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Thanks for ‘Screen Time Awareness’

Columnists

Thank you to Randolph County School Counselors for organizing the local “Screen Time Awareness Week” activities in Elkins.  The goal of this event was to encourage students to spend more time with their families doing activities that do not include cell phones, computers, or televisions.  It was delightful to host school children and their parents or grandparents visiting Kump Education Center. Counselors are aware of the changes that screens make in the social behavior of children. Adults use screens more frequently now to keep kids occupied and to teach academic subjects in ...

Harman fighting to save school

Letters to the Editor

The West Virginia State Board of Education is facing sharp criticism after approving the closure of Harman School, along with an appeal from community members that sat unanswered — a move that parents and local advocates say exposes a breakdown in the state’s oversight process. The appeal, filed by residents of the Harman community, challenged the West Virginia State Board of Education as well as Randolph County Board of Education’s justification for shutting down the K–12 school. It included transportation data, and Impact Statement information that advocates say directly ...

If you want something to stick, say it again

Columnists

Repetition can be a good thing. If you follow my work, hardwiring is a word you are likely familiar with. It’s how I describe systems and behaviors that are in place to create consistency. Hardwiring is a good thing. Yet, it doesn’t mean that what we hardwire stays in place forever. Dan Collard and I wrote the book Rewiring Excellence: Hardwired to Rewired on this subject. When we rewire, we don’t change what is working. We take a fresh look at results, and, when needed, we rewire actions. Rewiring is harder than the initial hardwiring. It means adjusting or stopping ...

2026 Issues

Columnists

For generations, West Virginians have believed in something simple: if you focus on the fundamentals, reward hard work, and let families keep more of what they earn, good things happen. That’s the approach we’ve taken in the Mountain State, and today we’re seeing real results. This year, working alongside the legislature, we secured major wins that will strengthen our economy, empower our families, and position West Virginia for long-term growth. Three of those victories stand out above the rest: cutting taxes, protecting educational freedom, and unleashing our energy ...

Careless rhetoric

Columnists

On the eve of the Russo-Japanese War of 1904-05, Vyacheslav von Plehve bullishly promoted a conflict. As Russia’s Minister of the Interior, he promoted the idea that “a small victorious war” over Japan may be just the thing to boost the popularity of his sovereign, Nicholas II. In a style which Americans are increasingly familiar with, Plehve declared, “Russia has been made by Bayonets, not diplomacy.” Donald Trump and Pete Hegseth tend to imitate this kind of bluster. With the war in Iran incomplete, the administration seems to strut without measuring or knowing where ...

Serious Issue

Editorials

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 ...