For those wondering if the state Republican Party is cracking, the answer is no. There is a long history of fractionalization in the state party. The drama between Wood County Republican Executive Committee Chairman Rob Cornelius and West Virginia Republican Party Executive Committee ...

His expression was priceless. On Sundays at church, there’s a children’s chat given with a message that typically runs parallel to the sermon theme itself. It’s a little people’s sermon, brief and to the point. The preacher invites the kids to come forward and gather around, and ...

It wasn’t a good year for our local elections. It should have been a hint back in April when we saw Weirton’s primary results. Some residents claimed they weren’t aware there was an election, despite the various bits of news coverage and campaign signs sprouting up throughout ...

Today the House of Delegates resumes the education special session, breaking into four select committees to consider legislation from its members, the Senate’s Student Success Act and accompanying education savings account bill, and some additional bills. That’s right, Gov. Jim Justice is ...

Write it down. This is a command I tell myself and hear from Better Half from time to time when something seems to be a potential tidbit, a theme or an idea for a future column. Truth be told, if I don’t write myself a note, the thought could well be history, lost in a haze of Janice this ...

West Virginia Day is Thursday. June 20, 1863 is the day West Virginia officially broke away from Virginia and became a state, joining the Union in the midst of the American Civil War. That is 156 years of history for the Mountain State. To celebrate, the state’s Tourism Division has once ...

This is Trinity Sunday. We often use this Sunday to explain the “what” of the Trinity. We may use resources like the Athanasian Creed in our worship service. There is a different approach to talking about the Trinity. This focuses more on the “why” of the Trinity. We teach that God is ...

There was a time when it was believed that Gov. Jim Justice and Senate President Mitch Carmichael, R-Jackson, were close. After last week, I’d say those days are very much over. How that plays out for the Republican Party’s control of most of state government in 2020 remains to be ...

“Do you still barrel race?” The question directed at me came from a stranger, a woman who operates one of the shops in the flea market in Sugarcreek. Better Half and I were roaming around in there during what constituted a part of our semi-annual trip to Amish country, a place where I ...

The other day, our publisher walked into the newsroom carrying a box of items discovered in our Weirton building. When our news operations were moved almost 10 years ago, there was a lot left on Lee Avenue, and every once in a while some remnant of history will be uncovered in some corner. ...

Mankind was created for fellowship/intimacy with God. Before sin, everything Adam did was an act of worship. Since the fall of Adam and Eve in Genesis 3, man has attempted to come back to a place of worship with God. I want to give you an overall view, a big picture, of worship from Adam in the ...

Tell me if you’ve heard this one before. One body of the West Virginia Legislature unveils a massive 100-plus page bill out of nowhere and passes it in about a week. I could be talking about the birth of Senate Bill 451, the education omnibus bill, which made its debut Jan. 24 during the ...

I bought a vintage gossip table the other day. It was kind of a belated Mother’s Day gift to myself, which means I saw it on Mother’s Day but delayed the purchase of it until I celebrated “Janice Day.” First off, a gossip table is a piece of furniture that has two key features. It ...

In just over one week, area voters in several of our communities will be heading to the ballot to select their municipal representatives. We’ve worked to provide some information on the various races involved on June 11, either in recent weeks or prior to the primary elections in May. There ...

Has America been hijacked by those who despise Christianity and Judaism and any religion that believes there are God given standards to live by? Pastor Tony Foglio shared recently a bible verse from 1 Corinthians 16:13 that says, “Stand firm in the faith… be strong.” It is not time ...

Today is Memorial Day, when we take time to honor those members of the U.S. Armed Forces who gave the ultimate sacrifice and laid their lives down in combat or who have later died as a veteran. I have a lot of fond memories on Memorial Day weekend growing up in St. Marys. Military service is a ...

I wear my dad’s dog tags with frequency. And that’s for a lot of reasons. I wear them simply because they were my dad’s dog tags from his time of service in the Army during World War II. He had served in a railroad battalion, running a locomotive in North Africa and Italy in what ...

For years, when area residents heard about community cleanups, it was usually a time where some of the local cities were offering to take some extra refuse or unwanted items off of people’s hands. Weirton holds two such events each year, for example, at which time residents can clean out ...

The king of Israel answered, “Tell him: ‘One who puts on his armor should not boast like one who takes it off.’” 1 Kings 20:11 Ben Hadad has invaded Israel, sieged Samaria and had 32 kings with him. These were most likely the kings of the northern city states. They would have sided ...

I’m back from vacation just in time for the resumption of the special session. Some Florida sun and surf did me some good. I even encountered some charter school students at Disney World and didn’t yell at them for ruining education or for not being silver bullets or something. Of course, ...