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Guidance for our future journalists

A local educator who is helping to guide potential future journalists has been recognized for her work, and we hope you all will join us in offering her congratulations. Morgan Bricker, adviser to the media programs at Weir High School, recently was announced as the recipient of the Candance and John Bowen Advisor First Amendment Leadership Award, which is presented annually to an individual in recognition of their efforts to support, defend and fight for student journalism. In addition to her teaching at Weir High, Bricker is the state director of the Journalism Education Association ...

Consider all options to make state healthier

As a few attempts to address West Virginia’s woeful health indicators and perpetually bottom-of-the-barrel quality of life rankings have made their way into public policy over the past year, lawmakers have continued to look for new ways to address the matter. As it seems these days everything must have a call back to some other well-known political slogan, the Make West Virginia Healthy Act of 2026 is meant to get ahead of some of our state’s worst health challenges. “We all know the numbers … West Virginia leads the nation in chronic disease, disability, preventable ...

Questions surround fee increase idea

Weirton Council is in the process of increasing its Municipal Service Fee, and, while we understand the reasoning behind the thought – to expand and improve fire service in the community – there are some questions about why this specific fee was targeted to bring in the revenue. For those unfamiliar, Weirton’s Municipal Service Fee, as it currently stands, assesses $2 per week from the paychecks of any individual who is employed within the city limits. This newspaper spoke against the implementation of this fee back in 2004, when its stated purpose was for improvements to the ...

Success for the valley’s future

When you open Wednesday’s edition and look through the pages of the first installment of this year’s Progress Edition, you’ll find comments that say a lot about the direction the Tri-State Area is headed in. Jefferson County Commissioner Jake Kleineke, for one, is excited about the opportunities for growth that are being seen around the region. “I feel like we’re making steps in the right direction,” he explained while discussing development, adding that when one community scores a development hit, it creates a ripple effect that is felt across the region. That optimism ...

Spring training is right around the corner

Are you tired of the cold and snow? Have you had it with experiencing, day-after-day, weather forecasts that call for overnight temperatures that start close to zero and afternoon temperatures that are consistently below freezing? Have you resorted to cursing the groundhog and started to wonder out loud how the woolly bear caterpillars you so carefully studied last fall could have been so wrong? Relax — spring is on the way. And while we haven’t seen the grass in a couple of weeks and the trees are still waiting for their first buds, we would remind you that there’s an even ...

How do we recharge West Virginia?

Governments have only a limited number of ways to support private businesses — large or small. Whether we like it or not, spending taxpayer money is one of them. The question becomes whether the return is larger than the investment — whether that money is being spent prudently. So, one can understand one of the objections to state House Bill 4004, to create the Recharge West Virginia program, from a few who wondered whether it was a good use of taxpayer dollars to support private businesses by incentivizing them to upskill existing employees. (It is harder to understand those who ...