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Standing up for citizens’ privacy

As West Virginia state officials have been doing for several years now, Secretary of State Kris Warner pushed back against federal overreach this week when he announced the Mountain State “will not volunteer the release of personally identifying information of every registered West Virginian to the U.S. Department of Justice. Warner said the Department of Justice has sent requests to almost every state seeking registered voters’ information such as ID numbers, Social Security numbers and other identifying information. His office was having none of it. “West Virginians entrust ...

The office is bigger than the person who serves

Monday is Presidents Day, and it should be a chance to reflect, to honor and to give thanks. It should be an opportunity to remember that while our president changes every four or eight years, our democracy continues to set a standard that is the envy of the rest of the world. The office itself always has served as testament to the peaceful transfer of power, even when that concept has been met with extraordinary challenges, and to the symbol of leadership that resides at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. in Washington, D.C. The holiday is the combination of days that originally had been set ...

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 ...