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A glance back at the local news of 2023

This will be my final column of 2023, and, as I look back on some of the news stories, it certainly has been a year full of ups and downs. In this business, we are constantly bombarded with information, so much of our work tends to blur after a while. There are those things that stick out when thinking over the last 12 months, though. There were memorable moments, and a couple I would rather forget. Among them was having the opportunity to actually go inside a portion of the Weirton tin mill during a visit from Sen. Joe Manchin. I mentioned it in a previous piece, but it was ...

Why a dog license is important to my family

I chose to write the above article for the following reason: The Friday night before Christmas, my 14-year-old dog got loose. And I didn’t know what to do except panic. I have no idea how it happened. But my best guesstimate would be it occurred when someone came over and left the back door open for just a moment too long. It was in that instant she must have planned her route. Miss Mia made that split-second decision to high-tail it out of there. And she did. Inconspicuously. To this day I am still quite puzzled how her wobbly back end and scrawny little legs found the strength to ...

Christmas memories at the White House

My family and I have a relatively new tradition of traveling to iconic places around Christmastime. It started close to home a few years ago with a visit to the Greenbrier Resort. Then we trekked to New York City to see the classic sights, such as the Christmas tree at Rockefeller Center and the Rockettes. This year, my wife Jessica and mother-in-law Tami bought tickets to see Madonna in concert in Washington, D.C., in September, but that concert was postponed until the week before Christmas. So Jessica, a former staffer for former West Virginia First Lady Gayle Manchin, went through ...

The holidays are about presence, not presents

Growing up, as with many of us, I was always looking out for the Christmas catalog to arrive in our mail with the goal of perusing the pages to make my selection from the coolest toys on the market. I remember the years of sneaking through the house on Christmas morning to see how many packages were under the tree, and – perhaps – even counting to see who had the most among myself and my siblings. As I got older, though, those catalogs and the number of presents became less important. I found myself staying in bed a little longer, or holding off on tearing into the wrapping ...

Help keep West Virginia elections safe and fair

It was a bitter cold December 23rd. Battles in early 1776 had provided the Continentals hope for revolutionary success, and in July we declared our independence from Great Britain. But as winter set in, one defeat after another had George Washington’s army on the verge of dismantlement and defeat. Opposing factions severely divided the country and many were ready to succumb to the seemingly inevitable loss; the revolution teetered on collapse. The new nation needed Patriots to answer the call, to stand in the gap and save our country. It was on this date, 247 years ago, General ...

History in the Hills: Christmas memories

Christmas decorating in my house is always a group effort. I bring up the boxes of decorations from the basement and my wife and I spend an afternoon selecting where to place every treasured item. This year our daughter Stella was very eager to help us empty the boxes and decorate the place. We soon discovered that some decorations don’t hold up well with help from a 4-year-old. Finally, when all the house decorations are up, we turn our attention to the tree. After fluffing up the branches, we assembled the tree in the living room. Getting the tree just right is my job. When I ...