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Editorial

Can Gen Z save the Earth? Or will we destroy it first?

The first Earth Day was April 22, 1970. In the 52 years since that first celebration, we — all of humanity — have actively done more to harm the environment than we have to protect it. If that weren’t the case, climate scientists wouldn’t be ringing the alarm every other month that our planet is on a crash course with catastrophe, with some of the worst impacts of climate change becoming apparent by 2050. Concern about the impending global doom tends to be generational. In the U.S., Baby Boomers (born 1946-64) and the Silent Generation (1928-45) are the least concerned ...

Congress must pass the STREAM Act

At the end of March, Rep. David McKinley cosponsored the House version of the Safeguarding Treatment for the Restoration of Ecosystems from Abandoned Mines Act (STREAM Act). The bill is simple, but important. The Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act (usually referred to as the infrastructure bill or act) gives $11.3 billion in funding to reclaim abandoned mine lands for 15 years, and West Virginia is expected to receive $700 million over the next five years. As The Dominion Post previously reported, traditional Abandoned Mine Lands funding allows states to set aside up to 30% of ...

BOPARC Foundation will be a welcome addition

Late last week, BOPARC announced it will launch a new fundraising arm, simply called the BOPARC Foundation. This is an exciting development for the county’s recreational future. At the moment, BOPARC’s budget is limited by what it earns in levy funds. While levy funds create a fairly steady source of revenue for about five years, the county has to be careful not to ask for too much from taxpayers and it must always be prepared to lose that funding if a levy doesn’t pass. Being able to supplement — or, worst case scenario, replace — that revenue puts BOPARC in a better ...

Don’t like Drag Queen Bingo? You don’t have to participate

There’s no need to ruin it for everyone else There are few things more disheartening than seeing hatred and bigotry win. And, unfortunately, hatred and bigotry did win in Preston County last week when the Bruceton-Brandonville Volunteer Fire Department had to cancel its Drag Queen Bingo fundraiser due to threats against the organizers and the scheduled performers. Perhaps most discouraging about the whole thing was how so many people responded with rancor and rage to an event that was supposed to be fun and that was supposed to fund an essential part of the county’s ...

Public perception of petty partisan political attack ads

The 2015 article “Comparing the Effectiveness of Positive and Negative Political Campaigns” by Peter A. Gregory (found in Inquiries Journal) posits an interesting premise: Negative political ads hurt the attacker more than the attackee. Gregory analyzed research going back to 1991, though he uses a more narrow definition of “negative" than most of the studies. He includes any ad that points out something “bad” about the opposing candidate even if that something is true. He found some of the studies show attack ads help the attacker; others showed they hurt the attacker. A ...

Small settlements don’t really punish opioid companies

Attorney General Patrick Morrisey is always so proud to show off his pitiful little opioid settlements, like a little kid showing off his lunchroom trade but who doesn’t realize he got the worse end of the deal. His latest “victory” is a $26 million settlement with Endo Health Solutions — of which approximately $4.75 million will go to attorney fees (if we calculated correctly) and only 24.5% of the remaining amount, or about $5.2 million, will be shared among all of West Virginia’s counties and cities. The bulk of the money ($15.4 million) is slated for Morrisey’s ...