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Make sure you’re prepared to vote

If you’re beginning to feel as though the stakes in this year’s elections are unusually high, you are not alone. Even a cursory glance at newspaper opinion pages or social media feeds will tell you there are strong feelings on many important issues — and plenty of people believe they must weigh in on the candidates who might address those issues. Here’s the problem. When it really counts — Election Day — those opinion pieces or social media posts will not move the needle. Your vote will — and primary elections are closer than you might think. The office of Ohio ...

Groups benefit from foundation

Thanks to the Community Foundation for the Ohio Valley, 11 Ohio Valley nonprofit organizations are getting a financial boost to continue the good work they do in the community. Those organizations shared in more than $70,000 in Community Impact Grants that the CFOV distributed this week. Organizations earning those grants included the Belmont County Court of Common Pleas Juvenile Division Probation Department, CASA for Children, Catholic Charities West Virginia, Childrens Home of Wheeling Inc., City of Steubenville Parks and Recreation, Hancock and Brooke Young Professionals, Laughlin ...

Development money coming Ohio’s way

Good news came this week out of the U.S. Commerce Department, which says Japan is planning to fund three projects totaling approximately $36 billion in the coming years — one each in Ohio, Texas and Georgia. According to Reuters, this is the first wave of investments in the planned $550 billion reportedly pledged as part of a trade deal with the U.S. The Ohio project is expected to be a $33 billion natural gas-fired power plant in Portsmouth in the southern part of the state — perhaps the largest ever, according to U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick. Reuters reports Lutnick ...

Hall spotlights Weirton’s history

When you look at the names of those who have been enshrined in the Weirton Hall of Fame since its founding in 2008, you can feel the sense of the history and dedication behind the community. From the city’s namesake, E.T. Weir, to the city’s first mayor, Thomas Millsop, to longtime community volunteers like Nick Tranto, Deb Witkowski, Dr. J.K. Luthra, Pam Makricosta and Jim Pauchnik, to businesspeople such as Vanessa Beaver, George Kondik, educators like Tracy Ohalek, David Reitter and Louis Kuntupis, and many more, each has left a lasting impression on the city, whether through ...

Program targets our young people

Ohio young people face a range of challenges, but children who find themselves part of the juvenile correctional system are staring down hurdles most of us cannot imagine. Rather than having some time in a juvenile correctional facility become a life sentence that dampens their opportunities forever, the Ohio Department of Youth Services is working toward providing educational and vocational opportunities for what it calls “justice-involved youth.” To that end, Gov. Mike DeWine and Department of Youth Services Director Amy Ast attended the opening earlier this month of a new ...

Things to think about Monday

Monday is Presidents Day, and it should be a chance to reflect, to honor and to give thanks. It should be an opportunity to remember that while our president changes every four or eight years, our democracy continues to set a standard that is the envy of the rest of the world. The office itself always has served as testament to the peaceful transfer of power, even when that concept has been met with extraordinary challenges, and to the symbol of leadership that resides at 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. in Washington, D.C. The holiday is the combination of days that originally had been set ...