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Editorial

Thank you for voting

Tight races evidence that every vote counts Thank you to everyone who turned out to exercise their constitutional right to vote, whether you cast your ballot during early voting or on Election Day. Voting is a right, but it’s also a privilege that too many of us take for granted. Democracy doesn’t function at its best unless citizens participate in the civic process. We would also like to thank Monongalia County voters for voting in favor of the EMS levy. We’re proud voters recognized the importance of supporting public services, and we look forward to seeing what ...

Editorial Encore: Appreciating vets’ service, sacrifice

EDITOR'S NOTE: Today's editorial originally published Nov. 11, 2020. To our veterans: Thank you for your service and your sacrifice. Veterans Day is both for the living and the deceased, so we pay homage also the memory and legacy of veterans who are no longer with us. Their service and sacrifice is remembered and appreciated. Veterans Day began as Armistice Day, in recognition of the armistice reached at the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month in 1918 that halted the fighting in World War I. In 1938, Nov. 11 became an official holiday to honor the ...

Everything to know for Election Day

Election Day is just two days away, and if you didn’t go to early voting, we hope you’re preparing to hit the polls on Tuesday. To help you get ready, here’s everything you need to know for Election Day in the Mountain State. The first thing you need to know is where to go. We’ve published polling locations in the paper a few times, and if your polling place changed this year, you should have received a notice from the county clerk’s office. If you missed the listings in the paper and you can’t remember where you’re supposed to go, you can find your polling location on ...

What you need to know about Amendments 3 & 4 before Nov. 8

Yesterday, we covered Amendments 1 and 2, so today we’ll go over Amendments 3 and 4 and what you need to know about them before Election Day. Amendment 3 is arguably the least controversial but hardest to understand of all the proposals on the ballot. In essence, it brings the West Virginia Constitution in line with federal law when it comes to allowing churches charters of incorporation. The state constitution prohibits the incorporation of churches or religious denominations. However, that law has been unenforceable since 2002, when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that a similar ...

Amendments 1 & 2 about checks on gov’t, local control

When you go to the polls, either this week for early voting or next week on Election Day, you’ll be asked to vote on four constitutional amendments. Today, we’ll cover Amendments 1 and 2, and tomorrow we’ll discuss Amendments 3 and 4. Amendment 1, if passed, would give the Legislature the power to impeach/remove any government employee and make such a decision unreviewable by any court, including the West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals. This amendment stems from the Legislature’s 2018 attempt to impeach all the sitting West Virginia Supreme Court of Appeals justices for ...

The ‘devil you know’ isn’t always the better choice

We were incredulous to hear the City of Morgantown had decided to renew a five-year contract with Republic Services without going through the bidding process. First and foremost, Republic has been the subject of numerous complaints — to put it mildly — ranging from repeatedly missing pickups to not fully emptying bins to knocking down cable lines and more. Second, being good stewards of taxpayer dollars means ensuring that residents are getting the best services for the best price. We can understand giving Republic a four-month contract extension to finish out the year, but we ...