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Be still … A verse we should all learn to live by

I miss my boys. I realize it’s only been a matter of two weeks since they were all under the same roof once again. While the greatest moments of my life are the ones where I spend with them, it’s always heartbreaking when they close the door behind them until the next time. That hug goodbye is always the hardest. Hearing “Bye, Mom,” as they walk away always leaves me in tears. But that is the way it was meant to be. They go back to their own city. Back to their own state. Back to their own lives. You know, it seems every time I write about them, I cry. ...

Guest column/Ohio’s essential energy economy is leading the way

Every week, we open the newspaper to another story on grid reliability, energy availability and how Ohio is going to step up to the challenge of meeting the demands of the next decades. I’m here to say that Ohio’s natural gas and oil industry is our answer. The Ohio Natural Energy Institute recently released our 2025 report on the current state of the industry, and it is strong. In 2023, Ohio set a state record, producing nearly 30 million barrels of oil, compared to 22 million barrels in 2022 — an increase of 35 percent. In 2023, there were 1,861 new industry jobs compared to ...

Guest column/Protecting Medicaid, protecting mental health care

Medicaid is a lifeline for more than 72 million Americans, including people with mental health and substance use conditions, pregnant women, children, people with disabilities, working families and veterans. It is also the largest funder of mental health and substance use care in the United States, covering more than 40 percent of non-elderly adults with mental health and substance use disorders. As executive director of NAMI Greater Wheeling, soon to encompass all of West Virginia, part of the National Alliance on Mental Illness — the nation’s largest grassroots mental health ...

Remembering series start

If you have attended any of the presentations in the Herald-Star Speaker Series, you have had the chance to hear from — and meet — some pretty interesting people. Tony and Jonna Mendez, for example, were among the nation’s top CIA agents. Masters of disguise, they shared details of how the illusions they created helped to pull off some dramatic work — including Tony’s efforts in 1980 that led to the rescue of six American diplomats who had been hiding in Iran. It’s a story that was dramatized in the Oscar-winning film “Argo,” in which Mendez was portrayed by Ben ...

Happy birthday to Bon Jovi and Ron Howard

Has there ever been a time when you hear or see something that makes you stop in your tracks and say to yourself, “Oh my gosh, I feel so old?” Well I have. I’ve experienced this quite a few time in my life. There are times when I might be lying there, watching television and feel like I’m still a teenager. Notice I said “lying” there, because whenever I move or bend over I can definitely tell I am not. But I have never felt as old as I did the other day when I was putting together this Valley Life section of the paper. In the Today in History section, I noticed it ...

History in the Hills: Preserving our past

I have heard it said that when someone passes away, it’s like a library burning down. And naturally every year, we lose more and more knowledge retained in the lives and experiences of those who have gone before us. Last week, I lost my grandmother, Lois Carpini, who lived to the ripe old age of 97. What more could one ask for but to have someone in their life for so long. I am so lucky that she lived a good long life, and that she got to know my wife and our four children who loved her dearly. My grandmother meant so much to me, and she will always hold a special place in my heart. ...