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Helping Ohio Students

Editorials

Not every student has the same path to follow after high school graduation. They don’t have the same skill sets, interests or aspirations. So why would we limit the options they have for assessing their readiness to proceed on those paths? In Ohio, there may be other options available, if lawmakers give serious consideration to state House Bill 326, introduced by Reps. Kevin Ritter, R-Marietta, and Johnathan Newman, R-Troy. “Regarding the use of nationally standardized assessments in public and chartered nonpublic schools and state institutions of higher education,” it would ...

Balancing the Books for All in West Virginia

Editorials

Members of the state House Finance Committee are working toward some important changes to safeguard taxpayer dollars, ahead of a planned “universal expansion” of the Hope Scholarship educational voucher program. Without many of the planned changes, the program will remain wide open to waste, fraud and abuse, as too many have taken advantage of the state’s failure to install guardrails earlier. The originating bill, which has not yet been numbered, would cap the annual Hope Scholarship award to eligible families at $5,250, with $250 going to the State Treasurer’s Office for ...

Gambling on Hope

Local Columns

Maybe I’m reading too much into it, but on first glance it sure seems like both the Senate and House Finance Committees are sending messages to Gov. Patrick Morrisey. Perhaps the message is this: You can have a 10% personal income tax cut, or you can have the Hope Scholarship educational voucher program, but to have one, you’re going to have to accept changes to the other. Morrisey’s general revenue budget proposal for fiscal year 2027 beginning July 1 is $5.493 billion, which is roughly 3.2% more than he proposed last year and the Legislature passed for the current fiscal ...

Pats on the Back

Editorials

- To Kloe Nguyen, an eighth-grade student at Bridge Street Middle School, who won the Ohio County Schools Spelling Bee this past week. - To the Lansing Sportsmen’s Club, which recently donated a jaw-dropping $99,999 to Bridgeport City Schools for the walking track around the district’s new multipurpose facility, “The Bridge.” - To Bob Contraguerro Jr., who was named the 2026 Upper Ohio Valley Italian Heritage Festival’s Italian-American of the Year, joining a long list of notable names in the community. - To the Community Foundation for the Ohio Valley, which awarded ...

Remembering the Words of the Late Rev. Jesse Jackson

Local Columns

The month of February is known as Black History Month. We believe that all cultures should be celebrated. Red, yellow, black and white, we are all precious in God’s sight. We once had a speaker come to the Dr. Martin L. King, Jr. Day Celebration in Wheeling, WV. and said, “America is considered the great melting pot, and that is a problem!” We were shocked to hear him say it. We waited for the explanation, which I was surprised to hear. “If we are the great melting pot, that means we lose our original flavor, looks, etc., and melted into something totally new, with all our ...

Housing Task Force Is a Necessary Move

Editorials

There are plenty of things in the city of Wheeling that make it attractive for people to move here. Recreation is a gift, with places like Wheeling Park and Oglebay Park Resort to visit. There are great schools, both public and private, that will help children achieve. But there’s one big thing of which Wheeling is in short supply, a sizable hurdle that can serve as a deterrent for people to become part of the community: a lack of new and affordable housing. Combining those words “new” and “affordable” is important. In Wheeling, new housing is rarely affordable for young ...