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Serious Issue

On its face, copper theft is a dumb crime, culprits breaking into homes, business or other areas to yank out that metal and sell it somewhere else. It’s just scummy. Yet someone in West Virginia found a new way to make that crime even scummier. Wheeling police were called out to an Appalachian Power substation near Elm on Friday morning after someone had broken into it and absconded with the copper inside. That theft created another, much larger, problem. With that copper gone, the substation went down. And at the outset, 7,700 Appalachian Power customers were without ...

Red Cross

“We never take a holiday because disasters never take a holiday.” As Wood County Commissioners recognized American Red Cross Month, Sharon Kesselring, executive director of the American Red Cross of the Ohio River Valley, reminded them just how vital the organization is to our communities. All across West Virginia, the Red Cross provides services to the armed forces, disaster services, training for CPR and first aid and, of course, blood and blood product services. Kesselring said the Red Cross in her area helped 81 people, and “put more than $22,000 into the pockets of ...

Disgusting

A group of lawmakers who repeatedly try to earn cheap political points by talking about how precious West Virginia children are to them showed their true colors Saturday in ugly fashion. Legislators had a chance to pass House Bill 5537 — Raylee’s Law, which would have prohibited county boards of education from approving a request for home school instruction for an enrolled public school if there is a pending child abuse or neglect investigation against that child’s parent or guardian. There is already proof the law is necessary. Raylee Browning died in 2018 as a result of child ...

Food For Thought

Look at what you’re eating today. Did it come from a machine? A drive-through? How much fresh food is part of that meal? We’ve all been there. The hustle and bustle of everyday life keeps us moving and we have to make sacrifices somewhere. Unfortunately, those sacrifices often come in the quality of what we eat. March is National Nutrition Month, and its a perfect time to take a look at what and how we eat, so we can all push through those crazy days. Food is our fuel. Put substandard fuel in a car, and it doesn’t run correctly. Do the same with your body and it’ll experience ...

Seat Belts

Most sensible West Virginians have made it such a habit to buckle their seat belts when they get into a vehicle that they don’t even think about leaving it off. Still, there are some who fail to understand what the National Highway Transportation Safety Administration calls “the potentially fatal consequences of not wearing a seat belt.” Those will be the targets of a statewide seat belt enforcement campaign that begins today, according to the Governor’s Highway Safety Program. The Click It or Ticket initiative runs through March 23. Sure, those who continue to ignore common ...

Clean-Up

Did warmer weather have you flinging open your windows and getting a jump-start on spring cleaning recently? If you’ve already started planning for that annual home reset, it’s time to start planning for how to help West Virginia’s highways get a clean start to the spring/summer travel season, too. Registration is open for the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection’s annual Adopt-A-Highway Spring Statewide Cleanup, which will be April 25. No, you don’t have to tackle a stretch of highway by yourself. This is an opportunity for individuals, yes, but also ...