The Upper Ohio Valley lost one of its great leaders last week with the death of John Mattox at age 84. And while those who knew Mattox are grieving his absence, they also know that the contributions he made to our region were so numerous and important that they will endure for generations. ...
I don’t remember the first time I met John Mattox, but by the time I was 8 years old or so, I knew exactly who he was — a Union Local Board of Education member, an area businessman, father of two children who attended Flushing Elementary where my mother taught and the kind of person you ...
This week 50 years ago on July 20, 1969, I was sitting in the living room with my parents and five brothers watching Walter Cronkite and the first moon landing on our black and white TV. There was a lot of excitement, tension (we didn’t know how things would work out) and pride to be an ...
Fifty years ago this week, one of Ohio’s greatest sons, Neil Armstrong, became the first man to walk on the Moon. On July 20, 1969, the world watched in awe as grainy footage beamed in from the lunar surface 289,000 miles away to millions of TV screens around the globe. As a 13-year-old, I ...
Ohio’s fledgling medicinal marijuana industry is not yet fully up and running, but already, state officials are raising questions about the honesty of some of those involved. Two companies in the medicinal marijuana dispensary business are being accused by the state Board of Pharmacy of ...
Ohio Supreme Court Justice Sharon Kennedy has some excellent advice for Buckeye State voters: Learn about judicial candidates and their philosophies on the state constitution. Kennedy, who is up for reelection next year, made the comments during a presentation last week in St. Clairsville. As ...
On a hot, sunny July day such as this one is expected to be, it can be hard to imagine that water could overtake our homes or vehicles at any moment. Unfortunately, such is the case in Eastern Ohio. Just one week ago today, soaking rains caused streams in some parts of Belmont County to ...
We Americans love to travel. Whether it’s a cross-country trip or a poker run atop a motorcycle on a sunny Saturday, many of us love to take to the open road. So why do we also dump our trash on roadsides, ruining the view for everyone? I know I have written several times before about how ...
This week I was working with a friend who is a successful business person. He is putting together a team for a large project. We have a lot of the same values and priorities. We both understand the importance of Team and putting people first. We were having a discussion about the project when ...
Over the last two years, Congress has put in place pro-growth policies that are growing our economy, creating jobs and raising wages for families across Ohio. Ohio’s unemployment numbers are low and wages are up overall. Yet, I’ve also seen firsthand that parts of Ohio haven’t ...
Monroe County commissioners cannot continue pouring money into the Monroe Care Center. Their responsibility to taxpayers makes that clear. But for the very same reason, commissioners have a duty to obtain the most money they can through any arrangement to sell the facility. In order to keep ...
Despite all the grousing and griping about his “politicizing” of the Fourth of July and “militarizing” America’s birthday, President Donald Trump turned the tables on his antagonists, and pulled it off. As master of ceremonies and keynote speaker at his “Salute to America” ...
The notion of history repeating itself is usually viewed as a negative statement, but some history is worth repeating because we might learn and be guided by it. In the 5-4 ruling by the Supreme Court rejecting the Trump administration’s claim that adding a question about whether a person ...
“Partisan gerrymandering is nothing new,” writes Chief Justice John Roberts near the beginning of his opinion in Rucho v. Common Cause. “Nor is frustration with it.” The question is what, if anything, federal courts ought to do about it. The answer the chief justice and the four other ...
Despite nearly constant reports that the retail industry has been struggling for the years, the Cafaro Co. is investing a lot of time and money in the Ohio Valley Mall. Located just east of St. Clairsville along Interstate 70, the mall has been a hub of activity in Eastern Ohio for more than ...
Sometimes you just need to hit the reset button. I don’t mean that you need to give your life a complete overhaul. I just mean that everyone occasionally needs to pause, step back from the hustle and bustle of daily life and establish a new focus for a little while. Study after study ...
ATLANTA (AP) — Former President Jimmy Carter said Friday he believes President Donald Trump actually lost the 2016 election and is president only because of Russian interference. Carter made the comments during a discussion on human rights at a resort in Leesburg, Virginia, without offering ...
This week was the end of our three-week spring period where we as coaches can work with our high school soccer players. We got to see the boys that will be our freshmen in August for the first time. Our next opportunity is in August when fall practice starts. I haven’t seen most of our ...
For crying out loud. Social media is good for many things — but it isn’t the police department or the sheriff’s office. During last week’s Martins Ferry City Council meeting, Mayor Robert Krajnyak passed along a disturbing request from Police Chief John McFarland. The request was ...
I never thought I would write this, but the publisher of The New York Times, A.G. Sulzberger, is right. Sulzberger wrote an op-ed for The Wall Street Journal in response to President Trump’s claim that his newspaper committed “treason” by publishing a story about U.S. efforts to ...