Breaking News

Opinion

Heading back to the future in West Virginia

Local Columns

By the end of this week, we will all travel forward to the future, to the year 2026, and we will have moved past the first quarter of the 21st century. It wasn’t until last week putting together my roundup of top West Virginia statehouse stories that I stopped to think about us getting through the past 25 years. It seems like yesterday that I was part of the Class of 2000 preparing for all of the computers to crash. I was born in 1982, so it’s weird to think that I have lived longer in the 21st century than I had in the 20th century. Yet, still no flying cars, still no ...

2025: Looking back at the year that was

Local Columns

We only have a few days remaining in 2025, and, for many, the last year certainly has been active. In Weirton, and some surrounding areas, the year began much as the previous one ended, with a series of line breaks and boil orders affecting the municipal water system and resulting in a lack of expected service. Water had to be brought in to allow for some of the schools to be open, distributions were made for residents, and there was a great deal of anger and frustration expressed. Eventually, the West Virginia Public Service Commission held a hearing, with a study finding various ...

Bowl season is here

Editorials

If you are a fan of the college football bowl season, there’s some good news and some bad news. We’re right in the middle of the bowl schedule, with the sport’s second round of playoffs set for later this week, and some pretty good matchups filling up some of the other slots. That’s the good news. The bad news is that as the College Football Playoff expands — a move that could come again as soon as next season — the bowl system as we have come to know it will look a whole lot different. Bowl games have certainly come a long way since they were first played in the ...

Do some reflecting on your resolutions this year

Local Columns

I have never been someone who believes in the “New Year, New Me” mentality. Actually, if I am being honest with myself, the “Old Me” is usually just trying to do the best she possibly can to make it through the day. And yet, every year, as the calendar page turns to January, and the echoes of “Auld Lang Syne” fade into winter’s chill, I find myself sitting at my kitchen table … a notebook and very ambitious pen in hand. Usually, these resolutions look more like a laundry list of things I believe I should be doing. I don’t do this every year. Why? Because ...

Trump, Kelly still battling

Letters to the Editor

To the editor: Recently, President Donald J. Trump, totally inappropriately and completely without merit, announced that he and his administration were strongly considering re-enlisting Sen. Mark Kelly, a Democrat from Arizona, into active military duty, in order to formally court-martial and disgrace him for his statement, which had been made in unison with five of his Democratic colleagues, that those in the military service to our great country must defy illegal orders and abide by their oath to military service, the U.S. Constitution and military protocol and not to simply break ...

Keeping an eye on the trades

Editorials

Those who have the opportunity to spend time with younger family members over this holiday break may be tempted to ask questions such as “What do you want to be when you grow up?” or “What are you studying in college?” A growing number of employers are hoping the answer to that question is plumber, carpenter or even conveyor belt repairperson. There are so few people entering (or staying in) the skilled trades that consulting firm McKinsey predicts an estimated imbalance of 20 job openings for every one net new employee between 2022 and 2032. Employers such as Walmart and ...