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State Treasurer Larry Pack: Universal Education Freedom Arrives In Mountain State

Local Columns

We have now passed the June 15 deadline marking the end of the application period for 100% funding of the Hope Scholarship program for the 2026-2027 school year. This year’s application closure is distinct from the rest because it is the first year of universal eligibility, meaning that every school-aged child is eligible to apply for the program. Access for all students was an intentional final step of the program’s implementation, providing ample time for developing a structure that would best serve nearly 30,000 students. It’s proven to be good foresight by lawmakers who ...

Hoppy Kerchavel: Is It Good To Be The King?

Local Columns

The kingdom was preparing to celebrate its birthday. Grand celebrations were planned. However, inside the castle, the king was unsettled. He shifted uneasily on his newly acquired throne. The gold-leafed, jewel-encrusted gift had arrived only days earlier after the king’s family secured lucrative investments in the donor’s kingdom. For the king, it was just another successful deal. But there were grumblings among a growing number of his subjects. They frowned upon his personal enrichment that went beyond any previous kings. They were angry about higher prices for everyday goods, ...

Take Time To Celebrate

Editorials

What a milestone we’re able to experience, the 250th birthday of the United States of America. What we’re seeing is a literal once-in-a-lifetime happening, the quarter millennium of the nation. It’s a cause for celebration. So let’s celebrate it. There will be plenty of opportunities to do so. Communities throughout the Ohio Valley will hold events throughout the weekend honoring America and its historic birthday. There will be parades, rides, food and, especially, fireworks in multiple towns on both sides of the Ohio River. Everyone should take advantage of that. Go to an ...

Let’s Live Up To What Our Founders Wanted

Editorials

As our country celebrates not just any Independence Day, but the 250th anniversary of one of the boldest declarations in human history, the festivities give us an excellent opportunity to look back on two-and-a-half centuries of this American experiment and check ourselves against what the founders hoped they were setting in motion. Draped in red, white and blue and surrounded by flags and fireworks, it is easy to forget how we got here and why we are free to celebrate as flamboyantly as we’d like. Richard Henry Lee made the motion to declare independence in June 1776, but not ...

Rabbi Lief A Great Choice To Lead Wheeling Homelessness Task Force

Editorials

In choosing the inaugural chairperson for his homelessness task force, Wheeling Mayor Denny Magruder needed to find someone who is a proven unifier, someone with compassion for their fellow man and someone who can guide a diverse group of people to seek solutions to a very difficult subject. In Rabbi Joshua Lief of Wheeling’s Temple Shalom, he found someone who checked all of those boxes. The city announced earlier this week that Lief would be the chair of the city’s homelessness task force, a group whose roster will be led by members of the clergy in the city and include members ...

Finding Pockets of Success in W.Va.

Editorials

While the narrative tends to focus on the rapid rate at which West Virginia’s population is shrinking, there are some spots in the state where population is actually growing. It’s worth taking a look at why. WorldAtlas compiled a list of the communities bucking the trend here, noting something that should be common sense, but seems to have escaped many policy makers: “Jobs and housing explain why these towns add residents while the rest of the state loses them.” So which communities are growing? Martinsburg, Charles Town and Ranson, in the Eastern Panhandle, which has ...