Breaking News

Editorials

Welcome season with Fall River Fest

Fall officially arrived over the weekend, and with it an expectation of cooler temperatures, a change of color in the trees and a variety of celebrations focused on the traditional harvest. What better way to welcome the season, then, than by attending one of our local autumnal community events? New Cumberland’s Fall River Fest is set to take place Saturday and Sunday with a variety of vendors, entertainment and other activities for all ages. The festival will kick off at 9 a.m. Saturday with the River Fest 5K Walk and Run, with a course taking runners through town. It will be ...

Keep our state safe during fire season

Fall fire season is fast approaching in West Virginia. It begins Oct. 1 (though the ongoing drought has made conditions dangerous already). This will be the first season during which employees of the state Division of Forestry, Department of Natural Resources Wildlife Section and state parks have improved equipment to fight wildfires, after passage of Senate Bill 1032 back in 2023. At an event at Twin Falls State Park, officials announced the inclusion of two Type 3 bulldozers with specialized forestry and firefighting packages, three Type 6 wildland fire engines, six new drones with ...

Celebrate a safe homecoming season

Homecoming celebrations for area high schools have begun. The festivities give students the opportunity to get out and enjoy themselves during this time of year, joining friends, family and alumni as they cheer on their team hopefully to victory, getting dressed up and dancing the night away. But they also should remember to do all of these things as safely as possible. There is certain to be lots of fanfare surrounding all of these events, but precautions must be taken. As during any time when students are out on their own, they must make certain to be careful if they are driving. ...

Johnson inspires us to reach for the stars

Most Mountain State residents already know what a treasure the late Katherine Johnson was, and how important she and her colleagues were to any successes the United States had at the beginning of the space race. The White Sulphur Springs native and West Virginia State University graduate was among those known as human computers for the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics and then the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Their work helped put a man on the moon. Though Johnson had already received the Presidential Medal of Freedom back in 2015, Congress did the right ...

Reading remains fundamental

Weirton Elementary School has organized numerous programs through the years to encourage its pupils to read, emphasizing the importance of literacy throughout their lives. Whether it be the One Book, One School, One Community campaign, Accelerator Reading or its Reader of the Month, youth from Pre-K through fourth grade are instilled with the idea that reading is fundamental. Now, a new program has been launched at the school through the purchase of three Inchy’s Book Vending Machines. Global Vending Group placed its first book vending machine in 2018, identified with the Inchy ...

We’re drowning in credit card debt

When finances get tight, some households turn to credit cards to get by. It’s not an ideal solution, and can lead to bigger problems down the road, but sometimes feels like the only way. According to WalletHub, the collective credit card debt of the United States is approximately $1.28 trillion — and $109 billion of that came from 2023 alone. But some regions are faring better than others, the Washington, D.C.-based personal financial website reports. “Some parts of the country are racking up credit card debt at an alarming rate,” financial writer Adam McCann reported in ...