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Infrastructure updates will help build state

Editorials

West Virginians know our state is full of pieces of land that would make fantastic locations for new employers to build … except you can’t get there from here. Infrastructure isn’t our strong suit, and site readiness efforts are often about not just utilities and maybe even having a pad poured, but building roads for potential industrial sites. Lawmakers this week demonstrated they understand that, and are serious about working toward jobs first and improving opportunity everywhere, with a committee substitute for House Bill 4007. The bill, which proposes updates to the ...

Continue promoting our diamond in the rough

Editorials

Frontieras North America’s announcement that it has closed on 183 acres in Mason County with a plan to build an $850 million coal reformation facility appears to be wonderful news for those communities. It’s a big project that, if all goes as planned, could result in 2,000 construction jobs and 200 permanent jobs. Gov. Patrick Morrisey says many of those jobs are expected to be more than $100,000 per year. Company officials say the construction could begin later this year and the plant could be up and running by the middle of 2028. Those same officials also claim the project will ...

Questions hang over Hancock County

Editorials

It’s a new chapter for Hancock County Schools, and it’s one to which we won’t be seeing an end anytime soon. A decision made Friday morning put the local school district – currently with two high schools, two middle schools, three elementary schools and a tech and career center – fully under the control of the state. The superintendent and assistant superintendent were relieved of their positions, and the Hancock County Board of Education is, for all intents and purposes, powerless. While board meetings will continue, the reality is that those five individuals now are ...

Week one of the W.Va. legislative session

Local Columns

Well, last week was an interesting start to the 2026 regular session of the West Virginia Legislature. In my previous column, I told you about the comments from former state Senate Finance Committee chairman Eric Tarr, R-Putnam, when he told attendees of the West Virginia Press Association’s Legislative Lookahead on Jan. 9 that the Republican caucus in the state Senate had no consensus regarding a public policy agenda. Now, that seemed a bit crazy to me. I’m a former Senate communications staffer, working the last two years of the Democratic majority and first two years of the ...

Let’s be honest about what state needs

Editorials

If Gov. Patrick Morrisey is looking for a West Virginia comeback, it’s a good indication he understands the struggle has been overwhelming for far too long and hope is still hard to come by for too many Mountain State residents. But during his State of the State address Wednesday, Morrisey was determined to focus on “a West Virginia we can be proud of,” for our children and grandchildren. As he rightly pointed out, that means being honest about the fact that many in our state are still struggling to make ends meet. They are dealing with “sky-rocketing grocery bills, crushing ...

A knock on my door that takes me back ...

Local Columns

Those small pair of tennis shoes sitting by the front door can change the entire temperature of my house. Not literally, of course. The thermostat remains exactly where it always is. But the temperature shifts in that quiet, unseen way — a kind of happiness that has a way of sneaking in and warming corners of your home and your heart that you never even realized had grown cold. Yes, that is what happens every time my 3-year-old grandson, Layne, comes to spend time at my house. It is especially true on those rare nights he gets to spend the entire night. It is as if the ...