Talkline | Nov. 6, 2025 - MetroNews Talkline

Episode Transcript
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Speaker 1 (00:13):
Well, I hope you're not planning to fly anywhere anytime soon.
Your best bets just to sit back and tune in
the Metro News talk Line. We are underway.

Speaker 2 (00:24):
Your radio turned off from the studios of w v
r C Media and the Metro New's radio and television network,
The Voice up West Virginia comes the most powerful show
in West Virginia. This it's Metro News talk Line with

(00:46):
Dave Wilson and t J Meadows.

Speaker 1 (00:50):
Activated switch that way? Can we hold from Charles.

Speaker 2 (00:54):
Stand by to David t J. You're on.

Speaker 3 (01:01):
Metronews. Talk Line is presented by Encoba Insurance, encircling you
with coverage to protect what you care about most. Visit
incova dot com to learn more.

Speaker 1 (01:11):
Good morning, Welcome into the Encoba Insurance studios. Dave Wilson
with you in the Morgantown euro TJ. Meadows is in Charleston.
Jakelink is our video producer, and Ethan Collins is sitting
by at eight hundred seven sixty five Talk eight hundred
seven six five eight two five five. That is the
phone number. Text line is three or four Talk three

(01:33):
oh four. Morgan O'Brien, President CEO of Hope Gas is
going to join us on the program coming up bottom
of the hour. Hope settling that rate increase request. We'll
talk to Morgan about that. Brad housetops by w basketball
on tap Tonight football on Saturday at Howard Monroe from

(01:54):
the Northern Panhandle. We'll chop things up in the second
hour three A four talk three oh four and eight
hundred seven six five talk those the numbers. Good morning
to you, Jay. You don't want to fly? Huh oh,
I hate going to the airport. Look, flying, the act
of flying does not bother me. The process of flying.
I would rather just smash my head off the wall

(02:14):
over there, I think is just about as enjoyable. So, yeah,
I don't want to fly right now, or no, I
don't want to fly right now. Whatever.

Speaker 4 (02:23):
Yeah, it's gonna get pretty bad. I mean, biggest travel
week of the year coming up. I think that still
holds true, right, I think the Thanksgiving week, yeah, is
still the biggest travel week of the year. People are
gonna get left behind, They're not going to get where
they're going. That's why you gotta wrap this thing up.
I mean, in addition to all the other downfalls that
we have, I mean that is when I think, you know,

(02:44):
you've talked about the average person, or maybe that's not
the best term, but you know what I mean. People
are like, it doesn't affect me. I haven't really felt
it yet.

Speaker 1 (02:53):
A lot of people will feel that I had this
conversation not ten minutes ago upstairs that the average person,
you and me, we're not government employees, we're not government contractors.
Our jobs Actually in some way, TJ, we benefit from
the government being dysfunctional. Something to talk about it, right,
But over the last weld, we on day thirty seven,

(03:16):
it hasn't impacted our day today much at all as
far as functionality goes. But for the average person, you're
exactly right. If you're trying to get to Grandma's house
for Thanksgiving and you're stuck at the airport in Charlotte
and can't get a flight because TSA can't work, air

(03:36):
air traffic controllers are off, whatever the case is. Now
it becomes real. Now, this thing that's just kind of
out there and ether becomes very real. And I wonder
what the impact will be if the pressure turns up
on Democrats and Republicans for that matter, to get this
thing figured out.

Speaker 4 (03:52):
Yeah, and one of the kickers is too. One of
the reasons we haven't felt it as much, and maybe
we haven't talked about this as much as we should.
A lot of these folks, God bless them, they're still
going into work even if they don't get paid. I'll
give you an example. My granddad is a veteran and
had some healthcare needs and you know, of course, has

(04:14):
the VA available to him, called up, got it done.
I mean, if the VA was closed, I couldn't tell it.
You know what I'm saying, even from the administrative perspective.
So a lot of these folks that continue to go
in they're really doing Uncle Sam not only a huge
financial favor, they're doing a big pr favor too, because
things like that continue to operate and people don't see,

(04:37):
they don't see, they don't.

Speaker 1 (04:38):
Feel and know. As silly as this sounds, and I
can't believe it's coming out of my mouth, but with
all of that, TJ All, it will take. This is
what it will take to get the government reopen. What if, say,
coach Prime in Colorado can't get to Morgantown because their
flight is delayed. On teams usally fly out on Friday

(04:59):
for a Saturday game. What if their flight gets delayed
and gets pushed back and gets pushed back. Now, of
course it's a charter fly. I'm just saying, we've got
college teams flying around, you got professional teams. You want
to get the government reopen? Make don't let the Raiders
get to Denver on time. I know they play to night,
but you know, have an NFL team fly in late
to a football game and see if you don't get

(05:20):
the wrath of somebody.

Speaker 4 (05:21):
As silly as that sounds, right, but you know, here's
the thing, your your point is something like that, As
silly as it may sound, that those things are familiar
to us, people want that in their lives because it's
a calming thing to be able to set down and
watch a football game yep on Thursday night. So when

(05:41):
that gets disrupted, yes, it makes a huge, a huge impact.
But if that happens something like that, that that's that Americana.
Do you care if it's a Republican or a Democrat? No, No,
that it was everything. So the longer this goes on,
the narrative, if something like that happens, I think shifts
to well, Democrats had the possibility they could sign the

(06:04):
cr right, it could have been over or Republicans just
should have negotiated on the ACA. Now those Americana things
that make us feel calm and familiar. No one cares
at that point. They just care that everyone in Congress
screwed up and couldn't do their job, and now you
can't watch Thursday night football exactly.

Speaker 1 (06:24):
I don't think that will happen, but that might get
some might get some congressmen moving if it did. Three
or four to talk. Three or four is the tax line?
Eight hundred and seven sixty five eight two five five.
Secretary of State Chris Warner going to join us in
the studio in just a minute. One other thing I
just want to touch on here before U, before we
get to the break, TJ. I love the reaction to elections.

(06:44):
I find that to be fascinating. But in my warped mind,
the reaction to the reactions I almost find more interesting. Yesterday,
taking in all of the analysts and all of the
commentators who were weighing in on the Tuesday elections plural
obviously in different states. Boy, there are a lot of
This is why I try not to do the hot

(07:06):
take thing. Boy, there are a lot of people drawing
very hard, fast, one hundred percent conclusions based off of
one data point on Tuesday.

Speaker 4 (07:15):
Yeah, look, I think it's somewhat fun too, right to
be able to opine, and I do appreciate someone that
takes some more data driven response than someone that is
more I got this feeling, you know what I mean.
So those that are using data I think have a
little bit more credence than those that don't. But that
election is a snapshot. It's a snapshot in a less

(07:39):
than twenty four hour news cycle where things change hour
by hour. That snapshot is not going to be as
valuable obviously by the time we get around to the midterms. Yes,
it could have some predictive value. Yes, it could help
with some strategy. But look, man, it's like the stock market.
What's that movie Matthew McConaughey. He says, whether you're Jimmy
Buffet or Warren Buffett, knows what the stock market's going

(08:01):
to do. No one knows what's next in politics. I mean,
it is what it is. But look, it's fun. It's
fun to be able to opine and talk about it.
There's some value, there's some feeling, But yeah, man, tomorrow's
a new day.

