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It’s better to give than to receive

Editorials

You’ve made it through Black Friday, Small Business Saturday, Artists Sunday and Cyber Monday. It’s a long series of days on which businesses big and small and even some individuals are hoping you’ll be spending some (or all) of your holiday shopping budget with them. Now we have reached Giving Tuesday, a day organizers say “unleashes the power of radical generosity around the world.” Sure, there’s a financial component to this, too. Those who have the resources should, indeed, take advantage of today to give what they are able to nonprofits that support the most ...

Anti-opioid bill is a necessary measure

Editorials

While the acronym might have been a bit of a stretch, the Non-Opioids Prevent Addiction in the Nation (NOPAIN) for Veterans Act is still a long-overdue piece of legislation, introduced in recent weeks by U.S. Sens. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., and Jeanne Shaheen, D-N.H. Given all this country — and particularly our region — has been through because of the substance abuse epidemic, it is a bit of a surprise no one has worked toward such a measure for those who have served. This one would expand veteran access to non-opioid alternatives by creating pathways for Food and Drug ...

Bookends of this year’s reading list

Local Columns

I enjoy reading. I guess I wouldn’t be in this profession if I didn’t. When I was 5 years old, I told my dad he no longer had to read to me. From that point on, I slept with numerous books under my bed for convenience. I slept with a touch lamp on and didn’t sleep in the dark until I was nearly out of high school, not because I was afraid of the dark but because I’d often fall asleep reading. Growing up, I mostly read nonfiction, such as books about history. I recall borrowing the Time Life series on the American Civil War from then-Pleasants County Sheriff David Kelly (now ...

Dean Martin’s ‘Silver Bells’

Letters to the Editor

To the Editor, The Polar Vortex is coming — it is going to be a real old-fashioned Christmas season. Who can forget rushing downtown from store to store and spending time looking at windows decorated at the Hub? The magical festive season, which greeted big-eyed children the same way they had welcomed googly-eyed great-grandparents and grandparents years earlier, who had traveled on icy train tracks, then on a streetcar, eating hot roasted peanuts. It was a time of second-hand trees, and homeless men holding a cup of soup from a gurgling, crackling caldron gathered in the Steubenville ...

Remember the giving part of the season

Local Columns

You’ve, no doubt, been hearing the ringing of bells when going out into the community in the last week or so. No, it’s not Clarence giving you a sign he’s gotten his wings, but volunteers helping the Salvation Army as part of its annual kettle campaign. The Salvation Army’s efforts to raise money, purchase food and toys, and collect donations of the same, has become so interwoven with the holiday season that we typically anticipate hearing those bells ringing as we venture out to do our shopping beginning in mid November and lasting well into December. No matter the year, and ...

Capito Connect delivering broadband West Virginians deserve

Local Columns

When I talk with West Virginians, connectivity is a topic that comes up frequently. Whether you’re a small business owner looking to develop your online presence and reach a broader audience, or a teacher who needs to send a homework assignment to students who missed a class, broadband access is critical in today’s world. It keeps us connected, has the ability to break down barriers, and leads to significant economic growth. Today, I am proud to say that connection is closer than ever. Last week, the state’s Final Proposal under the Broadband Equity, Access and Deployment ...