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Don't let up on support of Ohio River Restoration Program

Editorials

State Rep. Kevin Ritter, R-Marietta, was among those testifying this week in support of House Concurrent Resolution 40, which urges Congress to enact the Ohio River Restoration Program Act. Speaking before the House Natural Resources Committee, Ritter reminded those in Washington, D.C., of what we here already know. “The Ohio River Basin is not merely an environmental asset,” he said. “It is a productive economic engine that supports jobs, commerce, transportation, and regional competitiveness.” The act in question would create a federal restoration initiative for the Ohio ...

Ohio should close loophole for prediction market trading

Editorials

Athletes can’t bet on their own sport, right? That could lead to charges of taking bribes or fraud. Employees of publicly traded companies can’t give stock tips based on non-public information. That’s insider trading. There are legal consequences for some people who make money based on information only they have, or on situations over which they have some control. Meanwhile, prediction markets such as Kalshi or Polymarket provide platforms so new there are not yet consequences for many cases in which a person might make money betting on something they know more about than the ...

A very special community

Letters to the Editor

On Feb. 28, the 26th annual Empty Bowls fundraising event had a highly successful year collecting funds for area food pantries to help alleviate food insecurities in the Mid-Ohio Valley. All net proceeds go to the pantries. The Empty Bowls Committee thanks all who made this year's event a success by supplying goods and services as well as attending. We are also grateful to the First United Methodist Church of Williamstown, who donated the lovely facility and the kitchen for the event. There would not have been an event without the over 55 local restaurants that donated soup, bread, ice, ...

Cracking the Code: Are you weak enough?

Local Columns

The hardest person to teach is the one who knows everything, or thinks they do. One of the most important lunches of my life was at the WVU Towers cafeteria in the second semester of my freshman year. It was an unusually late lunch for me. The cafeteria was almost empty. I sat at a random table with only one other student, who turned out to be an engineering senior. I asked lots of questions. His experience was extremely helpful. He left me with this wisdom, “After four years of engineering, the most important thing you will learn is how to learn.” With an engineering degree, I ...

Remember what they died for

Editorials

Memorial Day will feel a little different this year, as across the country, communities are also preparing to celebrate the 250th anniversary of the adoption of our Declaration of Independence. It was the beginning of what some have called “the American Experiment.” Even before that day there were those willing to die for what they believed this country was becoming. Data for American Revolutionary War deaths — 23,800 of them — usually begins with 1775. After that, there have been at least 83 conflicts, battles, operations and wars in which members of the U.S. military have ...

MOV Climate Corner: Grateful for community support

Local Columns

Mid-Ohio Valley Climate Action (MOVCA) was proud to take part for the first time this year in the Parkersburg Area Community Foundation’s Give Local MOV annual day of giving. Our organization received $8,655 from 22 donors to whom we express our deepest and most sincere gratitude and appreciation. Our climate and environmental nonprofit organization got its start in October 2015 when a group of local citizens in Wood and Washington counties, led by a few deeply concerned and enterprising individuals, decided to come together to form what was initially a chapter of the national ...