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Guest column/Children with autism deserve care, not cuts

I recently read over my son’s last report card and was overwhelmed with pride. It showed how far he’s come — progress that, not long ago, felt out of reach. I made mental notes of the areas where we still need to do some work, but mostly I just sat with the joy of seeing comments like “participates well in class” and “a pleasure to have in class.” A few years ago, those kinds of remarks seemed impossible. My son is on the autism spectrum. He’s bright, curious and kind, but he faces challenges in areas that come more naturally to his peers — things like ...

Once in a while, it’s nice for those little things

Is it just me or does anyone else ever feel as though life sometimes hands them more than they can cope with? I’m sure most of you have heard the saying of how God doesn’t give us more than we are able to handle. I am not sure exactly who started this saying, but if they are correct, then I honestly don’t know why God thinks that some of us are so strong. As I mentioned last week, being an adult is hard. Perhaps it is the hardest thing we will ever have to do. There are some days when the only thing I want is to stay in bed and pull the covers up over my head so that ...

Guest column/West Virginia must finalize NIL for high school athletes

On Friday, West Virginia will finally step into the present when the state Board of Education approves Item I (WVSSAC, Series 2), allowing high school athletes to benefit from their name, image and likeness. This change isn’t just overdue, it’s essential. For years, I’ve spoken publicly and privately about the need to give our student-athletes the same opportunities already available to their peers across the country. When my colleague and I started lobbying for this shift in February, only 30 states and the District of Columbia had NIL policies in place for high school students. ...

Growth in our region

No matter where you go, you will almost always find people who are more than willing to talk about things that are happening across the area. A lot of that conversation seems to gravitate toward what might have gone wrong, and there are plenty of opinions shared about what needs to be done to improve the region. It’s easy to find reasons to be critical. And, yes, there are a lot of concerns that need to be addressed. From aging infrastructure to a demographics that tend to skew toward the older end of the scale, there always will be room for improvement. But before you allow ...

Guest column/Why budget law is tailored to help Ohio families

“Where I land on policy always depends on how it affects people in Ohio.” That’s what I wrote earlier this year, and that’s why I supported the bill that extended the 2017 tax cuts and made urgent investments in our national defense and border security. This budget bill saved Americans from a $4 trillion tax hike, and that’s a significant win for the nation. So, what does the Big Beautiful Bill mean, in real world terms, for Ohio families, workers and taxpayers? Our work results in more take-home pay. Specifically, the tax cuts we cemented for workers and job creators ...

Guest column/Working to build a better future for West Virginia

Hello, West Virginia. If we haven’t met, I would like to introduce myself. I am Michael T. Benson — you can call me Mike — president of West Virginia University. I officially started July 15 and I am amazed at how three decades of work in higher education across the United States have brought me, step by step, to the place I belong — the beautiful state of West Virginia in a position to lead its flagship, land-grant institution into a new era. My wife, Debi, is especially looking forward to experiencing the four seasons the Mountain State offers after our time under ...