Editorials

Rural Health Needs All Available Help

“The program tackles the root causes of rural health care failure. It gives states the tools to design solutions that last, not Band-Aids that fail.” That was Dr. Mehmet Oz, on the speedily unrolled Rural Health Transformation Program that will make available $50 billion — a possible $10 billion per year to states — each fiscal year from 2026 through 2030. Four years of potential federal funding, half of which is to be distributed evenly to all 50 states IF they apply for it; and half to be distributed based on health care metrics. Federal officials have given states until ...

Ohio State Parks a Jewel

When you hear Ohioans brag about the state’s natural beauty and recreational opportunities, it might sound like hyperbole to hear we are “the best.” But an award from the American Academy for Park and Recreation Administration and the National Recreation and Park Association backs us up. Ohio won the 2025 National Gold Medal Award for Excellence in Park and Recreation Management. Ohio’s 76 state parks are available with no entry fee, but have 9,300 campsites, 1,200 miles of trails, ten lodges and more than 7,100 educational programs each year. All that doesn’t happen ...

Celebrating 135 Years of Service

We truly are in the “information age.” Never before has so much information been exchanged by so many, so quickly. But long before most people used the term “information technology,” we at the Wheeling News-Register were experts in using it. Today is our 135th birthday. We at the newspaper celebrate it not just because of our long history of service, but also for what our track record says about the future. On Sept. 22, 1890, when the News-Register began publication, founder H.C. Ogden insisted that service to readers and communities would be our guiding light. Back ...

Honoring Ohio’s Heritage

Ohioans are proud of their state’s history as a vital component of the Underground Railroad. That’s why it is exciting to learn from Gov. Mike DeWine, the state Department of Development and TourismOhio that the Ohio Historical Underground Railroad Trail is expanding. There are now 48 stops on the trail, with new additions such as the John Gee Black Historical Center in Gallipolis, Lucy Depp Park in Powell, the Gabriel Smith Memorial Gateway to Freedom Display at the Preble County District Library in Eaton and the Black Heritage Library and Multicultural Center in Findlay. Many ...

West Virginia Must Focus on Growth First

Two of the state’s top political leaders — Sen. Jim Justice and Gov. Patrick Morrisey — are now taking jabs at one another over the efficacy of vaccinations, with Justice, the state’s former governor, standing firmly behind the science. It is getting hard to understand Morrisey’s position on this matter — particularly at a time when he is working to make the state more attractive to business and more competitive with its neighbors. Morrisey’s executive order expanding religious exemptions for school vaccination requirements represents a worrisome departure from ...

Wheeling Streetscape Project in the Final Stretch

Three years. That’s how long it appears it will take for workers to complete Wheeling’s Downtown Streetscape Project, as final touches are now underway and work is set to be completed in the coming weeks. Back in October 2022, when the project began, it was hard to believe that replacing sidewalks and repaving Main and Market streets and some of the intersecting streets would take 36 months. Yet the project hit multiple snags along the way — from unplanned sewerline work to multiple change orders to the installation of those awkward and somewhat dangerous bioswales — ...