Clicked into Place: NewsandSentinel.com readers used screen time on variety of topics in 2024
- A Bradford pear is cleared away by Victor Elam, refuge manager at the Ohio River Island National Wildlife Refuge in Williamstown, at the bird and butterflies trail next to the Visitor Center. (File Photo)
- A pile of grindstones is seen at an old quarry behind the Washington County Career Center. A story and photo package about this longtime industry in the area was one of the most-viewed articles this year at NewsandSentinel.com. (File Photo)
- Grindstones were used in the walls of the Marietta College boathouse on Gilman Avenue. A story and photo package about this longtime industry in the area was one of the most-viewed articles this year at NewsandSentinel.com. (File Photo)
- The cast of “American Pickers” – Robbie Wolfe, Jon Szalay, Danielle Colby and Mike Wolfe – planned to film in Ohio throughout the month of August. (File Photo)
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- The Ohio River was high on Jan. 10 at Point Park in Parkersburg, the day after Gov. Jim Justice declared a state of preparedness for all 55 West Virginia counties in anticipation of high winds and potential flooding. (File Photo)
- An Ohio Department of Transportation snow plow sits ready to handle winter weather near the intersection of Ohio 339 and 550 in Barlow on Jan. 9. The threat of icy roads forced many districts in Washington County to delay the start of school. (File Photo)
- Marietta/Belpre Health Department Administrator Barbara Bradley, center, speaks at a May 16 press conference about HIV testing and treatment services the health department would offer people related to a Washington County Sheriff’s Office case in which an HIV-positive sex worker was found to have possibly had contact, physically or by phone, with more than 200 people, while Chief Deputy Mark Warden, left, and Marietta Police Chief Katherine Warden listen. (File Photo)

A Bradford pear is cleared away by Victor Elam, refuge manager at the Ohio River Island National Wildlife Refuge in Williamstown, at the bird and butterflies trail next to the Visitor Center. (File Photo)
PARKERSBURG — The most viewed stories on NewsandSentinel.com in 2024 represent a variety of topics, from legislation and law enforcement to history and a popular television show.
(EDITOR’S NOTE: Headlines and links are available at the bottom of this story.)
1. The most popular was an April 5 report on Bradford or Callery pears, a tree species imported from Asia in the early 20th century in hopes of developing a more resilient tree. But they grow faster than other vegetation, blocking sunlight from wildflowers and other vegetation.
The Ohio River Island National Wildlife Refuge removes about 200 of the trees every year.
2. The second most-viewed story was an April 19 notice from the Ohio State Highway Patrol about an OVI checkpoint. Public notice of such checkpoints is required, with the exercises serving as a deterrent to impaired driving, the patrol says on its website.

A pile of grindstones is seen at an old quarry behind the Washington County Career Center. A story and photo package about this longtime industry in the area was one of the most-viewed articles this year at NewsandSentinel.com. (File Photo)
3. Next was a Feb. 17 story about the West Virginia House of Delegates passing a bill to remove exemptions for criminal liability for displaying obscene matter to a minor from schools, public libraries and museums. The issue became a flashpoint in recent years around the country and locally as citizen groups challenged the placement of books containing sexual images and material in public and school libraries.
While the bill passed the House on an 85-12 vote, the state Senate did not take it up. The House Judiciary Committee in March amended the text of the bill into Senate legislation prohibiting the creation, production, distribution or possession of artificially generated child pornography. That bill died at the end of the legislative session.
4. A story and photo package about the quarrying of sandstone in Washington County to make grindstones was the fourth most viewed. The first stones were believed to have been cut around 1834, and grindstones were shipped around the world to be used in a variety of industries until the 1960s.
In the 1920s, half a dozen companies in Washington County produced grindstones used to sharpen tools, polish things like large castings for locomotives and grind wood into pulp for the paper industry. Massive grindstones can still be found around the area.
5. A June 8 story about “American Pickers” looking for antique collections from which to pick was next. A message to the show asking whether any local areas would be featured in an upcoming episode was not returned, but it wouldn’t be the first time they’ve picked in the Mid-Ohio Valley. In 2022, they visited the former Hunt’s General Store in Cottageville.

