Philanthropist Questions Belmont County Commissioners About Delay in $200,000 Gift to Demolish Blighted Bellaire Homes Belmont County philanthropist Donn Sinclair is asking county commissioners why his $200,000 donation to demolish blighted homes in Bellaire has yet to move forward. During the July 15, 2026 Belmont County Commission meeting, Sinclair questioned commissioners about the status of the proposed gift, saying he wants to help eliminate dangerous vacant properties that continue to im

In this episode of Forgotten Ohio, host Karen Fatula sits down with Dr. Amy Acton, former Director of the Ohio Department of Health and 2026 Democratic candidate for Ohio governor, during her visit to St. Clairsville and Belmont County. Dr. Acton discusses her background growing up in Youngstown, her experiences in public health, and the issues she sees facing Ohio Appalachia, including rural hospital closures, health care access, Medicaid expansion, and property taxes. Dr. Acton also talks abo

From November 13–20, 2025, Belmont County, Ohio, had no working CodeRED emergency alert system, leaving residents without notifications for water advisories, severe weather or public safety threats. The outage followed a nationwide cyberattack on the OnSolve CodeRED emergency notification platform which was accompanied by a data breach involving the personal information of registered users. Nearly 11,000 Belmont County residents were enrolled in the system. In this episode, county officials ar