Talkline | July 30, 2025

WV Treasurer Larry Pack joins the show. Del. Marty Gearheart discusses plans to avoid another fiasco on the turnpike. The PSC has issued a ruling on who is responsible for replacing utility poles during broadband expansion. Mon County Commission has joined several other counties opposing the MARL transmission line. 

Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:09):
Good morning. Welcome inside the COVID Insurance studios. We've got
a lot to cover. Let's not waste time. Metro News
talk Line is underway.

Speaker 2 (00:25):
Radio turned off from the studios of w v RC
Media and the Metro News Radio and Television Network. The
Voice of West Virginia comes the most powerful show in
West Virginia. This it's Metro News talk Line with Dave
Wilson and TJ. Meadows.

Speaker 3 (00:46):
Switch network control from Charles.

Speaker 4 (00:49):
Stand By to David.

Speaker 5 (00:50):
TJ.

Speaker 2 (00:51):
You're on. Metro News. Talk Line is presented by incovera
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Visiting Covia dot com to learn more.

Speaker 1 (01:06):
Welcome insidey and Cove Insurance studios. Dave Wilson in Morgantown. TJ.
Meadows is in our Charleston fortifications. Today Jakelink runs the
video stream and I forgot to check to see who's
on the audio. Let's assume it's Sophia Wassick. We'll check
make sure that's actually the case. Coming up today. The
Parkways Authority has assessed the fiasco that occurred on the

(01:29):
turnpike last month as a plan moving forward to get
into that with Delegate Marty Gerhart. Ryan Schmell stops by
Charlotte Lane will join us from the Public Service Commission
who should pay for new or to replace and repair
utility polls, and the Montague County Commission is expected to
weigh in on the mid Atlantic Resiliency Link, that transmission

(01:53):
line proposed to run from Pennsylvania to Virginia for data centers.
We'll check in on that later on in the second hour.
But say good morning to TJ. Meadows in Charleston, dressed
like it's a Friday, apparently talking about the shirt. This
is a perfectly standard shirt that looks like a Friday shirt.
Come on, really, well, you're the one that decreed whatever

(02:16):
was fun shirt Friday?

Speaker 3 (02:18):
Fun golf shirt Friday. This is just golf shirt. I
didn't think it was necessarily fun. So now I'm sensitive.
Now I'm gonna I didn't reevaluate medicine.

Speaker 1 (02:25):
I thought I thought we had maybe an implemented like
wild Wednesday or something.

Speaker 3 (02:30):
Speaking of men who dress with a great taste, Stirewaltz
on News Nation right now he's got a seersucker on
with a with a nice blue green tie, so you
know he's back from vacation making it look all good.

Speaker 1 (02:42):
You know, does he look tanned? I know he was.

Speaker 3 (02:44):
I think he was up in the mountains. I don't
think Stirewalt tans. Does he probably have to ask him.

Speaker 1 (02:48):
He's from the Northern I'm about to that's just about
to undit the entire Northern Panhandle. Because he's from the
Northern Panhandle. He couldn't tan. I suppose you could.

Speaker 3 (02:57):
If Styrwalt has ever or been in a tanning bed,
I'll take either one. I know he hasn't been in
a tanning bet. I'll buy your stak dinner. You know what.

Speaker 1 (03:06):
You ask him that on Friday when he stops by
the show, we'll lead with that on Friday.

Speaker 3 (03:11):
Sounds good.

Speaker 1 (03:11):
All right, coming up, We got a lot to get to,
but please first welcome into the program the Treasure for
the State of West Virginia joining us in the Charleston
Studios this morning. Larry Pack, Larry, good morning. You sure
you wanted to come on and get in the middle
of this conversation.

Speaker 4 (03:25):
Absolutely, It's nine degrees outside. I was looking for first
American condition. It's a good place to be.

Speaker 1 (03:30):
We got a lot of things wanted to cover with you,
But first I wanted to start with the GOP conference
that wrapped up over the weekend. The Boon County Delegate
Josh Holstein was selected to chair the Republican Party across
the state. Just what are your thoughts and what kind
of advice would you give Delegate Holstein is he takes
the reins of an unenviable job. It was how I

(03:51):
would describe it.

Speaker 4 (03:52):
Yeah, I think that's probably true. The state chairman job
is a tough job. I've served with the number chairman
and supported number chairman over the year. We had a
really we had a great meeting. It was a really
wonderful opportunity to hear from three distinguished candidates for UH
for a chairman, any of the three of them, but
it did an absolutely phenomenal job. So but it was

(04:15):
good to hear from. They worked really hard talking to the committees,
tell them what they're what they're what they're for, what
they're looking for. But everybody supports the platform. Everybody's conservative,
they're pro Trump. So it was a really good meeting.
The vote was close, which I think again speaks to
the quality of our candidates. But again Josh did prevail.
I served with Josh in the House of Delegates. We

(04:37):
both elected the same time back in back in twenty
took office in twenty one. And of course Josh is
a lot younger than me, but I grew up with
his uncle, so I've known Josh since he was a
much younger kid. To me, he's still somewhat of a kid,
but he's very he's very confident, he's he's very mature
for his age. Seemed like he always has been.

Speaker 6 (04:57):
Uh.

Speaker 4 (04:57):
He is a star wart conservative, a thinker, he's a
detailed person. So he's going to do a really good
job and be a really good face for our party.
I look forward to serving with him, and very thankful
that the other two candidates are going to stay involved.
They have a lot to offer. Both of them served
our country a lot of good things.

Speaker 3 (05:15):
So the world is always in flux. As you well know,
a decision that made sense a couple of years ago
may not make sense today. A lot of talk about
the primary, should we think about letting independence back into it?
Is that something Conservatives and Republicans in the party should reevaluate.

Speaker 4 (05:30):
Well, I think we all we should evaluate how we
run primaries, how we run elections, and make sure that
we're making the best conservative decisions for the state of
West Virginia. We had that vote a few years ago.
It was also very close, razor thin if you votes
one way or another. The compromise at that time was
not to close the primary in twenty four, was to
close it in twenty six. I do expect we'll have

(05:54):
further in future discussions were regarding this issue. The people
are really strong on each side as to what they
what they believe about in which they think where they
think it's a good thing or not. I was on
the I guess on the forefront when we made the
decision many many years ago. We were trying to track
people to the to the Republican Party. So that's when
we open it up to appendent to Independence. The Democrats

(06:16):
followed us soon soon after. So there is concern that
if we don't allow Independence to participate in the primary,
that they will stay home or not participate with us
in November. The opposing argument is that Conservatives should choose
our nominees. So both good arguments on both sides. I
think we'll see that discussion continue, you know, and I can.

Speaker 1 (06:37):
See both arguments on both sides of that Larry that
if you open the door for anyone, then maybe you're
not getting a true nominee for the party. You're getting,
you know, a version that's kind of watered down, whatever
the case may be. I see the arguments. But when
you get to the general election, though, if if you
disenfranchise these individuals and they're either A and you know,

(07:00):
we don't like to be told what's due West Virginia anyway,
So I don't know a lot of people are going
to run and go, well, they told me to do this,
so I'll change, I'll register over here. You just you
run the risk of those people either A not voting
at all, which doesn't help you know, either party, or
be you know, supporting the other party. So it's it's
a gamble to go this route, and we may not

(07:22):
see the impact of it until maybe twenty eight, thirty
or even thirty two down the road.

Speaker 4 (07:27):
Yeah, I think it No, I think it's definitely concerning.
We have about forty percent of the of the electric Republicans,
so we cannot win with just Republicans, even if all
Republicans would vote and all Republicans vote Republicans. So we
need independence, We need conservative Democrats so it just, you know, again,
it's an argument that we're going to continue to see.

(07:48):
I do think it's going to be revisited and not
sure which direction would be. It will be up to
the committee. That committee is split. We've got a lot
of good ideas on both sides. But it is definitely concerning,
particularly if we it gets if someone would come out
of the primary that was just non electable in the
uh in in November. So it's it's a it's a
it's a big issue. I look forward to this conversation

(08:10):
I think are good. There are good conversations to have,
So I do not think this is the one and done.
We'll talk about it some more.

Speaker 3 (08:15):
State Treasurer Larry Pack joins us on Metro News talk line.
I want to shift to taxes. Wrote a piece yesterday
talking about Ohio's employment of a flat tax. Look, I'm
down with it. I think flat tax makes sense. I've
always said consumption taxes are better than income taxes. Why
take the money out of the till. That's a strategy

(08:35):
that's some buy into, but not everybody, or a philosophy
I should say. Am I right or wrong on that?

Speaker 1 (08:41):
Now?

Speaker 4 (08:41):
Flat flat tax? I really believe is flat taxes is
the way to go. So you know, we started this
journey with Governor Justice leading the leading the pack along
with UH President, President Blair, and Speaker Henshaw a few
years ago when we passed the largest tax cut in
state history. As we went through that process, which took
about a year, there were a lot of discussions about
different ways to go and so forth, and different directions

(09:03):
and exactly how to approach it. One of the approaches
we discussed was the flat tax. Was flat flattening our
rates in Stordan instead of have I think we have
four rates, maybe have five rates, taking it down to
one or two, because you only you do that over
a progressive type of time time frame. The will legislature
at that time was not to do that, was just
do more of across the board cut and that's the

(09:23):
direction that we went. But we do need to get
to a flat tax. That's what our competitors are doing
us what other states. I think about half the states
have a flat tax, so we're somewhat of an outlier.
We are an outlier at this point, but I think
that the big thing what I liked about the conversation
and just having the conversation. I appreciate your your your
opinion piece was that other states are moving to lower

(09:45):
state income taxes. So when we did what we did
a couple of years ago, it was to make us
more competitive. Right, We're still not there, so it was
a good step. It was a big step. We wanted
fifty percent. It's what Governor Justice now Center Justice was
advocated for us, what I was advocating for. We got
about half a loaf, okay, which is good. But we
need to keep going further faster. We need to keep

(10:07):
working through that. We haven't had that discussion this year.
I do think we'll hear more about that in the
next few months from Governor Justice. I look forward to
that conversation.

