This is a challenging time for the village of Bellaire. Residents of the community and the surrounding area recently received news of two major changes, and neither announcement was positive. First, word was released that St. John Central High School will close at the end of the current ...

Government budgets at all levels seldom seem to be lower than in previous years. On the rare occasions when they are, they often are accompanied by predictions of doom and gloom. Except in Belmont County. There, county commissioners have approved a 2019 budget of $21.9 million — about 2.5 ...

The village of Belmont needs help. Fortunately, Mayor Stan Sobel isn’t afraid to ask for it. Roads and streets in the small community are falling apart. The damage isn’t due to poor construction or standard wear and tear. Instead, it appears to be a result of heavy truck traffic ...

At first glance, U.S. Rep. Bill Johnson’s idea to end the partial shutdown of federal government and address concerns about illegal immigration may sound, well, a bit wild and crazy. But in the context of the theatrics that already have occurred on the matter, it may be worth a ...

School board members and administrators in the Martins Ferry City Schools District are dealing with a slippery situation, and they need to act sooner than later. It was revealed during a board meeting this week that portions of the hilltop campus are slipping away. It seems that soil in two ...

Ohio faces its share of economic struggles. Its unemployment rate in November was 4.6 percent, while the U.S. as a whole saw unemployment at just 3.7 percent. Some regions of the state — including ours — see unemployment considerably higher. Meanwhile, in one of those unusual polls ...

Ohio faces its share of economic struggles. Its unemployment rate in November was 4.6 percent, while the U.S. as a whole saw unemployment at just 3.7 percent. Some regions of the state — including ours — see unemployment considerably higher. Meanwhile, in one of those unusual polls ...

Perhaps village officials in Belmont can solve two problems at once. One challenge, as outlined during a village council meeting earlier this month, is repairing some badly damaged streets and roads in Belmont. Much of the damage was caused by oil and gas industry trucks, it was stated during ...

Christmas has come and gone; fortunately it passed peacefully for most local residents. If the worst had happened, though, qualified people were ready and willing to respond. All across the region, law enforcement officers, emergency medical personnel, doctors, nurses and firefighters were on ...

Bridgeport has been declared in a state of fiscal emergency by the Ohio Auditor’s Office, which notes the village is seriously in arrears in paying back state loans. That means village government will have to operate under the oversight of a special state commission until it gets its ...

At some point, someone may have to pay to clean up chemicals used in a Bellaire dry cleaning shop that has been closed for about 20 years. That “someone” should not be taxpayers in the village. During their meeting last week, Bellaire Village Council members discussed the old ...

Ohio lawmakers are floating some ideas Buckeye State residents may want to watch. House Joint Resolution 19, introduced a few days ago, would make it more difficult to approve proposed constitutional amendments on the statewide ballot. Rather than a simple majority needed for an amendment to ...

Honorable. Decent. Capable. Those are just a few of the terms that have been used to describe former President George H.W. Bush since he died Friday. The son of a senator, he began his own service to our nation at age 18, when he joined the U.S. Navy in the wake of the attack on Pearl Harbor. ...

A U.S. Department of Justice official says there is no evidence “of any health effects people are suffering” from the Heritage Thermal Services hazardous waste incinerator in East Liverpool. But some of those at a public meeting where DOJ Senior Counsel Elizabeth Loeb made the comment are ...

The owner of a dog that injured two other animals in Belmont — and bit one of their owners — may deserve some credit. It appears the owner was trying to comply with the village rule requiring that all dogs be on leashes when they are not on their own property. But, as Belmont Mayor ...

Essentials such as street repair, keeping water lines in good shape and ensuring the police department is staffed adequately have to be priorities for any local government official. Recreation has to take a back seat. That should not be the case in Martins Ferry, where the municipal ...

When Ohioans go to the polls on Tuesday, they have many important choices to make. At the top of the list is a decision about who will be the Buckeye State’s next chief executive. Republican Gov. John Kasich is term-limited and cannot seek re-election. During his eight years in office, ...

Now that Melody McClurg has been hired legally as the new executive director of the Jefferson Metropolitan Housing Authority, she will have quite a mess — both literally and figuratively — to clean up. Obviously, McClurg is entitled to begin with a clean slate. She had nothing to do with ...

National Breast Cancer Awareness Month is winding down. What have you done to increase your understanding of this potentially deadly disease? According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, breast cancer is the second most common cancer in American women; only skin cancer is ...

Education is a cornerstone of a happy, productive life. Fortunately, we have a lot of options here in Eastern Ohio when it comes to obtaining a good education. And those opportunities are still expanding, especially for those who live and work in Jefferson County. Last week, Eastern ...