Feb 9, 2026 6 min read

Open for business

Washington County is moving forward, and the message is clear: we are open for business.

With a deep-rooted tradition of hard work and community spirit, our county is seeing real economic growth. Small businesses are opening and expanding, families are choosing to settle here, and new investments are shaping the future of our communities. This progress isn’t by chance – it’s the result of thoughtful leadership and a commitment to building an economy that benefits everyone.

One of Washington County’s biggest advantages is our low-tax environment. We believe that government should live within its means so businesses can reinvest, hire, and grow. For residents, lower taxes mean greater affordability and a higher quality of life. This balanced approach makes Washington County an attractive place for both business and living.

Our growth is visible, from revitalized main streets to expanding business parks, all while focusing on smart, sustainable development. We’re working to support entrepreneurs and foster an environment where innovation thrives and partnerships matter.

With strong infrastructure, a skilled workforce, and welcoming neighborhoods, we’re set up for long-term success.

To entrepreneurs, investors, and families looking for a place to grow and thrive: Washington County is ready to welcome you. The future here is bright, and we’re just getting started.

Electra Janis

Washington County commissioners

A fictional narrative

In Oren Spiegler’s most recent poignant letter to the editor, he spouted numerous liberal Democratic talking points. Mr. Spiegler simply compiled the fiction of his own reality.

Many of his outlandish claims lack any credible evidence that would support them, other claims are half-truths manipulated to fit his narrative while he blames the Trump administration and Homeland Security for encouraging federal agents to act as thugs.

Mr. Spiegler conveniently ignores that Gov. Tim Walz and Mayor Jacob Frey have made numerous statements to encourage the people of Minnesota to interfere with federal actions pertaining to immigration deportations, to protest the actions demanding that ICE leave, and to follow and track ICE operations.

While some of these people are protesters, others are agitators interfering with lawful actions of federal agents. They are attacking agents physically, throwing rocks, frozen water bottles and snowballs. He blames the unfortunate loss of life solely on federal agents’ actions. In fact, both deaths were completely avoidable, had these two agitators simply chosen to stay home, mind their own business and not interfere with a legal federal operation. There is a better than good chance they would be alive today.

Ending the chaos is a two-sided street. The government in Minnesota immediately has to stop interfering with lawful deportations. The vile hateful rhetoric against ICE agents needs to stop, claiming ICE actions are illegal when they are not. Only then can you hope to stop the violence and chaos caused by misinformation and lies.

Mr Spiegler, like all compassionate liberals, is a hypocrite. Perhaps he could open up his home to a few of the law-abiding illegal immigrants that are just looking for a better life.

Dick Fornear

Peters Township

‘You can’t drink oil’

President Trump has long criticized climate change as a “scam” and “the biggest con job ever perpetrated.” He has decided America will retreat from climate commitments we’ve made, unleash fossil fuel production, lower accountability for polluters and suppress climate research. All this in his misguided effort to somehow make our country great and demean other countries for their efforts to deal with global warming.

His continuing emphasis on energy production belies a greater issue we and the world face. The real problem is water, or rather the lack of it. This isn’t a crisis that can be mitigated. It’s a global bankruptcy.

Nearly half the world’s population lives with severe water scarcity. In our country alone, millions of people rely on ground water for drinking, agriculture and industry, but it’s being used faster than being replenished. The changing climate, pollution and overuse have strained our resources beyond repair for something we all take for granted. Meanwhile our president is invading Venezuela to get oil. You can’t drink oil. Being great is useless if you ignore the consequences of scientific research, or the obvious shrinking of our rivers and lakes and the lack of adequate rainfall.

The world is warming whether Trump likes it or not. Leadership is needed to help America adjust to tougher times ahead. Sadly, we’ll just have a new ballroom.

Bob Willison

Rices Landing

Freedoms rooted in faith

As our nation approaches its 250th anniversary, we should not only celebrate our freedoms — we should remember the faith that helped shape them.

William Penn founded Pennsylvania as a “Holy Experiment,” a colony built on Christian principles of justice, peace, and love of neighbor. Long before 1776, he wrote and spoke passionately for religious tolerance and freedom of conscience in England, even at great personal risk — facing threats of death. His vision of liberty of conscience, fair laws, and respect for all was not only groundbreaking but laid the foundation for what would eventually become the U.S. Constitution.

In 1751, to mark 50 years of this Holy Experiment, the Pennsylvania Assembly commissioned John Pass and John Stow to cast a bell. Inscribed with Leviticus 25:10 — “Proclaim Liberty Throughout All the Land Unto All the Inhabitants Thereof” — the bell celebrated the enduring principles of faith and freedom that Penn had established. This bell, later known as the Liberty Bell, stands as a symbol of liberty grounded in faith.

If liberty is to endure today, we need to take a second look at the faith of William Penn — grounded in something greater than himself, grounded in true liberty.

Penn loved God, loved his neighbor, and lived out the freedom that flowed from it. It worked for him — and it can work for us today.

Pastor Pete Linko

McDonald Bible Methodist Church

Imagined revenue

I was thankful to read about the concerns of Republican legislators in “Local lawmakers react to Shapiro’s proposed budget” (Feb. 4). I also am concerned that Gov. Josh Shapiro wants to take $2.7 billion from the state’s Rainy Day Fund to increase spending. How is that spending an emergency?

It doesn’t take a college degree in economics to understand that Shapiro’s boast of no tax increase in his budget proposal for July 1, 2026, to June 30, 2027, is no panacea. The expenses for programs with increased funding will be ongoing and require funding in the following fiscal year. That will result in a tax hike that fiscal year.

Shapiro’s promise of more revenue being generated from a minimum wage increase, legalization of adult-use of marijuana and regulation of skill games isn’t a guaranteed thing. In the last decade football quarterbacks throwing Hail Mary passes have succeeded an average of 1 in 12 times. I would put more faith in a Hail Mary pass than Shapiro’s imagined increased revenue.

Rick Kauffman

Canonsburg