Speaker 1 (10:15):
What's holding us back when compared to the other states
around us?

Speaker 4 (10:21):
Well, I think West Virginia does not have a history
of of shrinking government. It doesn't have a history of
asking government to do less. We have a history of
asking government to do more, to have more central control
and government. And in order for us to move forward,
we're gonna have to ask government to do fewer things.
We're going to have to give up some control out

(10:42):
of Charleston. We're also going to have to make some
the decisions. Like you know last year when we did
a big the big tax cut, we went you know
parts part personal income tax, part car tax, part personal
property tax. Right, we went about three different directions. We
could have got further. We just went one direction on
personal income tax. We also have a lot of credits
that we've passed over the years that we haven't revisited

(11:03):
for many years. Do those credits make sense? So there's
just there's a lot of opportunity. But you have to
have the wheel, you have to have the discussion, you
have to have the leadership.

Speaker 3 (11:11):
Well, when I look at the numbers and new numbers
I think will be out this Friday, so maybe we'll
have Secretary Nelson on to talk about the numbers. But
what I see is consumption taxes are going up, maybe
not a one to one in terms of the income
tax being cut, but we are seeing more and more
funds generated from sales taxes as people have more money
I would assume back in their pockets.

Speaker 1 (11:32):
Right, Yeah, our our.

Speaker 4 (11:33):
Economy stable, it's growing, it's grown a little bit, so
it is stable. But when you see the numbers, the
monthly numbers come up, their net numbers. Right, there are
reductions out of sales tax, there's reductions out of personal
property tax. So we've given different credits and to different people,
different strains of income. There's a lot of that stuff
that we could look at that we'll free up more money.
But again, but you know, at the same time, we're

(11:53):
doing things we shouldn't do. We're you know, government is
not efficient in anything anything, right, private sectors more, we'refficihent
in anything. But there's some things we have to do
and we all agree to what the public schools, roads, infrastructure, tourism.
These are things we have to do at least are
state parks. But there's a lot of things we don't
have to do, and we're not very good at it.

Speaker 2 (12:13):
Right.

Speaker 4 (12:13):
We are the DMV, Right, we are the Turnpike Commission. Right.
I mean they try, but they're never going to be efficient. Right,
We're government. We run in hospitals and nursing homes, but
we don't do it very efficiently. So we could get
out of some stuff. But also if we just look
at our tax situation, how it's all set up, We've

(12:34):
got a lot of credits going out different places, hundreds
of millions dollars. We've got a lot of income streams
going a lot of different directions. We can rethink some
of it and we can come up with enough money
to do that. But if you just let government go
and you meet the needs of government, we'll never have
another tax cut because government always needs more, always wants more.

Speaker 1 (12:53):
That all sounds fun, Larry, it sounds great, but you
know as well as I do, it's much easier to
add to government than take way. That's a challenge to
even take little pieces away. You see the challenge any
type of cut reduction in a service reduction, you know,
a reduction in a program, that is a much tougher

(13:13):
job than adding to government, which you do little by
a little over time until it's bloated to the point
that it is well.

Speaker 4 (13:19):
It is tough. I was in Glenville last week and
I saw over building, I saw the old State State
liquor store sign, which happens seeing of those science from
any kinds. But but probably the last time we really
downsized government, or we asked government to do last was
doing that administration when they got us out of the
liquor business business, when they got the state out of

(13:40):
a lot of hospitals and nursing homes. Right. Uh so
I'm not saying that that those services go away. It's
just the private sector can do those services much more
efficiently than than than we can. We're just not good
at it. Like you know, we have the problem with PA,
the problem with brim right. We don't make business decisions
under the capitol doing we may political decisions. Why haven't we.

Speaker 3 (14:01):
Had a special session yet? I thought we were going
to do something on PEA or maybe there's no fix. Look,
I mean eighty twenty, it's not a bad deal. I
don't know that you get better than that.

Speaker 4 (14:11):
Well, I think the governor is assassinate right, So he's
been in jobs just a few months, so he's trying
to figure out what direction to go, what's best and
so forth. But yeah, when people say fix, I always say, well,
what is the fix? What are you what are you
looking for? So I think what the governor's first trying
to figure out. I think what any leader should do
is what is he trying to accomplish? What is it
that he thinks is wrong right? What should be done?

(14:32):
And so that take just taking some time. I think
the legislature is going through the same process. But I
think what we can all agree that what PA was
originally set up for, which was a fringe benefit, a
benefit to help attract and retain state workers, to attract
and retain teachers, the health benefit for that has it
balloooned into doing lots of other things that we're doing.

(14:53):
So there's a lot of nonprofits in it, there's a
lot of cities and counties in it. There's just a
lot of things going on that was not in our
original deal. So we've continued to balloon it up. And
then what we try to do and with you, we
try to have a one size fits all or again
what what what? What a teacher needs their healthcare benefit
may be different than what's somebody in Berkeley County needs
that's a city worker, or what somebody in Monroe County

(15:16):
needs as a city or a county worker. We've got
them all together, plus down we got all these nonprofits
in there. So most of the time, if you get
back to the core things you're trying to accomplish, your
accomplish this coore things better.

Speaker 1 (15:27):
Well, you have the nail on the head though, Larry.
You get back to the core intent of what a
program and PIA is a great example of that. If
it stays on its mission. It may not be in
the situation that it's in right now, but it balloons
and you bring more people in, you bring more people in.
It goes back to what I said, it's easy to
grow government, it's hard to shrink it.

Speaker 4 (15:48):
It is and part of that growing government is the
hubers of government saying we can do it better than
the private sector. So when they told this the Minsila League, hey,
they put your program away. Cities and counties that he's
come into us, basically the hubris of the state government
is we can do it better. When he told this
nonprofit you could come in, we were saying we can
do it better than Blue Cross, right. But then we

(16:09):
told other nonprofits you can't come in, right. So we've
created in balance. So it's a hubris a government that
we think we can do better than the private sector.
We can't just look around.

Speaker 3 (16:19):
I want to pose a question to you. Texter brought
this question more of a statement, do away with hope scholarship.
It's going to bankrupt our state. What do you say
to that?

Speaker 4 (16:30):
You know again, our state, our general fund budget is
about six billion dollars the funding that we spent this
year on Hope Scholarship or its in the current budget.
Governor Morris's current budget is one hundred million dollars. That's
a small part of a six billion dollar budget. We
spend about two point four billion dollars on public school

(16:50):
K through twelve, right for about two hundred thousand maybe
student and forty thousand students. One hundred million dollars is
for basically, I think it's will be roughly twenty thousand dudes.
We think that educational choice, putting education in the hands
of parents that make the choices, that make the best position,
make the best decision for their children, is what parents
should do. So it's a really really good program. But

(17:13):
if we have a tightening budget, I believe it's for
things that we shouldn't be in. But helping our children's educations.
Putting more funding in education, I think is the place
we should be.

Speaker 1 (17:23):
State Treasurer Larry Pack always a pleasure to have you
stopped by the studios. Appreciate it, Take care, have good
day you as well coming up look at some of
your thoughts. Delegate Marty Gerhart joins us bottom of the hour.
This is talk line from the in COVID certain studios.

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Speaker 1 (19:00):
Three or four Talk three oh four guys, we need
less political decisions like the very recent jerry mandering decision
that's so suppressed the Democratic vote in West Virginia by
just drawing lines on the map. This should be illegal. Well, hey,
jerry mandering is illegal if by very recent you meet
meant five years ago when they did that. And thirdly,

(19:22):
you're in the majority, you get to draw the lines
to the winn or go the spoils. I get. I mean,
unless it's just look the jerry mandering argument, I get,
I get very annoyed with it because both parties do it.
They both draw lines that are advantageous to them. And
unless it's just egregious TJ, where that where there's you know,

(19:44):
a circle that literally carves out something. So it's it's
part of the game. I don't have to like it.
You don't have to like it. You being the audience,
you all don't have to like it. I'm just saying
it's part of the game. I'm not going to spend
a lot of time on it, that's all.

Speaker 3 (19:57):
And it's never gonna change. But I have the fix, Dave,
because we try to bring solutions here.

Speaker 1 (20:01):
Oh all right, what's your fix.

Speaker 3 (20:03):
I'm going to turn it over to chat GPT and
let them take a let AI do take a whack
at it, and you know what, it would probably be
better if I'm being honest.

Speaker 1 (20:13):
That's where we're headed, right, isn't it? For Siri? Siri?

Speaker 3 (20:17):
I need you to tell me the best way to
jerry mander the state of West Virginia.

Speaker 1 (20:21):
You know that's not the craziest idea though. You put
the information into AI, it spits out a map and
you go, okay, okay, there it is.

Speaker 3 (20:29):
We'll go with that until somebody figures out how to
program the AI for political events. So then like chat
GPT becomes the Republican AI and like one of the
other ones becomes the Democrat AI. There's nothing new under
the sun, my friend.

Speaker 1 (20:45):
Well, then the illumin audio will get involved, right, still,
won't have the Epstein files released now? Three or four?
Three or four talk three or four? Uh? The discussion
with Larry Paki is so spot on. I love that
ways to management aep mom power suddenly link question New
Water Mountain, Your gas are showing how nice the private
sector is. They are allowed to run things, no rate

(21:08):
increases and always stellar service. I also love that I
have to worry if I'll go bankrupt or get hit
with massive medical bills when I go to CMAC or
w Medicine. Private companies running essential services for a profit
are perfect for all of us. You all are idiots,
says the Texter.

