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A Private Star: The Earl Thomas Conley story

Working late into the night in an old woodshed, a bearded man in a stained-yellow overcoat with a makeshift zipper hunches over his work. He’s whittling a figurine with an old corn knife, periodically reaching for his favorite coffee cup. “I’m a grown ass lady. I do what I want” is plastered on the porcelain mug.  He’s reserved, his...
Olivia Trowbridge, April 29, 2026 3 min read
Talking Points

Keeping the “wild” in wildlife

Jodi Proger, a former Belmont County resident, was known by her family as an animal lover to her core, with one member of that family being an actual animal. In 2013, when Proger saw a doe killed by a car and a distressed fawn nearby, she scooped it up, took it home, named it Wheezer and raised it as...
Jessica Thrasher, April 29, 2026 3 min read
In Your Neighborhood

A Bittersweet Goodbye to Jackson’s Memorial Building

Jackson County is known for its small-town charm and early contributions as an iron town. When the Great Depression struck the county, former President Franklin Roosevelt’s Works Progress Administration, through the New Deal, provided grants to the city, a portion of which funded the construction of the historic Memorial Building.   On Dec. 23, 2025, the 90-year-old building located at 145 Broadway Street, was torn down due to aging infrastructure.  The building’s original construction cost $25,000, which today is close to...
Daphne Graeter, April 28, 2026 3 min read