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Ihlenfeld leaves a proud record

The Northern District of West Virginia has had a number of excellent U.S. attorneys during the past half-century. Add outgoing U.S. Attorney William Ihlenfeld to that list. Ihlenfeld, who served as top prosecutor during the Biden and Obama administrations, stepped down earlier this month. In total, he served as U.S. attorney for 10 years. “Serving as U.S. Attorney has been an honor and a privilege,” Ihlenfeld said. “I’m deeply saddened to leave, but as I walk out the door today, I do so with tremendous pride because of all this team has accomplished over the past four ...

Smoking costs money and lives

As mid-January tests New Year’s resolutions across the region, many may be weakening in their resolve. Certainly, that must include some who vowed this is the year to give up smoking. To add a little incentive to the effort, WalletHub took a look at the true cost of tobacco use. The dollar amounts are eye-opening for the 46 million people in the U.S. who still use tobacco. Total lifetime cost per smoker in Ohio was estimated to be $3,538,844. In West Virginia it is $3,210,116, and in Pennsylvania it is $4,300,935. Think about that for a moment — particularly given that those ...

Husted a solid choice for Senate

In choosing Lt. Gov. Jon Husted to fill Vice President J.D. Vance’s former seat in the U.S. Senate, Gov. Mike DeWine is sending a person with some important assets to Washington, D.C. Husted, who was sworn in to his new position Tuesday, is a politically savvy, longtime public official who understands the Buckeye State in a way some other candidates for the post do not. “I have worked with him, I have seen him, I know his knowledge of Ohio,” DeWine said. “I know his heart. I know what he cares about. I know his skills. And all of that tells me that he is the right person ...

Don’t overlook mental health

Ohioans deserve public schools in which students are educated to be informed, productive, critical thinking citizens ready to pursue the next step in their career or educational paths with confidence. Our children deserve more than barely meeting the lowest of standards on that front. But what about kids who aren’t making it to school at all? Think of how much more we are letting them down. According to data from the Ohio Department of Education and Workforce, public school students in the state have an approximately 25.6 percent rate of chronic absenteeism. It is a problem to ...

Make sure you stay safe during cold snap

The Tri-State Area has just experienced some of the most frigid weather it has seen in about a decade, and while the worst of this arctic blast appears to be behind us and temperatures are expected to moderate during the next several days, the reality is wae are in the middle of winter and it will continue to be cold. Doctors say keeping warm in bitter cold temperatures involves common sense. Without proper clothing and protection, a person faces mild frostbite in as little as 15 minutes. Protecting extremities is important in the bitter cold. Warming packs can be placed inside ...

Getting to work for all Americans

A “golden age,” one in which the United States of America can aim even higher than the moon, was proclaimed Monday during President Donald J. Trump’s inauguration speech. And while Elon Musk may have thrown his hands in the air to cheer the goal to “pursue our manifest destiny into the stars,” and “plant the stars and stripes on the planet Mars,” ordinary Americans were more likely to find a common reason to cheer in Trump’s promise to seek a broad government effort to reduce inflation and reduce prices. Though he must be careful to avoid the executive overreach ...