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Editorials

Operation Blue Sky

Ahead of this National Police Week, law enforcement officers across the state travelled through their communities as part of Operation Blue Sky. It was a recognition of officers serving now AND those who have sacrificed their lives while protecting the rest of us. It is a local reflection of a nationwide effort to honor officers — not just in the U.S., but around the world. Many of them will head to Washington, D.C., for Police Officers Memorial Day and to participate in other Police Week events. Organizers of the national event say “We are dedicated to honoring the service ...

Measles

Webster’s Collegiate Dictionary defines “tipping point” as the critical point in a situation, process or system beyond which a significant and often unstoppable effect or change takes place. A tipping point was reached quickly in 2020 at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. Fast-forward to today, when the question is whether a tipping point is about to be reached — or perhaps already has been reached — regarding measles, an acute contagious disease caused by a morbillivirus and marked especially by an eruption of distinct red circular spots. Using the 1950s as an example, ...

Broadband

U.S. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., and Kelly Workman, director of West Virginia’s Office of Broadband, are right to keep up the pressure on federal officials over the pace of their review of grant funding for high-speed broadband. “As we have discussed, I am concerned that West Virginia may be told to move back from the 1-yard line to the 40-yard line after the review concludes,” Capito wrote in a letter to U.S. Department of Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick. “I urge you to expedite not only the review and release of updated guidance but the program as a whole.” The ...

Boos & Applause

Applause to the arrival in Elkins of the long-awaited Rosie the Riveter statue. The 6-foot, 3-inch statue, which was designed by Big Statues of Provo, Utah, at a cost of $67,000. On Monday morning, the biggest hurdle in the project was cleared when the statue itself and its 850-pound black marble base were delivered to Elkins. The statue was shipped from Utah and will be stored at a facility owned by Jim Davis, where it will remain until it can be moved to its permanent location. The Emma Scott Garden Club is currently accepting donations for the statue project, and recently established ...

Revenue

How many of us had a good idea how much we would be receiving with our tax refunds, and had already mentally spent that money before it arrived? We can’t blame state government for being in the same boat, as an “April surprise” arrived in the form of the largest single month of tax collections above estimates. More than $237 million in surplus revenue has come in, with two months remaining in the fiscal year. But during its regular session, the legislature approved more than $126.2 million in supplemental appropriations using one-time money through available surplus ...

Outbreak

It doesn’t take long for a single case of the measles to turn into a genuine outbreak. In Ohio, the number of cases in Ashtabula County alone in early April had grown by 11 in a week. There were seven in Knox County and one each in Allen and Holmes counties. It takes even less times, it seems, for irresponsible political rhetoric and misinformed (or just plain dishonest) social media nonsense to spread in a way that is just as dangerous. By mid-April, the U.S. has more than double the number of measles cases it saw in all of 2024. There are outbreaks in Ohio, Texas, New ...