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Keep visitors coming

Editorials

Buckeye State officials had good reason to celebrate this week, as they took a look at the economic impact of tourism in Ohio in 2024. According to a news release from the state Department of Development, Ohio saw 3.5 million more visitors in 2024 than in 2023 — about 242 million visitors. Approximately 20% booked an overnight stay. State officials say that meant $57 billion in economic impact and $4.7 billion in state and local tax revenue. For the state’s purposes, tourism “supports” more than 443,000 jobs. It’s an industry we know holds up its end of the bargain for ...

Cheers & Jeers

Editorials

CHEERS to Melissa Yeso, Martins Ferry’s newest city council member, who was willing to step up and fill a vacancy left due to a prior member’s health concerns. JEERS to reports that young people in several local communities are riding motorized bikes and scooters without obeying traffic rules, creating hazards for drivers and themselves. CHEERS to Belmont County’s Early Intervention Program, which serves children from birth to 3 years old free of charge and in the family home. The program provides help during a formative period. JEERS to the fact that some children are in need ...

Make our money work for us

Editorials

The story is becoming too familiar. Lawmakers who support spending cuts, then call for their reversal. Lawmakers who want to eliminate fraud, waste and abuse, just not in the program that is politically beneficial to them. U.S. Sen. Jim Justice, R-W.Va., joined several Senate colleagues in a letter seeking disbursement of already-approved Community Development Financial Institutions funds. To be fair, some federal actions seem designed to force elected officials to beg for the help they pledged to their constituents. In this case, $324 million from the fund was approved for more than ...

Get rail safety bills on track

Editorials

With Congress on its August break, a number of important things are not getting done. A couple of recent incidents in West Virginia remind us rail safety reform continues to be one of them. Last month, a minor train derailment in downtown Parkersburg closed a street, and had residents asking questions about the contents of the tanks that were leaning. The tanks were safely sealed and empty, and a crew got the train back on track with no injuries. On Aug. 3, the St. Albans Fire Department responded to the derailment of a CSX coal train. There were no injuries reported in this ...

Improving outcomes for kids

Editorials

Buckeye State residents generally think of Ohio as being a fantastic place for children to grow up. But perception does not always match reality, as WalletHub’s “2025’s States With the Most Underprivileged Children” suggests. Believe it or not, Ohio is ranked 18th on the lists of states with the most underprivileged children. A look at the metrics tells the tale. Ohio is 16th for the percentage of children in households below the poverty line, 26th for the percentage of maltreated children, 12th for child food-insecurity rate, 26th for the percentage of uninsured children, 20th ...

A magical evening spent in New Martinsville

Columns

I made my debut as an actor/magician’s assistant on Thursday in downtown New Martinsville. My husband Mike, aka Magician Michael Strough, was part of “The Big Four” magic show at the Parlor Theater at Doolin Center. It’s a show that he and three friends put on every other year. The reason for that particular schedule is that it happens to coincide with visits one of the magicians makes back to his hometown. Joe Hindman hails from New Martinsville, but today he is a full-time resident of Japan, where he lives with his two sons. In addition to Mike and Joe, the show included ...