Belmont County may be home to one of the last bridges to be built in the Buckeye State for the foreseeable future. That is because the Ohio Department of Transportation is experiencing a funding crisis. As a result, the new span across Interstate 70 near the Ohio Valley Mall that opened last ...
Years ago, my good friend, JB, gave me some advice that has served me well. We were both in sales for our company at the time. JB said, “Kozera, you always have to be out among them.” The message is twofold for all of us, whether you are in sales or a teenager trying to get a date. ...
February is Black History Month. There are so many people, black and white, male and female, who could be considered heroes of Black History. I want to tell you about one of my heroes. How his life was flipped — turned upside down, and how he penetrated, influenced, and saturated the ...
In a couple of weeks, The Times Leader will host one of its biggest events of the year — the Belmont County Spelling Bee. Scheduled for 7 p.m. Feb. 7 at Ohio University Eastern, the annual bee provides an opportunity for nearly 20 local middle school students to compete for the title of ...
This past summer, my wife and I were blessed to visit Atlanta, Georgia. There are many great sights to see in that metropolitan city. It was our goal to see the sights referring to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. We were blessed to go to his birth house where we heard stories of how he did not ...
On trips and during our Shale Crescent USA presentations, we were surprised to find many people in Texas and other areas didn’t know the first ethane cracker was built in Clendenin, West Virginia, in the 1920s and started the modern petrochemical industry. Our region was in the ...
Today is John Kasich’s last day as governor of Ohio. I wonder what he’s thinking about? At 66 years old, the term-limited Republican Kasich probably isn’t ready to retire. I have met the governor on several different occasions during his two terms in office, and I have the strong ...
Our grandson, Calen just finished U.S. Marine Corps Basic Training at Parris Island, South Carolina. He is now a U.S. Marine. Even though he took the oath and was in Basic Training starting in mid-October he was just a recruit. You are not a Marine until you can complete Basic Training. We ...
Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s House has more women, persons of color and LGBT members than any House in history — and fewer white males. And a week ago, the day Rashida Tlaib was sworn in, her hand on a Quran, our first Palestinian-American congresswoman showed us what we may expect. As a rally ...
DUBLIN, Ireland — The Irish government is proposing rebates to a carbon tax it recently imposed to households that comply with what it considers “low-carbon lifestyles.” The rebate, according to Prime Minister Leo Varadkar, might be in the form of a check, an increase in welfare benefits ...
This week, the American Psychological Association proved once again that it is a political body rather than a scientific one. It has done it before — in 2013, it reclassified “gender identity disorder” in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders, calling it “gender ...
One of my older sisters once dated a much older guy who had not yet come to terms with growing up. I remember nothing about him — except his nose hair. He was the Rapunzel of nose hair. I do believe you could have climbed it straight into his brain. I was never sure if I should suggest ...
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez’s so-called Green New Deal makes the obligatory nod to the original New Deal, but FDR’s handiwork is much too modest an antecedent. The Green New Deal calls for a top-down revolution in the operation of American society so sweeping that it would be disturbing if ...
If 2019 stays on trend, more than 47,000 Americans will kill themselves this year. Their loved ones will, understandably, be consumed with grief. But some of them will then go on to try and affix outside blame for the death. Many of them will hire a lawyer and file a wrongful death ...
As the Executive Director of the Community Improvement Corp. of Belmont County, a nonprofit organization that has been dedicated to economic development in the county since 1962, I support the proposed PTTGCA/Daelim petrochemical complex in Dilles Bottom. I am in support of this project ...
I can hardly believe it’s November already, but this year I am feeling happy that the holiday season is approaching. Actually, in many ways, it’s already here. I’ve heard a couple of friends complain that they already have heard Christmas carols playing in stores and restaurants. I’ve ...
After showing off his swastika tattoo, Randy Metcalf became involved in a barroom brawl. One of his opponents was an African American, who he and his friends knocked unconscious. Metcalf repeatedly kicked him in the head and, according to a witness, said, “Die, [N-word], die.” Metcalf was ...
Leadership expert John Maxwell said, “If there is hope in the future, there is power in the present.” I saw a lot of power this week at the Belpre (Ohio) Annual Chamber Dinner and Awards Banquet last week at Grand Pointe Conference Center in Vienna, W.Va. Belpre had a good year and is ...
Hope. It’s something that hasn’t always been easy to come by here in the Upper Ohio Valley. It appears to me, though, that is no longer the case. Merriam-Webster defines hope as the feeling of wanting something to happen or be the case. It is an expectation, a desire — anticipation. ...
Since the late 1990s when school shootings first rose to the forefront of national concern in the United States, school districts have struggled to find effective ways to keep students and staff safe while on school property. More recent events, such as the shooting in Parkland, Florida and ...