Opinion

Change Needed for Struggling Districts

Editorials

A recent report included a disturbing fact about West Virginia public education. According to a story from Mountain State Spotlight, there are now eight county school districts — Mingo, Tyler, Upshur, Logan, Nicholas, Boone, Roane and Randolph — of the state’s 55 where the West Virginia Department of Education is overseeing operations. Fifteen percent of state school districts are under the state DOE microscope. That’s jarring. That’s not an indictment against the students or teachers in any of those districts. They’re not why the state has intervened. The actions of the ...

Concerns Over Closing of Wheeling IRS Office

Letters to the Editor

Editor, News-Register: Today I write to you as a taxpayer, concerned citizen and chapter president of NTEU Chapter 64. The Internal Revenue Service (IRS) has planned to shut down numerous offices across the country without discussing them with the public, Congress or their own employees. The Wheeling, West Virginia Field office and Taxpayer Assistance Center is one of these offices. If you live in Northern WV you are aware that oftentimes there isn’t always a direct route to get from point A to point B due to our mountainous terrain. If you live across the river in Ohio you are in ...

Carbon Capture Is an Economic Dead-End

Letters to the Editor

Editor, News-Register: In a recent opinion piece, Charles McConnell asserted that Ohio should lead in the deployment of carbon capture and sequestration (CCS) technology because, in addition to reducing carbon emissions, it means “investment in the billions and jobs in the millions”. For 15 years, Ohio Valley residents have heard similarly grandiose claims made on behalf of the natural gas industry. But we discovered how hollow the claims were. Billions of dollars were ostensibly invested in eight natural gas-producing counties in eastern Ohio, but what residents got ...

City Water Department To Be Commended for Work

Letters to the Editor

Editor, News-Register: While many communities in the Ohio Valley have experienced “water woes” in recent months, Wheeling has been able to avoid those calamities. That is made possible by the quality employees and managers employed by the city of Wheeling, in particular the water department. Here is an example: During the early morning hours of Sunday, Aug. 31 (Labor Day weekend), there was a major water line explosion on National Road near Mount Calvary Cemetery. A “river of water” was gushing down National Road. Pavement buckled and driveways were damaged. Before 7 ...

Why Can’t the DOH Take Care of Region’s Roads?

Letters to the Editor

Editor, News-Register: What exactly happens to our taxpayer money? I mean, look at these new bridges in West Virginia. All the drains already are plugged, there is grass growing out of them and piles of dirt are on top of them. Garbage is everywhere. They you have the road by Kroger’s, holes serving as speed bumps by the traffic lights, which is going to lead to an accident. Just do your job, DOH, and fix these problems. Two or three nights and you could be done. And do the work at night — it’s safer. J. Myers Wheeling

Continue Caring Spirit the Whole Year Round

Editorials

A shining example of the charitable spirit of the Ohio Valley came Thursday, as it does every year, with the Sandy O’Haver Day of Caring through the United Way of the Upper Ohio Valley. As has been the tradition, businesses and organizations throughout the valley helped many of the region’s nonprofits throughout the day, taking on tasks that those nonprofits can’t get to. The projects might sound menial — painting guardrails, washing windows and working on landscaping — but not for those nonprofits. They’re tasks that need done, but often must be placed to the side while ...