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Hoping for better results in November

Another election cycle has come and gone, and I’m close to catching up on my sleep from another extended work day. I’ll admit, there were some results I didn’t necessarily like, but you’ll have that with any election. There also were some which ended up not being as close of a contest as I had anticipated. That’s the thing about elections, whether it’s your first time or you are a seasoned observer, the only way you can be sure of a result is if the candidate is running unopposed. Sadly, that was the case in many of our local races for the primary election this year. My ...

Better understanding of your Mountaineer Gas bill

Your Mountaineer Gas Company bill has loads of information, all on one page. Your 16-digit account number, at the top-right, is confidential personal information. You should only provide it when you have initiated a contact with the company or are certain you are speaking to an authorized company representative. Also on the right are your current Mountaineer Gas charges. The company has broken down this information in great detail. The first line is the charge the company has levied for the cost of the gas you used and the amount you used in the previous month. This is broken down into ...

Senators should seize opportunity to boost small business and help WV kids

Capito and Manchin should back a proposal to expand Child Tax Credit and extend small business relief. At a time of so much division and gridlock, lawmakers in Washington recently surprised Americans with some good news. The US House of Representatives passed legislation to expand the Child Tax Credit and badly needed tax relief for small businesses through the Tax Relief for American Families and Workers Act of 2024 This bipartisan deal is worth celebrating. It could help millions of children living near the poverty line while also boosting our economy. Crucially, it does all this ...

Experiencing the calm before the storm

Here we are, with West Virginia’s primary elections on Tuesday and the conclusion of one of the more vitriolic campaign seasons I’ve ever witnessed. I’m a political junkie, but this campaign season has been political overload, with all the TV and radio commercials, mailers, and even text messages from candidates. I know many of you feel the same way because you let me know. Medium Buying, a company that focuses on broadcast media ad buys, did a breakdown of how much Republican candidates for governor paid for their media ad buys, determining that more than $22 million has been ...

Let us all hope it never happens again

I’ve probably met members of the Glenn family at one point or another over my years working for this publication, but I wouldn’t say I necessarily know them...certainly not as well as my colleague Fred Miller. I know their family farm, though. I have family who lived on Sheperds Valley Road, so, at least a couple of times a year as I would visit for family picnics and such, I would see the sprawling acreage of the Glenn family farm traveling along Route 8. The green roof on the barn. The houses, nestled in the hills. The sight was always comfortable and familiar in a strange ...

History in the Hills: Remembering low water

A few weeks ago, the Ohio River flooded. In the first few days of April the creeks, springs and waterways in our valley were spilling their banks. Kings Creek escaped its course and easily overtook the roads. It reminded me of the flooding of the early 2000s along the creek, but the one that hit Kings Creek the hardest was the flood of 1912, which wiped out almost every bridge on the waterway. Each was a covered bridge and after that flood, there was no longer that type of structure over Kings Creek. In April, water rushed through our valleys and emptied into the river, which crested ...