Breaking News

Editorial

Biden did his part. Now Congress must address AI

On Monday, President Joe Biden signed an executive order to put guardrails in place as artificial intelligence and large language models continue to be developed and released for public and commercial use. The order came just ahead of this week’s global summit on AI safety. We can’t say Biden’s order puts us ahead of the curve, exactly, because AI is already frequently used and has already created problems. But, Monday’s order helps us from falling too far behind technological advancement to be able to regulate it at all, as happened with social media. The two main parts ...

Let there be warmth

A sincere thank you to Milan Puskar Health Right and Sabra United Methodist Church for stepping up to provide this winter’s warming shelter. The announcement was made at Monday’s committee of the whole meeting. As part of a presentation, Morgantown Community Kitchen Director Jennifer Powell said she and Dani Ludwig will serve as supervisors, while Health Right handles fiscal management, hiring and training. Sabra UMC, on Richwood Avenue, will host and insure the shelter operations. The overnight shelter will run 6 p.m.-7 a.m. from Dec. 1-March 15 and will be able to hold up to ...

People require more than verbal promises

When it comes to Lake Lynn Generation’s proposal to the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission to remove 307.1 acres surrounding Cheat Lake from federal protection, Friends of the Cheat said it best: “FOC does not fully understand the justification for the removal of these lands from the Project Boundary.” Lake Lynn Generation has said the removal is largely for administrative purposes — simplifying the project’s boundary to only cover lands necessary for operation and maintenance of the power station. (It’s important to note that the following public access areas will ...

Editorial Encore: Halloween across time and cultures

Editor’s Note: This editorial was originally published Oct. 31, 2021. Happy Halloween! A fun fact for you: “Halloween” is a contraction of “Hallow Eve,” or “All Hallows’ Eve,” as we’ve sometimes heard today called. It’s fascinating to trace the history of Halloween from an ancient religious festival to the fun and frightening secular “holiday” we know now. It’s believed All Hallows’ Eve has its roots in the Celtic festival Samhain. Samhain marked the end of summer and the harvest — the Celtic New Year, which fell on what we would know now as Nov. ...

Reconsider Alt 3 bridge

Alternative 1 is the overall better choice Even though all the buzz around the new bridge that will connect Morgantown Industrial Park to the interstates has revolved around Alternative 3, the ink hasn’t yet dried on the paper to make it official. Which means there’s still time to consider Alternative 1, instead, as we await word on the Harmony Grove interchange. Alternative 3 has a lot of local governmental support, which is why it has become the de facto route in conversation. In this one, the bridge would connect the south end of the MIP to U.S. 119/Grafton Road in the less ...

Not removing kids is not the answer

The Center on Budget and Policy recently released its report on the state of foster care in West Virginia. It draws two main conclusions: Parental rights are terminated more frequently and in less time than the national average, showing that West Virginia is too quick to separate families; and the most common reasons for removal were neglect and substance use, both of which are related to poverty, therefore the state doesn’t do enough to support families. We agree with the latter, but we disagree with the former. On the issue of terminating parental rights, the CBP relies on a ...