If you can’t help them, at least don’t hurt them

February 7, 2026

There are some days when the world feels unbearably heavy, days when the headlines seem to blur together and the noise of everyday life makes it hard to hear anything at all. And then, in those rare, quiet moments, the ones where we finally sit still long enough to feel something … a single sentence can change everything — change our perspective on how we see the world. For me, it was the Dalai Lama’s gentle reminder, “Our prime purpose in this life is to help others. And if you can’t help them, at least don’t hurt them.” Such simple words, and such a simple ...

Today’s importance of media literacy

February 2, 2026

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 ...

Odds and ends to wrap up the month

January 31, 2026

Just a few thoughts to end out the week, and the month, as we all try to do whatever we can to take our minds of the ongoing frigid temperatures. •••••• It came down to the last few days, but many of the races set to go on our local ballots have started to fill up. As of Friday morning, there were four candidates for three seats on the Brooke County school board and two candidates for Brooke Commission. Three (Two Republicans and one Democrat) have stepped up for the Hancock County Commission race, with eight now vying for one of the three seats on the Hancock County ...

Life on the frontier could be tough

January 31, 2026

It’s going to snow — a lot … Our ancestors did not have the advantage of modern weather warning systems to prepare for things like bitter, raw, sub-zero temperatures, blizzards and ice storms. The Upper Ohio Valley was settled during some of the coldest winters of the Little Ice Age. The wintry weather that could be remembered might have been blended from the stories told in front of a hearth with a roaring fire and a black bake kettle and a bean pot, from a forbear of my mother’s side of the family. It was a time when youngsters were put to sleep in their feather beds to ...

Trains are beautiful, but respect the tracks

January 31, 2026

Here are words you would rarely put together: railroad safety and the Public Service Commission of West Virginia. Yet, when it comes to keeping rails safe and clear in the Mountain State, those duties fall to our Commission. And the center of that work is Operation Lifesaver. For more than three decades, the PSC has been a partner of Operation Lifesaver, a national nonprofit focused on rail safety education. Together with us, they raise safety awareness and strive to reduce accidents at rail crossings. That dedication starts at the top. The head of our railroad division was ...

Having to say goodbye never gets easier

January 31, 2026

There is a silence unlike any other when a certain heartbeat stops. It is a specific kind of quiet. One that seems to settle into the floorboards. And it remains a part of our home forever. It is a quiet so heavy that it feels as if it has its very own weight to it. How can air feel so heavy? We tell ourselves when we bring them home — those tumbling little balls of fur who trip over their own paws — that we are ready for the end. We tell ourselves that we understand the math. We convince ourselves that we realize there is not a lot of time when it comes to the life ...