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A reminder of what you don’t hear enough of

This week, I would like to tell you something you do not hear enough of. Something that perhaps no one ever bothered to ever tell you. Or, something some of you may already know. Today, I want to tell you … the world is a good place. Yes, you can go back and reread that sentence again, if you’d like. The world is a good place. You see, we always talk about, think about and hear about the negatives. And there are a lot of negatives. But, for the most part, the world is a good place. Think about what is our source in discovering what is going on in this world? For the ...

History in the Hills: Happy birthday, baron

As a historian, I enjoy commemorating the past. Events such as anniversaries, birthdays, dates of battles and the like, always have grabbed my attention and have been of particular interest to me. These events give us a good excuse to bring to mind our past. I am sure if one tried hard enough, every day could be a day that has some special historical significance. The very first commemoration one celebrates, is none other than a birthday. This month, we celebrate a very important birthday of an American hero and the namesake of the city of Steubenville, Friedrich Wilhelm August ...

Working to live united

The cooler weather we experienced during the last several days of August and the beginning of September have once again served as a reminder that we are headed into a different time of the year. Students are settling into classrooms for the year, we’re three weeks or so into the high school football season, pumpkin-spiced everything is available just about everywhere and store shelves already are filled with Halloween candy and decorations — as well as items for Thanksgiving and Christmas. It all means we’re headed into a busy time of year, when activities seem to stack on ...

Guest column/Explaining county water, sewer rate increases

We understand that no one welcomes an increase in water and sewer rates, and we want to be open and honest about why this adjustment is necessary. Our duty as a county is to ensure that every household and business connected to the system has safe, reliable and affordable service. After careful review, we must adjust rates to keep that promise. We must also think about not leaving future generations with these infrastructure issues. Nobody will want to move to a community with poor infrastructure. To put this into perspective, sewer rates have not been raised since 2009. That means ...

Guest column/Some information to consider about carbon capture

I’ve lived in the Ohio River Valley for 70 years, in Jefferson and Harrison counties. For decades, the residents of the Ohio Valley have been paying for the aftermath of extractive industries. That “beautiful clean coal” President Donald Trump refers to took lives, and left a legacy of mine shafts and acid mine run-off. Taxpayers continue to foot the bills to plug orphan oil and gas wells and clean-up un-reclaimed strip-mined lands. Recently, the Ohio River Valley was targeted to become a carbon capture and sequestration hub. This hub will consist of a series of pipelines and ...

Guest column/West Virginia cannot afford to lose another person

September is National Suicide Prevention Month, and in West Virginia, the urgency couldn’t be higher. Our state is no stranger to hardship, but the current mental health crisis demands clear-eyed attention and bold action. In 2023, West Virginia’s age-adjusted suicide rate stood at 18.6 per 100,000 people, among the highest in the nation and significantly above the national average. That is 349 West Virginians we have lost in one year alone. Though this is slightly less than 2022, West Virginians deserve more. The numbers are more than data — they are human lives. In the ...