Congress is considering a bill that would strip West Virginia of one of its most basic powers — the power to govern their own affairs.

Mike DeWine has the right idea. He may have been forced into accepting it, but he still has the right idea.

“Can you be cruel?” That was the only question my company commander asked when he interviewed me for promotion to sergeant. Frankly, I’d never considered it. I thought for half a second and then answered yes, realizing in that instant that I could be cruel if asked for the right cause.

Marshall University officials announced recently that its retention rate for freshmen is at an all-time high.

West Virginia has been losing population for decades. “No hope in sight for WV population gains” was a recent Herald-Dispatch editorial headline. Traditional explanations for this include our mountainous terrain, transportation difficulties, extractive industries, aging population, low educa…

Maybe I’m just getting old, but this world is in too much of a hurry. Fast food, instant coffee, video on demand. … There’s no waiting except in a baseball game, and some people want to add a clock even to that.

Once again we are confronted by the stark reality of a collapsing West Virginia population. Two articles and a letter in The Herald-Dispatch on April 28 are relevant.

Several pipelines carrying natural gas or petroleum products originate, cross or terminate in the Huntington Tri-State region. Thus, what happened last week with the Colonial Pipeline carries concern locally.

Like many people I know, I have struggled to understand the “eternal life” spoken of in the Gospels. Pope Emeritus Benedict XVI in his book “I Believe in One God” says that eternal life is what we all long for; however, in the human psyche we sense troubling questions.

The Tupelo Journal published this editorial on April 28:

Last week, President Joe Biden traveled to Lake Charles, Louisiana, to promote his infrastructure plan.

People are asking What’s happening at the border? Joe opened the gates, my friends! It seems as if everything that the Trump people did was wrong so now they are going to correct it. Sucking up again with Iran? We know they hate us; they think we are chumps (and we are). As soon as they get …

I’m supposed to write guest columns on local or state topics like Mayor Williams’ street paving initiative or Gov. Justice’s tax plan. OK. First one is great; the second one, not so much. There I did it.

A couple of years ago I taught a class in copy editing at Marshall University. One day I began our session by writing the word “atom” on the whiteboard. I asked my students what “atom” meant. Don’t tell me what an atom is, I said; tell me what the word “atom” means.

When COVID-19 vaccinations were first rolled out this winter, West Virginia led the nation in getting shots into arms. Gov. Jim Justice, with advice from Dr. Clay Marsh, vice president of health sciences at West Virginia University and the state’s COVID-19 czar, arranged statewide distributi…

West Virginia State Police are cracking down on speeders in the Interstate 64 work zone west of the Huntington Mall, and that’s good.

Columnist Kathleen Parker recently opined about two politicians: Sens. Joe Manchin and Bernie Sanders.

Nuclear power has been sold by some people as a clean alternative to coal or natural gas for producing electricity, but the experience of one small town in southern Ohio shows that nuclear power is not really clean power.

Will the presidency of Joe Biden be good for West Virginia?

The Winston-Salem (N.C.) Journal published this editorial on April 26:

Ours is a business lined with hazards mostly metaphorical. Among these is being fed what we serve. Dispensing criticism on these pages subjects us to it, not that the reality of these circumstances is discernible in the modern hour. Opinions are like that singular aperture which everyone pos…

Will the West Virginia diaspora ever end?

I am watching President Biden’s speech before Congress. Well, maybe a fifth of Congress. Everyone is wearing masks, except for President Biden, who gave fist bumps instead of handshakes while walking in to the podium.

The Bluefield Daily Telegraph published this editorial on April 25:

COVID-19 has dominated public health concerns the past 14 months. While national, state and local health officials have focused on it, previous concerns have been almost forgotten. That can no longer be the case.

My new mantra: I’m 65, and I can do what I want to.

The COVID-19 pandemic isn’t over, and it still requires us to take measures to prevent the spread of the disease. That includes continuing the indoor mask mandates until enough of the population has been vaccinated so that we achieve herd immunity.

It’s been a weird year, and many of us have looked for ways to spend our lost socializing time more enjoyably. During this pandemic, I’ve found that books offered a wonderful respite from reality.

Monday’s release of state population counts from the 2020 census delivered the expected news: West Virginia will lose one seat in the U.S. House of Representatives in the 2022 election, Ohio will lose one and Kentucky will remain the same.

Bridges can be utilitarian, lookalike structures. Or they can push boundaries of engineering. Or they can be works of art that reflect the aesthetics of their areas.

Humor in American newspapers, magazines and even books these days is a rare commodity. Is it hard to write stuff that makes people laugh? Must be. We’re sure feeling a dearth of it in these crisis-laden times almost one quarter through the 21st century.

The Charlotte Observer published this editorial on April 20:

The West Virginia Legislature tried tinkering with the state’s medical cannabis law in this year’s session. The Senate passed legislation, but the House of Delegates didn’t agree, so nothing changed.

Newspapers’ fortunes and those of the communities in which they are located long have run parallel to one another as they have to that of the country’s vicissitudes, both economic and visceral.

The Chicago Tribune published this editorial on April 16: