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Remain vigilant, Ohio Valley

Across the Tri-State Area, school districts fell under siege last week. Threats were received in Ohio, West Virginia and Western Pennsylvania, as reports from multiple media outlets suggest there has been a wave of such frightening situations since the deadly school shooting in Georgia Sept. 4. In Jefferson County, a juvenile is being held in connection with threats of violence that disrupted Buckeye Local Schools. The juvenile, according to Sheriff Fred Abdalla Jr., has taken responsibility for threats that were made Monday morning and Tuesday evening through the social media app ...

Putting names, faces with the numbers

West Virginia’s myriad challenges — poverty, substance abuse and unevenly distributed resources, to name a few — have been affecting our children for generations. Measures in place to mitigate the damage done to those who will forge our future are facing their own challenges. As the need grows for families willing to adopt or foster children in state custody, the number of those willing families seems to be shrinking. But organizations are coming up with new ways to reach out. Mission West Virginia is launching the West Virginia Adoption Resource Exchange. It is a web-based photo ...

Fair weekend brings fun, tradition

Our region’s county fair season is winding down, but that doesn’t mean there’s still not time to savor the experience. That includes this weekend, when the annual Brooke County Fair will be held at Brooke Hills Park. The event, scheduled to run from 5 p.m. Friday through 5 p.m. Sunday, once again will serve as a reminder that county fairs offer something that just about everyone can enjoy, including a wide variety of games, food, activities and entertainment. There will be wrestling and a demolition derby, a rodeo and information about Revolutionary War re-enactors. ...

We must never forget that day

Nineteen committed people can change the world. That is the frightening reality that we learned 23 years ago today, after Americans and the world watched as civilian airliners were used as piloted cruise missiles to rain terror in New York and Washington, D.C., and on the people who fought back aboard an airliner that crashed into a peaceful farm field east of Pittsburgh. Sept. 11, 2001, is receding in time, but not in effect. The world has accepted wars, seemingly without end. It has accepted that madmen bent on using violence as a political statement will forever be with us. ...

Proposed light a necessity for safety

After initially denying the request, the West Virginia Division of Highways has encouraged Brooke County commissioners to submit a new application for a signal system at the northern intersection of state Route 2 and Pleasant Avenue in Wellsburg. The system, if approved – and we hope it will be – would be used by Brooke County Emergency Management to alert drivers when an ambulance would be making its way onto the highway from its new centralized station. A similar system has been in use in Weirton in recent years for the Weirton Fire Department to access the city’s Main Street ...

Hoping to see us all live longer

For many residents of the Tri-State Area, the choice to live here comes down to it simply being home. We’re here because we want to live here. But data released recently by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention shows some of the region’s residents are not living as long as residents of many other states. Ohio ranks 40th in life expectancy in the country, based on 2021 data. In the Buckeye State, the average lifespan is 74.5 years (77.5 years for women and 71.7 years for men). The national average is 76.4 years (79.3 for women and 73.5 for men.) And, numbers from ...