Front-page “news”

The top story:

Wheeling Taking Steps to Fix Flooding Problems

This story tells us that the city is taking steps to fix the flooding that has become a problem in parts of the city. The city announced these steps six days ago.

Underneath it:

Residents Speak In Support of Mt. Carmel Rehab

Yes, they did this a week ago as an article in last Tuesday’s Intelligencer described:

A number or residents were happy to see someone investing in the property and working to rehabilitate the facility.

There’s also a feature story on the stay-or-go decision facing Florida “snowbirds.” None of those interviewed are Wheeling-area residents and it has no local angle. The story was written by a reporter from another Ogden paper and a quick check on a search engine reveals that the story made it into several Ogden papers. (Apparently, local area readers are not alone in getting Ogden filler-passing-as-news on Mondays.)

Finally, if you consider “recency” and “relevance” to be criteria, there is some news on the front page – the top of the page has two pictures of an Easter service held at Oglebay Park.

Did the president do anything this weekend?

Apparently not. There is only one “Trump” mention in the eight-page front section, and it is in Mona Charen’s syndicated column. Part of an AP story on nursing home deaths caused by the coronavirus appears on page 8 but the president is not mentioned.

PR releases and a Steven Allen Adams column

West Liberty, Wheeling University and Ohio State University provide this week’s old PR releases. Steven Allen Adams also contributed another long column (900 words) on last week’s attempt by WV lottery officials to okay betting on the presidential election. His column adds more details to last week’s 950 words on this topic and he promises updates. With the legislature not in session, has Adams run out of things to write about?

An interesting editorial

Today’s editorial, “Letting Public Have Its Say,” about two proposed injection wells in Belmont County inadvertently lets us know who really holds the power in Ohio. Apparently, the hearing was scheduled for April 10 but was rescheduled because of a lawsuit by the CEO of what used to be called Murray Energy:

Thanks to a lawsuit filed by Robert Murray, chairman of the Murray NewCo mining firm, the Ohio Department of Natural Resources may be required to give the public its say regarding two injection wells proposed for a site near St. Clairsville.

So public complaints about the scheduling of an online rather than a live hearing were not enough, it took Robert Murray’s involvement to get the hearing changed. It’s good to know who holds the real power in Ohio. (Color me cynical on this one, but I don’t think Murray’s involvement was totally because he wants the public to be heard.)