Opinion

Pats on the Back

Editorials

- To the parents, grandparents, siblings and neighbors that have driven youngsters to early morning practices, traveled for games and more. All that effort is part of what helped the Wheeling Central Catholic High School boys basketball team cap an undefeated, state championship season last weekend. It truly does take a village, and too often those that give of themselves so their children can have opportunities aren’t given enough praise. Thank you. - To Ohio County’s two newest sheriff’s deputies — Mason Parsons and Devin Milbert — as they embark on their career of ...

Americans Deserve Clearer Message On Iran War

Local Columns

The United States has joined Israel in opening a war with Iran. For the last half century, Iran has fomented destabilizing terror in the Middle East while violently suppressing voices of opposition by its own people. The world would be a safer place without the theocratic regime of Iran. But is that the goal? It is hard to know the mission because President Trump and his closest advisors have presented shifting narratives, sometimes in the same day, on why the United States is fighting. Regime change? A free Iran? Destruction of nuclear facilities? Elimination of Iran’s ballistic ...

Wheeling Must Seize The Defining Moment

Editorials

This past Tuesday, 14 ceremonial shovels turning over dirt at perhaps the highest point of Center Wheeling marked the official groundbreaking for the WVU Cancer Institute St. Joseph Regional Cancer Complex. It was encouraging to hear hospital, city and local development officials discuss just what a $122 million investment in Wheeling — perhaps the largest in the city’s history — would mean. But what follows next is perhaps just as important to the city’s future. Wheeling has a unique opportunity to remake itself in the coming years — one that could well define the city ...

Don’t Jeopardize Health

Editorials

Sitting in the Ohio House Health Committee is state House Bill 561, a measure for which authors appear to have given as much thought to a catchy acronym as they did to the well-being of Ohio children. HB 561, “to revise the law governing childhood immunizations and exemptions and to name this act the Parental Clarity on Health Options and Information on Conscientious Exemptions ‘C.H.O.I.C.E.’ Act,” would eliminate the requirement for some Buckeye State children to get the hepatitis B vaccine and make changes to other vaccine regulations. It is similar to a host of other ...

Working To Feed Hungry Families

Editorials

West Virginia is considered to be the fourth “hungriest” state by organizations such as Feeding America and the U.S. Department of Agriculture studying food insecurity in this country. Certainly, Appalachia is hit hard. In the Mountain State, the rate is approximately 16.67%. A significant number of those affected are children. Homegrown efforts such as those of the Highmark Foundation and WVU Medicine are a lifeline for families in need. For that reason, the Highmark Foundation announced a $1 million grant toward the extension of the Food for Mountaineers program. Since 2024, the ...

Assisting Foster Children

Editorials

There are nearly 6,000 children in foster care in West Virginia. Approximately one-third of them are between the ages of 13 and 17. These children are among our most vulnerable populations, and face challenges most of the rest of us are simply incapable of understanding. But they do have support. Initiatives from Fairmont State University, for example, offer opportunities for Mountain State students who have experienced foster care to earn a high school diploma and an associate degree simultaneously, through Middle College. The RISE (Resilience, Independence, Support, Empowerment) ...