Breaking News

Columnists

Trump’s peace-through-strength approach

As the stretch drive in the 2026 midterms commences, the Republican Party has inadvertently managed to divide itself over foreign policy. Lindsey Graham's ghost, in the form of renewed sanctions on Russia, ran into a roadblock named Donald Trump. Whereas many Republicans are anti-Russian, the president has sought a middle way. The GOP is, as per usual, knee-jerk in its response; Trump is more flexible and proved it by issuing an executive order essentially nullifying the Graham-proposed sanctions bill. Now Democrats should be cautious in embracing GOP militancy regarding either ...

Early images of Elkins predict the future

When a person loves local history as much as Rob Whetsell does, it influences his life daily. The buildings on Third Street and Davis Avenue have changed, but the essential character of this progressive small city is ongoing. The early history of Elkins was dominated by the Davis and Elkins families when the railroad was built to transport timber and coal. Once H.G. Davis found the Leadville area where he could buy land and start the railroad, he began bringing in planners to lay out the commercial district of Elkins. Most rural American towns grew up along a river or railroad used ...

Succession planning protects what you’ve built

The aftermath of COVID-19, combined with the realities of the aging workforce (retiring Baby Boomers), has created more position turnover than normal. This is true in all parts of companies, including the C-suite. What takes years to build can be dismantled quickly if the replacement is not a good fit. Good succession planning and implementation matter more than ever. I encourage listening to the podcast with Mark Clement and Dr. Chris Reilly: “Succession Planning Done Right: Culture, Continuity, and the CEO Transition at TriHealth” (Click here to listen). In the podcast, they lay ...

Did Greene bury MAGA?

Marjorie Taylor Greene has seemingly spoken the final words over the MAGA movement, consigning it to the political graveyard. She buried MAGA and squarely blamed the President. "Trump has lied so much to us and betrayed us," Greene stated in Texas. "Beyond any of my comprehension," she further remarked, "I think MAGA is dead." What brought this on bespeaks either total ignorance of Trump's style or his fondness for money. To be fair, he never made any secret that he favored big business. Whatever "populism" he developed was merely a means of gathering voters. As for investigating ...

Whetsell to speak on Elkins’ early history

Robert “Rob” Whetsell will be the speaker for our second Elkins History Talk this coming Wednesday at Kump Education Center. Once again, we will gather and hear what Rob has to say about “The Early History of Elkins” on Oct. 21 at 7 p.m. in the Optimum Learning Lab located near the garage door behind Kump House at 401 S. Randolph Avenue. Rob Whetsell’s book, titled "Elkins, West Virginia: The Metropolis Revisited" (1994) was reminiscent of an earlier (1906) book designed to promote Elkins and attract new businesses to this small city where the Davis/Elkins family built the ...

Tough conversations part of being a leader

One of the hardest parts of being a supervisor is addressing performance issues. It is so hard that many times a leader will rationalize why not to do it. In my work, I look at why so many change efforts do not achieve the desired results. I created a framework called high, middle, and low conversations, which can be found in my book “Results That Last: Hardwiring Behaviors That Will Take Your Company to the Top.” The idea is to re-recruit high performers, develop middle performers, and move low performers either up or out. Most people are in the high and middle (or solid) ...