Breaking News

Opinion

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 ...

Helping uncover Medicaid fraud

Editorials

As officials at the federal level go on and on about reducing spending on Medicare and Medicaid by eliminating fraud, waste and abuse, officials at the state level are showing they’ve already been working diligently on that front. Earlier this month, the office of Ohio Attorney General Dave Yost filed indictments against nine Medicaid providers accused of stealing a total of $1.2 million from the program. These suspects are home health aides and mental health specialists who are accused of billing Medicaid for services they did not actually provide. One suspect, James Ferguson, ...

Warning signs about W.Va. roads

Editorials

If anyone in our area needed a reminder that the efforts to maintain our state’s roadways has been ridiculously underfunded, all they had to do was listen to the discussions during last week’s Brooke County Commission meeting. Commissioners were approached by a county resident who expressed continued concerns over the status of U.S. Route 22, which, despite various attempts at fixing its crumbling surface over the years, continues to present unevenness, with a variety of cracks, craters and bumps. State Route 27, also known as Washington Pike, is another road of concern, with ...

Ohio showing it’s pro-business

Editorials

Ohioans have always had an entrepreneurial and adventurous spirit. But according to a new report by CNBC, it now has the pro-business credentials to match. The news outlet ranked the top states in the country for business in 2025 — using 135 metrics in 10 categories — and the Buckeye State landed at fifth. Pennsylvania was ranked 17th on the list, while West Virginia was ranked 40th. North Carolina, Texas, Florida and Virginia topped the rankings with Alaska finishing at the bottom. In fact, the only category in which Ohio received a letter grade below a C was for workforce, ...