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Cooperation needed to solve our problems

Editorials

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

Editorials

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 ...

Here’s to your health, West Virginia!

Local Columns

Last week, I covered the final two days of permanent injunction hearings to block a June directive from the West Virginia Board of Education to county boards of education to continue to enforce the state’s compulsory vaccine law and not accept religious exemptions approved by the Department of Health and made possible by Gov. Patrick Morrisey’s January executive order. I’m not going to rehash all of the particulars. You can read my coverage of both days. But I wanted to use my column to focus on last Thursday morning’s testimony by Dr. Mark McDaniel, the acting state health ...

History in the Hills: Looking at our stuff

Local Columns

This past week was fall clean-up in Weirton, and my family certainly took advantage of that opportunity. I really hate to get rid of good things that still could be used. We tried our best to donate as much as possible, but sometimes, things just wear out, break and outlive their useful life. I am a collector and a saver, so I usually strip something down to its bare bones and save anything useful from something before trashing it. As a result of all this saving, I have amassed a collection of screws, nuts, bolts, washers, boards, trim, wires and scraps of various origins, just in case ...

Guest Opinion: In West Virginia, we check on each other

Local Columns

This past week was Mental Illness Awareness Week, and World Mental Health Day was Wednesday. It’s a helpful reminder, but the truth is West Virginians don’t wait for a calendar to do the right thing. We check on our neighbors. We bring a casserole and we bring a phone number. We don’t look away when someone’s struggling. We lean in. That’s who we are and how we live. Over the past year, the work of the National Alliance on Mental Illness in West Virginia has expanded with that same spirit. We’ve grown education and peer support so families have somewhere to turn. We’ve ...

Bad Bunny could provide a good show

Local Columns

Those complaining about the selection of Bad Bunny for the Super Bowl halftime show in 2026 should probably take some time to look up the history of the feature. From Super Bowl I in 1967 to XXVI in 1992, these performances were primarily provided by college and high school marching bands, with the occasional guest performer or two. Many had special themes, such as the 1992 salute to the Winter Olympics with appearances by the 1980 U.S. Olympic hockey team, or the 1990 Salute to Peanuts, or the 1987 salute to 100 years of Hollywood. In 1981, there was a Mardi Gra theme. That changed ...