Local Columns

The Legislature Is Doing Real Damage to W.Va.’s Future

A friend of mine from high school used a colorful saying to explain the unexplainable. I’ve often thought of that phrase while watching this legislature in action. The late James Dent, who once wrote a definitive critique of the 1988 Legislature, calling it the “do-nothing legislature,” would surely have a few choice words for the 2025 edition. If only he could see what we’ve got now. I try to avoid sweeping generalizations, because there are always exceptions. But with all due respect, this is the worst legislature we’ve ever had. By far. The worst. From changing ...

W.Va.’s Cultural Heritage Should Be Defended

The West Virginia Encyclopedia Online? Deleted from the internet. The West Virginia Folklife Program’s preservation of our unique traditions and culture? Gone. Hundreds of annual History Alive! presentations to schools, libraries, churches, and community centers across West Virginia? Cancelled. Last week, the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) targeted the National Endowment for the Humanities with devastating funding cuts, putting West Virginia’s rich history, cultural tourism, and community programs at immediate risk. These cuts will pull nearly a million dollars ...

The Final Countdown

Finally, we’ve come to the final six days of the 60-day legislative session. At midnight on Saturday, the lawmakers will complete their work and adjourn sine die. The budget bill is in the process of being worked on, with the House of Delegates passing its budget Friday and the state Senate set to insert its version of the budget bill this week. The budget can be somewhat of a game, even though it’s literally the only bill required to be done. It also must be balanced in compliance with the state Constitution. But by game, I mean it’s the job of the House to defend its version ...

Marshall Memo: Ladies Luncheon; Relay for Life; the Strand; and Municipal Updates

The Marshall County Chamber of Commerce invites you to the annual Ladies Luncheon at noon April 10 at the Moundsville Country Club. At the event, they’ll announce this year’s Pioneer Woman of the Year. Tickets are $25, so call Cheryl Kaczor at 304-845-2772 to reserve yours fast. Expect raffles, door prizes, and a wine and chocolate basket raffle at $5 each or 5 for $20. The winner will be drawn at the event, but you don’t need to be there to claim it. --- While we’re on the topic of community gatherings, Relay for Life Team Limestone for Angels & Survivors hosts the ...

Build Economic Freedom for Every West Virginian

As a business owner, common sense conservative, and lifelong West Virginia Republican, I have witnessed a remarkable transformation as Republicans achieved supermajority control of our state legislature over the past decade. When my father, former Congressman David B. McKinley, served in a Democrat-dominated legislature in the 1980s and early 1990s, Republicans barely had a voice — with as few as one or two senators out of 34 and as few as eight or nine delegates out of 100. Today, Republicans hold supermajority control over both houses of the Legislature and all statewide ...

Utilizing the Right Way To Help Leave a Legacy

All we hear in the news and on social media sites is how many individuals want a “Legacy” to be praised and remembered for in their lives. Well, I hate to disappoint such legacy seekers, but in time, they will be forgotten and erased from existing on Earth. It’s everyone’s fate. Oh, there are great icons in many fields, the likes of George Washington, Frederick Douglass, Amelia Earhart, Jesse Owens, Rosa Parks, and Thomas Edison, who are revered and written about in our history books or found on the internet. But they, too, will all pass. I am told the world is 4.5 ...