​By Jody Brumage

In December 1961, four members of West Virginia's congressional delegation made visits to soldiers at Fort Meade in Maryland and Camp Pickett in Blackstone, Virginia. Their visit came after President Kennedy called for several West Virginia units to be moved from reserve to active duty in response to escalating tension in Germany between the Soviet Union and the western allied powers. The "Berlin Crisis" raised fears of a new explosion of violence in the Cold War when the Soviet Union ordered the withdraw of western forces from the city of Berlin in June 1961. By the end of the year, the crisis resulted in the partitioning of the city between east and west, divided by the formidable Berlin Wall.

By Jody Brumage

This Friday marks the fiftieth anniversary of the tragic collapse of the Silver Bridge in Point Pleasant, a historic city along the Ohio River in West Virginia. On December 15, 1967, in the middle of the evening rush, the forty-year-old bridge suffered a catastrophic fracture in one of its steel suspension chain links, causing the full length of the roadway to collapse into the Ohio River in a matter of 20 seconds, taking with it 46 victims who lost their lives. The horrible accident struck hard at the close community of Point Pleasant, but it also had vital ramifications for the entire country. ​