Local Columns

When Will Enough Be Enough for the People of West Virginia?

Despite the challenges in many of the governor’s agencies, West Virginia is poised for positive with replacing Gov. Jim Justice. While recent indictments have shed light on areas that require a governor’s leadership presence within our state agencies, I am confident that an attentive leader in the executive who prioritizes West Virginia over his appointed buddies/lenders can address these issues head-on and move forward. This indictment of his director of the Center for Threat Preparedness was not the first sign of gross mismanagement of COVID dollars. As Senate Finance chairman, I ...

Scrutiny of Justice Is of His Own Making

One of the things I like to do with my weekly Reporter’s Notebook is take you behind-the-scenes of how I decide what stories I write. Two weeks ago, I wrote two stories involving major announcements and how properties owned by Gov. Jim Justice are in the mix. The first was an infrastructure project to connect the Morgantown Industrial Park to Interstate 79 via a direct interchange and a new bridge to connect the park to U.S. 119 and to I-68. It’s a much-needed project in a growing part of the state that already suffers from poor road conditions. But it turns out that Justice ...

Criminalizing Menthol Cigarettes the Wrong Move To Make

As a person with a vested stake in the upliftment and empowerment of the Black community and a history of working closely with youth, I feel an obligation to address the proposed FDA menthol ban and its potential negative impacts on our community. While public health concerns regarding menthol cigarettes are valid, the ban’s unintended consequences cannot be overlooked, especially concerning its disproportionate effects on Black Americans. Menthol cigarettes have a long, complicated and deliberate history within the Black community. It’s essential to recognize that their ...

Deer Hunt an Un-Oglebay Plan

I am stunned: n that Oglebay Park is going to be opened up as a killing field for bow & arrow hunting — the cruelest, most inhumane type of hunting — on Nov. 6 for three days; n that hunters will get to kill, or more likely maim and doom to drawn-out horribly painful deaths, unknown but likely high numbers of Oglebay Deer; despite the semantics set forth in Oglebay’s Petition to stop the injunction against the hunt — claiming the deer aren’t “Oglebay Deer”, but deer who are property of the DNR - these deer include many, even a majority, of the deer that were once ...

Marshall Memo: Happenings in Cameron; Grand Marshal; and Turkey Trot

Students in Cameron’s Design and Fashion Class, taught by Holly Pettit, recently donated mastectomy pillows to the WVU Medicine Cancer Center at Wheeling Hospital. The class came up with the idea for Breast Cancer Awareness Month both to help bring attention to the fight again the disease and to honor a classmate’s mother who recently battled breast cancer. The students created the pillows from scratch using techniques and styles they learned in class. --- The 8th Annual Cameron High School College and Career Fair took place this past Tuesday in the school’s gymnasium. There ...

A Number of Real and Important Truths About Israel

I read “The Gathering Storm” by Andrew Napolitano in the Sunday, Oct. 22 issue of the News-Register. He begins with the age-old canard about Israel’s War of Independence in 1948, that Zionist militias forced 750,000 Palestinians out of their homes, villages, and ancient homeland. When in fact Arab leaders, not wanting to harm their own, told Arabs to leave the area and, after they won the war, those displaced could return to have their choice of any Jewish home they wanted. It is estimated some 650,000 Arabs left voluntarily and some 100,000 or so were displaced due to the war. ...