting ...
Editor, News-Register: The Northern Panhandle Veterans Council was established to ensure that our veterans have a voice at every level of government. We have also been working to bring together those organizations that work with, serve, and advocate for veterans. We want to help support one ...
Editor, News-Register: We want to thank the City Operations Department for taking such good care of our neighborhood. We live in the Birch/Lynn area of the Woodsdale/Edgwood area. Since the recent flooding, the workers have been through the neighborhood multiple times, clearing the mud from ...
Property occupied by the now-closed Ohio Valley Medical Center can be had by the city of Wheeling for virtually nothing, it is argued by proponents of the acquisition. But that is not accurate — not at all. There is much more to the story, and it should be told to local taxpayers before ...
Business shutdowns and curtailments resulting from COVID-19 are hurting local government entities substantially. They are losing significant revenue needed to support municipal and county services. Just this week, city council members in Chester were forced to lay off six municipal employees. ...
I suppose we can thank COVID-19 for reminding us why we have safeguards such as the U.S. Senate and the Electoral College to defend us against the tyranny of too-big-to-fail states. Anytime the federal government steps in to rescue the economy, there are complaints that big banks, car ...
If you’re like me, working from home, time manages to slip away unnoticed. I have found that working at home has actually kept me glued to my seat for hours at a time. In the office, I often had reasons to walk about the room, visit other floors and go out among the populace to obtain ...
For the first time in many months, St. Clairsville officials seem nearly united in a plan to ensure city residents and businesses have reliable, affordable water and sewer service in the future. State government should get on the bandwagon. It has been about a year since a proposal to sell ...
Too often, the reports federal officials use to claim they are using taxpayers’ money effectively overstate results. So it is with a report on broadband access to the internet, issued by the Federal Federal Communications Commission. U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., has written to FCC ...
Ohioans received very bad news about the state government budget on Tuesday. Because of the COVID-19 crisis, state revenue for the fiscal year to date has been nearly $750 million below what had been expected, Gov. Mike DeWine reported. Kudos to DeWine and legislators, however, for spending ...
On Monday, week three of West Virginia’s business reopening campaign will permit drive-in movie theaters and certain “wellness” centers to resume operations. Yes, that’s it. As Dr. Clay Marsh, the state’s coronavirus response coordinator, explained Tuesday, “the aggressiveness ...
In little more than a month, someone will be elected to fill the Ohio County Board of Education seat that, until a few days ago, had been filled by Zach Abraham. He had not filed for re-election, choosing instead to seek nomination to a post on the Ohio County Commission. Though his term ...
An idea of how much damage COVID-19 has done to the health care network was gained this week, when WVU Medicine President and CEO Albert Wright reported the hospital system has lost $75 million during the past month and a half. WVU Medicine includes about a dozen hospitals and manages ...
It appears Wheeling taxpayers are about to become owners of a hospital complex. Let us hope it does not become an expensive headache. During a meeting scheduled for noon today, Wheeling City Council members are to vote on a measure that would authorize purchase of most of the former Ohio ...
Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine is right that his initial order that customers in stores reopened after the COVID-19 shutdown would have to wear face masks “went too far.” DeWine was wise to rescind the mandate — but to leave the matter up to individual store owners and managers. Those ...
A plan being considered by St. Clairsville officials to resolve longstanding water system challenges sounds promising. Unless significant drawbacks are identified, it should be pursued — and the Ohio Environmental Protection Agency should go along. Expensive repairs and upgrades to the ...
Would that government officials were as conscientious about ethics as they seem to be inventive about trying to skirt the rules. Ohio Inspector General Randall J. Meyer’s office reported last week that about 40 state employees and some legislators accepted a free charter boat fishing trip ...