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Editorial

The DSF Stop saga

Originally meant to be told in three parts, the DSF Stop saga ended up being a seven-installment series examining how the outreach organization may or may not have misspent federal COVID grants in its quest to get north-central West Virginia’s Black population vaccinated against COVID-19.   In short: The Dunbar School Foundation created the STOP (Stop the Outbreak of the Pandemic) program to combat the spread of COVID among Black communities in Fairmont, Morgantown, Clarksburg and surrounding areas by facilitating testing and vaccinations. The president of Dunbar School ...

State’s unfulfilled promises don’t bode well for future business

As hard as it may be to imagine, the sprawling 330,000-square-foot Mountaintop Beverage facility is a fraction of the size it could be.  The business specializing in shelf-stable milk, coffee products, protein shakes and plant-based beverages has already started production, but its CEO, Jeffrey Sokal, says it could be doing so much more. After all, they designed a 750,000-square-foot facility — but the promised infrastructure that would allow the bottling center to expand to full capacity hasn’t been delivered.   As an incentive to bring Mountaintop Beverage to ...

Charges of abuse at North show changes must be made

When charges were leveled against the North Elementary School vice principal for allegedly striking a special needs child in the head, the community was horrified. Little did any of us know that this particular incident would be the least disturbing of the revelations to come out of the school’s special needs classroom.  Last week, felony charges were filed against the substitute teacher — who was certified, though not in special education — for assaulting two 6-year-olds. In a January incident just three days before the one involving the vice principal, the teacher is ...

Editorial encore: Words of wisdom for graduates

EDITOR'S NOTE: Today’s editorial has been adapted from one that originally ran May 28, 2022. West Virginia University sent off its graduates last weekend, and next weekend, area high schools will be sending off theirs with much pomp and circumstance. So we have some words for them:  Life is a journey with many destinations. Each milestone is a steppingstone to the next phase. Some phases last longer than others. Some are more pleasant than others. Some phases end with a bang, while others transition so seamlessly you don’t even realize you’re onto the next part of your ...

A novel approach to the jail staffing crisis: Just ask

In all the discussion about solving West Virginia’s jail staffing crisis, has anyone bothered to ask the jails’ staff what they need?  Gov. Jim Justice has repeatedly called — though not pushed — for locality pay for Department of Corrections and Rehabilitation workers. Lawmakers balked at the idea and gave passing consideration to an across-the-board pay raise and a sign-on bonus for new recruits. But it’s becoming increasingly clear that offering higher salaries alone is not going to solve the jail system’s chronic understaffing problem.  The crisis is ...

Modeling civic engagement for the next generation

You may have seen that in addition to reading and math scores, the Nation’s Report Card also noted a decrease in students’ history and civics scores. There’s certainly an argument for suggesting teaching less history (or less accurate history) directly impacts students’ understanding of civics, we would also argue that the absence of civic engagement in students’ real lives makes it harder for them to understand what civics looks like in the abstract.  “Civics” is defined simply as “a social science dealing with the rights and duties of citizens.” ...