Speaker 1 (08:14):
I do think, and I wrote about this just a
little bit this morning. West Virginia Democrats are on the
right track, sticking to the tabletop, the kitchen table issues
that worked. That worked for candidates in Virginia. It worked
for mon Donnie, all right, Mom Donnie, always get the

(08:34):
M and the N mixed up there up in New York.
They worked. Now we can talk about the approaches to
solving those issues, but focusing on those issues works. And
I do think West Virginia Democrats, although I don't think
they're going to take back any supermajorities anytime soon, are
at least on the right track with recruiting, with using
that messaging to try to get some momentum heading into

(08:56):
twenty six, to try to get some people on the
ballot there will I will give them credit for that.

Speaker 4 (09:00):
Yeah, even with the momentum though, And I got into
a discussion, really good discussion on social media yesterday with
some folks who are primarily Democrats, even with that momentum
and even focusing on those issues, you still have to
answer the question how.

Speaker 1 (09:13):
And that's with Mom Domi too.

Speaker 4 (09:14):
You know, he wants to do all these great things
who doesn't want to make thirty bucks an hour to
flip burgers? Okay, but how do you make that reality?
And that's the next shoe that's going to have to
drop on some of these things. Is Okay, you can
say you want to do it if you want to
earn votes off of it, especially an independent, if you
want to earn their vote, you're going to have to
give them the how, or it's meaningless true.

Speaker 1 (09:36):
But identifying the problem or at least identifying the issue
is at least good place to the first step, at
least not with you, I'm with you. Speaking of elections,
we didn't have any here in West Virginia, but we
will have elections coming up next year. In fact, May
primaries are going to be very pivotal in the GOP
heavy West Virginia. Secretary of State Chris Water go to
join me in studio. He's in Morgantown today and he's

(09:58):
already looking ahead to me. We'll talk about that coming
up next Morgantown. O'Brien Morgan O'Brien, he is the president
CEO of Hope Gas. He'll join us. Bottom of the hour.
They settled that rate request in a rate increase request yesterday.
We'll talk about that. Your thoughts are welcome as well.
Three or four Talk three or four and eight hundred
seven sixty five. Talk the phone number. We're just underway.

(10:19):
This is talk line from the Enco Insurance Studios.

Speaker 5 (10:22):
Governor Patrick Morrissey has set a very bold goal fifty
gigawats of new energy capacity by twenty fifty. Thanks to
House Build twenty fourteen, West Virginia's coal plans will be
upgraded to run longer, stronger, and more efficiently, thus delivering reliable,
affordable base load power. Our families and businesses will be

(10:43):
able to count on. West Virginia Coal Association President Chris
Hamilton stated Governor Morrissey's plan to grow West Virginia's energy
generation capacity to fifty gigawatts by twenty fifty is a
dynamic approach to economic development which will supercharge our states
coal industry and broader economy. With Governor Morrissey's leadership and

(11:04):
the action of the legislature, West Virginia is once again
America's energy leader. Cold is powering Progress. Cold is Powering
West Virginia. Brought to you by the West Virginia Coal Association.

Speaker 6 (11:23):
Did you know Marvel production may Clarksburg the Marvel Capital
of the World by Acroagot up until the late nineteen fifties,
and today those marvels are worth thousands of dollars.

Speaker 7 (11:35):
Clarksburg, Yes, Clarksburg.

Speaker 6 (11:37):
Did you know that Clarksburg's Robinson Graham was the first
theater in West Virginia to introduce talking pictures in nineteen
twenty seven.

Speaker 4 (11:45):
Clarksburg, Yes, Clarksburg.

Speaker 7 (11:47):
Explore more at Come Home to Clarksburg dot Com.

Speaker 3 (12:04):
Metro News talk line is presented by Encova Insurance and
circling you with coverage to protect what you care about most.
Visit Incova dot com to learn more.

Speaker 1 (12:14):
Morgan O'Brien, president and CEO of Hope Gas, will join
us bottom of the hour. We'll talk about that rate
increase request settlements that was reached yesterday with Morgan O'Brien.
Bottom of the hour, Howard Monroe will stop by second hour.
West Virginia Secretary of State Chris Warner was at University
High School this morning for a voter education forum and

(12:35):
registration drive talking to the senior class. So we conned
into coming on down to the studios here in downtown
Morgantown as well. Secretary of State Chris Warner joins us
on Metro News Talk Climb. Chris, go ahead, grab that
mic right in front of there, pull it to you.
There we go. Good morning, sir.

Speaker 8 (12:51):
Good morning. It's great to be back home in Morgantown.

Speaker 1 (12:53):
Appreciate you stopping by, so be here. I was telling
you during the break. I can remember being that scene
year in high school and it was then Secretary of
State Joe Manson who came to Saint Mary's High School
to talk about voter registration, importance of one votes. You know,
one person, one votes and it works. Yeah, that's where
I registered to vote for the first time, is when
Joe Manson, Secretary State back then came to school. Yeah.

Speaker 8 (13:16):
For me, I think it was Ken Heckler and so yeah,
it's probably the most rewarding part of this job is
to be able to be with high school seniors. In
this morning, we were in front of three hundred and
forty high school seniors at University High School, where some
of my kids went to school. So it's good to
be back in Morgantown today.

Speaker 1 (13:37):
How important is it to reach these kids at seventeen
eighteen years old Winter seniors and get this message early
in life.

Speaker 8 (13:45):
I'll tell you what I point out to the kids.
You know, there are three West Virginians that started at
their age, registered either when they were seventeen or eighteen
years old. That was Sarah Blair, the youngest legislator ever
elected any legislature in the country. Then we had Caleb Hannah,
the youngest Black American ever elected to a legislature. And

(14:06):
now you've got Josh Holstein who's served five years in
the legislature and serves as the chairman of his political
party here in West Virginia, the youngest state party chairman
anywhere in the country.

Speaker 4 (14:19):
I have to ask you, give me some give me
some grace here. Okay, your counterpart in Kentucky had to
hop on social media and let people know in Kentucky
there wasn't an election in Kentucky on Tuesday. It took
off like wildfire. People were showing up to vote. I mean,

(14:41):
I'm not trying to be pejorative of Kentucky. It's embarrassing enough,
But what does that tell you about civic engagement in
this country?

Speaker 8 (14:47):
Chris Well, I got to say, you know, in West Virginia,
I didn't hear one case of anybody showing up at
the polls yesterday or Tuesday, I guess it would have
been I didn't hear one case of that. So, you know,
people in Ohio and Kentucky driving the left lane of
the interstate too.

Speaker 1 (15:05):
So no, but.

Speaker 8 (15:10):
I think our voters are educated here. They know that,
by the way, coming up in the May primary election,
this will be the first time in twenty five years
that unaffiliated voters, those with no party I will not
be able to vote in the Republican primary. And so
we're already talking to people. We've had questions out of
the high schools. Have been to twenty nine of our

(15:31):
high schools in West Virginia, and one of the questions
was just about that is it true that unaffiliated voters
will not be able to vote a Republican ballot? And
so it gives me an opportunity to answer questions, and
it's great to hear what's on their minds. But I
haven't had anybody ask about tuesday election in West Virginia yet.

Speaker 1 (15:50):
What kind of questions do you get from the high
school kids about elections, about the process.

