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Finding Ways To Make West Virginia Fitter

Editorials

As a few attempts to address West Virginia’s woeful health indicators and perpetually bottom-of-the-barrel quality of life rankings have made their way into public policy over the past year, lawmakers have continued to look for new ways to address the matter. As it seems these days everything must have a call back to some other well-known political slogan, the Make West Virginia Healthy Act of 2026 is meant to get ahead of some of our state’s worst health challenges. “We all know the numbers … West Virginia leads the nation in chronic disease, disability, preventable ...

Fixing Ohio Food Deserts

Editorials

Food insecurity may seem to many of us like a problem for someone else, somewhere else. For others, it is an urgent and very personal worry. A map produced by the Institute for Local Self Reliance shows there are food deserts in every state. In Ohio, they are growing. According to a report by the Ohio Capital Journal, the institute defines an urban food desert as a low-income census tract with at least 500 people or 33% of the population living a mile or more from the nearest supermarket, large grocery or supercenter; rural food deserts have the same parameters with the exception of ...

Inclusion on Ice Keeps Growing

Editorials

The smiles from hundreds of people who congregated at the Wheeling Park Ice Rink this past Sunday was evidence enough that Inclusion on Ice was another rousing success —and one that more and more people have enjoyed each year. The event, presented by Augusta Levy Learning Center, Easterseals Rehabilitation Center and the Wheeling Nailers and in its fifth year, allowed skaters of all ability levels to have fun in a safe, inclusive environment. This year was the events largest, with more than 600 people taking part in skating, bounce houses, face painting, food and more good times. ...

Going on two years with new city administration, what is the face of Wheeling?

Local Columns

Editor's note: This opinion piece from Wheeling resident J. Arnold Roxby appeared in the Tuesday, Feb. 10 print edition of The Intelligencer. What is the face of Wheeling this year? The triumphant new Fire or Police headquarters? The collapsed Washington Avenue bridge or the crumbling stretch of National Road at McColloch’s Leap? Or is it the ground-level Market Street parking garage storefront — an $11 million public investment sitting empty, symbolizing both our development ambition and fragility? A year has passed since the last State of the City address, when I acknowledged the ...

Punishment Must Always Fit Crime

Editorials

Public corruption should always trigger outrage, regardless of the offender. When people entrusted with public dollars abuse that trust, the damage goes far beyond the financial hit. It erodes confidence in institutions that rely on credibility to function. That is why the stark contrast between two recent public corruption cases in our region is impossible to ignore — and deeply concerning. In one case, a former Marshall County assessor, an elected official, was sentenced to two to 15 years in state prison for embezzlement. That sentence properly reflects the seriousness of the ...

Primary Colors

Local Columns

When it comes to contesting statewide and legislative races, the West Virginia Democratic Party should be commended for its candidate recruitment efforts heading into the 2026 elections. I don’t say that because I have a specific bias one way or another. But I do believe that a healthy two-party system is important to making our democratic republic work, because the political parties hold each other accountable. According to the state Democratic Party, there are 22 Democratic candidates seeking nomination to 17 of 19 state Senate seats on the ballot for the May primary, some of ...