Editorials

Progress Brings New Challenges

Progress is never easy — particularly when it impacts our residents and how they live. As we noted this past weekend, the Wheeling Planning Commission’s attempt to halt business development in a properly zoned location on Mount de Chantal Road over fears of what might happen is unfair, both to the business and also to the owner of the property. On the flip side, the area’s extraction industry — coal and natural gas — impacts many residents every day. Whether it’s sitting in traffic on Interstate 70 as a coal seam is mined below, or heavy truck traffic is traversing ...

Moving Past Hate In Ohio

If it seems as though in recent years the atmosphere has become more charged with hate and division — perhaps even to the point of being dangerous — you’re not imagining things. Hate crimes are on the rise. To examine one category, the FBI reports anti-Jewish hate crimes increased by 63% between 2023 and 2024. It seems as though the trend is not letting up. Earlier this month, an Applebee’s Neighborhood Grill and Bar in Miamisburg, Ohio, had to shut down for part of a weekend after it was tagged with anti-semitic graffiti, according to a report by WLWT. Some of the language ...

Be a Hero – Become an Organ Donor

Most of us have the luxury of not thinking much about organ donation. But we should. “It’s one of the most profound gifts we can give, that transcends all boundaries and … saves lives,” said Brenda Hooper, intensive care unit clinical nurse manager at WVU Medicine Camden Clark Medical Center and the hospital’s organ donation liaison. During an event at the hospital with Lifeline of Ohio, Ben Burns recounted his own realization after learning of the difference his father’s donation had made for a single mother in Texas. Now, he is an advocate — mentioning organ ...

Building Herd Immunity

It doesn’t take long at all for a single case of the measles to turn into a genuine outbreak. It takes even less times, it seems, for irresponsible political rhetoric and misinformed social media nonsense to spread in a way that is just as dangerous. By mid-April of 2025, the U.S. has more than double the number of measles cases it saw in all of 2024. There are outbreaks in Ohio, Texas — 505 cases (with two deaths, children ages 6 and 8), New Mexico, Indiana and Oklahoma. Those are just the states where the spread is now being labeled an outbreak. There are also cases in Alaska, ...

Hellbender Trail Is a Needed Addition

A project 10 years in the making was unveiled this weekend with the grand opening of the Hellbender Preserve and Recreational Trail. This new trail, set to be a link in the Great American Rail Trail and the first multi-use trail in Jefferson County, will join the various recreational offerings of our region, while also helping to showcase some of the area’s history. Located in Bloomingdale, the trail features the Lincoln Bridge, a sandstone structure built under order of Abraham Lincoln, as well as train tunnels from the 1850s. As with many local walking and bicycle trails, the ...

Celebrate Responsibly

It’s that time of year again, when many families start planning their prom, after-party, graduation, graduation party schedules. As they do so, the Ohio Department of Commerce and the Ohio Department of Public Safety have joined forces to remind them these accomplishments and milestones can be celebrated WITHOUT alcohol. In fact, the departments included liquor permit holders in the wide net they cast to address those who can help kids safer this season: “Addressing underage drinking requires a united effort from all members of the community, including parents and schools. By ...