Speaker 8 (15:55):
You know, this really takes you back. But the question
what's the difference in between the primary election and the
general election. That's come up more than more than once,
and it's a great opportunity for us to talk about
the two major parties picking their best candidates so that
they can then go ahead and run off in the
in the November general election, and to point out that
the minor parties, the Mountain Party, the Constitutional Party, that

(16:17):
those are normally decide, they decide who their candidates are
at a convention versus you know, voting in the primary
election here in West Virginia. So that's you know, that's
one of the one of the questions that's recently come up.

Speaker 4 (16:32):
Used to have to be twenty one to vote.

Speaker 8 (16:34):
Yeah, because of Senator Jennings Randolph starting the fight back
in nineteen forty one when President Roosevelt, you know, decided
to send off one point six million young Americans eighteen
nineteen and twenty. He started, if you're old enough for bullets,
you're old enough for ballots. And he had to carry
that fight on, as you will know TJ for twenty

(16:55):
nine years, and it wasn't until the height of the
Vietnam War in nineteen seventy one Senator Jennings Randolph got
that law passed so that eighteen, nineteen and twenty year
olds would actually have the right to vote for who
was going to send them off to fight and die
for their country.

Speaker 4 (17:09):
Do children know that when you go in and talk
with them, students? Or are they surprised by that?

Speaker 8 (17:14):
I asked the question. I have yet to have a
high school student, you know, refer to the twenty sixth
Amendment or why they have the right to vote at eighteen,
nineteen and twenty years of age that you know, we
won one hundred and ninety six years in this country
and it was all because of a West Virginian from
Harrison County that they have the right to vote.

Speaker 1 (17:34):
It's aj add that to the list of bills we
need to introduce in January. The Jennings Randolph Education Bill.

Speaker 4 (17:42):
Sounds like a perfect golden horseshoe question to me. You
know that, But Chris, I guess you know your point.
If young folks that are going to be stepping into
a booth for the first time at eighteen, if they
don't appreciate that, and they don't appreciate that others didn't
have that, I'm not calling them ound. I'm not calling

(18:02):
any teachers out for not talking about it, but I
think it stands the reason that they're not going to
appreciate the ability to vote if they don't know they
didn't always have it, If that makes sense.

Speaker 1 (18:13):
Yeah, TJ.

Speaker 8 (18:14):
I got to tell you that in every school that
I've talked to since being elected, we bring up this
point about eighteen, nineteen, and twenty year olds having the
right to vote. I will tell you that we have
now registered over twenty two hundred high school seniors just
since I've been elected. Overall for the last eight years,
that's one hundred and thirty eight thousand high school seniors

(18:36):
of registered to vote. So something that we're trying to
carry on from the previous Secretary of State.

Speaker 1 (18:40):
West Virginia Secretary of State Chris Warner joining us in
studio this morning. We do have an election coming up
in twenty twenty six, the May primary just a few
months away if you think about it. So are you
already in preparation mode for the twenty six elections and
what's going on? We are.

Speaker 8 (18:57):
We've interviewed all fifty five of our county clerks, and
fifty two of those county clerks say that they're going
to need help with poll workers, So we talked about
that this morning at University High School in Montngey County.
They get paid two hundred and seventy two dollars to
work for the day. There's a two hour training class
about two weeks before the election, and that they have

(19:17):
the right, you know, to check that box on the
application so that they can be a poll worker. We've
already had a statewide election conference with all of our
fifty five county clerks and all of their election staff.
That was successful. We're talking about things quite frankly, like
the primary being closed for an affiliated voters to vote

(19:40):
in the Republican primary. But things are going well. We'll
be ready no matter what happens, no matter what happens
with a presidential executive order, We'll be ready to run
our elections safe, secure, affair, and honest right here in
West Virginia.

Speaker 4 (19:58):
As folks want to do some education and they want
to look at candidates and they want to follow the money.
People want to follow the money. Today, Chris talk about
the campaign finance reporting system we have here in the state.

Speaker 8 (20:08):
I would say that we have the most transparent way
to get in and take a look at exactly and
if you haven't been to the new campaign finance reporting
system in West Virginia. You can go to go vote
wv dot com and it's amazing what you can see
about who is given to what candidates. You can look
up an individual's name and see all the candidates they've

(20:30):
given to, or you can look up the candidate's name
and see who has contributed to their campaign. Again, we're
trying to make it as easy as possible to be
able to do that, whether it's two o'clock in the
morning or two o'clock in the afternoon, for interested citizens
to find out what's going on in West Virginia.

Speaker 1 (20:49):
West Virginia Secretary of State Chris Warnery was at University
High School this morning talking to seniors about voter education
voter registration. Got some more stops today. Hey, appreciate you
coming downtown. Good to see in person.

Speaker 8 (21:01):
Thank you very much. We'll be here anytime. The invitations here.
We greatly appreciate the opportunity.

Speaker 1 (21:06):
Anytime you're in town. You know where we are. You
just drop by.

Speaker 8 (21:09):
Thank you, Dave.

Speaker 1 (21:09):
Secretary of State Chris Warner coming up. We've got to
get more on the Hope gas rate increase request settlement
say that five times Fast President CEO Morgan O'Brien is
going to join us. We'll talk to him about that
settlement what it means to you as the customer. A
little bit later on Brad House stops by. We'll chat
about w basketball tonight against Campbell and Coach Prime coming

(21:32):
to Morgantown on Saturday. We'll get into that with Brad
a little bit later on this hour three or four Talk.
Three h four is the text line, eight hundred and
seven to sixty five. Talk is the phone number of
This is talk line on Metro News for forty years,
the voice of West Virginia. It is ten thirty and
time to get a news update. Let's check in on
the Metro News radio network find out what's happening across

(21:52):
the great state of West Virginia.

Speaker 9 (21:55):
West Virginia Metro News. I'm Jeff Jenkins. There are reports
that and order has been signed to extending the deployment
of National Guard troops, including several hundred from West Virginia
on the streets of Washington, d C. Until next February.
Met your New State White Course by a Brad Michaelhaney
says they've been there nearly three months.

Speaker 10 (22:11):
On August eleventh, President Donald Trump declared a crime emergency
for the District of Columbia, and five days later, Governor
Patrick Morrissey deployed three hundred to four hundred members of
the West Virginia National Guard for support.

Speaker 9 (22:23):
There's a lawsuit being argued in canag County attempting to
overturn that deployment. Two hundred other members of the Guard
continue to help with food distribution efforts taking place across
the state in association with federal government shutdown. US Santor
Sheltamer Capito says Senators are working on appropriations bills that
could lead to a vote to reopen the government.

Speaker 4 (22:42):
Three bills, one of which is the Agriculture Bill, which
carries the SNAP provision in it in terms of the
funding aspect of it, and so we're hoping that there's
movement that we might be.

Speaker 3 (22:54):
Able to get to that.

Speaker 9 (22:55):
Capitol says she is against using the nuclear option to
eliminate the Senate filibuster. Members of the r'sy administration, including
Gevor Patrick Morsey, using words like transformational, future changing when
describing the state's completed Rural Health Transformation Program application going
after federal funds there maybe as much as one hundred
million dollars a year for five years. Morsey has the

(23:15):
Parkersburg Moundsville Fairmont Today to talk more about that application.
You're listening to Metro News for forty years, the Voice
of West Virginia.

