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Be safe and move over

There are plenty of designated days, weeks and months meant to raise awareness and perhaps steer conversations toward finding solutions to some of our biggest challenges. For example, the third Saturday in October is National Move Over Day, according to a representative of AAA, who spoke with WCHS earlier this week. Lori Weaver Hawkins told the news station “That gives us an added way to really educate the public and bring awareness to this issue.” Most of us probably think we understand the law, and the safety implications for not following it, but Hawkins points out, “It’s ...

The state stepping in to get the job done

This week, Gov. Patrick Morrisey announced that the state will extend its “donor agreement” to keep open the New River Gorge National Park and Preserve and Harpers Ferry National Historical Park. At $7,000 a day, Morrisey is likely correct that such a decision is worth the money, given the consequences if New River was to be closed for Bridge Day, or visitors were disappointed when they tried to visit our parks during what should be peak leaf-viewing season. “The political gridlock in Washington, it’s hurting a lot of people, but we took swift action in one area where we felt ...

Benson has big plans for WVU and W.Va.

West Virginia University President Michael Benson had a lot of big ideas in his first State of the University address this week. They come as he is in the middle of an effort to visit every county in the state — an important attempt to truly understand his new home and the state his university serves. Sure, it’s nice to learn the holiday lighting party will return to Woodburn Hall this year, but it is also encouraging to hear Benson has a realistic understanding of the challenges faced by the university, and the need to tackle them — with help from those who responded to the ...

Cooperation needed to solve our problems

Among the concerns for some of those worried about their finances amid a federal government shutdown, continued increasing inflation, high interest rates and an unsteady jobs market, is the burden of student loan repayment. In West Virginia, that burden is especially heavy. According to personal finance company WalletHub, West Virginia carries the eighth most student debt in the country. The Mountain State is 25th for average student debt, but third for the proportion of students with debt and fourth for student debt as a percentage of income. Meanwhile, the state is 15th for the ...

Looking at state’s future with FEMA

It was not only state officials who noticed a difference in the way the Federal Emergency Management Agency treated West Virginia in June, as opposed to previous interactions. Mountain State residents didn’t just notice it, they felt the consequences. Doug Buffington, acting secretary of the state Department of Homeland Security and a senior advisor to Gov. Patrick Morrisey, covered his bases when he declared “I have nothing bad to say about FEMA,” while he spoke to lawmakers earlier this week. But with that out of the way, he talked to them about his interaction with the FEMA ...

Get your exam, help raise awareness

Pink is a prevalent color around our communities this time of year — it serves as a reminder that October is Breast Cancer Awareness Month. One in eight women will develop invasive breast cancer in her lifetime, according to medical experts, and the most significant risk factors for breast cancer are gender — being a woman — and growing older. According to the American Cancer Society, breast cancer is the most common cancer in women in the United States, with the exception of skin cancers, and accounts for 30 percent of all new female cancers each year. Only lung cancer kills ...