Editorials

Keep Kids Safe Online

A Pew Research Center study shows approximately 20% of teenagers report social media has damaged their mental health. Interacting with online platforms (this includes video games and chats, too) can create a host of ways for young people to endanger not just their mental health, but their physical safety, too. U.S. Sens. Jon Husted, R-Ohio, Marsha Blackburn, R-Tenn., and John Thune, R-S.D., are joining Richard Blumenthal, D-Conn., and Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., in supporting the Kids Online Safety Act, which would help protect kids’ personal data on these online platforms AND give ...

Marling’s Service Lifted Communities

In an era where public service too often feels transactional and overshadowed by political noise, the retirement of Bellaire Mayor Ed Marling serves as a reminder of what steady, local leadership can mean to communities. For 24 years, Marling has been a presence in eastern Ohio civic life — not for headlines or ambition, but because he believed the people of Shadyside and Bellaire deserved a leader that showed up, put in the work, and never asked others to do what he wasn’t willing to do himself. Marling’s long tenure in public service began nearly four decades ago, when he ...

Wheeling Right To Say No More Camps

You’ve likely seen the photographs and aerial videos of the unacceptable mess that was made at the former exempted homeless camp on the city’s Peninsula. Following the release of those images to our reporter along with a full accounting of the cost to the taxpayers associated with the site’s cleanup, it has become much more clear that city leaders had no choice in their decision to close the camp. By the time the camp was closed on Dec. 1 and cleanup began the next morning, it was, in the words of City Manager Robert Herron, “an absolute mess.” And if there’s one ...

Stay Safe During the Holiday Season

’Tis the season … for the potentially nasty combination of holiday parties and weather-affected roads. And while we should bear in mind Drive Sober or Get Pulled Over all the time, local law enforcement agencies will be increasing efforts to stop impaired driving over the next few weeks. According to the Governor’s Highway Safety Program, there are some disturbing trends in West Virginia, where there were 58 alcohol-related traffic fatalities in 2023. Of the DUI arrests in the state since Jan. 1, 2025, 43% were double the legal limit or higher, 21% were 0.20 or higher and 1.6% ...

Preserving Ohio’s Nature

Work to preserve our region’s incredible natural treasures and the environment that sustains us all is most effective at the local level. Through the Foundation for Appalachian Ohio, that work gets done with the help of grant funding for “locally led conservation and environmental stewardship efforts that advance the greater well-being of the region.” This year, with the help of the Muskingum Watershed Conservancy District, the group awarded more than $120,000. Grants included Base Camp Alpha in Jackson County, Caldwell Exempted Village School District in Noble County, Camp ...

DHS Plan A Good Sign For W.Va.

West Virginia’s Department of Human Services has its work cut out for it as it attempts to respond to a federal audit of Child Protective Services, but there seems to be a good plan in place. Department Secretary Alex Mayer told the Legislative Oversight Commission on Health and Human Resource Accountability his agency takes seriously the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Office of Inspector General report on West Virginia’s compliance with child abuse and neglect requirements. “These are children’s lives, families’ futures, and the credibility of state ...