Speaker 11 (23:24):
The stock market, economy, tariffs, interest rates. We hear a
lot about these topics, but what does it all mean
for you as you plan for your future? Join us
on Thursday for Money Minutes at three forty five on
Hotline as Huntington Bank's local Wealth team cuts through the
noise and shares how market conditions are impacting us right
here in West Virginia. I'm Matt Harris, a member of

(23:44):
the local Huntington Bank Wealth Team. I invite you to
catch Money Minutes Thursday on hotline for insight that will
help you navigate your financial future.

Speaker 12 (23:53):
The final week of the high school football regular season
has arrived. Check out our go Mark game of the Week,
west Side and Logan plus the Muscle One Appleman travel
to historic Pony lewis Field to face Morgantown and Ron
County versus Tyler Consolidated. You can also watch Greenbrier weston
Gilmourg County, plus many more games all on Metro News TV,
brought to you by the Thrasher Group, Marshall University and

(24:13):
the Mountaineer Challenge Academy. Stream the action live on Metro
News Television, available on mobile, Roku, fire TV, smart TVs
and online at WV metronewstv dot com.

Speaker 9 (24:23):
The Huntington Sanitary Board has broken ground on a large
expansion project for the city's wastewater treatment plant. There hasn't
been a major change in that plant since nineteen eighty six.
Stay please say. They've made an arrest in a daily
hit and run in Mason County. The victim, fifty seven
year old Virgil Patterson of Gallipolice Ferry, was struck and
killed earlier this week. They've now charged thirty year old

(24:43):
Marissa Russell of Milton with leaving the scene of a
deadly accident. From the Metro News anchor desk, I'm Jeff Jenkins.

Speaker 1 (25:12):
Howard Monroe going to join us top of the hour.
We'll get into a hot topic in Wheeling this week,
what to do about a homeless encampment, plus his thoughts
on this week's elections in New York Virginia, New Jersey
and elsewhere. That's coming up top of the hour. Howard
Monroe will join us over at wv Metronews dot com
this morning. We've got a story the Public Service Commission

(25:34):
announcing that a deal was reached in the Hope Gas
rate increase case that'll effect over one hundred thirty thousand
customers in thirty seven counties. The original proposal would have
raised rates by twenty five to thirty five percent for customers. However,
that has been cut in just about half. Instead of
raising revenue by about eighty million, we're now talking about

(25:55):
forty one million dollars. Joining us on Metro News talk
Line this morning, Presidency of Hope Gas Morgan O'Brien Morgan,
Good morning, thanks for joining us.

Speaker 13 (26:04):
Yeah, no, I appreciate having this opportunity to hopefully clarify
questions that are still there.

Speaker 1 (26:10):
So absolutely. Well, let's start with the why why is
the rate increase needed?

Speaker 13 (26:17):
Yeah, so, I mean, you know, utilities are regulated by
the Public Service Commission, so that means everything from safety
to complying with laws and rules is overseen by the
Public Service Commission. But also adjusting rates, you know, what
is fair and equitable to charge customers, and in West

(26:38):
Virginia there's i'll just say certain roles. And as a utility,
because we have a pipeline replacement program, we're required to
go in for rates every five years. So it's literally,
and I know people don't believe it, but it's it's
been five years since we had our right case, and
so by statute, we had the file for this great

(26:59):
adjust Morgan.

Speaker 4 (27:01):
You asked for eighty million dollars, just uh, maybe north
of that a bit. It looks like the settlements, as
Dave said, was forty one point two. Give us a
sense on on what Hope gave up and agreed not
to pursue.

Speaker 13 (27:17):
Yeah, and it's uh, you know, it's funny because most
rate cases are relatively simple, although nobody would ever say that.
You typically have what the you know, the utility asked for,
and then you have what customers are willing to pay.
And there's this I'll say it, this is the sort

(27:37):
of the genesis of a of a ray case. We
thought that was too simple, so we added a new feature. Uh,
when we acquired all these gathering pipes in West Virginia,
and so not only did we have i'll just say it,
you know, a request for revenues between us and the customers.

(28:00):
We also had i'd say about twenty five gas producers
in West Virginia who were also in this case because
they pay to use those gathering lines. And this is
really the first case that we've had the EQUA trans
lines in our case. So it made it a lot
more complicated and just added another feature. And so there's

(28:24):
revenues that customers pay, there's revenues the producers pay, and
in that that's i'll just say, it made the complexity
of this and so you know, and there's just i'll
just say a lot of complicated features. And at the
end of the day, I think everybody that's you know,
i'll say, it's the definition of a compromise. The company's

(28:46):
hope feels like it was treated fairly. The consumer groups
who represent you know, residential customers felt they were treated fairly,
and the producers, to their credit, came to the table
and you know, agreed to what they'd be willing to pay.
And so it's not to drag you down a dark hole,
but a little more complex than most utility rate cases.

(29:07):
But honestly, a lot of good people who wanted to
get to the right answer, and we feel really good
about you know, where we've ended up with consumers, where
the producers ended up, and again we can all now
sort of move on, hopefully get this approved and really
focus on making sure West Virginia continues to grow going forward.

Speaker 1 (29:32):
Morgan O'Brien is joining us. He's Hope Gas president and CEO.
The State Public Service Commission announcing yesterday a settlement over
the proposed rate increase case. Morgan a lot of criticism
from the public that while seeking this rate increase, it
was announced a new major sponsorship, mostly the naming rights
at the Colisseum now named the Hope Colisseum. Two part question, Morgan. One,

(29:55):
did the proposed rate increase request have anything to do
with those sponsorship deals the naming rights at the coliseum.
Second part, did any of that criticism play a role
in pursuing a settlement in this case?

Speaker 13 (30:12):
Yeah, I mean two great questions. First of all, it
absolutely had nothing. Those costs were investor dollars. They weren't
included in what we were claiming as sort of the
cost to operate Hope Gass. So this was an important investment,
and we can talk about that another day we thought
for the long term here in West Virginia, but had

(30:33):
nothing to do with the rate case. We also, you know,
at the same time, which hasn't gotten much notoriety, but
actually is about to go into service, build a two
two hundred million dollars pipeline into Morgantown that's actually, as
we speak, is going live, and so we now have

(30:55):
additional capacity to help you know, I'll say, the hospital
that keep growing in Morgantown and the economic development that's
going there, and none of those two hundred million dollars
for that pipeline were included in this three case. Those
will all be supported with Marcellus drillers who are drilling

(31:17):
gas wells now around Morgantown. They will pay a fee
to move gas in the in the Morgantown And as
you hear of First Energy and other folks talking about
gas power plants, were pretty confident that we're going to
have contracted revenues that will offset that two hundred million.
But the reality is, and I'll just say it, I

(31:37):
know the timing and you know, people put those together
and it felt very, very poorly done. And I'll take
all the blame for that. But the reality is they
were completely unrelated. Didn't impact the settlement at all because
all of the parties, the consumer advocate, the producers, all
knew that none of those dollars were in the case.

(32:00):
And so the settlement, I'll just say it were a
bunch of people wanting to get to the right answer.
And I'll say some of the biggest issues were how
much were producers going to pay versus customers? And in
the end, you know, everybody stood tall and said we'll
pay our fair share.

Speaker 4 (32:19):
How common is that that a public utility would operate
gathering lines for producers? Does that happen in other basins
or is that unique here in the Appalachian basin.

