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‘Gateway to the West’ Another Big Success

The Highlands Sports Complex was packed once again this past weekend, with the whirring and buzzing of hordes of robots filling the air. The VEX Robotics “Gateway to the West” returned to the facility, bringing dozens of middle school and high school teams from California to Canada and elsewhere to Ohio County to show off their expertise. Even a massive snowstorm couldn’t keep the tournaments from running. The storm did keep some middle school teams home, but there was a full slate of high school teams going head to head at The Highlands. That not only speaks to the devotion ...

Media Literacy

I’ll be the first to say that I, as a reporter, am not perfect. No one is. I can sometimes make mistakes in stories, both grammatical and factual. I can sometimes read a bill or a study too quickly and miss something important. If I get something wrong, I work as quickly as I can to send up a correction to my copy desk. Sometimes mistakes escape me and my copy desk. When you write as many words as I do in a week and you read as many words as my editors do, sometimes mistakes fall through the cracks. But when they are pointed out, we try to fix them. I believe the same goes for my ...

Income Tax Cuts Must Be Sensible

Though Gov. Patrick Morrisey may have had the weight of Americans for Tax Reform President Grover Norquist behind him on his recent visit to Parkersburg, the reality is unchanged: Lawmakers have already put in place a mechanism to reduce what West Virginians pay in income tax, and the state did not meet markers to trigger another cut as recently as August. Despite that, Morrisey has gone from pitching a 5% to 10% income tax cut to going all-in at 10%. “West Virginians deserve to keep more of what they earn,” Morrisey said. “We tightened the budget, made tough choices, and put ...

No Winners With End of Viennese Ball

Editor, News-Register: Twelve years ago, after being present at its preparations for a decade and serving as a page, I declined an invitation to be a member of the cotillion in the Viennese Winter Ball. While leaving Wheeling to go to university a year early was the right decision for me, giving up the position offered me was a sacrifice; now that the Ball is permanently ending after 44 years, everyone loses. The Ball functioned as a fundraising event for the Wheeling Symphony; having little information about the committee’s reasons for cancelling the event other than “rising ...

Pats on the Back

- To everyone involved with the VEX Robotics Gateway to the West tournament that filled the Highlands Sports Complex this weekend. In a short period of time, this has turned into one of the marquee robotics events in the region, if not the nation. It’s a wonderful showcase of what Ohio County can do. - To all the city, county and state employees who have spent days clearing the roads around the Ohio Valley after last weekend’s storm dumped inches of snow on us and left sub-zero temperatures in its wake. Thank you for all that you do. - To all the WVU Medicine nurses who were ...

Stop Silly Debates and Get to Work

This weekend puts the West Virginia Legislature nearly three weeks into its 2026 session. Both the House of Delegates and Senate have brought several bills to the floor of their respective chambers. The House has already passed multiple bills in the “Jobs First — Opportunity Everywhere” platform it touted before the session even began. One updated the state’s financial support for industrial access roads, doubling it from $3 million to $6 million. Another increased the caps on microgrants for the West Virginia Business Ready Sites program. Were those earth-shaking advances? ...