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Data from First Friday with Distefano

Columnists

When Seth Distefano presented Kids Count data and geographic facts about Randolph County at Kump Center for the September First Friday Focus on Education, our school problems became clearer. Seth is proud to be a graduate of Tygart Valley High School, but he understands that his home county has all the economic disadvantages of most remote, rural counties in West Virginia. The fact that our Randolph County School system ranks 55th among 55 counties in this state is a matter of money — both buildings and buses cost money. The local average cost of public education is impossibly ...

Confusion

Editorials

Changes in guidance out of Washington, D.C., have left many confused about the accessibility of COVID booster shots this fall. There are questions about eligibility, insurance, and even where a patient can get the vaccine. Axios tried to unravel the mystery and found states falling into three categories (they used one pharmacy chain, CVS, as the test): unavailable, available without a prescription and prescription required for specific age groups. West Virginia falls into the latter category — prescription required. But in Ohio, the shots are available without a prescription. ...

War or defense?

Columnists

Donald Trump‘s decision to ditch the name of the Department of Defense and call it the War Department is not as strange as it is made out to be. It is simply reverting to its old name, which dates back to August 7, 1789. It was changed by the National Security Act of 1947, which assigned it to the Defense Department. It also created the National Security Council and the Central Intelligence Agency. Established as a means of unifying all branches of security, the measure was sold as an efficiency move. However, over time, it became more corporate in its approach and mission. It ...

Claims Rise

Editorials

Employment rates continue to struggle all over the country. The approximately 7.2 million people in the U.S. unemployed during the last week of August pushed the nationwide average up 3.5% week-over-week heading into the Labor Day weekend. That added to the trend of a small overall increase in unemployment nationwide, over the past year, according to WalletHub. So, the personal finance company dug deeper and took a look at weekly claims on the state level. West Virginia was among those where unemployment claims were higher than they’d been in the previous week. Change in ...

Community Calendar

Columnists

EDITOR’S NOTE: The Inter-Mountain’s Community Calendar is reserved for nonprofit, civic organizations. Unless otherwise noted, events listed should be considered free and open to the public. Entries appear in chronological order and as space allows. FOREST FESTIVAL GRAND FEATURE PARADE SEATS: will be available at Otterbein United Methodist Church at 1100 South Davis Avenue in Elkins. The seats for the Oct. 4 parade are on sale now. Parade seats may be reserved by calling the church office at 304-636-0569 Monday through Thursday from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. All seats must be paid for by ...

Low Energy

Editorials

The Wall Street Journal reported in its Sept. 3 edition that the gap in confidence between high-earners and low-earners “is now the widest it has been in the seven years of tracking the data.” The newspaper said that, for this nation’s middle class, this summer has been one of cooling confidence, with consumer sentiment dropping nearly 6% in August. If that “confidence dive” continues, 2025’s end-of-year holidays could prove dismal for retailers, not only somewhere else but here in the Southern Alleghenies region as well. Black Friday, already a skeleton of its former ...