Speaker 3 (21:24):
Tell you what, take that private capital away that helped
build that infrastructure in the first place. See if you
like where you are after that.

Speaker 1 (21:30):
Delegate Marty Gerhart gonna join us other side of the break.
We'll talk about the Parkway's authorities and their decisions moving
forward following that fiasco on the Turnpike back in June.
This is talk Line on Metro News, the Voice of
West Virginia. It is ten thirty times to get a
news update. Let's check in with the Metro News radio network.

(21:50):
Find out what's happening across the great state of West Virginia.

Speaker 9 (21:55):
Western Virginia Metro News. I'm Jeff Jenkins. Safety teams are
competing this week near Morgan Town.

Speaker 8 (22:00):
Twenty one mine rescue teams from three states are at
Myland Park in Mond County for the Post five mine
Rescue Contest. A director of wv u's Academy for Mind
Training and Energy Technologies, Josh Brady, says each event is
timed and includes hidden obstacles and challenges.

Speaker 10 (22:18):
Playing a little chess game with them a little bit,
see whether they can solve the problems, make it safe,
save all the people, and then stop the clock.

Speaker 8 (22:25):
The winner advances in the national competition. A Mike Nolting
for WV metronews dot com.

Speaker 9 (22:31):
The Western Parkways Authorities reimbursing northbound motor as who pay
cash at the Shiwian to booth last month when the
highway was blocked for eight hours. Parkway's executive director Chuck
Smith explains.

Speaker 11 (22:41):
We'd reimbursed all of the electronic transfers that might have occurred,
aiby plate, easy pass, those sort of things, but the
cash people have not a lot of the cash people
have not responded. All they need to do is send
in information to us and get hold of us.

Speaker 4 (22:54):
And JULI reverse those.

Speaker 9 (22:56):
The Parkways Authority out with a five point plan in
response to that long night of stuck track. I read
the specifics at wv metronews dot com. Testimony getting underway
in a murder trial taking place in Mercer County forty
three year old Charles Dawson's charge or shooting and killing
thirty two year old carry billings, both of them from Bluefield.
A twelve member Juria was chosen Tuesday in Mercer County

(23:17):
Circuit Court prosecution presenting its case. You're listening to Metro News,
the voice of West Virginia.

Speaker 12 (23:22):
Let no one ever say President Trump isn't a friend
of cold. Posting recently on his truth social account, the
President said, and I quote, after years of being held
captive by environmental extremists, lunatics, radicals, and thugs, allowing other countries,
in particular China, to gain tremendous economic advantage over us

(23:42):
by opening up hundreds of coal fired power plants, I
am authorizing my administration to immediately begin producing energy with beautiful,
clean cold unquote. President Trump, his energy team, and the
EPA are doing everything imaginable to increase the use of
cold to provide reliable, cost effective electricity. West Virginia's leaders

(24:03):
must follow sue. It's time we change the policies keeping
coal from reaching its potential, and let's follow the President's
lead and maximizing this once in a lifetime opportunity to
unleash our coal resources for the betterment of all West Virginias.
A message Frum the Friends of Coal.

Speaker 9 (24:21):
A groundbreaking ceremony to schedule this hour in South Charleston
for the first Kroger marketplace in West Virginia. That's a
very large Kroger operation to be building that in South Charleston,
just off of US Route sixty. The WW football team
beginning fall camp today in Morgantown. Also a big day
on the marsh University campus. We new herd athletic director

(24:42):
Gerald Harrison will be introduced at eleven o'clock. News conference
is scheduled from the Metro News anchored Ask. I'm Jeff Jenkins.

Speaker 1 (25:09):
We'll get back to your text three or four Talk
three or four Fox News radios. Ryan Schmels will join
us just a little bit. We'll get the latest from DC.
Find out what's got Corey Booker all worked up. West
Virginia Parkway's authority met yesterday discussed a five step response
following the fiasco on the West Virginia Turnpike last month
that had traffic backed up for miles. Some folks had

(25:30):
to spend the night eight hours on the highway. That
plan includes the formation of a critical response team to
respond in these types of incidents, the creation of an
external communications plan so motorists know what's going on, Creating
a motorist service plan to aid stopped motorists. Revision of
the parkways authorities current internal plans and protocols when similar

(25:51):
events occur. An enhancement of the Parkway's authorities worker training program.
Got all that. Mercer County Delegate Marty Gerhart was at
the MET. I think he joined us so much a
news talk line this morning. DELI at Gerhart, good morning,
Good morning to you, sir, Glad you could join us
this morning. Are you satisfied with the assessment and the
plan moving forward from the Parkway's authority.

Speaker 13 (26:14):
I think, though I would be remiss if I told
you that I was an expert on bureaucratic solutions to
things like this. I think we had a solution. Unfortunately,
changes in leadership that just the wrong time appeared to
have put the decisions maybe in the hands of individuals

(26:36):
that weren't quite prepared to make them, and maybe the
right decision didn't get made at that specific emergency time
that could have taken care of a lot of the problems.

Speaker 3 (26:49):
Morning, Marty TJ. Meadows here, I wonder would you characterize
that issue as an empowerment problem. Do you think people
that were on site didn't feel that they were empowered
to make decisions and they had to take them up
the line, and maybe that's what happened. Is that a
fair take on what may have occurred.

Speaker 13 (27:05):
No, I really do think that you just had enough
newness in leadership and structure that the individuals that were
there made the decisions that they thought were appropriate. I
just think in this particular instance, and this is hindsight,
that they probably should have made some different decisions. They

(27:26):
probably should have opened up the crossovers and activated the
emergency rountes and moved people, had people moving. I think
they felt like they could take care of it very quickly,
and obviously they couldn't. As such, what's wound up with
people stuck there for a long, long period of time.

(27:48):
I laugh a little bit because it has not been
that awful long. My memory is very fresh of sitting
on the turnpike for seventeen and a half hours in
a snowstorm in two thousand and nine. So it's frustrating
for folks, I understand, But I just think the people
on site made the wrong decision. They probably did it
to the best of their ability. But in hindsight, they

(28:11):
made a bad decision, you.

Speaker 1 (28:13):
Know, Mark, and we're talking to Mercer County Delegate Marty Gerhart.
I can live with that, because somebody in the moment
had to make a decision. We can sit back hindsight
being twenty twenty and say, well, that was the wrong decision.
The part of the situation that I thought really needed
to be rectified, and I think it will be in
this plan, is the communications aspect of it. For the
people who were stuck out there on the highway, somehow

(28:36):
getting information to them, whether that is through you know,
old terrestrial radio, whether that is through social media, cell phones,
somehow getting information to them so they know what is
going on and what the situation is, rather than just
being stuck out on the highway having no idea why
you're there or how long it's going to be.

Speaker 13 (28:57):
I agree, and I think technology being what it is today,
that that's possible. Though I will say on many occasions
on that portion of the turnpike sales service is pretty sketchy,
so it's possible that even if you have that activated,
you may not be able to do a whole lot

(29:17):
with it, just because you're not going to get the
message just because there's not a lot of service.

Speaker 3 (29:22):
You said this very well. Hindsight is twenty twenty and
we're setting here, what a month later having a conversation.
So I don't want to be too judicial in my
review here, but charging people after they sat for how
many of our hours to go through the tolls, that
would seem to be crisis management one oh one. And
apparently we failed at least initially charging folks. What if anything,

(29:45):
did you learn about why that occurred and what are
we doing directify it?

Speaker 13 (29:49):
Well, I think that that's the direction that people on
the ground have. I could say, you in and again,
I'll back up two thousand and nine. I was stuck
for a long long time and I paid the toe.
It was a bucket a quarter then, but I paid
the toe when I hit it. The argument at that
point in time, and it's just the argument that there
are for a lot of different things that allowing folks

(30:11):
to go through the tolls without paying is a violation
of bond covenants. However, in this particular instance, as you
see those things being refunded, maybe that wasn't exactly accurate information.
It's provided a few years back.

Speaker 1 (30:28):
Mercer County Tellingate Marty Gerhard is joining us here on
Metro News talk line. I want to ask you about
another item that the Parkway's Authority took up yesterday, proving
nearly three hundred and eighty four thousand dollars to be
spent on EV charging stations at the northbound rest up
between Pink Creek and Mayhan exits. Do we need those
on the turnpike.

Speaker 13 (30:50):
Well, whether we need them or not, they're moving that direction.
I think there has been some direction over time to
span the EVS availability to charging station availability at this
particular location. It seems to me to probably not be

(31:12):
prudent based on just the amount of dollars that it
takes to run the electrical service to the station.

Speaker 5 (31:20):
Now.

Speaker 13 (31:21):
I think that they indicated yesterday that there was four
hundred thousand dollars that would be required just to get
primary service to that and this particular location just serves
one lane of the northbound traveling lane of traffic, and
cam Rack's not that far away, and obviously you're moving
another twenty miles into Backawell Valley where that's available. It

(31:45):
didn't seem to me to be a prudent expenditure. If
you notice I did make a social media post. I
didn't take a position. I simply asked the question, and
there were a variety of responses on both sides of
the issue.

Speaker 3 (31:59):
Marty is I stand. It's those travel plauzas. I mean,
the state owns them, but they're managed by a private
third party, which I think is a good idea. We're
just spitballing here, just talking. I'm wondering why that third party,
why we wouldn't go to them and say, hey, this
seems to be above and beyond. If you think the
business model will work, you pay the upfront costs, put

(32:19):
them in, We'll lease you the property and maybe the
state gets a small cut for the rental where the
space where those units would go. But put it on
the third party and let the private market decide whether
or not it's viable.