Grindstones were used in the walls of the Marietta College boathouse on Gilman Avenue. A story and photo package about this longtime industry in the area was one of the most-viewed articles this year at NewsandSentinel.com. (File Photo)
6. The sixth most-viewed story was a July 21 report on a 6-year-old child who died in a single-vehicle accident on Interstate 77 in Washington County’s Aurelius Township.
The Ohio State Highway Patrol said a northbound 2022 Chrysler Voyager traveled through a grassy median to an overpass area, went airborne over an embankment and came to rest on its top. The driver, a 62-year-old man from Kent, Ohio, and three passengers ages 32, 11 and 1 were hospitalized.
The crash is believed to have been caused by the driver losing consciousness as the result of a medical condition, said Sgt. Eric Knowlton, with the Marietta post of the Ohio State Highway Patrol.
7. At seventh was an Oct. 12 story on a reduction in the number of counties considered “on watch” by the West Virginia Department of Education’s Office of Accountability. Forty-one counties were labeled on watch for not meeting one or more standards in the areas of English language arts achievement and progress, math achievement and progress, English learners progress, attendance, behavior, four-year and five-year graduation rates, students on-track to graduation, and post-secondary achievement. That was down from 49 in the 2023 report.
Wood County was on watch in post-secondary achievement and attendance, with the latter being a problem area for 40 other counties as well. Twenty were classified under “support,” meaning they had not met the standard for two consecutive years. Locally, Jackson and Wirt counties were also on watch for attendance, while Pleasants, Roane, Tyler and Wetzel counties fell under support. The latter four were also under support in 2023, and officials said all the districts in that category made improvements this year.

The cast of “American Pickers” – Robbie Wolfe, Jon Szalay, Danielle Colby and Mike Wolfe – planned to film in Ohio throughout the month of August. (File Photo)
Doddridge and Ritchie County schools had no categories labeled on watch or support.
8. A Jan. 9 breaking news item about Gov. Jim Justice’s declaration of a state of preparedness for West Virginia in anticipation of high winds and potential flooding followed. The result in Wood County was high water as more than an inch of rain fell. Flood warnings were issued in Washington County for Duck Creek and the Little Muskingum River, with high water reported in multiple locations.
9. The ninth most-viewed article was a May 17 story about a public health appeal from the Washington County Sheriff’s Office following the arrest of an HIV-positive sex worker arrested as a result of an investigation by the Southeast Ohio Human Trafficking Task Force. Linda Leccese of Marietta had contact physically or by phone with over 211 individuals from multiple states since testing positive for the disease in 2022, officials said. The day before, the woman was indicted on a third-degree felony charge of engaging in solicitation after a positive HIV test.
A trial had been scheduled for this month, but the case was transferred to another judge after Leccese, who was also indicted in June on drug possession charges, requested admission to the Compass Recovery Program, which is intended to facilitate efficient and effective treatment for offenders who abuse drugs.
10. Rounding out the top 10 was a July 29 item on the Parkersburg Police Department helping a kayaker who was in distress on the Ohio River in the early hours of the previous day. Officers received a report of someone struggling in the river just before 1 a.m., found the man on the Belpre side near Rite-Aid and pulled him ashore. He was checked by EMS personnel and declined to be taken to a hospital, police said.

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Evan Bevins can be reached at ebevins@newsandsentinel.com
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The Top 10 Stories at newsandsentinel.com in 2024
1. Invasive tree species creating knotty problem across United States, April 5
2. Ohio State Highway Patrol to have sobriety checkpoint today, April 19

The Ohio River was high on Jan. 10 at Point Park in Parkersburg, the day after Gov. Jim Justice declared a state of preparedness for all 55 West Virginia counties in anticipation of high winds and potential flooding. (File Photo)
3. West Virginia House passes bill allowing prosecution of librarians, Feb. 17
4. The Stone Age: Giant Mid-Ohio Valley grindstones once shipped nationwide, March 30
5. American Pickers ready to comb through Ohio again, June 8
6. Child dies in early-morning accident on I-77, July 21
7. Some county school systems in West Virginia come off ‘On Watch’ list, Oct. 12
8. State of preparedness declared for West Virginia, Jan. 9
9. Mid-Ohio Valley Health Alert: HIV-positive sex worker believed to have sexual contact with more than 211 partners, May 17
10. Parkersburg Police pull man from Ohio River, July 29

An Ohio Department of Transportation snow plow sits ready to handle winter weather near the intersection of Ohio 339 and 550 in Barlow on Jan. 9. The threat of icy roads forced many districts in Washington County to delay the start of school. (File Photo)

Marietta/Belpre Health Department Administrator Barbara Bradley, center, speaks at a May 16 press conference about HIV testing and treatment services the health department would offer people related to a Washington County Sheriff’s Office case in which an HIV-positive sex worker was found to have possibly had contact, physically or by phone, with more than 200 people, while Chief Deputy Mark Warden, left, and Marietta Police Chief Katherine Warden listen. (File Photo)