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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 ...

The Way I See It: Cabooses met their end in the 1980s

Local Columns

I have always been intrigued by the sight of a train engine pulling a long string of freight cars bound for one of the many industrial customers in our area. There was a time when the trains traveling along Ohio 7, or up through Vienna and through Williamstown would be trailed by a caboose, ...

Backyard Gardener: Mexican sunflower for pollinators

Local Columns

Hello Mid-Ohio Valley gardeners and farmers! I am thankful we received some much-needed rain here in the valley. It is hard to believe Memorial Day is this Monday. A big thank you to all our veterans and active military service men and women keeping us safe and free. Each week I want to share a little American history as part of the upcoming America 250 celebration. On May 10, 1775, the United Colonies captured Fort Ticonderoga, at the confluence of Lake Champlain and Lake George in northeastern New York. Ethan Allen and the Green Mountain Boys, together with Benedict Arnold, ...

Decide to drive safely — for all of us

Editorials

Most drivers are responsible and do their best to operate their vehicles safely — not just for their own sake, but for others on the roads as well. Still, it came as a surprise to learn the results of a statewide Ohio State Highway Patrol OVI enforcement effort earlier this month. From May 14-16, an upsetting 158 impaired drivers were pulled off the roads. Sobriety checkpoints and saturation patrols (no, you weren’t imagining things if you thought “Wow, there are a lot of cops out today,” during that period) resulted in 18,500 vehicles being checked — and four felony ...

Ohioans deserve all the data on data centers

Editorials

Ohio’s House of Representatives seems to have a sense of urgency in digging into the question of data centers in the state. Having already passed House Bill 646, which would create a data center study commission, lawmakers are also launching a bipartisan joint data center committee. HB 646 now sits in state Senate committee. But while those details are worked out, the new committee will invite data center workers, citizens and even companies such as Google and Meta to testify, according to a report by the Ohio Capital Journal. Leading the committee will be co-chairs Rep. Adam Holmes, ...

Enjoy boating safely this summer

Editorials

Most Mid-Ohio Valley residents can feel it in the air. Boating season is upon us. But before it reaches its summer peak, the West Virginia Department of Natural Resources is using this National Safe Boating Week to remind boaters (and their passengers) of safe boating practices — in particular, the importance of wearing life jackets. Maybe you haven’t gotten the boat out of storage yet. Maybe you’re just now putting it through its annual safety inspection and getting it all clean and tuned up. Whatever stage you’re in, now is a good time to stock up on the most up-to-date, U.S. ...