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Festival a reflection of our community

Last weekend saw the return of the Festival of Nations in Weirton, following a gap of about six years. I previously wrote about how this had become one of my favorite events over the years, and, I must admit, it didn’t disappoint. The modern version of the festival began in 2009 and ran until 2019, stopping only because of COVID. It was revived, again, through the efforts of the Weirton Area Museum and Cultural Center, with close to a dozen entertainment acts representing cultures from around the world. Many of them were long-time participants for the Festival of Nations, with ...

Tell your friends you care this Easter holiday

It’s hard to believe it is almost Easter. We blinked. And that new year we were all celebrating just yesterday? Well, that year is already a fourth of the way over. If you made a New Year’s Eve resolution, did you stick to it, or did you abandon it weeks ago because it was harder than you realized? Maybe it was a resolution you wish you wouldn’t have made. But don’t worry. You can always make another one in only a matter of blinks. It’s rather frightening how quickly life passes us by –– especially the older we get. I heard this saying plenty of times ...

History in the Hills: Local history on film

Many years ago, when I was in Boy Scouts with Troop 65 out of Memorial Baptist Church in Weirton, we had a great local history presentation by the late Chuck Cronin. Cronin gave a wonderful talk on Weirton Steel during World War II. In addition to the presentation, he brought in a 16 mm reel-to-reel projector and played a film called “Assignment Accomplished,” which showed the production of the 8-inch howitzer shells produced by Weirton Steel in 1944 and 1945. Little did I know at that time this event would spark a love for Weirton Steel history and World War II history that ...

The newest batch of legislative potpourri

Today is the deadline for bills to be introduced in the West Virginia Senate. As of Sunday, we are now two-thirds of the way through the 60-day legislative session with less than three full weeks left. We’re also just over a week until Crossover Day, when bills must be passed by the body they started in and be sent to the opposite body in order to have any chance of completing the legislative process before the clock strikes midnight on Saturday, April 12, when the Legislature adjourns sine die. While things have been slow up to this point, expect things to start speeding up. The ...

Developments continue, often quietly

Last July, I was among those gathered in one of Cleveland-Cliffs’ warehouses in the Half Moon Industrial Park when company CEO Lourenco Goncalves announced plans to bring an electric transformer production to the community. We were only a few months removed from Goncalves announcing the decision to idle the tin mill – the last remnant of what had been Weirton Steel – and the knowledge that the remaining employees would be out of work. It was incredibly warm in the warehouse, as one could imagine in the middle of summer, and we were waiting for then-governor Jim Justice to ...

Investing in West Virginia’s work force: The power of skilled trades

West Virginia’s economy has always relied on hard-working men and women who build the infrastructure our communities depend on every single day. A new report from the Marshall University Center for Business and Economic Research reinforces just how vital the state’s skilled trades workforce is — not only for the projects they build, but for the economic strength they bring to West Virginia. The numbers tell a clear story: over the past two years alone, the West Virginia Building and Construction Trades Council’s members generated more than $8.1 billion in total economic impact. ...