UP: To this year’s West Virginia Interstate Fair and Exposition, which is a good time for all no matter what the temperature. Kudos to the youngsters who spend so much effort in getting animals ready for the livestock competitions and shows. It is hard to beat the annual combination of fair ...

Wood County Schools MUST close and consolidate some buildings — specifically McKinley, Waverly and Worthington elementary schools and Van Devender Middle School. The reasons, both financial and academic have been laid out plainly. Yet as has been the case in previous discussions about ...

Among the constant requests for funding in our schools are technology and access. How many times have you heard the word “broadband” thrown around by politicians in recent years? And while technology and access to the Internet have done incredible things for education, they also bring a ...

Members of the West Virginia Board of Education who voted to give state school Superintendent Steven Paine a pay raise may have good intentions — but they either did not give the matter a lot of thought, or they are genuinely clueless about how such a move would be interpreted by the average ...

John Deskins, director of West Virginia University’s Bureau of Business and Economic Research, isn’t trying to rain on anyone’s parade when he points out some of the facts about our state’s economy that do not make it into the politicians’ speeches. But he deals with data, not smoke ...

West Virginians have waited a long time for some breakthrough in public school improvement. The catchall bill approved weeks ago by state legislators may not be it, but it is as close as we are likely to get for some time. Mountain State residents may not get even that. Dale Lee, president of ...

Equal pay for equal work has been one justification cited by those who believe the U.S. Soccer Federation’s World Cup-winning women’s team should be paid as much as those on the men’s team. But that is misleading: In an important way, the women are doing more valuable work. U.S. Sen. ...

Up: To Parkersburg South High School football players who joined After the Disaster to separate and pack donated items into emergency kits for families affected by house fires. “I am really thankful for the help,” said organizer Joy Buskirk. Kudos to those involved with the PSHS football ...

Most of the people doing the good things that keep our community moving forward don’t receive any pay or even much recognition for their efforts — not that they would want it. The army of volunteers working with our charitable and civic organizations is mainly just ordinary men and women ...

Even before the president threatened to use tariffs on Mexican goods imported into the United States, that country’s leaders seemed to be doing more than their predecessors to keep potential illegal immigrants from crossing our southern border. Now, however, the campaign has ...

Billionaire Jeffrey Epstein may yet spend an appropriate amount of time in a federal prison. He should have been sent away years ago. Why that did not happen needs to be explained. Epstein, 66, has been arrested by federal authorities in New York, on charges of sex trafficking involving ...

When Pastor Bill Frey came to the Mid-Ohio Valley, he noticed something he had not seen anywhere else. “I noticed a need for recovery ministry in this town,” he said. Whereas in some other places the problem might be hidden, “ ... here it was obvious.” Blind eyes cannot be turned to ...

Katherine Johnson was honored last week by the agency that depended on her and others like her to make some of its biggest strides. The National Aeronautics and Space Administration has renamed its Independent Verification and Validation Facility in Fairmont to honor Johnson, who was so ...

Nearly a year and a half ago, West Virginians learned to our dismay and anger that state government was sitting on more than $149 million in federal aid intended for victims of June 2016 floods that hit several southern counties hard. Gov. Jim Justice claimed he was furious. He sacked the ...

UP: To Parkersburg officials’ decision to offer free admission at the City Park pool and Southwood Park pool as the Splash Pad remains closed for repairs and inspection. As the manufacturer works to make right — at no cost to the city — the component that has been linked to injuries in a ...

One popular housing program for low-income Americans has a provision that, at first glance, makes a lot of sense. It stipulates that people living in certain housing units meant for low-income tenants cannot be full-time students. If they switch to part-time status to keep their low-cost ...

As Americans celebrate the Declaration of Independence today, it is important to recall precisely what had the Founders so riled up, at the time. They sought “certain unalienable rights, ... among these are life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness ...” But they were also incensed over ...

West Virginians eager to improve their prospects through community college educations may be able to get some help, courtesy of a new program. But there are strings attached, and they should remain. Lawmakers approved a bill earlier this year to provide free tuition to Mountain State ...

Improving public schools has been a recurring topic among educators, legislators and many other West Virginians during the past couple of years. One advance would be to ensure all children are in the right frame of mind to learn. Youngsters who are afraid suffer in that regard. And, to judge ...

It should soon be known how well West Virginia’s state budget fared during the current fiscal year, which ended Sunday. It is likely Gov. Jim Justice will give another glowing report on revenue passing expectations. Indeed, the news has been good for much of the year. At the end of May, 11 ...