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Beware dangers of holiday fires

Editorials

Late fall and winter make up the peak season for home fires, according to the National Fire Protection Association, the U.S. Fire Administration and the American Red Cross. Cooking and home heating are the leading causes of fire during the winter months. Candles, decorations and Christmas trees are among other causes of fires during the last two months of the year. The joy of the holidays can quickly turn to tragedy if simple safety precautions aren’t taken with decorations. Overall, the American Red Cross reports that 47,000 fires will occur during the winter holidays. They ...

Lessons to learn in Marshall County

Editorials

On Sept. 18, a school aide at McNinch Primary School in Moundsville reportedly witnessed a horrifying incident in which a teacher grabbed a 6-year-old girl — nonverbal and on the autism spectrum — by the neck with both hands and squeezed. That aide took the girl to the nurse’s office, where photos were taken of red marks on the girl’s neck. Then, the aide took the correct next step: Reporting the incident to the school’s principal. After that, it seems, Principal Jane Duffy and Erin Cuffaro, district director of special programs, did not have the sense of urgency or desire ...

Some holiday numbers

Local Columns

A trip through the holiday-themed inbox: With Christmas less than two weeks away, the push is on to acquire all of those last-minute gifts. And with the anticipated rush likely will come some concern about just what everything is going to cost. When all of that shopping is completed, estimates show that total spending will likely exceed $1 trillion. Just how much of that each person will budget depends on a lot of factors, including where you happen to live. That led WalletHub, the Washington, D.C.-based personal financial website, to look at nearly 560 cities across the United ...

Guest column/Don’t let Congress undercut life-saving research

Local Columns

Across Ohio, researchers are achieving medical breakthroughs on what seems to be a monthly basis. Unfortunately, proposed legislation in Congress threatens to undermine Buckeye State scientists by weakening the patent protections that biotech startups rely on to raise capital and to give patients meaningful access to promising research ideas by developing those ideas into real-world therapies. This year, the Senate Judiciary Committee advanced several such troubling bills, including the Affordable Prescriptions for Patients Act and the Drug Competition Enhancement Act. The reason ...

Continuing to smile ... the mask we all wear

Local Columns

It’s Sunday morning. The coffee is brewing. The newspaper is spread out on the kitchen table. And maybe, just maybe, you have somehow found a way to manage a moment of peace before the week’s anxieties begin. But in this one, single moment … let us be honest. How many of you reading this right now, are sitting there knowing how tomorrow you will once again be forced to wear the disguise of a smile on your face? Because just beneath the surface, your entire world feels as if it is a house of cards ready to crumble at any moment? For those of you who understand, I want ...

Guest column/W.Va. businesses should be able to procure their own electricity

Local Columns

The cold days of winter have barely set in, and electricity is already one of the biggest concerns in West Virginia. At kitchen tables, in campaign speeches, and at national energy forums, people are asking the same questions: How do we keep power affordable and reliable, all while demand grows? At local hearings, residents are worried about rising bills. At economic-development meetings, leaders are debating how to power energy-hungry data centers. And just the other week in Charleston, energy experts at the West Virginia Energy Summit outlined a stark reality: Demand is climbing, ...