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More growth for our recreation trails?

It’s only been a few months since the paving was completed on the West Virginia portion of the Panhandle Trail; a project which truly has been years in the making. Now, it looks as if additional improvements are in the works for the trail, which travels between Weirton and Carnegie, Pa. As we reported in our Thursday edition, the City of Weirton – with work from the Weirton Board of Parks and Recreation and the city’s Planning and Development Department – is planning to apply for a Transportation Alternatives Program grant through the West Virginia Department of ...

Guest column: State missing the energy and tech opportunity, again

West Virginia stands at a critical crossroads when it comes to combining energy production and technological innovation. Our access to abundant natural gas reserves as well as a skilled work force allows our state to stand ready to meet America’s energy needs, further artificial intelligence (AI) development, and help future technological advancements. What we cannot let happen is watch as our neighbors, Ohio and Pennsylvania, harness these opportunities as we stand idly by. Seeing these states announce multiple, lifechanging, investments should serve as a wake-up call to seize our ...

Guest column: Early signs matter: What looks like aging in loved ones could be Alzheimer’s

When Zelda Hill was in college, he began noticing subtle changes in his father. The man who had always been precise began forgetting current events, mixing up dates and times, and getting lost in familiar places. Zelda had seen memory loss in his grandparents before, and like many people, assumed it was a normal part of aging. With his father, though, he was more attuned to the changes in behavior, and the family sought medical advice. First came a diagnosis of dementia, then Alzheimer’s disease. Zelda’s father was only in his 50s. Alzheimer’s is the most common form of ...

Guest column: It’s time for West Virginia’s youth to sit at the table when discussing mental health

There’s a quiet crisis unfolding across West Virginia. Our young people are hurting and far too often, they’re navigating it alone. Suicide is now the second leading cause of death for West Virginians ages 10 to 24. More than 60% of youth with major depression receive no treatment, and 26 counties across our state don’t have a single practicing child or adolescent psychiatrist. These are not just statistics—they’re warning signs for all of us to listen more deeply. The truth is, we can’t talk about the youth mental health crisis in 2025 without acknowledging the shadow ...

Once in a while, it’s nice for those little things

Is it just me or does anyone else ever feel as though life sometimes hands them more than they can cope with? I’m sure most of you have heard the saying of how God doesn’t give us more than we are able to handle. I am not sure exactly who started this saying, but if they are correct, then I honestly don’t know why God thinks that some of us are so strong. As I mentioned last week, being an adult is hard. Perhaps it is the hardest thing we will ever have to do. There are some days when the only thing I want is to stay in bed and pull the covers up over my head so that ...

Hot temperatures and hotter tempers

They say that heat makes people cranky, and it sure seems like tempers and egos are clashing all over the place within West Virginia state government. Take the recent drama over the Legislative Economic Development Assistance grant program, the reincarnation of the former Budget Digest, where lawmakers used to put earmarks for projects in their legislative districts. Instead of lawmakers putting earmarks in the general revenue budget, past legislatures and governors came to an agreement where the Legislature appropriates money into a line item within the Governor’s Civil ...