Speaker 13 (32:30):
Maybe that's what they've done. I really don't know the
business arrangement there I can take. And this is just
me while I think the state needs to look good.
We have one hundred and sixty million dollars plus invested
in three travel plazes, and I've quarried this on a

(32:51):
number of occasions with the past leader of the Parkways
Authority what the return on investment was for that one
hundred and six dollars, and there's never even been a
performer done to determine that. The reality is is that
the budget reflects that the same amount of income generated
by those travel plansas is anticipated. So that's one hundred

(33:15):
and sixty million dollars spend with no anticipated increase in revenue.
I find that difficult to understand. It would appear to
me that if I want to spend one hundred and
sixty million dollars, I expect to recoup it over time,
and there's no plan to recoup that. That's just a
simple spend, and part of that is the fact we

(33:38):
still have tolls in place and basically in perpetuity at
this point until unless something changes. I didn't think that
was a wise business decision for a entathy that is
tasked with raising revenue for maintenance of a highway and
other highways instead of West Virginia and boonds.

Speaker 3 (34:01):
So I'll agree with you that raises a lot of
questions for me, especially in fact there's not a pro
forma to at least do an actual versus what was
forecasted leads me to my next question. If we're making
those kinds of decisions, this has been talked about, should
we privatize the turnpike, turn it over to a private company,
sell it.

Speaker 13 (34:21):
Well, I'm not in favor of privatizing the turnpike. The
revenue generated there, you're correct, is from least circumstances that
the travel plazas My position is well stated. Over time,
the original legislation building the turnpike was never intended for

(34:43):
the turnpike to be a revenue generator for other items.
It was intended, in fact, to build the highway, and
after the highway was built, to make that part of
the state highway system. It's been extended a few times
for reasons, you know, to upgrade at the interfit and standards,
to do a variety of things. And this last time

(35:04):
it was extended simply to generate highway dollars for bonds
to pay for other highways outside of the parkway's authority.
I've taken great offense to that over time, but and
Governor Justice Tonight at that time disagreed about it mightily,
but politically he did a really savvy job of leveraging

(35:25):
those turnpike tolls and highway money against a budget that
had to be approved by July one, and he got
a victory and was able to extend the tolls right
now for in perpetuity.

Speaker 1 (35:38):
Mercer County Delegate Marty Gerhart, Marty, before we let you
go here, the subject of pei A came up in
our conversation with Treasurer Larry Pack. Are we getting any closer?
Are you hearing anything? Are we getting any closer to
actually addressing that in a special session? Or is this
something that we're going to have to wait till twenty
six to talk about.

Speaker 13 (35:58):
Well, my conversations with the Governor's office indicate that they
are absolutely committed to addressing this in a special session.
The question of when has not been determined. The question
of exactly what to address in that special session has
yet to be determined. So they have a variety of

(36:21):
different ideas. They have run them through a variety of legislators. However,
those meetings have been basically spitballing and not things that
I would feel comfortable in sharing at this particular point. However,
there are some ideas that are being vetted that the
Governor's office is working on. You know, I have my

(36:43):
opinion about PEIA probably and I didn't hear Larry, but
I would imagine we closely align that BI is a
pretty good program when you compare it to private insurance
that's out on the market, what people pay for and
what other people outside of Western State government paid for it.

(37:03):
It is rising in costs, the benefits are being constricted some,
and that's simply to try to keep it viable. I
think what people really are interested in is not having
an increase in those costs, their insurance costs, and I
don't think that that's feasible. I don't think it's possible.
It's not a current reality in today's medical insurance market.

(37:25):
So I think PIA is going to be kept as
lean and trim as it possibly can be and as
good a value as it possibly can be. But they're
going to be increases because they're just are not general
revenue dollars to be able to throw a PIA to
level those things out like we did from twenty ten
to about twenty twenty two.

Speaker 1 (37:45):
Mercer County Delegate Marty Gerhart, Marty, appreciate you hopping on
this morning. Thanks for the perspective.

Speaker 13 (37:51):
Great talking to you guys.

Speaker 1 (37:52):
Thanks absolutely same to you coming up. We'll check in
Fox News radios Ryan Schmells what's Corey Booker all worked
up about. We'll ask Ryan about that and more as
we continue. This is talk line from the Encode Insurance Studios.

Speaker 12 (38:04):
A lot of attention has been directed towards something President
Trump calls clean beautiful coal. That phrase often describes the
clean burning aspect of West Virginia coal, but there is
another type of coal, metallurgical coal, which is used to
make the steel our economy depends on, and West Virginia
has some of the highest quality met coal in the world.

(38:25):
West Virginia coal miners produce more met coal than any
other state, and seventy percent of all steel makers in
the United States rely on West Virginia met coal. This
accounts for two hundred billion dollars in economic impact throughout
the country and helps sustain over a half billion jobs.
As President Trump reinvigorates our economy, he will need a
lot of our high.

Speaker 4 (38:46):
Quality met coal.

Speaker 12 (38:47):
So the West Virginia Coal Association asks you to join
with them to recognize, honor and salute our West Virginia
coal miners. They built this country and will play a
vital role in rebuilding the economy that will power the
twenty first century.

Speaker 3 (39:01):
A message from the friends.

Speaker 4 (39:03):
Of coal.

Speaker 14 (39:05):
Traffic. Is it a standstill up ahead due to Cleopatra's
royal carriage overturning and spilling thousands of valuable gyms near
the exit?

Speaker 15 (39:13):
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Speaker 2 (39:46):
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Visit Encova dot com to learn more.

Speaker 1 (39:58):
Three o four Talk three or four we'll get to
some of your text. Coming up. A couple of things
to keep on the radar today. Governor Morrissey is going
to be in Bridgeport with an economic development announcements. New
Marshall A. D. Gerald Harrison being introduced this morning. He
is scheduled to join us on'll mentioned News talk line

(40:18):
tomorrow morning about eleven o six. Let's see what else
are the Fed likely to hold interest rates despite pressure
from the White House. Keep an eye out for that.
And most importantly, I found out late this morning to
you Jay breaking news. Today's National Cheesecake Day. So please celebrate,
and I advise celebrating irresponsibly. Just my thought. It is

(40:41):
a gift from heaven the cheesecake.

Speaker 3 (40:44):
Where do you procure your cheesecake of choice?

Speaker 1 (40:48):
There's a local bakery. I go local with such things.
Never go to the chain places. Don't go If you're
looking for a good cheesecake, you want to go local,
and you probably want to sure somebody's grandma made it. Okay,
that's the way to get the best. We get the
Graham cracker crust, go for the go for the classic.
People try to dress him up with chocolate and caramel

(41:08):
and fruit. Nope, you don't need all that. Just go
for the classic. That's the best way to celebrate today.

Speaker 3 (41:13):
Maybe a little cherry sauce just over it, but nothing
too out, you know, just out there.

Speaker 1 (41:18):
You don't need to you don't need to go too crazy. Unfortunately,
my wife doesn't like cream cheese in general, so ain't
nobody making cheesecake at my house today? Unfortunately for it.
Not that I need one, I'm just you know, you
know she she says, I don't like it. I don't
want it in the house. Fair enough.

Speaker 3 (41:34):
Well ask Smells when he comes on about his cheesecake taste,
because we know he gets girl Scale cookies wrong.

Speaker 1 (41:38):
But well see, you know, I do believe run Smells
is apparently tied up in DC at the moment. Cheese Smelled,
you know, the senators and presidents walking around. Smells is
big time, TJ. He's big time. I mean, we're lucky
to get him, but yeah, he's he's tied up apparently
in DC this morning. So we will chastise him and

(42:00):
publicly ridicule him the next time we do get him
on the program. All right, we'll get to some text
messages coming up. Got a squeeze and a break anyway.
This is Talkline on Metro News from the Encove Insurance Studios.

Speaker 7 (42:12):
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Speaker 16 (42:43):
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Listen to Live Healthy West Virginia for candid conversations with
insights for improving your health and well being. Live Healthy
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Speaker 1 (43:29):
Jackpots are growing here in West Virginia. Jackpots are on
their rise. Every week. Power Balls hit Monday, Wednesday and Saturday.
Mega Millions lights up Tuesdays and Fridays. That's five chances
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(43:51):
Mega Million's jackpot is one hundred and forty million dollars.
So go ahead play today. Let's get in a couple
of text messages. Coming up top of the hour, Charlotte
Lane will join us. There's been a lot of back
and forth that is holding up broadband expansion, the back
and forth between the power companies, phone companies, and the

(44:11):
internet and cable companies about who should replace the polls. Well,
the PSC has weighed in on that. We'll talk to
Charlott Lane. Coming up in the second hour. Tom Bloom,
Montingue County Commissioner will also drop by as the opposition
continues to heat up here in the northern part of
the state. About uh, I don't think you call it
MARL m A r L the mid Atlantic Resiliency Link,

(44:34):
although I would come up with a better name than
MARL for that. That would be the transmission line from
Pennsylvania to Frederick County, Virginia. We'll talk to Tom about that.

Speaker 3 (44:43):
Years in that business and we have always failed come
up with a Yeah, yeah, we've always failed to come
up with a good name.

Speaker 1 (44:50):
Well do you think about the acronym before you come
up with the name, or do you make the come
up with the name and they go, okay, it's the
m A R L line. Last didn't flow.

Speaker 3 (45:01):
I don't know. I got to the point where I
started calling it the I'd pick the closest city, Like,
if it's Morgantown, call it the Morgantown Palooza line.

