It was to be expected that when Congress approved about $3 trillion in emergency aid to Americans hurt financially by the coronavirus epidemic, the criminal element would seize the opportunity for ill-gotten gains. Both as individuals and criminal organizations, they have been doing just that ...
Schools change model This week the Fairmont School Board passed a motion to return to hybrid learning at the Fairmont Jr/Sr high school and continued in-person learning at the elementary school. They also voted to resume all extra-curricular activities. Unfortunately, this decision didn’t ...
Talk for months about how inefficiency and lax security in the U.S. Postal Service may affect the upcoming presidential election has had an unfortunate side-effect: It has distracted attention from the agency’s very real, deeply rooted dilemma. Any private company suffering as badly as the ...
President Donald Trump often shoots verbally from the hip. Many voters like that. Many others deplore it. But Trump, while holding the most powerful office in the world, understands fully that he is bound by certain rules and traditions. One of them is that when we hold an election, the ...
Breonna Taylor’s family is right: The system failed her. She should be alive today, but she is not. It is too late to save Taylor, who died in a hail of bullets from three police officers in Louisville, Kentucky one night in March. It is not too late for law enforcement officials ...
To veterans for Trump: To the Editor: You questioned the credibility of our information regarding Trump’s comments about veterans. You are correct that we did not hear the comments ourselves, and thus do not really know if he actually said them. For the same reason, you do not know that ...
There is one safe bet regarding the upcoming presidential election: If vote totals in any of the states are close, there will be controversy over how ballots were handled. That will be so whether President Donald Trump or Joe Biden appears to have the edge. Ballot battles are nothing new, of ...
The death of Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg has, of course, been in the headlines in recent days. She was an icon to Americans with certain political positions — a scourge to others. Already, the battle over a successor has become heated, with ideology at the heart of the ...
A commendable effort The Don’t Give Up campaign in Fairmont is putting a focus on suicide prevention. If it saves just one life, it will be well worth it. The effort is led by Fairmont resident Chris Gerhardt, who is working in conjunction with several groups. Signs around Fairmont offer ...
Veterans back Trump To the Editor: Don and Harriett Richards: You quoted President Trump as saying veterans are “suckers” and “losers.” Did you hear him say that? Do you know who said he said that? We know of individuals who were very close to him and never heard him say ...
The terrible toll of COVID-19 in the United States has cleared the grim threshold of 200,000 deaths. This is a true tragedy that is being compounded by the effect of the virus on society as a whole. Economic woes are one easily identifiable problem. Flying further under the radar are missed ...
Though there is some dispute over how soon a COVID-19 vaccine will be available to the general public, it appears a few million doses may be ready before the end of this year. There is general agreement they should go to the most vulnerable among us. That is older people with pre-existing ...
At least there will be no shortage of masks. So goes one joke about Halloween 2020. It will be upon us in just a few weeks. And, while it may not seem a priority to many in government at all levels, it needs to be addressed. Halloween rivals Christmas in some ways in popularity among ...
Mention vaccines these days, and chances are the talk will be about when some protection against COVID-19 can be expected. Another killer is about to take the stage, however. “Regular” influenza — actually multiple viruses that vary in threat level, depending on the year — strikes ...
Our liberties rest only on the willingness of good men and women to charge into the fray of politics when they think change is needed in government. But merely getting into the battle is not enough. One must be willing to remain engaged. In that light, what happened recently in Georgia ...
Bad news for schools All high schools in Martin County are switching to hybrid learning Monday, given rising numbers of coronavirus cases in the county. Elementary schools will continue with in-person learning. The COVID-19 cases are not centered in the high schools, so it is a bit odd that ...
The fire chief of Kenosha, Wisconsin, reported this week that damage from riots in that city now totals $11 million. The unrest broke out in the wake of the police shooting of a Black man, Jacob Blake. To put the damage in perspective, the chief said it amounts to three years of fire loss in a ...
Some in the military brass may have applauded news a few weeks ago that Stars and Stripes, the newspaper circulated worldwide to members of the U.S. armed forces, was being closed. Stars and Stripes, which actually began publication during the Civil War, did not hit its stride until the ...
Recognizing workers To the Editor: The week of Sept. 13-19 has been designated at the national and state levels as “Direct Support Professionals Appreciation Week.” It is appropriate to recognize and honor the important role that direct support workers play in the lives of people with ...
No informed high official in our government disputes that Russia is doing its best to influence the 2020 election, not by hacking into computers and altering vote totals but by sowing dissension among us. In case you hadn’t noticed, that strategy worked well in 2016 and has since. Don’t ...