Speaker 13 (32:29):
I would say it's just unique. And I'm just real
quickly the reason so, historically, gathering lines are built by
gas producers to take their gas from their wells to
the marketplace. In West Virginia. Over the years, the gathering
lines that we ended up acquiring, there were fifteen thousand

(32:51):
West Virginia families who connected to those gathering lines, and
so producers operate them literally just to move their gas.
And you know, producers and I'll just say that the
customers just want to get gas to heat their homes,
and a lot of these pipes were in really bad
condition and they create a lot of operating challenges, to

(33:11):
the point where there was litigation between the State of
West Virginia and the previous owner of those plants. And
so we stepped in in that litigation and said, hey,
we want to protect these families. It's a really important issue.
And we did tell people that it was going to
cost more to fix those pipes and to make sure

(33:32):
those families are safe. But I'll just tell you guys
this that last winter, one of the coldest winters in
West Virginia, there were no major outages for those fifteen
thousand families, and that's the first time that's happened in
multiple decades. So, you know, we're spending money, you know,
we're investing in West Virginia, but we're protecting the families,

(33:54):
which is most important, and nobody wants to pay more,
so we know we it hurts us in our heart
when people feel the pain of everything that's going on
in the economy. But with a settlement, the average i'll
just say it, monthly bill for a hope guests resident

(34:16):
will go up about eighteen dollars a month, which I know,
eighteen dollars a month is real money, so I'm not
belittling that. The other thing, I know, you know, when
we came here, and you know we acquired from Dominion,
the old Dominion Energy West Virginia and brought back Hope,
the bills that those customers were paying were actually going

(34:39):
to be higher than twenty in the winner of twenty
two than they are when these rates actually get implemented.
So it's again, eighteen dollars a month is real money
for any hard working family, and we we get that.
But at the same time, you know, we've we've we've
we've been fixing problems and investing money, and we do

(35:00):
we do take very serious how much people pay for that.
But we take pride and that we've been I'll just
say it, providing families in West Virginia the comfort when
it's bitter cold that they haven't had in the past,
particularly on those gathering systems, that they now have a
utility that's dedicated to keeping those people safe.

Speaker 1 (35:18):
Morgan O'Brien, Hope Gas President and CEO. The Public Service
Commission expected to approve the final order in December. The
new rates would take effect in February. Morgan, thank you
so much for clearing some of that up and spending
some time with us today. Thank you.

Speaker 13 (35:32):
Yeah, and we appreciate this opportunity. Soever you guys have questions,
We're we're we live in a glasshouse, so we want
to make sure everybody can see it.

Speaker 1 (35:41):
Absolutely, Morgan O'Brien, President CEO, Hope Gas joining us here
on talk line. Up next brad House stops by the
Mountaineers in action tonight on the Hardwood, and what about
Saturday's matchup with Colorado. We'll get into that right after
this talk line from the Cove Insurance Studios.

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Speaker 1 (37:22):
Your text Coming up three oh four Talk three to four,
Howard Munroe, Top of the Hour, will join us. We'll
get into a couple of topics with Howard. Mountaineer men's
basketball team back at action tonight at the Hope Coliseum
taking on the Campbell Camels after winning the opener against
Mount Saint Mary's defense. Look good offense could use some work.

(37:43):
Metro News Sports three Guys before the Game and basketball
analyst Brad Howell joins us on Metro News talk Line.

Speaker 16 (37:49):
Brad Good morning, Good morning, guys.

Speaker 1 (37:52):
Uh okay, let's put a bow on game one, then
we'll get into game two. What'd you like from game one?

Speaker 16 (37:58):
Thought the defensive intensity was very very good for game
one with a group of guys that have not really
played together. So points off turnover, we're outstanding. Turnovers in
general were tremendous. Ability to run Mount Saint Mary's off
the three point line was evident in a big team
a game, so overall defensively, I thought it was a
very Ross Hodge team type effort, and that's good news.

Speaker 1 (38:21):
Game two.

Speaker 16 (38:23):
We'll see. I like that they're right back on the court.
They get a Campbell team that gave Wisconsin everything it
wanted up until about the eight minute mark, and the
Badgers then went on a big twenty seven to two
run and blew that game open. But just a team
that can score, it likes to run up and down.
I like that matchup for West Virginia. That's the exact

(38:44):
opposite a team that's really going to guard, a team
that's going to bleed clock and limit possessions. So I
like the matchup. But again, we'll see, guys, and probably
every time you have me on for the first handful
of games that might even be double digit type of
games where we're trying to figure out exactly what this
team does and what it looks like. But I feel
comfortable saying you're going to hang your hat on defense.

Speaker 1 (39:04):
Well, the first part you really you've said this to
several times, Brad. Really like how the front part of
the schedule is constructed to allow this team to get
repetitions with each other, get familiar with each other. And
it's not that dissimilar from football, when we onlys say
defense is ahead of the offense. It takes time, new coach,
new system, new players in that system to get some cohesiveness.

(39:27):
And the more you do it, the more repetitions you have,
the more you chance you have to work on it,
it'll start to come together as you work your way
closer to conference play later on this winner.

Speaker 16 (39:37):
Yeah, there's no question about that. And I thought that's
part of what you saw the other night. There were
stretches where that defense looked really connected and really good
and guys moving together, and then there were a couple
defensive breakdowns that they're going to happen in any game.
I do think on the offensive side, that's the part
that's going to take some time to come together, where
guys have to learn how to play the role they're

(39:57):
being asked and play off each other. And I'll give
you an example. Trayson Eagles Staff the other night comes
in as the only Division one player from last year
to score more than forty points in more than one game.
And he did that twice last year at North Dakota.
So that's a guy that's a volume shooter. He's used
to coming in and when he has the ball, he's
looking for his shot. We are not asking him to

(40:18):
do that every possession here for West Virginia. So he's
trying to work himself into what role does he play?
And maybe he was a little tentative the other night.
I did like that he didn't force a single shot,
and then he did other things. He got on the
glass and he played extremely good defense for a guy
that hasn't been asked to play a lot of defense
in his career. So I thought that was encouraging, even

(40:39):
though the scoring didn't come. So I think a guy
like Trayson, the more he plays, the more the guys
understand where he's going to be and how to move
off each other. I think those things start to get
better as we get deeper into this season.

Speaker 4 (40:52):
If you were King Maker of Swords Bread and you're
writing the story postgame ahead of time, call out a
couple people who would you want to see big things
from and what would you want to see them do tonight?

Speaker 16 (41:03):
Well, I think an easy answer, and from a fan perspective,
is just to see some more shots fall, especially from distance.
And one of those guys is Honor Huff and it
speaks to what a great shooter he is. Guy that
led the country in three pointers last year. He made
three the other night. Now most players you make three
threes in a game, and we're walking out of there
talking about how effective they were from deep. If you

(41:25):
ask Honor, he walks away. Sandy didn't shoot it really
well the other night. The guy that every time he
shoots the ball you expect it to go in. It's
such a pretty shot. So that's one. And then the
other one was the guy just mentioned in Trace and Eagle.
Staff want to get him cranked up from distance as well,
because I think that's where this team's ceiling starts to go.
It's going to guard, it's going to limit possessions. And

(41:46):
if they're making shots on Tapa. Doing those things, then
the other team starts to have a math problem TJ
and that you're not going to get the ball enough
times to get back in it once they get a lead.
So I think that's what you're looking for in theolution
of this offense. This team starts making out tonight shots.
I think you got a chance to be really, really good.

