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A tribute to 'Slugs' Smarrella

Letters to the Editor

To the editor: The recent passing of Joseph Smarrella is a great loss to the people he served as treasurer of United Steelworkers Local 1190 in the tri-cities of Steubenville, Weirton and Pittsburgh. He was known as “Slugs” to the community of Steelworkers where he worked for 40 years. What people might not have known was that he was a regional coordinator of a national, nonpartisan coalition of unions in 30 states. The coalition represented unions that fabricated products made from the steel mills in the Tri-State Area. The coalition included defense and aerospace workers, ...

Guest column/Minimum wage falling further behind cost of living

Local Columns

When the minimum wage does not go up, it goes down in buying power. The federal minimum wage has been stuck at $7.25 per hour since July 24, 2009. For full-time workers that amounts to $15,080 if you are paid for 40 hours a week, 52 weeks a year. The minimum wage is falling further and further behind the rising cost of living. The federal minimum wage peaked in buying power way back in 1968, when it was worth $15.09 in 2025 dollars, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics Inflation Calculator. Too little, too late ­— minimum wage increases are the next best thing to ...

Plenty of warm weather

Local Columns

The first day of August is coming on Friday, and that means many people have already started to look ahead to the end of summer. There are plenty of other signs all around us that even though we are just a little more than a month into astrological summer (which began June 20), there’s change coming our way. For example, football practice has started. The Steelers have been at training camp in Latrobe since Thursday, and last weekend saw the return of area high school football when the Ohio Valley Athletic Conference held its 79th annual Rudy Mumley Charity All-Star Football ...

Parkview wall: Five years later

Letters to the Editor

To the editor: Once upon a time (1981) a man desired to build his dream home in Wintersville at the intersection of Fernwood and Parkview. Alas, it was not a suitable lot on which to build. The man received permission from a government official to construct a lot. The man constructed two walls made of railroad ties — one wall very close to Parkview and the other wall intersecting the first wall. This was then filled in and a home was constructed on that “lot.” The home was eventually sold to the present owner. As years went by, the walls started to buckle. Large metal pipes ...

Lower birth rates reason for concern

Editorials

As Ohio’s elected officials continue to hope for economic growth, there’s a factor some may not have considered. According to a report by the Ohio Capital Journal, the Buckeye State’s fertility rates are dropping — standing at 56.2 births per 1,000 women in 2023. That’s an 8.9 percent decrease from the state’s average of 61.9 per 1,000 between 2011 and 2020. Interestingly, births to mothers younger than 20 and ages 20 to 24 both fell dramatically compared with 2007 data. During that year, 11 percent of the births in Ohio were to women 20 and younger — that number fell to ...

New Bethany mayor sets a positive tone

Editorials

Bethany’s new mayor, Thom Furbee, is hitting the ground running only a few weeks into his new position. While no stranger to local politics, having previously served as a member of the town’s council for 10 years and holding a prior appointment to the sanitation commission, Furbee has noted he doesn’t have all of the answers and is looking to the community he serves for suggestions. This week, he hosted a town hall meeting at Bethany Memorial Church, inviting town residents to sit down and talk about their concerns, ask questions and offer suggestions for possible projects ...