Speaker 1 (45:09):
That's what I started doing. Yeah, anything that's got palooza
just sounds better, doesn't it.

Speaker 3 (45:13):
Amen? Amen?

Speaker 9 (45:15):
Uh.

Speaker 1 (45:15):
Texters says blueberries on cheesecake, my boys, good choice, good choice,
not gonna knock it. Simple is good when it comes
to cheesecake.

Speaker 3 (45:24):
It is this.

Speaker 1 (45:25):
Texas says it's time for the GOP to take away
state health insurance. Let them get their own take away retirement,
let them get private retirement, and take away police and
firing unions. They are bankrupting cities and towns. That would
be extreme. The one thing you gotta do with its
pei a any of those subjects. Bro, We got to

(45:46):
think outside the box just a little bit. We are
really good or really bad, depending on the perspective TJ
in West Virginia for doing something because well, that's the
way we do it. That's the way it's always been done.
And that thinking holds you back and does not allow
you to explore some other opportunities that could be better,
that could be worse. I mean, you have to at

(46:08):
least have the conversations. So often we don't because well,
that's the way we've always done it.

Speaker 3 (46:13):
Yeah, and we've gotten away from the fundamental idea that
in government spending, expenses cannot outpace revenues and you can't
just raise taxes to balance that equation. And we've gotten
away from that practice. You may argue we were never
really in practice, but expenses cannot outpace revenues. Pretty simple.

(46:34):
So you got to make tough choices, and unfortunately we
have to make very tough choices given what we have here.

Speaker 1 (46:41):
Texter says, you know, I don't know why PIA shortfalls
are such problem. I can find it. One hundred and
eighty million dollars from rich white people real quick. It's
called the Hope Scholarship because there's only they are the
only people using it, or people that are homeschooling and
that's just a waste of time. Unschooled as the texter.

(47:02):
Uh three or four talk three oh four? Hey Dave,
what about Moland? Moland? I'd never drink anything called Moland?
All right? Coming up second hour, Charlottelne will join us
Tom Bloom plus Tawny J. Powers on the latest on
that New York City shooting in Midtown Manhattan. That's in
the second hour of talk Line on Metro News, the
Voice of West Virginia.

Speaker 2 (47:28):
Metro News talk Line is presented by Incova Insurance, encircling
you with coverage to protect what you care about most.
Visit incova dot com to learn more.

Speaker 1 (47:38):
Metro News talk Line already in progress eight hundred and
seven sixty five. Talk is the phone number eight hundred
seven sixty five eight two five five. The text line
is three oh four Talk three oh four, three oh four,
eight two five five three oh four. Second part of
the hour, Montague County Commissioner Tom Bloom will join us
the County commission approving resolution this morning opposing that Ivold

(48:00):
transmission line that's proposed to run from Pennsylvania to Virginia,
carrying electricity to power data centers in Virginia. Cut through
parts of West Virginia. We'll talk to Commissioner Bloom Tawny J.
Powers schedule to give us an update from Midtown at
Manhattan on that shooting that happened earlier this week. The
shooter reportedly targeting NFL headquarters but ended up on the

(48:22):
wrong floor in that Park Avenue building. So we'll get
the latest with Tanya Powers coming up in just a
little bit. Once again, say good morning TJ. Meadows in
our Charleston bureau today and most days, morning TJ.

Speaker 3 (48:35):
Good morning, mister Wilson. Let me begin by saying, I
owe you an apology. Well, I consulted my records and
I do indeed, and I have worn this shirt on
fun golf shirt Friday, so I stand corrected, Sir, you
are correct.

Speaker 1 (48:48):
I didn't know you kept records. I'm not surprised you
would keep records on such things. You're a data driven fellow.
But I didn't know you kept records on fun shirt Friday.

Speaker 3 (48:57):
So, well, you know, spreadsheets help, So I'll just leave
it at that.

Speaker 1 (49:00):
You sent me a text, what was it? During a
commercial break? But apparently we're slapping some tariffs on India. Evidently.

Speaker 3 (49:08):
Yeah, so according to Fox News and other outlets have
it as well. Trump announces a twenty five percent tariff
on India. Twenty five percent tariff on India. I hadn't
heard India come into the conversation yet, and I'll have
to dive deeper into it. Of course, there were also
rumors out of the White House this morning. We were
talking about a one hundred percent tariff on China as well,
as we're trying to get a deal done. Some said

(49:29):
we may have a deal done with them in a
matter of weeks to a month. Continued posturing, we'll see
what happens. But I don't think anybody at this point
would say that the initial announcement is what happens. There's
always that negotiation and that gets somewhat bartered down. So
what is that final number. I don't know. But India
now in the mix as well.

Speaker 1 (49:48):
We will we'll get more into that tomorrow. Friend of
the show, John Deskins going to join us from the
WVIE Bureau of Business and Economics. We'll talk tariffs, will
talk the economy and where we are, where we might being,
where we're going, and John Deskins will guarantee all of it.
I don't know about that part, but he will join
us coming up on tomorrow's program. The Public Service Commission

(50:08):
has issued a ruling that broadband providers cable internet providers
must be allowed to use temporarily use utility polls owned
by electric and phone companies. The ruling stems from a
fight over whether the cable and internet companies or the
power company should be on the hook for replacing and
fixing aging utility polls. In this fight has held up

(50:29):
broadband expansion across the state of West Virginia. Joining us
on Metro News talk Line this morning to discuss is
the chairperson of the Public Service Commission, Charlotte Lane. Charlotte,
good morning, thanks for joining us.

Speaker 18 (50:40):
Good morning, Thank you for inviting me.

Speaker 1 (50:42):
So how did the PSC arrive at this ruling.

Speaker 18 (50:46):
Broadband is really important for the state of West Virginia
and all of its citizens, and with the advent of
trying to get more broadband to West Virginians, problems have
arisen between the broadband providers and the utilities. And we

(51:09):
have been working with both the broadband providers and the
utilities and the West Virginia Broadband Council for a number
for a long time trying to resolve pole attachment issues,
and we've made a lot of progress, but some of

(51:31):
these issues still remain, and the result is it is
a hindrance to getting broadband to West Virginians, and that
is unacceptable. The Public Service Commission had a hearing two
or three weeks ago, and I said then that the

(51:53):
Public Service Commission was not going to be a hindrance
to getting broadband to West Virginians. And it was clear
from these complaints that were filed and other issues that
there were still problems between the providers and utilities. And

(52:14):
we came down on the side of the providers because
what they want made sense. And one of the rulings
that we put out was that temporary attachments while they're

(52:34):
working through some of the other issues were acceptable. And
so that means that the providers can make up temporary
attachments to the polls while they're working out other underlying problems,
and that is really really important and should speed up

(52:56):
getting broadband to West Virginians.

Speaker 3 (53:00):
Charlotte. As I read some of the news out of this,
cost seems to be one of the issues. Who will
bear the cost for what I'll call the make ready
work for lack of a better term seems to me
that the utilities don't want to bear it, the internet
service providers don't want to bear it. But you're whirling
The commissions ruling, i should say, seems to say that

(53:21):
the utilities will bear that cost. Is that correct.

Speaker 18 (53:26):
It's a complicated issue. If a poll has to be replaced,
whether or not anybody's going to attach to it, then yes,
that is the utilities responsibility. And ultimately, of course it
will be the ratepayers of the utility that will be

(53:47):
paying for the replacement of these polls. But when there
are various reasons why the POE needs to be replaced,
then there will be a cost sharing and we've got
rules for that. And I think what our order does.
It makes it clear that it's not a one size

(54:11):
fits all, but it's specific and if the broadband providers
should bear part of the cost, then they will bear
part of the cost, but they shouldn't bear all.

Speaker 6 (54:24):
Of the cost.

Speaker 18 (54:25):
And I am expecting that these orders will provide a
lot of clarification and the parties themselves will be able
to work out who should be paging and how much
they should be paging. But of course if they don't,
it can come back to the Commission again.

Speaker 1 (54:46):
Charlotte Lane is joining us, chairperson of the Public Service Commission. Charlotte,
is this a temporary fix or is this the permanent
solution moving forward?

Speaker 18 (54:56):
Well, we've issued lots of order, working through the progress,
working through the process, and the temporary replacement is just
temporary until the parties can work out what the problem,
what the issues are, and then provide permanent attachment. But

(55:20):
the poll attachment issues and how you put fiber on
the polls is very complicated, and we have worked with
all of the parties to try to provide clarity, provide
an easy application to do all of this, a quick

(55:43):
review and everything, and an effort to get broadband service
to providers as quickly as possible. And so this is
an ongoing process. But I would expect with this order,
with these orders, that it's going to provide a lot

(56:04):
of clarity, and it should and it should allow the
parties to know what they should be doing.

Speaker 3 (56:12):
Public Service Commission Chair Charlotte Lane joins us on Metro
News talk line. Your honor, you hit the nail on
the head. At the end of the day, the rape
payers are the ones who are going to pay this.
As you well know, utilities are socialized creatures, if you will,
they're more heavily regulated, I would argue, probably than Internet
service providers. Is it fair that an entire utility rate

(56:36):
base pays for these pole attachments of some of these
upgrades when a smaller number of ISP customers will be
the ones that benefit directly.

Speaker 18 (56:45):
Okay, so let me make it clear the utility will
not bear the whole cost if there is a reason
that the internet providers are called I've seen part of
the problem with the poll attachments, and so we have
a process for deciding how to share those costs. The

(57:12):
underlying problem is that we have failed that there are
lots of polls out there that need to be replaced
even before somebody is before a broadband provider is trying
to attach, and the utilities bear the ultimate responsibility for

(57:35):
replacing those polls. And if part of the reason is
that as a result of a broadband provider trying to
attach to the poll, then there's a cost sharing.

