For starters, the article's headline misrepresents most of the article – what Representative McKinley actually wants to know is why West Virginia leads the nation in opioid deaths per thousand:

West Virginia leads the nation in the number of drug overdose cases per capita, and U.S. Rep. David B. McKinley thinks the leaders should learn why as the U.S. government prepares to spend $4 billion to fight opioid addiction next year.

McKinley, R-W.Va., visited the Moundsville Pharmacy on Thursday to discuss with pharmacists their thoughts on where the problems are in society with drug addiction, if prescription drugs are the problem or street drugs, or if drug users are just misusing their prescriptions.

(Okay, at the end of the article one of the pharmacists does suggest a solution -- a national data base.)

The article and required McKinley picture take up about one-half of the available news space but how is it news? All we learn from reading the article is that the congressman can ask either-or questions, that he is interested in a solution (who isn’t), and that he talked to workers at a Moundsville pharmacy about it. Of course, this isn’t news, it’s just part of the locals’ concerted effort to get McKinley re-elected.

This brings up another question: how much coverage have Wheeling “newspapers” given the Democratic candidates (Kendra Fershee, Ralph Baxter, and Tom Payne) who hope to oppose him this November? The paper listed all three as having met the filing deadline on January 28 and noted on March 25 that they were running for the office. Beyond those listings, the search engine on the Intelligencer site reveals that Democrat Ralph Baxter has not been mentioned in an article since December 1 and Kendra Fershee since October 18 when she and Baxter were both mentioned as potential McKinley opponents in a front-page article about McKinley’s address to the Rotary. Tom Payne, not unlike McKinley’s opponent Mike Moneypenny two years ago, has had no coverage beyond mention of his name being on the ballot.

Voters in WV’s first congressional district do need to know where McKinley and his potential opponents stand on the issues to make an informed decision on election day. Unfortunately, that's not what our local papers are reporting. Instead they give us McKinley PR fluff and nothing about his opponents. Yes, that’s what passes in Ogden papers for keeping the electorate informed.