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Protect workers by moving over

There are plenty of designated days, weeks and months meant to raise awareness and perhaps steer conversations toward finding solutions to some of our biggest challenges. For example, this past Saturday, the third Saturday in October, was National Move Over Day. It’s a day set aside to draw attention to the laws that require motorists to move into another lane and slow down for any stationary vehicle with flashing lights on the side of the road. While there is some variance in laws among the states, that generally means moving into an open lane and reducing your speed by at least 20 ...

President sets goals for WVU

West Virginia University President Michael Benson had a lot of big ideas in his first State of the University address last week. They come as he is in the middle of an effort to visit every county in the state — an important attempt to truly understand his new home and the state his university serves. Sure, it’s nice to learn the holiday lighting party will return to Woodburn Hall this year, but it is encouraging to hear Benson has a realistic understanding of the challenges faced by the university, and the need to tackle them — with help from those who responded to the ...

Library levy earns support

The system operated by the Public Library of Steubenville and Jefferson County is a true asset to residents across the region. One of the reasons it can provide the multitude of services it does is money generated from its 1-mill levy. The five-year issue, which generates approximately $1.5 million a year and represents one-third of the system’s revenue, is up for renewal on the Nov. 4 ballot, and voters should approve it. Libraries have traditionally been known as places where you can find books. Today’s libraries, however, offer much more. They are places where area residents ...

Student loan debt a growing concern

Among the concerns for some of those worried about their finances amid a federal government shutdown, continued increasing inflation, high interest rates and an unsteady jobs market, is the burden of student loan repayment. In West Virginia, that burden is especially heavy. According to WalletHub, the Washington, D.C.-based personal financial website, West Virginia carries the eighth most student debt in the country. The Mountain State is 25th for average student debt, but third for the proportion of students with debt and fourth for student debt as a percentage of income. Meanwhile, ...

Getting a handle on credit card debt

For some, use of credit cards is a carefully planned luxury — perhaps used to ensure the accumulation of lots of airline or hotel points — for purchases that can be paid off within a month or two. But for Tri-State Area residents between the ages of 18 and 34, a recent analysis of Federal Reserve data shows the use of credit cards feels like a necessity — and one that is causing them to rack up higher-than-average levels of debt. Along with those high levels of debt come high levels of delinquency, according to reports on the data by the Ohio Capital Journal and Upgraded Points, ...

Plan would help with child care

For many families, finding affordable child care is one of the bigger obstacles to being able to be full participants in the workforce. Sometimes it just makes more sense for a parent to stay home with the kids than to go out into a job that perhaps doesn’t even cover the costs of child care. With the launch of Ohio’s Child Care Cred Program, funding is now available for a program that helps split the child care burden. “Ensuring a stable workforce for Ohio’s growing economy encourages us to support our working families,” said state Sen. Tim Schaffer, R-Lancaster. “By ...