Speaker 1 (57:53):
And Charlotte, I'll go back to where we started this conversation,
where you started the conversation. We've got a one point
two billion dollar investment in broadband expansion here in West Virginia.
We can't blow that over squabbling between who's going to
pay for a poll replacement. We can't do it. We've
got to move.

Speaker 18 (58:08):
Forward, you know. But the bigger, the bigger issue not
only is who's going to pay for it, but it's
the process. And there are thousands of applications with the
poll owners to try to get the process done to

(58:31):
attach brought fiber to the polls, and there's an application
process or surveys or engineering. All of that has to
take place, and we have been working to streamline that process.
And it seems like when we solve one problem, then

(58:52):
another one pops up. But we are working very diligently
with all of the parties to make sure that when
this federal money comes in, that we are going to
be able to spend the money and get broadband to
more West Virginians.

Speaker 3 (59:12):
Charlotte, I wonder if you would permit me a bit
of a curveball, because after we spoke this morning, I
saw a story that I'd like your opinion on. It's
more of a national story. You don't necessarily have any
say in this, but you know PGM, you know how
things work. I saw where their capacity auction prices last week.
I mean they shot through the roof like twenty two percent.
They've like, I don't know, quadrupled or more since in

(59:36):
the last two years. To your point about rapayers, ultimately
rate payers pay for that. Are you concerned about that
and what's happening with these prices and these auctions.

Speaker 18 (59:46):
I am concerned about the governance of PJM and what
PJM is doing more on several fronts, not just the
capacity the auction but we need to make sure that
we have reliable service, and PGM has to work to

(01:00:12):
make sure that that happens, along with our utilities and
along with the what the Public Service Commission does. Our
number one priority is to keep the lights on and
we are working very hard on that.

Speaker 13 (01:00:26):
Now.

Speaker 18 (01:00:26):
The good news about the PGM capacity market is because
we are a because we have our own generation and
are not a deregulated state, these capacity prices will have
less of an effect upon our ratepayers than those states

(01:00:49):
that are deregulated.

Speaker 3 (01:00:52):
And I would assume West Virginia should probably stay that
way for that hedge.

Speaker 18 (01:00:56):
Yes, yes, we are not going to become a deregulated state.

Speaker 1 (01:01:02):
Yes, CE Chairman Charlotte Lane joining us here on Metro
News talk Line. Charlotte always appreciate thank you for coming
on this morning. Thank you absolutely coming up. We'll check
in hopefully Fox News Radio is Towny j Powers get
an update on the investigation into that Midtown Manhattan shooting
earlier this week. This is talk Line from the Encove
Insurance Studios.

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Speaker 1 (01:02:09):
Almost forgot to mention it's a sign w football camp
opening up today, Marshall football camp opening up as well.
It's not like it used to be though. Brad how
and I were talking about this for a moment yesterday
as the three guys were streaming in to do the
podcast yesterday. You know, it used to be when Fall

(01:02:30):
Camp opened. I mean it was Fall Camp. Nobody had
been around or your guys have been around, you know,
lifting weights a little bit, but it was this mass return.
I mean they were just together a week ago. They
got like a week off, they were already work today.
It's a totally different world. But for those of you
marking the time to counting down to kickoff of Fall

(01:02:52):
Camps open up. I believe Coach Rodriguez will have media
veils around noon today. We'll have coverage over with the
website wv Metro News dot com. We'll keep tabs on
Marshall as well. New ad Gerald Harrison being introduced officially. Oh,
this hour actually down in Huntington.

Speaker 3 (01:03:10):
So I'm streaming it here. I just kind of in
the background, and man nice Kelly green Blazer Strong came
looking tight and well a little bit. I heard good
things to say, I mean, got the crowd engaged, captivating
speaker eager to interview him tomorrow.

Speaker 1 (01:03:27):
Yep, he'll join US eleven o six schedule to join
US eleven oh six tomorrow on the program. Police continue
to search for a motive in the shooting in Midtown
at Manhattan, where a gunman went into an office building
and apparently had been targeting the NFL headquarters. Joining us
for the latest on that investigation, please welcome to the

(01:03:47):
program Fox News Radio is Tawny Jay Powers, Tanya. Good morning.
What's the latest on the investigation?

Speaker 7 (01:03:53):
Good morning.

Speaker 21 (01:03:53):
Well, they are still looking into, you know, exactly how
he managed to get the gun that he used, was
like an AR fifteen style automatic gun. They have said
that parts of this gun were purchased by an associate
of his and apparently the shooter is the one who
assembled it. Like I said, there's still a lot more

(01:04:16):
information that has yet to be uncovered and at least,
you know, revealed. At this point, they are working on
a motive. We do know, according to what police have
found so far, that he did intend to target the
offices of the NFL, that he also had a history
of mental illness, but there were no details really given

(01:04:37):
on you know, on that. They are investigating this handwritten
note that he apparently left behind in which he said
he had chronic traumatic encephialopathy or CTE. That's a degenerative
brain disease repeated had traumas with its linked to so
he you know, I guess tied the dangers of brain

(01:04:58):
injuries and attack sports to the NFL. When he went
to the building here in Midtown, not too far from
where I'm sitting, he got on the wrong elevators and
went to a different floor, not the NFL excuse me,
not the NFL headquarters floor. Now, we do know that
there was an NFL employee that was wounded in the attack,
but apparently as recovery.

Speaker 3 (01:05:21):
Tony, can you tell us about this incident in terms
you mentioned that style rifle. I was listening to a
piece yesterday. Most crime in New York City tangun crime?
Is this unique to New York this kind of high
powered rifle in an office situation?

Speaker 21 (01:05:36):
Yeah, I mean, yes, it's It's not something that we
see all the time. I mean, you know, the as
far as the gun crime in New York City, we
just got new information in like the last day or two.
The shooting incidents are actually down about twenty one percent
from last year. If you look at the over the

(01:05:58):
past fifteen years, it's down fifty percent. You know, this
is not something that is you know, I think a
lot of people have maybe the wrong impression of gun
crimes in New York City. And people are assuming they
were just folks are riding the subway with a long
gun or something, and that's that's not what's what's happening,
you know, it is it was a very chilling photo
to look at it. I'm sure that you and your

(01:06:19):
listeners have seen it as well, where this guy's just
casually walking across the plaza towards this building with this gun.
You know, that is that's rightening to see when you're
you know, in midtown Manhattan or anywhere. I would imagine
in any especially a downtown urban area where you've got
a lot of people in a small area. You know,

(01:06:40):
these full people who died. Uh, they will remembered last
night at a vigil here in midtown the police officer,
the off duty NYPD officer who was shot and killed.
He will be laid to rest tomorrow. We understand that
his funeralists at for Thursday. The I believe the UH.
As a side note, one of the kind of anecdotally,

(01:07:03):
the Yankees actually had a moment of silence for him
last night at their at their game, they uh, you know,
stopped to put his photo up on the big screen
and remember his you know, ultimate sacrifice.

Speaker 1 (01:07:15):
Talking to who Fox News Radio is Tanya Jay Powers. Uh,
the suspect drove across the country was from Las Vegas.
Have they released any information about his his past or
about his life in Nevada.

Speaker 21 (01:07:28):
Well, actually, we know that he didn't show up for
his shift on Sunday at Horseshoe, Las Vegas. He was
at that point driving across the country in his car
here to here in New York City. As far as
what he did there, the Caesars Entertainment folks, that's who
owns the Horseshoe, they did confirm that he worked for them.

(01:07:49):
They have not really been, uh, you know, given a
lot of details of what his role was or if
he was authorized to carry a weapon. Apparently he did
have a hand one that he was legally purchased that
apparently he was, you know, legally could own. As far
as you know, the he has to have in Nevada.

(01:08:11):
He has to have a valid work card from the
State Private Investigators Licensing Board to work as a security
office a private security officer in Nevada. Apparently he had
one of those, but it expired in December. I don't
know if he had gotten it renewed or if that
you know would be something he would have had to
have had still to work.

Speaker 1 (01:08:30):
For Horseshoes Fox News Radios Tanya Jay Powers with the
latest on the investigation into that Midtown Manhattan shooting earlier
this week. Tanya, thank you so much for the update.
We appreciate it, sure, thank you. Coming up, we're going
to talk to Montague County Commissioner Tom Bloom on the
other side of the news break. The Montague County Commission
joining other counties that are in the proposed path of

(01:08:53):
the mid Atlantic Resiliency Link that would take power from
Pennsylvania to Virginia for a data center, and Monti County
is now officially on the record opposing that project. Why
we'll talk to Tom. Coming up, this is talk Lin
on Metro News, the Voice of West Virginia. It is
eleven thirty times to get a news update. Let's check

(01:09:13):
in with the Metro News radio network find out what's
happening across the great state of West Virginia.

Speaker 10 (01:09:18):
West Virginia Metro News.

Speaker 1 (01:09:20):
I'm Chris Laurence.

Speaker 14 (01:09:20):
Say.

Speaker 10 (01:09:20):
Kanawak County woman is now facing a charge of DEI
causing injury for a wreck that occurred last week and
involved her vehicle and a Knawh County Sheriff's Department cruiser.
The crash occurred on I seventy nine at mink Shoals
a little before eight in the evening.

Speaker 1 (01:09:34):
Captain J. H.

