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Editorial

ESAs are not service dogs

There’s always someone who ruins it for everyone else. The Dominion Post recently profiled a veteran and his service dog and some of the challenges they’ve faced in public places, from being interrogated by staff members to being outright denied service. And there are many like him across the nation who have experienced the same things. Legally, according to the Americans with Disabilities Act, a service animal is a dog that has been trained to perform a specific task to help its owner with a disability or mental illness. Tasks can include picking up items, guiding an ...

Manchin should come home and explain his vote

On Monday, West Virginia State Sen. Randy Smith called on U.S. Sen. Joe Manchin to come before the Legislature and justify his vote for the Inflation Reduction Act of 2022. Manchin has famously said that if he can’t go home and explain it to West Virginia voters, then he won’t vote for it. Smith, as a West Virginia voter, is well within his rights to ask Manchin to come home and explain the IRA to him and Manchin’s other constituents. Manchin should take Smith up on his invitation. There’s a lot of confusion about what is and isn’t covered in the law, signed this ...

MUB, city need to get on same page

Back when The Dominion Post Editorial Board met with Mayor Jenny Selin, Councilor Danielle Trumble and City Manager Kim Haws, Mayor Selin noted the Popenoe Run storm water project (to which the city has pledged $1 million in American Rescue Plan Act funds) was one of the high points of the city’s and MUB’s relationship — one of those “really good examples where we can work together.” Then last week happened. At the Monongalia County Commission meeting Aug. 10, commissioners gave the City of Morgantown and MUB an ultimatum: You have one month to come to an agreement, or ...

Next year’s hottest accessory: iron lungs

Children — some as young as toddlers just learning to walk, some well into their adolescence — with metal braces caging each leg, crutches tucked up under their armpits to hold them upright, while still others sat wheelchair bound. And they were the lucky ones. Some children disappeared into the gaping mechanical maws of iron lungs, only their small heads visible, cradled on thin white pillows, as the enormous machine performed for them the bodily functions necessary to survive. These are the images, in black and white, that haunt us from a bygone era. The word “polio” ...

The place where healing happens

On Aug. 1, the Monongalia County Child Advocacy Center cut the ribbon on the center’s 700-square-foot addition and ceremonially welcomed the community to explore not just the new space, but all that MCCAC has to offer. And just what does the center offer? In a word: Help. The MCCAC has four primary programs: the Child Advocacy Center Program, the Community Education Program, the Preventative Care Program and the Drug Endangered Children Program. The first is what the MCCAC is known for: This is the service for children who have suffered abuse or traumatizing neglect. The ...

Is facial rec school security’s future?

Marion County announced this week that it plans to add facial recognition technology to its schools in the near future, in partnership with Rank One Computing. The idea behind the upgrade is to use the tech — which matches the facial features of a visitor to a database of images to identify the person — to pinpoint potential threats to the school or students inside. In the vast majority of schools, visitors — or anyone wishing to enter the building after the first bell rings — have to be buzzed into the front office, where they are supposed to sign in and state their ...