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Ohio Valley residents showing they care

Editorials

We saw some of the best of the Ohio Valley this past week. On Wednesday, the community room of the Salvation Army church on Eoff Street was covered in huge white bags, each one packed with toys, clothes and other items that hundreds of people bought for hundreds of children around the Northern Panhandle as part of the Salvation Army Angel Tree program. Those bags were distributed in Ohio County on Wednesday, Marshall County on Thursday and Wetzel and Tyler counties on Friday. On that same Wednesday, the Wheeling Police Department and United Way of the Upper Ohio Valley were at WVU ...

The shameful conspiracy theories spread by Candace Owens

Columns

Few would have guessed that Erika Kirk would have to spend energy these last few, heart-breaking months fending off a right-wing influencer bent on implicating her slain husband’s own organization, TPUSA, in his assassination. Here we are, though. Influential voices on the right have become more and more conspiratorial in recent years, and now, the paranoia is being wielded against its own. In the aftermath of the Kirk assassination, the talk was of an energized MAGA movement picking up his baton. Instead, TPUSA has been slandered nearly every single day by one of the loudest ...

Helping our mothers

Editorials

Officials have known for years there are maternal healthcare challenges in Ohio, but it always comes as a shock to see the numbers. This month, the state Department of Health announced it is hosting trainings for some new programs meant to help prevent the deaths of mothers due to pregnancy-related complications. Such programs are necessary because in the Buckeye State an average of 24 mothers die every year during pregnancy or within one year of the end of their pregnancy, because of pregnancy-related complications. The Department of Health says 62% of these deaths are considered ...

The sad reasons behind why Johnny can’t read

Columns

Reading and math scores are abysmal across the country, as national testing results keep documenting. Illiteracy rates are rising: The number of 16- to 24-year-olds reading at the lowest literacy levels increased from 16% in 2017 to 25% in 2023, according to data from the National Center for Education Statistics. In some inner-city schools, less than half of kids are reading or doing math at grade-level proficiency. Many high school grads can’t read their diplomas. As an economist, I would submit that this is our greatest crisis. It puts the future of American prosperity in grave ...

If Trump ends up with Biden’s economy, the outlook is not good

Columns

What can Donald Trump do to stop morphing into Joe Biden? The two presidents could hardly be more different in most ways — but in the one that counts most with voters, Trump is in danger of resembling his predecessor. Americans rejected Biden and the Democrats last year because they were incensed at the lousy state of the economy. Right now, they’re not much happier with Trump’s economy. Inflation was the No. 1 concern on voters’ minds last year, and it’s still a top concern today. Trump’s team says they plan to tout “affordability” as a theme Republicans can ...

We all are potential residents of Lockdown USA

Columns

“Just FYI if you’re seeing the news right now, I’m totally safe,” a son enrolled at Brown University texted me. “I’ve been home for a few hours now and wasn’t there when stuff started to happen. Seems to be some crazy shooting near brown.” What?! I turned on CNN and saw the quaint streets of Providence’s College Hill — lined with front porches — pulsing under emergency lights that washed the cold night sky an eerie red. Nothing like this ever happens around here. Brown was put in lockdown, and so were those of us living a few blocks away on Providence’s East ...