Breaking News

Local Columns

Warm weather brings out the events

The summer months are approaching, and that means there will be more activity in our communities as we see fairs and festivals, yard sales, concerts and more scheduled. Our area includes so many communities, each offering something special, and many of them not too far away from each other. That means it’s not too much trouble to find something to do no matter where you live. Weirton’s summer concert series kicked off Friday night with performances by 40+ and 7 South, along with a car cruise on the grounds of the Weirton Event Center. This series is organized each summer by the ...

Where will our area be in another year?

It’s amazing what can happen in a year. I was looking back through a few files in recent days, and realized this weekend (May 26, to be precise) marks one year since the ceremonial groundbreaking for Form Energy’s Form Factory 1 facility. It was, without a doubt, one of the biggest economic development events Weirton has hosted in some time, with Form Energy representatives joined by local elected officials, company stakeholders, U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin, U.S. Secretary of Energy Jennifer Granholm and many more. To see the changes of that site over the last several months has ...

To your health, West Virginia

I usually publish my annual Memorial Day column around this time, but with all the action in Charleston last week, I’d be remiss if I didn’t talk about some of that. If you’re looking at the number of bills Gov. Jim Justice introduced for last week’s special session and the number of bills that passed, it could be said the special session was a success. We won’t go through all 15 bills that passed. Frankly, it was the drama around one bill that caused the most issues and nearly caused the special session to end without returning more than $188 million to two state ...

History in the Hills: We must never forget

This weekend is Memorial Day and ever since I began writing this column in 2019, I always make it a priority to write about this important national holiday. It truly cannot be overstated how important this day is to our nation and history. My grandfathers and many great uncles served in World War II, great-grandfathers served in World War I, some of my American relatives served in the Civil War and other ancestors served in the American Revolution, too, and thankfully none of them had to pay that ultimate sacrifice that is asked of so many who have served. Not too far from my house on ...

Let us remember the true meaning of the day

Many people left work Friday looking forward to their “three-day weekend.” Perhaps they were excited at the thought of not having to go to work tomorrow. And still get paid. Maybe they consider Monday to be the unofficial start of summer and are saying goodbye to cold weather. At least for a little while. Some are waiting in anticipation to attend a parade or that annual cookout and drinks with close friends or neighbors. Others will be content having a family barbecue or picnic in the backyard. And should the sun appear, many will probably take advantage by visiting ...

A few thoughts on the May primaries

Well, we survived the primary elections last week. Some things turned out the way I thought they would. Some things were complete surprises. The Republican primary for governor of West Virginia was as tight as I thought it would be. I had thought former lawmaker Moore Capito might be able to squeak out a win, but in the end, Attorney General Patrick Morrisey came busting through like the Kool-Aid man. WV MetroNews and Rex Repass should be given some credit for getting the spread right. They said Morrisey had 32% in their poll conducted April 24 through May 1, with Capito having ...