Opinion

Keep Eye Out for Lone Star Ticks

Editorials

If you consider yourself to be a carnivore, the West Virginia Department of Health has given you yet another reason to be vigilant about avoiding ticks. Earlier this month, the agency reported multiple cases of the tick-borne Alpha-gal Syndrome, which can cause a variety of symptoms as a result of allergies to meat and meat products caused by the disease. This one is carried by lone star ticks — larger than deer ticks and with white spots on their backs. Worry over the disease is severe enough that the state health department issued an advisory Sept. 11, making AGS a reportable ...

A Good Reason To Smile

Editorials

In the Buckeye State, particularly in rural or lower-income regions, not all kids are able to get regular care from a dentist. It’s a generations-old problem, but between 2022 and 2024 CareQuest Institute for Oral Health and Oral Health Ohio tried a pilot program to do something about it. Through Medical Oral Expanded Care, the project incorporated oral health checks into kids’ annual well child visits with their pediatricians, according to a report by the Statehouse News Bureau. The pilot involved more than 1,000 children. Rebekah Mathews, vice president of health ...

Go Get Educated, Get Out And Vote

Editorials

Tuesday was National Voter Registration Day. Wednesday was Constitution Day and Citizenship Day. In other words, it is a week during which Americans are asked to think a little harder about what our founders had in mind when they were signing the Constitution back in 1787, and whether we are holding up our end of the bargain. In 2004, the late U.S. Sen. Robert C. Byrd, D-W.Va., (hard not to wonder what he’d have to say about the state of things these days, isn’t it?) tacked on an amendment to the omnibus spending bill that modified the law so that during the federal observance of ...

The Correct View on Maps

Editorials

Though the results of Ohio’s latest redistricting attempt have yet to be seen, state House Speaker Matt Huffman, R-Lima, should be commended for one thing: He says he will not give in to pressure from the White House to draw maps that meet the approval of President Donald Trump. “I’m most interested in what residents of the state of Ohio have to say,” Huffman said when asked about Trump and national influence, according to the Ohio Capital Journal. “Of course, the President of the United States is an important person too, but there are 11 million+ people in the state of ...

Treatment Courts Deserve Funding

Editorials

State lawmakers created the Family Treatment Courts program in West Virginia back in 2019. Two years later, they were pleased enough with the program to make it permanent — under the state Supreme Court of Appeals’ supervision. For a while, this important program — 14 Family Treatment Courts in 18 counties, working to provide resources for parents overcoming substance use disorders while moving toward the safe reunification of families — was funded by federal grants and McKesson Corporation settlement funds through the West Virginia Office of Drug Control Policy. This year, ...