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Editorial

‘If you can see her, you can be her’

We’re a little late in congratulating Westover-native Leighann Sainato on her promotion to Black Bears’ general manager, announced Feb. 24. But we are still in time to highlight her achievements for Women’s History Month. Sainato is one of only seven female general managers in the entire Minor League Baseball development system, as well as the only female GM in the MLB Draft League and for the Black Bears’ parent company, Rich Baseball Operations. It can sound a little corny when you hear on the commercials — “If you can see her, you can be her” — but there’s a ...

Arthurdale Heritage going back to its roots

As important as historic preservation is, it’s good to see Arthurdale Heritage getting back to its roots: community development. The nonprofit is looking to build a mixed commercial and educational space — a place that can be a financial anchor for the community while also blossoming into a cultural hub. The part of the plan we’re most excited about is the addition of a trade school. Arthurdale Heritage is looking to partner with private business(es) to offer classes on weaving, blacksmithing, stonemasonry, welding and electricity. These kinds of trades are what we would ...

The Good, the Bad and the Stupid: Law of the land

In our (hopefully) last The Good, the Bad and the Stupid for the year, we’re going to introduce you to some of West Virginia’s new laws. To keep things consistent, we’ve labeled each bill as “good,” “bad” or “stupid” based on how we’ve categorized it in the past. Good: SB 181 — to establish and fund  suicide prevention and mental health crisis call centers in West Virginia, as part of a national initiative. Callers can dial 988 to be linked to a 24/7 center, where they can then be connected to emergency services or a peer who can listen and talk to ...

The Good, the Bad and the Stupid: Legislative graveyard

Like the magic that allowed Cinderella to go the ball, the 2022 regular legislative session ended at midnight (technically Sunday) and took with it a whole host of bills. Most of the bills we covered here in our The Good, the Bad and the Stupid editorials now lie in the legislative graveyard. Some of them we mourn; others, we happily dance upon their graves. Since we don’t have the space to talk about all the bills that died, we’ll hit the highlights. To avoid confusion, the dead bills below will be identified by their original moniker of “good,” “bad” or ...

U.S. walks fine line between aiding and escalating

We knew that as the war in Ukraine ramped up, President Biden’s critics — particularly Republican politicians — would oppose whatever actions he took, either by accusing him of doing too much or not enough. Biden and his administration have chosen a cautious approach to aiding Ukraine; so his opponents insist he should do more.  We understand how tempting it is to say the United States is not doing enough to help Ukraine keep Russian invaders at bay. Especially after Russia has callously bombed residential areas, humanitarian corridors and even a maternity hospital. ...

Can the U.S. be energy independent?

On a press call with reporters Monday, Sen. Joe Manchin emphasized America’s need to be energy independent in the face of rising fuel costs. Before we go any further, let’s establish what “energy independent” means for the purpose of this editorial. We’ll be using chemical engineer Robert Rapier’s standard: “Since we are net exporters of coal and natural gas, if we are net exporters of petroleum and petroleum products, then we are energy independent.”  In 2021, the U.S. exported slightly more oil than it imported. Technically, then, we are energy independent. ...