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Guest column: Celebrating those who help keep elections safe, secure, and fair

Local Columns

West Virginia is a place where people know their neighbors, and that’s exactly what makes local elections work. When voters walk into a polling place and see a familiar face, a teacher, a pastor, a coach, a neighbor, a parent, it builds trust in the system. It reminds folks that elections aren’t run by distant bureaucrats; they’re managed by people right here in our own communities. We West Virginians pride ourselves on being a state full of hard-working, community-minded people. From the southern coal fields to the beautiful river views of the northern panhandle, Mountaineers ...

Lawmakers must act on railroad safety

Editorials

With Congress on its August break, there are a number of important things not getting done. A couple of recent incidents in West Virginia remind us rail safety reform continues to be one of them. Last month, a minor train derailment in downtown Parkersburg closed a street, and had residents asking questions about the contents of the tanks that were leaning. Belpre Industrial Parkersburg Railroad officials responded quickly with information (the tanks were safely sealed and empty), and a crew to get the train back on track. There were no injuries. On Aug. 3, the St. Albans Fire ...

A slow news week in the state capital

Local Columns

Last week was a slow news week when it comes to my specific beat of West Virginia state government news. Reporters who cover the same beat had similar opinions when I talked to them. There are weeks when it is not uncommon for me to write as many as 15 stories per week or sometimes four stories in one day. I certainly don’t mind a busy week, but last week was mostly quiet. Sure, there was the Gas and Oil Association of West Virginia’s summer meeting at the Greenbrier Resort at the beginning of last week, which saw many state elected officials address the group and talk about West ...

Love thy neighbor

Letters to the Editor

To the Editor, I and many of my neighbors of Penco Estates received a letter on Aug. 1 from Bishop Mark E. Brennan of the Wheeling-Charleston Diocese concerning a Miracle Field and Playground to be placed in our neighborhood within the city of Weirton. This letter was in response to a petition sent to the diocese regarding the proposed Miracle Field to be built adjacent to St. Joseph the Worker School. Brennan’s letter was condescending and implied that the neighborhood residents have no Christian love for young people with disabilities. That is an absurd and arrogant ...

More growth for our recreation trails?

Local Columns

It’s only been a few months since the paving was completed on the West Virginia portion of the Panhandle Trail; a project which truly has been years in the making. Now, it looks as if additional improvements are in the works for the trail, which travels between Weirton and Carnegie, Pa. As we reported in our Thursday edition, the City of Weirton – with work from the Weirton Board of Parks and Recreation and the city’s Planning and Development Department – is planning to apply for a Transportation Alternatives Program grant through the West Virginia Department of ...

Can enrollment numbers be reversed?

Editorials

As if our county boards of education did not have enough to worry about, a recent report by The Reason Foundation suggests a trend may present big challenges for West Virginia public schools. In a look at public school enrollment across the country, the foundation said West Virginia was one of only four states with public school enrollment that decreased by more than 5% between fiscal years 2020 and 2024. Certainly, the COVID-19 pandemic had something to do with that, but the Mountain State has not bounced back. At the beginning of FY2020, West Virginia had 263,485 students enrolled ...