Speaker 1 (42:05):
Mountaineers taking on Campbell. That game has set for seven
o'clock tip tonight, Hope Coliseum. Coming up Saturday, Mountaineers will
be taking on Colorado coach Prime coming to town. But Brad,
these are two teams that feel like they're headed in
opposite directions. Mountaineers building momentum, seem to be improving under
Rich Rodriguez two point zero, and right now Colorado is
headed in the opposite direction making a change of quarterback.

Speaker 16 (42:28):
I think you said that correctly. And isn't that interesting.
Now we're talking about West Virginia with some momentum, And
that's why this college sports things so wild. It's a
week to week business. You can gain or lose momentum
pretty fast. So I think that's the first part of
this is can you stack a third improved game on
top of the others. The first one was PCU. You
look a lot better, but couldn't get it to the

(42:49):
finish line with a win. Then you go on the
road down to Houston. Looked really good on all three phases,
all three sides of the ball, as former coach here
he used to say, and you came out of there
with a really nice win. I think the challenge now,
guys is you're kind of in the reverse situation you
were last week where you went into Houston that was
riding high at seven and one in rank, a West
Virginia team that was coming in struggling, having lost every

(43:12):
Big twelve game to that point, and you saw Houston
wasn't ready to play. So West Virginia's challenge first and
foremost is to come out aggressively as it did in Houston.
And I mean that specifically along the offensive line. Come
out and punch somebody in the face kind of literally
and figured over you guys, and start that running game
and get it cranked up. I do think the crowd
is going to be pretty good in that building. It'll

(43:33):
be unlike Houston where there was just a handful of
people in the stands. So I think that should help
any potential malaise or letdown that may be inclined. But
that's critical. Come out, run the ball effectively early and
I think you'll be in good shape. The wild card
for this Colorado team is similar to what West Virginia
has done with Scotti Fox. They're starting a very talented

(43:54):
true freshman that hasn't got a lot of runs so far.
You don't quite know what to expect. Is the overwhelmed
in his first start by trying to recognize what Westbrigin
is doing and in a tough road environment, or does
he come provide them a lift is something they haven't
had up to this point. So a little bit tricky
when you start these unknown quarterbacks.

Speaker 1 (44:13):
Coming up Saturday, it's WVU, It's Colorado on the football
field and w Campbell tonight on the hardwood. Brad enjoy it, buddy,
appreciate you topping by.

Speaker 16 (44:24):
All right, guys, thanks for having me as always.

Speaker 1 (44:25):
Got to take a break. Wrap up our number one.
This is talk line from the and Co Insurance Studios.

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(46:10):
hundred and forty three million dollars. So go ahead, play today.
Coming up our number two Howard Monroe will join us
from the Northern Panhandle. We'll talk to Howard about an
issue in Wheeling, what to do with a homeless encampment there.
We'll talk to Howard about that and get his thoughts
on Tuesday's elections in places such as Virginia, New York,

(46:33):
New Jersey, and Georgia. Got a slew of text to
get through. John Williams will join us as well. Almost
forgot about the delegate from Montingay County. He's also Vice
chair of the House Finance Committee. There's a story from
friend of the show Million Nicely in West Virginia watch
today about funding for food banks that did not make
it into the budget during last year's legislative session. We'll

(46:55):
talk to John about that coming up at the bottom
of the eleven o'clock hour. Go get yourself another cup
of coffee, maybe a Danish today, and prepare for our
number two. We will get to the text line which
has been severely neglected in our number one. This is
Talkline on Metro News. For forty years, Metro News has
been the voice of West Virginia. Metro News.

Speaker 3 (47:28):
Talkline is presented by Encova Insurance, Encircling you with coverage
to protect what you care about most. Visit incovia dot
com to learn more.

Speaker 1 (47:39):
Metro News talk line already in progress from the Encoba
Insurance Studios. Thank you for letting us be part of
your day on one of our great metro news affiliates
across the state of West Virginia, or if you are
joining us via the Metro News TV app or Metro
News Television, appreciate you stopping by. Eight hundred and seven
to sixty five. Talk is the phone number and three

(47:59):
h four Talk four is the text line. We will
get to the neglected text line coming up. John Williams,
Bontague County Delegate and Minority Chair of the House Finance Committee,
will join us bottom of the hour. We've been talking
a lot about funding for food banks in West Virginia,
but was that included in the budget passed by the

(48:20):
legislature all the way back in the spring. We'll talk
to John about that and whether or not there should
be more funding for those programs. Coming up, he'll join
us bottom of the hour. Once again, say good morning
to TJ. Meadows. He is in control of the Charleston Studios.

Speaker 4 (48:37):
Good morning, sir, Control. That's funny well.

Speaker 1 (48:41):
You're the only one in the room right now, right
that gets you in control of the studios.

Speaker 4 (48:47):
Well, they don't let me control the thermostat. That's a
whole other issue.

Speaker 16 (48:50):
Uh.

Speaker 4 (48:51):
You see names, and Pelosi says that she's calling at
quits came out this morning. I'm going to run for reelection.

Speaker 1 (48:57):
There are too many. I mean, those jokes are just
too easy.

Speaker 4 (49:00):
Right, Yeah, not unexpected Biden calling her the greatest speaker
of all time in history. I think Sam Rayburn might have,
you know, something to say about that, but yeah, there
you go. Steping aside.

Speaker 1 (49:12):
I do remember this was from my days of anchoring
and reporting over in Winchester, Virginia. Was having a conversation
with Congressman Frank Woolf, longtime Republican congressman over there, and
I can I don't exactly remember what the subject of
the conversation was, but I do remember very vividly him

(49:34):
looking at me and just kind of giving me a
look and he says, you know, I don't know if
that's going to go through. The speaker runs a tight ship,
if you know what I mean. And he was talking
about obviously speaker of Nancy Pelosi at the time, And
it's one of those things TJ. That I'm sure you
have those memories too, of conversations you've had and in
people you've met, you can't remember what you exactly was

(49:56):
you were talking about. But one of those points that,
for whatever reason, just was he was tattooed on my
young brain at the time. I was think about twenty
two to twenty three years old at the time and went, huh,
just the look he gave me and the insinuation of
she doesn't mess around. So like her or dislike her,
I don't know, but I don't know if she's the
greatest ever, but certainly impactful, very impactful during her time

(50:20):
in Congress.

Speaker 4 (50:20):
Got to be able to herd the cats and still
get them to vote for you.

Speaker 1 (50:24):
Yeah.

Speaker 4 (50:25):
Not unlike a high school principle, you know. I can
imagine her being a high school principal. Wouldn't get away
with anything in that at high school, at Pelosi High.
I mean it would be uh, it would be a
tight ship as well.

Speaker 1 (50:36):
Howard Monroe, he runs a tight ship. He is the
host of the Watchdog Morning show heard in the Wheeling area.
Prior to this program, Each weekday morning, he joins us
on Metro News talk line this morning. Howard, good to
talk to you again.

Speaker 20 (50:49):
Good morning. It's great to be in the midst of
this three ring circus.

Speaker 1 (50:53):
I guess it's something like that, Howard. Let's start local.

Speaker 15 (50:56):
Then.

