Breaking News

Opinion

Message to Marietta City Council and Mayor’s Office

Letters to the Editor

It is troubling to think that there is even the appearance of a conflict of interest between several members of Marietta City Council and a far left so-called environmental group from Athens County that is funded by hundreds-of-thousands of dollars from four special interest groups in California. The city council (from the first settlement of the Northwest Territory) needs to ask itself who it works for. The people of Marietta, Ohio, or radical leftists out of San Francisco, California? For the city council to even consider a partnership with Earth Justice, a quarter billion-dollar ...

Improving Ohioans’ oral health

Editorials

In the Buckeye State, particularly in rural or lower-income regions, not all kids are able to get regular care from a dentist. It’s a generations-old problem, but between 2022 and 2024 CareQuest Institute for Oral Health and Oral Health Ohio tried a pilot program to do something about it. Through Medical Oral Expanded Care, the project incorporated oral health checks into kids’ annual well child visits with their pediatricians, according to a report by the Statehouse News Bureau. The pilot involved more than 1,000 children. Rebekah Mathews, vice president of health ...

Auditor answers FAQs about property values

Local Columns

Why have my property values changed? How are property values determined? These are often questions I get as county auditor. I want to address some of those questions as Washington County completes its Real Estate Valuation triennial update (ordered by the Ohio Department of Taxation) and as property owners begin receiving postcards with information about their tentative new property values. Below, I answer some FAQs about the “how’s” and “why’s” of property valuation. Where can I find out my property values? Property values can be viewed on the county auditor’s website ...

No on permit to drill injection well(s)

Letters to the Editor

Marietta was just voted the “best” historical small town in the United States. That is fantastic to say the least. Marietta being the first settlement and the gateway to the west. That designation will truly help tourism and the bottom-line income for the many small shops in and around Marietta. This we are at risk of losing if we do not have clean water. If we allow one family business to make millions while potentially taking away the income to all the local shops benefiting from tourism. We are the fracking industry’s dumping ground. I attended the Ohio EPA’s meeting and ...

Educate yourself and vote

Editorials

Tuesday was National Voter Registration Day. Today is Constitution Day and Citizenship Day. In other words, it is a week during which Americans are asked to think a little harder about what our founders had in mind when they were signing the Constitution back in 1787, and whether we are holding up our end of the bargain. In 2004, the late U.S. Sen. Robert C. Byrd, D-W.Va., (hard not to wonder what he’d have to say about the state of things these days, isn’t it?) tacked on an amendment to the omnibus spending bill that modified the law so that during the federal observance of ...

Commendation for prioritizing Ohioans

Editorials

Though the results of Ohio’s latest redistricting attempt have yet to be seen, state House Speaker Matt Huffman, R-Lima, should be commended for one thing: He says he will not give in to pressure from the White House to draw maps that meet the approval of President Donald Trump. “I’m most interested in what residents of the state of Ohio have to say,” Huffman said when asked about Trump and national influence, according to the Ohio Capital Journal. “Of course, the President of the United States is an important person too, but there are 11 million+ people in the state of ...