Local Columns

When Is Early Just Too Early?

As a child, I loved Christmas like most children do. But as a young adult, I began to sour on the holiday. However, as I began to leave young adulthood and transition into middle age, I’m back to enjoying Christmas. But how early is too early to begin decorating? The goal of my wife and I is to wait until after Thanksgiving. Yet, we’ve been slowly breaking the rule, starting earlier with the decorating each year. Two weeks ago, Jessica found a good deal on a LED light Christmas tree and I began making room in the living room for where the tree usually goes. “Are you dropping ...

Administration’s effort to limit access to hydrogen tax credits will hurt energy production

Everyone wants to live in a clean, healthy environment. As stewards of our beautiful earth, we should want to leave it better than we found it. Because of the brilliant innovators in the United States, we have the ability through modernization and technology to incorporate new energy production with traditional sources. This leads us to incorporate all-of-the-above energy solutions. Hydrogen is often described as the future of clean and affordable energy. There are multiple ways it can be developed, but the most effective way is through a process called carbon capture utilization and ...

Marshall Memo: New Sheriff’s Deputy; Recycling; Christmas at the Strand

A new Marshall County Deputy Sheriff was appointed at Tuesday’s County Commission meeting, the new deputy is Ryan Novick who formerly worked for the City of McMechen. He will assume his new duties on Monday. Chris Jacobs appeared before the Commission and gave a presentation on Haven Maternity. Jacobs stated that the facility will provide a home for pregnant women over the age of 18. The plan is to open early next year. The Commission was asked for assistance with the installation of a fire suppression system; however, this request was tabled. Also as part of the County Commission ...

Could a Winter Storm Topple America’s Electric Grid?

Here’s some unwelcome deja vu. According to the organization that oversees the reliability of America’s power grid, much of the country could face blackouts again this winter. Warnings of winter blackouts are becoming a seasonal fixture. Texas experienced a devastating power outage in February 2021. And a bitter cold snap last Christmas forced utilities to implement rolling blackouts across multiple states. Now, the North American Electric Reliability Corporation (NERC) fears that a prolonged cold snap could threaten the nation’s natural gas infrastructure and the power plants ...

For Innumerable Great Blessings in Our Lives, We Thank You, Lord

Thanksgiving is a particular time, like the bright and shining poetic moments of Camelot, to express gratitude for our own particular circumstances. It has been my custom for several years now to share with you my own personal litany of Thanksgiving. Looking over these pieces for the last decade reveals just how strikingly repetitive they have been and Lord, what a blessing that is! My life has not changed in any great dramatic fashion over the past decade; much for which I expressed gratitude then I remain thankful for today. The glorious wonder of it all is that so much of my own ...

A Thanksgiving Buffet of West Virginia Politics

Gov. Jim Justice is likely giving thanks right now with U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., planning to retire at the end of his 2024 term and spending the next several months on a tour of the U.S. to find himself. Justice also is thankful, I’m sure, to have another poll showing him with a far-and-away lead in the Republican primary for U.S. Senate next year. According to a poll by Mark Blankenship Enterprises, a long-time Republican-leaning polling firm in the state, 61% of Republican and independent respondents said they would vote for Justice while 28% said they would support U.S. ...