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Leadership in a time of change

Columnists

This week I found a book on our bookshelf titled “Leadership in a Culture of Change” by Michael Fullan. Although I had forgotten that I had read it some twenty years ago, the truth of the words in my old notes jump off the yellowed paper. The ideas in this book are more pertinent now than ever before. What will happen if we close remote schools and have no bus drivers? In 2025, we are living in a time of cascading changes hitting us every day with something new. The concept that “change stirs emotion” is profoundly true, but our problem is that we have been so beset by ...

Changes

Editorials

The Detroit News reported Wednesday that General Motors has laid off thousands of workers from manufacturing facilities in Ohio and Michigan. Though it is tempting to suggest the reason is purely a matter of GM’s overeagerness to catch up to the electric vehicle push, the reality is a bit more complicated. At the company’s Ultium Cells battery cell plant in Warren, Ohio, there are expected to be approximately 550 cuts and 850 temporary layoffs, according to a report by CNBC. There will also be approximately 700 layoffs at the Ultium Cells plant in Tennessee. Those gleefully ...

Scrambling

Editorials

“West Virginians take care of our neighbors,” Gov. Patrick Morrisey said Tuesday. “It’s times like these that we need to come together as Team West Virginia to help those in need.” He issued the reminder as the state scrambles to prepare for the loss of SNAP benefits to approximately 270,000 Mountain State residents in November, as a result of the federal government shutdown. Among the solutions coming from Charleston is up to $13 million in funding to match private and charitable donations to food banks. Morrisey says he has also directed the West Virginia National Guard ...

Donald and the Kingfish

Columnists

Donald Trump and Louisiana’s “Kingfish” Huey Long have often appeared to have much in common. Both were impeached only to be acquitted, and they share a talent for showmanship and commanding a loyal following. Populist was also a term applied to Trump‘s MAGA movement and Long’s Share Our Wealth Clubs. Lately, they share another distinction. They both destroyed parts of the mansions they resided in. Trump destroyed the East Wing of the White House; Long went one better, completely destroying the Louisiana Executive Mansion in Baton Rouge. And they did it without legislative ...

Folklore is more than just scary stories

Columnists

DONEGAL, Pennsylvania — It is 6:14 p.m. on a Thursday. You’re hiking along the Forbes Trail, nestled deep in the Appalachian Mountains somewhere along the Westmoreland-Somerset County lines. It is 19 minutes until sunset, and you have just over a mile to go, mostly uphill, before you are out of the deep forest and in the clearing. The mountain range, which stretches from Maine to Georgia and is documented to be one of the oldest in the country, shares characteristics across the approximately 420 counties. It is rugged, often mist-covered with deep hollers and rugged peaks that ...

Prevention

Editorials

You might remember them as the National Federation of Parents for Drug Free Youth, from back in the 1980s, but today, the renamed National Family Partnership continues its work to support families and communities “in nurturing the full potential of healthy, drug free youth.” Among the efforts supported by the organization is National Red Ribbon Week, Oct. 23-31 each year, and established to honor the memory of U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency agent Enrique Camarena, who was killed, likely because of his work, in 1985. At the time, according to the organization, “In honor of ...