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Editorials

Delays

With Congress on its August break, there are a number of important things not getting done. A couple of recent incidents in West Virginia remind us rail safety reform continues to be one of them. Last month, a minor train derailment in downtown Parkersburg closed a street, and had residents asking questions about the contents of the tanks that were leaning. Belpre Industrial Parkersburg Railroad officials responded quickly with information (the tanks were safely sealed and empty), and a crew to get the train back on track. There were no injuries. On Aug. 3, the St. Albans Fire ...

Boos & Applause

Applause to the 10 Randolph County high school students who attended American Legion Mountaineer Boys State at Jacksons Mill this summer. Participants for the 2025 American Legion Mountaineer Boys State included Anthony Bennett, Alexander Broschart, Kaden George, Andrew Harris, Logan Jones, Daniel Lipscomb, Aiden Lowther, Preston Nixon, Dempsey Phares and Mason Phillips. American Legion H.W. Daniels Post 29 in Elkins sent the students to Boys State, an honors, leadership, and citizenship Academy which has existed since 1936 to teach good government through participation to the ...

Bad Trend

As if our county boards of education did not have enough to worry about, a recent report by The Reason Foundation suggests a trend may present big challenges for West Virginia public schools. In a look at public school enrollment across the country, the foundation said West Virginia was one of only four states with public school enrollment that decreased by more than 5% between fiscal years 2020 and 2024. Certainly, the COVID-19 pandemic had something to do with that, but the Mountain State has not bounced back. At the beginning of FY2020, West Virginia had 263,485 students enrolled ...

Conditions

In announcing that it turns out there WILL be a larger-than-predicted surplus to start fiscal year 2026 in West Virginia, Gov. Patrick Morrisey said “We’re saving money, we’re running government more efficiently, and we’re making decisions to say when we’re going to spend money, let’s make sure we spend it on the things that really matter and drive economic growth.” So what really matters? A few studies released recently might give us some clues. West Virginia is 46th in the country for state health care systems, according to WalletHub — ranking 49th for cancer rate, ...

Regulations

It feels as though we are still in the thick of summer now, but West Virginia’s hunting seasons start at the end of this month, with the Aug. 30 kick off of the early split of the black bear firearms season. Then there’s squirrel season; bow season for deer, black bear and wild boar; turkey season; early firearms season for antlerless deer and of course, traditional buck firearms season running Nov. 24 to Dec. 7. If the thought of all those excuses to spend a little time in the woods has got you ready to break out the orange, hold on a minute. Have you completed your hunter ...

Dragging Feet

Give them a hot-button topic that doesn’t actually affect the lives of ordinary people and politicians will waste no time hopping on and digging in. But when the issue is something of great significance to the rest of us — individuals and their employers — they drag their feet. That is the case with permitting reform. Last time it got any serious traction in Washington, D.C., former U.S. Sen. Joe Machin was leading the charge on the Energy Permitting Reform Act. Now, U.S. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., is bringing lawmakers’ attention back to the matter in the hope ...