Speaker 10 (01:09:35):
Thaxton of the Kanawh County Sheriff's Department was pulled well
off the highway doing speed patrol when his vehicle was
struck by an oncoming car that veered off the interstate
and into him. The driver, identified as twenty nine year
old Holly Anderson of Elkview, was not wearing a seat
belt and according to investigator, showed all signs of drug
or alcohol impairment or both. She was not wearing her

(01:09:55):
seat belt and suffered severe injuries. Her dog, that was
also unrestrained, was killed in the crash. She has just
been released from the hospital and was charged this morning.
Boone County authorities have charged the driver with DUI causing
death following a wreck they claimed a woman's life.

Speaker 3 (01:10:09):
In May.

Speaker 10 (01:10:10):
Thirty seven year old Corey Cantley of Paytona is alleged
to have caused the May ninth two vehicle crash on
State Route three. Killed in that accident was sixty nine
year old Donna Campbell of SETH, deputy said waited on
toxicology test results before charging Cantley. Parkway's Authority announcing a
five step plan to hopefully keep an incident from June
on the Turnpike from happening again. Parkway's Authority Executive director

(01:10:33):
Chuck Smith.

Speaker 11 (01:10:34):
We can respond and do things appropriately the first time
and make that decision quick enough, we can have them
moving within that two hour time limit.

Speaker 10 (01:10:42):
You're listening to Metro News the Voice of West Virginia.

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Hi, I'm Josh Strand, Safety Coordinator for Civil and Environmental consultants.
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Find out what CEC can do for you.

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Visit CECI NC dot com.

Speaker 10 (01:11:46):
Day two of the Department of Education Sale Conference in Charleston,
being held at the Charleston Coliseum and Convention Center. It's
closed to one thousand educators from across the state.

Speaker 23 (01:11:55):
And to provide them with sessions that can support them
in their classroom, to give them new ideas to take
back into their school year, and to allow them to
choose to find the things that they're most interested in
and they really need.

Speaker 10 (01:12:07):
Support in Doctor Erica Close State Department of Education Director
of pre K through twelve academic support from the Metro
News anchor desk. I'm Chris Lawrence.

Speaker 1 (01:12:25):
Coming up open segment for you. Get your text Ready
three or four, talk three or four or send them
eight hundred and seven sixty five talk eight hundred and
seven six y five eight two five five. That is
the phone number. Moantegue County commissioners met this morning and

(01:12:49):
on the agenda's a resolution concerning the mid Atlantic resilienc
Seat Link. Now, that is a proposed high voltage transmission
line that would run from Green County, Pennsylvania to northern Virginia,
delivering power for data centers. Now that line would traverse
part of West Virginia, cutting through several counties, including Montingelia County.
In fact, we'll cut through the Cheap Lake area. Other

(01:13:12):
counties in the path have passed resolutions opposing that project.
Joining us. I'll mention new talk line this morning is
Montgue County Commissioner Tom Bloom. Tom, Good morning, appreciate you
taking some time. What did the county commission in Montingey
County do today concerning the mid Atlantic Resiliency Link.

Speaker 5 (01:13:29):
Well, we had a resolution and basically I'll just read
the paragraph which is probably the most important that the
Moningea County Commission formally opposes the siting of the construction
of the Marrow transmission lines in Montinge County, as we
believe such infrastructure would damage the natural beauty of our county,

(01:13:49):
impair tourism, diminish property values, and confer no commissurate benefit
on local residents, while forcing all the citizen insult will
be pay for the through increase electricity rates. And we
spent about eight months ago for those people to not know.
The company came to us, gave a presentation and all

(01:14:10):
they said was we're just going to build on the
right aways. And about six weeks ago several of the
residents were starting to be informed that it was going
through their property, and they came to us and we
started to investigate, and we called the company back mid Atlantic.
They gave a great presentation, but they couldn't answer a
lot of the questions. And the two big questions I

(01:14:32):
think the residents in West Virginia needed to hear of
why we are opposing it was how did it benefit
our residents? And are there any concerns and costs to
the project, And those were two big questions we asked
the company.

Speaker 1 (01:14:47):
Tom.

Speaker 3 (01:14:48):
I think the company behind this is next Stra out
of Florida, their main regulated company's Florida Power and Light.
But I could be mistaken. I thought my understanding was
this was going to be a merchant transmit, so it
wouldn't necessarily raise any rates for West Virginian's right, the
merchant company would pay for it.

Speaker 5 (01:15:06):
Well, that's where we found out that basically they were
running the power lines through our county and then there
were no substations at all in Mint County or even
in West Virginia. So if they sent it to Virginia
and then we wanted to use the power, we would
have to then buy it back from them. And there

(01:15:28):
was also a question of how much it would actually
cost to have this be built. And I think one
of the things I do want to make sure that
the public understands one of the questions were, well, Mont County,
we should be able to help the power grid, you know,
and contribute. We have two power plants already in our county,
so we are contributing. And the best way I can

(01:15:52):
explain it at the end was when I talked to
the company, and this is what bothered me was if
the Virginia really wanted it, they need to get the
power from that area. And I said, okay, let's make
an agreement. I said, let's have the Virginia residents go
to transmission lines along their beaches, so they can understand

(01:16:12):
what it's like going through our county and have been
justtic states and built on the backs of our citizens,
and that is what I wanted them to understand.

Speaker 1 (01:16:23):
Anigue County Commissioner Tom Bloom joining us this morning. Tom,
I mentioned other counties have already passed resolutions opposing this project.
Is there any effort to work together now as this
the regulatory process moves forward on this project.

Speaker 5 (01:16:38):
That's actually the second part. Sean Secour came up with
an idea that if this is going to continue, we
would probably consider intervening with the other counties so we
can actually be an interested party and sit at the
table with PSC. And I think that is step two
that we're going to right back to Hampshire County and

(01:16:59):
the other counties and say would you be interested in
I think a five county approach rather than just one
county sitting at the table explaining and voicing our concerns
to the PSC would be very beneficial for our residents.

Speaker 3 (01:17:13):
So Tom, you can do that with the PSC. But ultimately,
I mean FIRK is going to have control over this.
It's an interest interstate transmission line, which they regulate. The
PSC doesn't regulate. They of course influence. I'm not saying that.
I'm wondering if a better approach would be. You talked
about a lack of substations. Maybe you can kind of
deal with these guys if they'll flit the bill for
a substation so there could be some economic development. Maybe

(01:17:34):
that's a better way to go.

Speaker 5 (01:17:35):
And now you know that's something that could come out
of it. But you know, I think Montia County residents
and West Virginia residents have been how would use very
simply screwed for years by companies coming in taking our
power and energy and then selling it back to us.
And you are exactly right. But some of the concerns

(01:17:57):
we also came up with which we did not realize
was if they use the right of way, you can't
have any building or live stuck one hundred feet on
either side of the lines. The other big question we
asked was are you going to reimburse the residents for
the property value that's lost? And they very nicely said, well,

(01:18:19):
probably not.

Speaker 1 (01:18:21):
Tom. We've got power line right of ways running all
over the place that go across people's properties that traverse
mountains go through some seating carriers because we got to
have them. What's the difference with this one.

Speaker 5 (01:18:32):
Well, that's what we that's what we didn't understand. But
I guess these transmission lines, the five hundred kV lines,
are different and they have other requirements and concerns. And
there's a whole question and concern about I don't want
to say cancer, but you can't have you know, buildings
or anything like for example, would go over Cheat Lake.

(01:18:53):
You know, as I said, we're one of the few
things that we rank number one in the country is
the land, the tourism and the people coming here, and
we can't have this in the middle of the property
in the lake, and we're not getting any benefits. You know,
it's going directly down the Virginia. And my feeling is fine,

(01:19:15):
if you want to have those data centers, you get
the power and start your power plans that you stopped
in Virginia.

Speaker 3 (01:19:23):
So Tom totally get what you're saying. Not dismissing your argument,
but I'm wondering how you can affect this because again
I haven't studied this line, but I'm sure this company,
they're largely dealing with private landowners, and if a private
landowner wants to cut a deal with that company to
let a transmission line go through, I'm not sure what

(01:19:45):
a county or a government can do about that, or
if they should do anything about that. What are your
takes on that kind of a scenario.

Speaker 5 (01:19:53):
I think you're exactly right. No, you're exactly right. And
we haven't found one private landowner who is favor. That's
because of how much they're going to lose. And that's
the concern. Now there could be public owners of land,
but to get to that transmission line or to get
to that.

Speaker 13 (01:20:11):
Right away, you're going through the people's property.

Speaker 5 (01:20:14):
And so there's some real concerns about this whole process.
And the bottom line is we're.

Speaker 13 (01:20:20):
Only a county.

Speaker 5 (01:20:22):
This is above our heads and the decision making, and
it's up to the governor or, it's up to the PSC.
But here's one thing that Delegate McCormick brought up. He said,
while we do this, if we ever want to put
a data center in West Virginia, we're already sending the
power out everywhere else. So it's really undermining that whole concept.

Speaker 1 (01:20:46):
Tommy, you're right, you're only a county and it's only
Hampshire County, it's only Pendleton County. Have you had conversations
with state delegates at this point? Have you had conversations
with Congressman More's people, Senator Capitalist people, Senator Justices people
about this topic.

Speaker 5 (01:21:01):
No, we haven't because I believe there's still three or
four more weeks as they're gaining, you know, information before
they have the hearing. But I can tell you the
local delegates have all come out against it, and hopefully
we will get together and that's what I think, working
with the other counties and then contacting you know, the
federal officials, and it's really up to them. But I

(01:21:25):
think the bottom line is this, if we provide this
transmission line to out of state, it really hurts the
governor's concept of trying to put data centers in West
Virginia because we're already sending out that power. And you know,
it's a difficult decision. I mean, I understand we want
to be good neighbors in the state of West Virginia

(01:21:46):
and mand County, but at what costs?

