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Guest column: Fix the GOP tax bill before it hurts West Virginian families

Local Columns

In my work across West Virginia as a deacon and nonprofit director, I meet families every day who are doing everything right—raising kids, working long hours, pinching pennies—yet they still struggle to put food on the table. That’s why I’m so troubled by proposals in the tax bill passed by the U.S. House of Representatives that would cut the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) and Medicaid in our state. For thousands of families in West Virginia, SNAP is the difference between a parent putting food on the table and an entire household going to bed hungry. But ...

The important parts of fatherhood

Editorials

Fathers don’t always receive the attention they deserve, often because many fathers garner attention that isn’t so good. Tales of single fathers and stay-at-home dads are not as common as tales of fathers gone wrong, fathers who succumb to the terrible pressures of supporting a family in a tight economy or fathers who simply never even tried to meet those pressures in the first place. But all fathers don’t simply act as a genetic donor who then goes away or goes wrong. The fathers who stick around, who work at the job of caring for and supporting children while trying to ...

Guest column: Mediation: A huge step in the right direction

Local Columns

We strive at the Public Service Commission to resolve complaints in the simplest, fairest, and most expedient manner possible, consistent with your concerns. One very handy tool we have been able to use is the mediation process, which is handled by the Commission’s Division of Administrative Law Judges. The dedicated lawyers who populate this office handle any number of cases that are referred to them by the three-member Commission. The cases before the judges involve many different issues and are often complex. The Division also resolves cases through mediation. In Mediation, ...

The potential of our future leaders

Local Columns

The most recent class of Leadership Ohio Valley has completed its program, and now the Weirton Area Chamber of Commerce is looking for individuals interested in taking their own journey on the path of leadership. Every event and program organized by the Weirton Area Chamber of Commerce has at its core an element of networking for our area professionals, and Leadership is no different. There is an opportunity within to get to know the men and women who are part of our local business communities, assisting in the development of connections which could aid in your own career. More than ...

Guest column: Tax credit program will be good for all West Virginians

Local Columns

I am proud to be the Business Manager/Secretary-Treasurer of the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades (IUPAT) District Council 53, representing construction workers in the finishing trades in parts of Ohio, Maryland, Kentucky, Virginia, and right here in West Virginia. Workers in our state have a long and storied history of working hard, organizing for our rights, and contributing to the entire nation’s energy stores and economy. We are also no stranger to changing industries and, unfortunately, to job loss. But our state’s workers are some of the most determined and ...

Every day is the 4th of July

Letters to the Editor

To the Editor, The Upper Ohio Valley is a special place to me, filled with boyhood memories. The band Chicago sang “Old days ...Take me back To a world gone away,” with the 4th of July celebrations eagerly awaited, where the beginning of an early morning raising of Old Glory, a day filled with laughter and stories burgers, dogs on the grill, warm buns bursting with flavor, with ketchup, mustard, and onions, relish piled high, so much laughter and good times you would think every day is the 4th of July. As the sun makes its way into the western sky, then comes the parade, followed by ...