UP: To Parkersburg South High School math teacher Sara Klesel, who was named Wood County Schools Teacher of the Year at last week’s board of education meeting. “This is quite an honor, especially in a year when every teacher has truly gone above and beyond. I couldn’t do it without my ...
Last week, I spent two days in our nation’s capital shadowing Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., and Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., and it was an eye-opening and enlightening experience. I was asked by my friend Ric DeRubeis, afternoon host of Real Big Talk with Big Ric WKKX-WVLY, why I made ...
West Virginia Attorney General Patrick Morrisey was back on the case last week as he led a 19-state coalition in asking the U.S. Supreme Court to stop an appeals court ruling that would give the Environmental Protection Agency broad authority to “decarbonize virtually any sector of the ...
By the time my appointment for the second COVID-19 vaccine shot rolled around, I’ll admit I was a little nervous. There had been enough time to hear the stories of those who experienced unpleasant side effects for a day or two after the injection. It has become a bit of a scheduling fixture ...
Recently in the U.S. House of Representatives the Energy Innovation and Carbon Dividend Act was re-introduced into the 117th Congress. The EI&CD Act (HR 2307) is not a tax but a fee to be placed on fossil fuels like coal, oil and gas, which account for harmful carbon emissions. The fee ...
May is Remember a Rural Cemetery Month. In 2013, in an effort to help the Wood County Rural Cemetery Alliance and the Wood County Historical and Preservation Society preserve and restore rural cemeteries, the Wood County Commission resolved that the month of May would be “Rural Cemetery ...
Reading a letter to the editor on April 4, submitted by Lewis Rutherford and titled “Three-year Bachelor’s Degrees” prompted me to respond. The part of his letter regarding graduates receiving degrees who are unemployed with student loans debt to repay stirred things up again for me ...
On Jan. 13, I was at Rural King in Parkersburg with my dog Kojack. I was returning to my truck and as I started up the driver side, I noticed my right foot was soaked and looked down and saw a vein had burst. I called 911 and put my dog in the front seat and turned around to sit against the ...
I’m writing about the people handing out Narcan for the drug users here in Parkersburg. That just shows me that it’s OK to do the drugs and take a chance of overdosing because they hand out Narcan for the users. The paramedics have Narcan and the firefighters have Narcan. What I want ...
The United States of America, the greatest country in the history of the world where many brave heroes have died to protect our God-given freedoms for future generations, and founded by brilliant men of foresight in 1776, is unfortunately greatly divided and at a crossroads. The two sides ...
Most Christians want their religion represented in public schools and throughout our governments. But with so many denominations, which ones will be represented? Some of them will have a conflict. I personally could tolerate the Unitarian Church in public life but there would be a national ...
A couple weeks ago I decided one day not to do anything and take a little break, relax and on my relaxation time to either cook, bake, read recipes or watch the cooking channel on television. When I learned that the “Tournament of Champions” featuring some of the best chefs in the country ...
New York Times bestselling author Heidi Swanson has recently released a new cookbook that celebrates whole-food vegetarian recipes with “Super Natural Simple.” Swanson, the author of “Super Natural Cooking,” “Super Natural Every Day” and “Near & Far,” is also a two-time ...
A historical novel looks into domestic violence, rights of women, and the witch hunts in “Hour of the Witch” by Chris Bohjalian. Mary is a young wife in Boston in the mid 1600s. Married off to a widowed man double her age, all she was hoping for was a child of her own one day. Instead, ...
Lynnda and I took our first airplane trip in over a year this week. We took some long trips to places like the Outer Banks for Thanksgiving with family and Kiawah Island, S.C., for a half marathon with our daughter. We even went to Disney in Florida with our youngest and his family. All of ...
West Virginia has suffered greatly under the weight of the substance abuse epidemic that has found more than one way to claim lives. The Mountain State is dealing with the highest spike of HIV cases related to intravenous drug use in the country. But there are other infectious diseases ...
West Virginia University has made a good decision in extending the relaxed requirements for test scores for students applying for admission. In fact, if they have not already done so, other institutions of higher learning should follow suit. At WVU, the extension will carry through the ...
We know now Ohio will lose a seat in Congress after the 2020 Census tally has been completed. That’s 60 years now in which Ohio has lost a representative in Washington, D.C., every decade. The Buckeye State clearly has some work to do if it is to sustain population growth to the degree that ...
It must have been quite a victory for President Joe Biden to receive the backing of the United Mine Workers in his plan to move away from coal and other fossil fuels in exchange for a “true energy transition” Biden says includes thousands of jobs in renewable energy and spending on ...
UP: To the United Way Alliance of the Mid-Ohio Valley once again exceeding its fundraising campaign goals. In its 2020-21 campaign, the organization raised $1,150,000. That is stunning given the pandemic atmosphere during which the money was raised. “This was the year that we had to do ...