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Pet Safety

Have a hard time dealing with the sudden oppressive heat after getting into your parked car over the past few days? You immediately either rolled down all the windows completely or cranked the A/C as high as it would go, didn’t you? Now, think about those few moments of discomfort and imagine how very much worse it is for animals who are left in parked cars for an extended period of time on days like these. “A parked car can become an oven under the sun, even in mild temperatures,” said Dr. Robin Ganzert, president and CEO of American Humane. “When it’s a comfortable 70 ...

Free Speech

The U.S. Supreme Court stood up for free speech in its unanimous verdict in National Rifle Association v. Vullo — a case that cut to the heart of how states cannot regulate a business or organization just because they don’t agree with policies. New York state officials targeted the NRA specifically because they found the NRA’s message objectionable, and pressured private enterprises to “blacklist” or refuse to conduct business with the organization. The decision earlier this month “confirms that government officials have no business using their regulatory authority to ...

Boos & Applause

Applause to all the participants in and organizers of the 81st annual American Legion Auxiliary WV Rhododendron Girls State, hosted this week at Davis & Elkins College. The American Legion Auxiliary West Virginia Rhododendron Girls State was first hosted at D&E in 2018. A total of 220 girls are attended the week-long camp at D&E, which teaches students about government, legislation and other civic responsibilities. Throughout the week participants learned about the election process with the formation of a mock government. Students had the opportunity to file for office, campaign, attend ...

World Blood Donor Day

Today is World Blood Donor Day, a reminder that the American Red Cross is just one part of the International Red Cross and Red Crescent network — “the largest humanitarian network in the world with a presence and activities in almost every country,” it says. Throughout that network, donors are the reason blood and blood products are available for those whose lives depend on it. Lately, it seems those donors are even harder to come by. And on this day celebrating blood donors, there is a drastic shortfall in donations that reaches back over the past several weeks. Summer travel ...

System Failure

As public officials started to talk — truly — about the ways in which the system failed Kyneddi Miller, it became obvious that some of those failures took place in association with Kyneddi’s family homeschooling her since at least February 2021. Therefore, public officials understand it is time to look at whether changes in the homeschool rules might prevent another tragedy. “The homeschooling issue, we probably need to find a way to tighten it,” Gov. Jim Justice said earlier this month. “That’s an area I’m sure we can make things a little better. … I do believe ...

More Needed

One in ten adult West Virginians is a military veteran, according to Ted Diaz, Cabinet Secretary of the West Virginia Department of Veterans Assistance. While that is an incredible marker of willingness to serve, it is also a wake-up call for those in charge of providing those veterans the support they have earned. During the state Disabled American Veterans’ annual convention in Parkersburg Diaz talked not only about how much the state already does for those veterans and their families, but about where there is room for improvement. “We as a state have to create an environment ...