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Working detectors help to save lives

Winter has finally arrived across the region, which means we have entered a season during which we have even more reasons to be cautious about how we heat and light our homes. Working smoke and carbon monoxide detectors are essential. On Christmas Day, four adult family members died in New Hampshire. “While the investigation remains active and ongoing, at this time, investigators believe the victims died as a result of carbon monoxide poisoning,” said New Hampshire State Fire Marshal Sean Toomey. Part of that investigation involves examining the home’s gas heating system ...

More help needed in homeless battle

“No American should face homelessness,” reads the U.S. Department of Housing and Urban Development’s news release accompanying the January 2024 Point-In-Time Count Report. Yes, the data is a year old, but each year’s snapshot gives us a better understanding of how many in our communities are facing just that. During the look at the number of individuals in shelters, temporary housing and unsheltered settings, researchers found more than 770,000 people were experiencing homelessness on that one night in January. That was an 18 percent increase from the same point-in-time in ...

Lawmakers need to serve voters

It is not just federal elected officials who have dropped the ball for their constituents as they got tired of pretending to work on our behalf before their holiday break. In Columbus, necessary change was avoided when Senate Bill 271 and House Bill 263 failed to advance, stalling the effort to reform property taxes. Nearly everyone agrees something must be done to protect taxpayers. But that knowledge has not translated into any sense of urgency. “I’ve talked to so many of our seniors, and sometimes crying over the phone, regarding this property tax issue,” state Sen. ...

There’s plenty to look ahead to as 2025 arrives

With the beginning of every year comes a sense of hope and the feeling that the future ahead of us is at least a little brighter than the past that is behind us. That’s the case as we say farewell to 2024 and welcome 2025. We see that there are plenty of positive things on the horizon. Construction work continues at the site of Form Energy — the Massachusetts-based company is looking forward to opening a manufacturing facility that will produce specialty batteries on former Weirton Steel property in Weirton. Full production is scheduled to start later this year at the ...

Our lives remain touched by many

It’s likely that you lost a cultural icon who meant something to you during 2024, whether from the world of science, politics, the arts or sports. Whether they helped to keep us informed; entertained us on stage, on film or on television; whether they dazzled us through their accomplishments in athletics; or whether they helped to change the course of the world, each reminded us about the importance one person can make on many lives. Two of those who died in the past year helped to entertain us in many different ways, but a couple of characters portrayed by Dabney Coleman and ...

No excuses for impaired driving

New Year’s parties are about to get under way, and it is a good time to again remember not to get behind the wheel of a car after drinking or using any impairing substance at one of those events. National statistics offer a sobering look at the dangers of driving while impaired. According to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, 13,524 people were killed in alcohol-impaired driving crashes in 2022. And, NHTSA adds, 32 percent of traffic fatalities involve drivers with a blood-alcohol content of .08 or higher. Breaking those numbers down even more, NHTSA reports ...