Speaker 1 (50:56):
I want to talk a little bit about some of
the elections that happened across country. But in Wheeling this week,
residents packed a public hearing Tuesday night to discuss what
to do with the homeless encampment. A homeless encampment there
in Wheeling. So give us the details, what's going on,
what's got people worked up there?

Speaker 20 (51:16):
Well, two years ago, the city council imposed a ban,
as many Morgantown and other cities have done, on public
camping on public grounds. But as part of that there
was creation of a single individual homeless camp. It's called
an exempted camp, which means the city manager can exempt

(51:36):
that piece of property from the camping band. That phrase
is important if we talk about this a little bit further,
And it's been in ef fact, it's been moved to
a couple of different locations, but the camp has been
around for now a couple of years. A couple of
weeks ago, the city manager had told me and then

(51:56):
A couple of days later, city Council ask the city
manager to close the camp. Now the manager has that
ability not counsel. The council took a vote to encourage
him to close the camp. They called it a failure,
they called it a disaster. Some members just said it
was chaotic up there, it was dangerous, it was criminal.

(52:18):
And so the city manager did. He closed the camp
effective December the first. This week at council chambers, there
were thirty people on hand, probably a good two thirds
if not more, of them were encouraging council to revisit
their decision or their desire to open that camp again,
concerned that it would close in the middle of winter,

(52:38):
which happened last year as they moved the camp, and
that caused a lot of consternation. And the issue that
is at hand is is there someplace else for these
folks to go. When the decision was recommended to the
city manager, the idea was the folks who are at
the homeless camp could move into the Lifehime. That's a

(53:00):
new facility we have for homeless folks. Their winter shelter
is getting underway right now. There's another winter freeze places.
So the thought was the camp would not in the wintertime,
the folks would go somewhere else. Now here's the problem.
The folks in the lifehubs say, we own any room.
You say you want to send them all down here.
We don't have any more room. We've got maybe a

(53:22):
handful of beds, but we're pretty much full. So now
the question becomes, where do these folks go when the
camp is closed down? Talk to Wilding Councilwoman Tonnie Kine
this morning, who was the instigator of this, the leader
of the close the camp down thing, and she just
said that there's too much trouble up there. She wants

(53:42):
to see it closed down. She believes that with the
social service agencies and the lifehub that can find a
place for them. And then after the camp has closed
and during the winter months, maybe they can revisit how
to better handle the camp. That give you some sense
of where we're at here, I think.

Speaker 4 (54:00):
So I'm wondering what the data says, because these things
always get emotional, Howard, and sometimes the data is the
best way to cut through it. So is there any
hard fact on Hey, the police have had to be
called X amount of times in the last year. Is
it unsightly, is there drug use? I mean, is there
any data that can be used to say, yes, this
thing is a public nuisance.

Speaker 20 (54:21):
Well, there is some data. The police have been called
frequently and have made a number of arrests up there.
There's a lot of anecdotal data. I mean, is clearly
it is an unclean facility. That's a bad phrase to use.
It's a sloppy, messy facility. Some members of that can't
almost folks said that themselves this week at City Council. Look,
we know that it's a mess up there, So I

(54:45):
don't think there's an argument. I hear what you're saying, TJ.
And I don't know what the data point now. The
data point at issue is how many people are there.
The number seventy has been banded to bound the last
couple of days. City Manager Bob Herron told us on
My morning show a couple of weeks ago he thought
in the winter time it will be down to about fifteen. So,

(55:08):
you know, fifteen people manageable. Seventy people maybe not so, TEJ.
I get your point. I don't think there's a lot
of disagreement that there is a serious problem at that camp.
But the question is where are these folks are going
to go? I want to I mentioned the exempted camp
facility because there's two words that we're using, and I

(55:29):
think I think the problem is we're not doing what
the initial camping Band law suggested. The Camping Band went
into effect and said there would be one managed camp
put into effect managed camp, which means there would be rules, regulations,
some kind of management, some kind of control and regulation,
whether by the city or by social service agencies, or

(55:51):
a combination of both. What we currently have is simply
an exempted camp, which means here's a piece of property.
The city manager says you can use it, but it's
not managed. It's not really controlled. Now there's a lot
of service I've provided to them, but it's not controlled,
and that to me seems to be the real issue.
There's just not a lot of control about what happens
up there.

Speaker 1 (56:10):
Who's we're talking to, Howard Monroe wboy up in Wheeling.
Where would that responsibility lie Howard? With whom does that
responsibility line to manage and control such an operation?

Speaker 20 (56:22):
That is the issue that's been at hand for the
last couple of years, and every time I've talked to
the manager or the mayor, or a couple of mayors actually,
or council members.

Speaker 1 (56:32):
That's the issue.

Speaker 20 (56:33):
Is this something that social service agencies should step up
and do, or is this something the city is supposed
to do. The city is adamant that they are not
ones to manage the camp. Social service agencies, several of
them seem to field the city needs to take a
greater role in that. You might remember several years ago,

(56:54):
previous council created a position called a homeless liaison who
was kind of supposed to coordinate all of the sort
of stuff. That position never worked out the way it
was supposed to, and it died of its own weight eventually.
But your point, David, is the actual point. Who's going
to do it? And I think at the moment everybody's
will me. Yeah, So that's the problem.

Speaker 4 (57:17):
Well, and what's going to happen how everyone continues, you know,
this continues to go not me, not me. I'm thinking.
I used to manage a business. We had facilities along
the Kenaal River and they had the homeless had set
up a camp there. We had pressurized natural gas at
forty six hundred PSI. They would come up and lean
on the tanks and smoke. So something bad is going
to happen if someone doesn't step up and quit pointing fingers.

(57:40):
Who's going to I mean, you have to the whole
idea that you just talked about not having any management
around it, that's asking for a problem.

Speaker 1 (57:46):
I would think.

Speaker 20 (57:47):
Yeah. I was talking to one of my kids, one
of my adult kids, and he said, what they need
is a parent up there. They have a parent up
there to kind of provide some sense of control. Yeah.

Speaker 1 (57:58):
So, and I want to move on one of the
elections here. Where does this stand as of today? Howard?
What's the city going to do?

Speaker 20 (58:05):
The closure notice has gone out, the camp will close
on December the first. I don't see any suggesting that's
not going to happen. What I hope will happen. Talk
to Councilmenkain this morning, as I mentioned, and the mayor
just a couple of days ago. I hope between now
and December the first, they'll be able to figure out
where to place the folks who are going to be dislocated.

(58:28):
The original thought was in this life hub, but they
say that in a room. Catholic charities used to do this.
They haven't before. Can they reopen some facilities, but the
camp is closing on December the first, and I don't
see any indication from anybody at the city level to
delay the closure or stop the closure. The question is
what happens when it closes.

Speaker 1 (58:50):
Howard Monroe, Watchdog morning show host heard on WVOY Up
and Wheeling. Prior to this program, you were watching the elections.
I'm pretty sure on Tuesday Democrats had a big day
on Tuesday, Howard, what were your takeaways?