Speaker 1 (01:21:50):
On a gay County Commissioner Tom blown the County commission
approving resolution today opposing the mid Atlantic Resiliency Link. Tom
appreciates the time. Keep us posted on the updates.

Speaker 13 (01:21:59):
Okay, I will and TJ.

Speaker 5 (01:22:01):
I'm on your Facebook. I've been following you and I
want to say you're starting to get as many trolls
as I have, So I really like that.

Speaker 1 (01:22:09):
I don't know if that's a good thing or not.

Speaker 4 (01:22:11):
TJ.

Speaker 7 (01:22:12):
That's for me.

Speaker 13 (01:22:13):
Hey, you all have a great week.

Speaker 1 (01:22:14):
It's good talking to you. Tom Montague, account Commissioner's Tom
Bloem Careful the company you keep there, TJ. You know, careful.

Speaker 3 (01:22:23):
You can't please them all. You can't please them all.
I got to tell you, though, I don't envy his
position here because, as you could hear from the questions,
this gets extremely complicated in terms of how this is regulated.
And this is not something a county does, right, So
you're almost at a disadvantage when you start because somebody
like next Stare Up, which is one of the biggest

(01:22:44):
companies in the business that does this all the time.
They know how to do these things.

Speaker 1 (01:22:49):
And you are correct. But but but yeah, I think
that's where you start though. Oh yeah, that's where you start.
If you have a concern as a property owner and
Somewhere down the line, you know this TJ. Somewhere down
the line, the argument will be made, well, the county
never complained about the prod at some point when somebody
tries to put well, the county never opposed the project.

(01:23:10):
So I think this is the first step and a
long step. And look, I this goes back to this
larger conversation we've had a couple of times already on
the program of how data centers and AI are going
to impact the future, how are we going to power them,
where's that power going to come from? How do we
get it from point A to point B? I get it.
I wouldn't want to ride away coming across my property either,

(01:23:33):
But at some where is the responsibility. Again, these are
all existential philosophical questions. I don't have any answers to.
But it's a complicated conversation.

Speaker 3 (01:23:44):
My experience, I used to beg when I was involved
in these kinds of deals, if they don't want it,
build it right on top of my house, because I
saw the kind of money that was involved. And you
get to keep the property that you can turn around
and sell. So you know, one man's perspective, It's always
been a pretty good deal. So I would be interested

(01:24:07):
to talk to some property owners if anyone wanted to
talk with this and seeing what kind of deal they're
getting from nick Stra to be honest, because typically Dave,
it's pretty sweet and you keep the land, and of
course if you ever want to sell it, you got
to sell it with the right of way and the
right away runs with the land. But the financial upside,
which I get, doesn't matter and mean the most to everybody,

(01:24:28):
but it was usually a pretty life changing event when
you're talking about some of these kinds of high voltage issues.

Speaker 1 (01:24:34):
I get that. But for some people it's their land
and they don't want to be told what they can
and can't do with it, and they should hold more important, sure,
and they should hold out, and there are ways to
fight this.

Speaker 3 (01:24:45):
So you know, we'll see what happened. But I did
if Tom is correct, and I haven't studied it, a
merchant transmission line like this, it's not going to raise
people's rates. Private company is paying for this, the end users,
the counterparties to the deal, so it's not like you know,
are going to go up in north central West Virginia
because of a merchant transmission line that's going.

Speaker 1 (01:25:03):
Through the rest of the show belongs to you. Eight
hundred and seven to sixty five talks. The phone number three
or four Talk three oh four is the text line
that's there are two ways to get a hold of us.
It's your opportunity to weigh in, sort of kind of
like a Steam release on Wednesday, but not quite because
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Speaker 3 (01:25:38):
You.

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Speaker 2 (01:26:49):
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Speaker 1 (01:27:01):
Phones are open at eight hundred seven sixty five Talk
eight hundred seven to sixty five eight two five five.
The text line is three oh four Talk three oh four.
Text from earlier in the show question, would both of
you vote to eliminate jerry mandering or vote to continue it? Well,
it's already illegal. It's it's jerry mandering. By the way,

(01:27:25):
Just to throw this out there, TJ, since I told
you both sides do it and both sides accused the
other of doing it. The Vice president now talking about
jerry mandering in California being outrageous of their fifty two
congressional districts, nine of them a Republican. What was I
everybody does it.

Speaker 3 (01:27:43):
It's only bad when it's against you.

Speaker 1 (01:27:45):
Sure, right, Sure, But I like your idea though. What
what did you say? AI throw it in? Could you
say chat.

Speaker 3 (01:27:52):
GPT, chat GPT? Yeah and just hop on you need
a good prompt.

Speaker 1 (01:27:57):
Go for it. Yeah, I'm all for it. Sure. Texas
says voting in democracy is not a game. Please don't
joke about this. Eliminate this way to cheat no matter
what side does it. But politics is a game. I
mean it is. There's gamesmanship, there, there's deal making, there's pettiness,
and there's a whole lot of that going on right now.

Speaker 6 (01:28:20):
Uh.

Speaker 1 (01:28:20):
But yeah, politics is a game. Again. You don't have
to like it. I don't like it. I wish it
was this utopian world where you saw my side and
I saw your side, and we cut a deal and
we voted in the best interest. But that ain't how
it works.

Speaker 3 (01:28:35):
When does a spot of levity or a bit of
sarcasm become wrong even among serious issues. I mean, it's
just a way to explore the narrative. I don't think
we're downplaying that the issue is wrong in and of itself,
but you do you.

Speaker 1 (01:28:50):
Let me see three or four talk three four? All right?
Thank you for I like when the text says not
for airing, appreciate it. Thank you. Hashtag trolls this Texas
says I'm interested to get TJ's take on rebates given
to each American to offset tariff costs. West Virginia Senator

(01:29:14):
flu Hardy is going off on X about it, saying
the cost we're not supposed to be passed on to
the consumer. TEA, give a little tease, TJ. Because John
Deskin's going to join us tomorrow. We're going to spend
some time on the tariff situation, what was predicted, what
reality is today, what reality might be in the future.
But give your thirty second thought.

Speaker 3 (01:29:37):
I've seen this idea, I haven't studied it deeply, so
any response that I give would be uneducated. In terms
of the rebates. What I will say is that I
think it's too early to fully understand the effect of
the tariffs. I think right now, those that shoulder that burden.
They're holding some of it as a way to possibly

(01:29:59):
keep market share. See how long it lasts pass a
Trump administration. I think there's some deals to get other
folks to cover it. In terms of those that are
selling into this market to some extent, there's also this
narrative out there, right or wrong, be interested on deskins.
Take that AI is somehow being used to offset the
effect of some of these tariffs. In other words, if

(01:30:20):
you can employ AI to reduce headcount costs, can that
eat a chunk of the tariffs in order to keep
pricing where it is? So it's too early for any
kind of accurate assessment. However, I will say at the
end of the day, long run, consumers pay for tariffs,
and I think they're bad for open markets. And look,

(01:30:42):
I get China's different. We got to do something with China.
They're not an honest broker. They manipulate the market. But
for our allies especially, I'm not sure that I see it.

Speaker 1 (01:30:52):
Textass David TJ. Data centers seem like a get rich
quick plan for West Virginia. What happens when it's over?
If data owners are going to be constructed, put them
in reclaimed mining areas and create small power plants in
those areas to power them. Not the worst I do,
I've heard, not the worst I do.

Speaker 3 (01:31:09):
One of these things. With data centers, you have to
understand not all data center companies, but some of these
companies are all about getting the permit. They're not ever
going to build a data center. They're about getting an
air permit or some kind of environment evental permit that
you would need, and then they're selling that permit on
the market to somebody that will actually build it.

Speaker 1 (01:31:26):
Do you remember it's similar to It's not exactly apple
apples to apples, but similar to when everybody was trying
to get Marcella's shale gas leases. They want to make
certain they may never drill on your property, they may
never drill under your property, but they wanted that lease.
And what was that probably five ten years ago. Yeah,

(01:31:48):
everybody arms around. Yeah, it was an armistry. They just
wanted to have it. May never use it, but they
wanted to have it. That seems that kind of sounds
like what you're describing.

Speaker 3 (01:31:55):
Yeah, get it first, get it early, before the resources
are mature, before where people understand what they have. Frankly,
in my humble opinion and then be able to sell
it to an exploration company that will actually put a
well pad together and go in and bring the resource
out of the ground. Today, it's the old coal company
land model kind of thing, right where Okay, we have
these coal assets, will lease to some kind of leasing

(01:32:18):
company that'll do the mining for us. So it's just
an extension of a business model that's proven into an
area of new technology.

Speaker 1 (01:32:26):
Back to wrap it up and just a moment talk
line on Metro News from the in COVID Insurance Studios.

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Mega Millions is one hundred and forty millions. So go
ahead play today? Uh three or four? Talk three oh four?
Both sides, Jerry Mander now, but one side was forced
into it for self defense. We all know where it started.
Democrats nationwide would be fine with fairly drawn boundaries if
Republicans would allow them. Before you ask, by fairly drawn

(01:34:05):
boundaries to mean double blind, randomly generated, says the Texter.
All right, coming up tomorrow, we'll get into tariff talk.
John Deskins is going to join us. Will also be
joined by the new athletics director at Marshall University, Gerald
Harrison scheduled to join us, and TJ. We've made it
fifty nine twenty and we haven't talked about blue jeans today.

(01:34:31):
Give it time, maybe tomorrow, give it time. Who knows
your cheesecake? I'm gonna go find some right now. Metro
News Midday coming up on many of these same Metro
news radio stations. It's talk Line on Metro News, the
voice of West Virginia.