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Budget planning

I would like to suggest a way today to help you pay utility bills. Planning how to stretch your dollars might not be exciting, but it makes loads of sense. When I plan how I’m going to spend my money, I eliminate as many unknowns as possible. Most utilities are willing to help in your planning, too. They will offer you what they call a budget billing plan. These plans aim to smooth out billings during higher-cost months to make bills easier to handle. If your home has a gas furnace, then you expect higher gas bills in the winter. If your home is air conditioned, then you might ...

We need those three minutes and 51 seconds

We all have that song. That one song where even if we are having one of our worst days, it can suddenly turn around and become better in just a heartbeat. You unexpectedly hear it come on the radio … and for those few moments, for that brief instant, we are all right again. Every single one of us has that song. There’s just something about it that brings us a joy like no other song ever could. Perhaps it is an oldie, one that takes you back to a time when you were young and living your best life possible. Maybe there is a classical piece that makes you close your eyes ...

Executive authority has its privilege

I praised Gov. Patrick Morrisey in a recent column for his candidness regarding future issues with the general revenue budget. I once again have to praise Morrisey for laying more of his cards out on the table. Morrisey held a press conference Thursday providing an update on the general revenue budget for fiscal year 2026 beginning in July. That’s the budget Morrisey will present to lawmakers on Feb. 12. According to Morrisey’s new revenue team, they are projecting a $400 million hole in the FY26 budget as of Morrisey’s first day in office last Monday – around $100 million ...

Politics shouldn’t affect disaster recovery

Our nation has faced numerous natural disasters in the last couple of years. From tornadoes, to floods, to hurrianes, to wildfires, there isn’t much of the country that hasn’t been touched in one way or another, with millions of Americans affected as a result. One of the things I’ve noticed over the years is the capability of the American people to typically come together in our times of need. In 2023, four fires burned more than 17,000 acres of the island of Maui in Hawaii. More than 100 people lost their lives, and hundreds more lost their homes or their businesses. In ...

The problem with profanity in scholastic sports

Today, we have a serious problem in all high school sports. And that growing predicament is athlete profanity. Who is responsible for such inappropriate behavior? That’s easy — every adult who is involved directly or indirectly with sports — the parents. the coaches, the officials, the event organizers and even the school administrators. After watching people play the new blame game on various news media topics, I think I have a pretty good handle on what is a contributing factor regarding the profanity problem. Today, if something happens that doesn’t go one’s way, it is ...

Law enforcement officers should be exempt from income taxes

West Virginia has good law enforcement officers. We need more of them. Their pursuit of justice and peace serves the most vulnerable members of our community, forming an indispensable part of our shared project: that our people of West Virginia might flourish as the happiest in the union. Law enforcement officers routinely confront danger in order to guard their neighbors from the violence and injustice of wicked men. They have received, as their thankless task, a society suffering the breakdown — and even erasure — of its traditional forms of peacekeeping: strong families, active ...