Important things to know about monkeypox

August 27, 2022

With almost 17,000 confirmed cases of monkeypox, including four in West Virginia (at the time of this writing), and Morgantown’s Pride events kicking off this weekend, it’s time to address the latest viral sensation and the perceptions around it. According to Johns Hopkins, monkeypox is an orthopox DNA virus related to smallpox, though milder. Contrary to the name, rodents are the primary carriers of this particular disease, not monkeys. Although monkeypox is largely unfamiliar to the Western world, it has regularly spread among the general population in several African countries ...

Beware the perils of ‘sharenting’

August 26, 2022

When we were kids, it was “don’t talk to strangers.” The gentle admonishment from our parents was a reminder that, although the world seemed wide and bright to us as children, there was darkness out there and we needed to be careful. Now that we’re adults, the world seems even wider and much darker. And so we share these same words of wisdom with our own children and grandchildren. With the advent  of the internet, however, we’ve had to add a few: don’t post your personal information on public platforms or share it with people you don’t know in real life, ...

Secretary Warner is peddling Big Lie Lite

August 25, 2022

How disappointing  to see West Virginia’s top election official, Secretary of State Mac Warner, peddling sugar-coated election fraud conspiracies. In an op-ed Warner submitted to publications across the state (which we will not run due to its blatant disconnection from reality, but that you can find on his Facebook page), Warner chastises media and elected officials for dismissing the former president’s Big Lie and daring to reiterate that claims of fraud have not once stood up to judicial scrutiny. He claims there were “irregularities and improprieties” throughout ...

Class is in session

August 23, 2022

Yesterday, students stepped off the bus for the first time this year — some of them for the first time ever. They made the first of hundreds of journeys through their schools’ doors, took the first walk of thousands down the long hallways and sat down in the first of dozens of desks as teachers stood at the fronts of their classrooms. The 2022-23 school year has begun. When we think of “back to school” that is who we picture: the kids and the educators. But while students-to-be compared class schedules with peers and teachers set up their classrooms, hundreds of other school ...

United Way going to ‘Change the Game’

August 23, 2022

The United Way of Monongalia and Preston Counties will be kicking off its 2023 campaign next month. This year’s campaign co-chairs are Brooke Brown, Amanda Mazey, Kate Covich and Lindsay Hammond. Fitting, since the campaign theme is “Change the Game” and their husbands are WVU football coach Neal Brown, baseball coach Randy Mazey, golf coach Sean Covich and rifle coach Jon Hammond, respectively. Several area businesses, including The Dominion Post, have been chosen as Pacesetters to get the campaign started by raising money early, but members of the public can start making ...

Account for climate change

August 20, 2022

New developments plus severe weather could overwhelm water systems “I would say we’re at the borderline of the capacity for that pipe based on our calculations,”   Morgantown Utility Board Stormwater Senior Engineer Ken Hacker told the Morgantown Planning Commission. At issue is the proposed La Dolce Vita development, at the corner of Van Voorhis and Southview Street. In light of last year’s horrendous floods, residents at neighboring Heritage Place are nervous the development could overwhelm the existing stormwater system and make flooding even worse. An engineer ...