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Valentine’s Day is not celebrated by everyone

While driving down the street the other day, something made me slow down. As I came upon what had suddenly caught my attention, I immediately braked. Right there in the middle of the street. Before me was a house outlined in pink, red and white lights. These were certainly not remnants of the Christmas season. This was something altogether new. This was different. I took one last look and continued on my way so as not to cause a collision. But it wasn’t two blocks later that I noticed another home with a large pink tree in the front corner window. Again, I stopped. No one was ...

Will a whiteout change political history?

Independent and unaffiliated voters were saved by the snow last week after the West Virginia Republican Executive Committee postponed its winter meeting where they were to take up a resolution to close the May GOP primary to non-Republicans. That meeting was postponed until this Saturday, so the state Republican Executive Committee is set to consider the resolution again, with the possibility of amending it to postpone closing the primary until 2026. Limiting the Republican primary to just registered Republican voters has been discussed before. State Code gives political parties ...

Looking for competition this election

The filing period for West Virginia’s May primary election, as well as Weirton’s municipal election in November, will wrap up Jan. 27. A lot of the attention for this year’s election has been focused on the presidency, and, here in West Virginia, the race to be the state’s next U.S. senator, member of Congress and governor. Quite frankly, with only a couple of exceptions, that is probably going to be where all of the excitement happens this year, unless there are some major changes in the next week. As I’m writing this, the West Virginia Secretary of State’s Office is ...

History in the Hills: Captains of industry

My wife and I met in Pittsburgh. At that time we were both in graduate school for our master’s in public history. Our interests were pretty much aligned, and we took all the same classes together which was easy to do in our small program at Duquesne University. Part of our program was to complete internships and we had the choice of the area’s historic sites. My wife was an intern at the Andy Warhol Museum as part of the Carnegie Museums. I remember the first time I heard her pronounce the name Carnegie. She pronounced it the way New Yorkers say it, with the emphasis on the first ...

There are times when life is simply a game

I’ve had a pretty bad year so far. This is not anything new, of course. I am usually having a pretty bad year. But for some reason, this one in particular has really gotten to me. There were moments amid the anger and tears when I often caught myself saying, “I just can’t win.” As I reflect back on that statement, I realize that I actually say this quite often. “I can’t win.” On those days when things just aren’t going your way and you begin to wonder if anyone else anywhere in the world has to deal with the same struggles you have? “I can’t win.” I ...

A change of address for the State of the State

I’ve had several days now to talk with lawmakers, lobbyists and other Capitol dwellers regarding Gov. Jim Justice’s eighth and final State of the State address. On the whole, most said Justice’s speech left much to be desired. It was a longer-than-normal speech. State of the State addresses traditionally last between 7 p.m. and 8 p.m. Justice blew up that tradition a long time ago. As someone who shuns prepared speeches written ahead of time and teleprompters, Justice’s speeches have always had an element of improv, making it hard to keep to a specific time. Given that this ...