Speaker 20 (59:06):
First of all, let me say this because I thought
this myself. Yeah, I watched the elections, but after a
while I turned them off. You know, I used to
be such a political junkie and I would anchor TV
and radio coverage all night long, and we have come
and I reached the point on Tuesday I want to
know who won, who lost, and then I went back

(59:27):
to watching the rookie. So it really struck me this
year in particular, just an awful lot of jabbering goes on,
you know on some of those shows. What did I
take away from it? It's partly a good night for Democrats,
a good day for democrats. I think there is I
know TJ heard you talk earlier. It is a snapshot.
It doesn't continue forever. I think it indicates It tells

(59:51):
us something. It tells us that Donald Trump isn't incomplete control,
that even when he presents candidates that he does not support,
they're still elected. I think the candidates were good candidates.
I had a conversation with some of my Democrat friends
up here just yesterday about, you know, running folks for
the Senate and other things. The issue is always how

(01:00:12):
do you find a good candidate? You know, I think
these are good candidates, and they ran to a large
extent good campaigns. Does this mean that, you know, we've
now got a mandate coming out? Does it mean that
we're going to suddenly become a Democratic Congress or Senate?
It does not. But it's good news. I think it's
for those of us on the left side of the aisle.

(01:00:32):
I think it's good news. I even think Mundamie up
in New York is good news. Although some folks will
certainly use that against the Democrats. But I think it
was good news. But I think it's cautious good news.

Speaker 4 (01:00:45):
Well, he fall flat, I mean, can he really pull
off what he promised?

Speaker 20 (01:00:52):
I don't know, Probably not. I mean again and I
heard you mentioned earlier. I think you did, tej. You know,
the difference between offering a promise and fulfilling a promise
is a pretty big gap there. And everybody loves the promise,
but then how does it come to fruition. I don't
know enough about There's some things I don't think he
can do, but maybe he can. I don't know enough

(01:01:13):
about the dynamics of the politics of New York City
or of his ability to pull people together and to
put some of this stuff through. I think some of
his ideas may work, but I think, you know, he's
set a high bar, and that's always a problem. Set
a high bar, Now you've got to reach it or
you look like you're failing.

Speaker 1 (01:01:32):
Howard, I said that again. The how is much different
than just identifying the issues. But I think the positive
indication I would take away if I'm Mike Pushkin in
heading up the state Democratic Party here is that the
kitchen table issues that West Virginia Democrats have been talking about.

(01:01:55):
That's what span Berger was talking about in Virginia, That's
what Donnie was talking about in New York City. Very
different approach to how I would address those issues, but
those are the issues they're talking about. So I think
state Democrats here are most certainly on the right track
to really be emphasizing affordability, education, healthcare and using that

(01:02:15):
as a springboard to find candidates, find good candidates like
you're talking about, and first of all, just kind of
like where Republicans were forty years ago, get names on
the ballot and start to build some momentum.

Speaker 20 (01:02:28):
Yeah, I think that's true, and hopefully that the Democrats
will do that. I think that the timing has worked
out very well in this election cycle, and by that
I mean as depressing as it is the cut and
staff benefits, so folks are feeling the pain a little

(01:02:48):
bit more maybe than they had before. The increase in
insurance premiums that we're hearing talked about, Folks are recognizing that.
So some of the pocketbook issues, the kitchen table issues,
are certainly much more in the spotlight now than maybe
they'd been even a handful of months ago, which I
think augured well for the candidates who played to that,
and I think those issues will continue to be a

(01:03:10):
big factor. So I think you're right. Probably the kitchen
table issues, the kitchen table tour that the Democrats did
was probably a smart movement, and stick with that. People
are now more in tune with it than they were
even a handful of months ago.

Speaker 4 (01:03:25):
I hear what you're both saying. Here's where I struggle
these kitchen tables, and I think they're valuable. I think
was a brilliant political move And look, you should want
to know what your constituents think. Politics aside, you should
want to know what the people you represent think. You
heard that you were in taking right, you were getting ideas.
I was having some of the same discussions Howard with
some Democrats yesterday and they sent me their platform right,

(01:03:45):
and it reads like the old FDR Second Bill of Rights,
if you recall it. It says things like the right
to a job that pays a living wage, the right
to work in a workplace through a union, the right
to have comprehensive quality health care. Those are great things,
but this early peaking with okay, here are the issues.
At some point you got to talk about the how.

(01:04:07):
And I think in this twenty four to seven media
cycles don't hold more than an hour. People want the
next thing. If you can't come up with the how,
I think you're going to have a tough time selling that.
So I don't want to say anybody peak too early,
but I almost feel like if this had been more
of a midterm election revelation minus these contests in Virginia
New Jersey might have almost been more advantageous for Democrats

(01:04:31):
rather than having it so early.

Speaker 20 (01:04:33):
Your thoughts there, No, I don't disagree, And I think again,
the how is important. You don't have to put the
how to everything, but you got to put the how
to a couple of things. Here are some real specific
things that we are going to do, Bills, we're going
to introduce, projects we want to start. You know, I
think that I haven't seen that platform.

Speaker 1 (01:04:53):
I'll send it to.

Speaker 20 (01:04:55):
The Democrats are all over the Yeah, they're all over
the field anymore, even tho it's my own party. But
you need a platform. You need to say those things,
these are the things in which we believe, right, But
then you've got to say here's how we get to them,
and that you're right teach that should come quickly. Again,

(01:05:15):
everything a couple of things. We're going to do this,
we're going to do that, And I think a little
bit that's being done, but I think it's important to
show here is how we plan, here's where we want
to go, and here's how we plan to get there.
And I think that's really important.

Speaker 1 (01:05:30):
He's Howard Monroe. You can catch him on the Watchdog
Morning Show heard on WVLY up in the Northern Panhandle
prior to this program. Each day Howard always appreciate it.
Good to catch up man.

Speaker 20 (01:05:41):
Thanks guys, good talking to you.

Speaker 1 (01:05:42):
Absolutely coming up. Got to take a break. This is
talk line from the ing Cove Insurance Studios.

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Speaker 22 (01:06:18):
Some say he's a man of mystery. Others say he's
the Holiday Hitmaker. No one saw coming.

Speaker 1 (01:06:23):
It's showtime.

Speaker 22 (01:06:24):
The Holiday hit Maker walks the office halls with West
Virginia Lottery holiday scratch offs and an unstoppable spirit.

Speaker 7 (01:06:31):
What are you doing.

Speaker 1 (01:06:33):
Bringing the holiday hype here? Enjoy scratch off? It's on me?

Speaker 10 (01:06:37):
Whoa ticket?

Speaker 1 (01:06:38):
My work here is done?

Speaker 22 (01:06:39):
Be the surprise hit maker West Virginia Lottery Games, fun,
festive and full of flare.

Speaker 1 (01:06:45):
Please play responsibly. Three oh four talk three oh four.
A couple of texts here. John Williams, Montague County Delegate,

(01:07:07):
joins the bottom of the hour, have wheeling given anyone
left in the camp a bus ticket to New York City,
since it's about to become paradise, asked the Texter. Maybe
not in New York, maybe Morgantown. We had this fascinating
phenomenon here when Morgantown was dealing with a similar issue
a couple of years ago, where you had roughly I

(01:07:28):
think the number was thirty thirty five people in a
camp j and five people would get they would find
housing for five people, and there was constantly thirty to
thirty five people in the camp. Five people would leave,
and then five people would show up again, and you
just scratched your head, went shouldn't the number be going
down at some where? Where are you coming from? Yeah?

Speaker 4 (01:07:50):
It's transient. I mean people are always they do come
from different cities. We had that in Charleston a long time.
People would bus folks. Danny Jones took a lot of
flack the camp I was talking about, and he just
went in one and closed it down. Good thing he did.
The next day we got like four feet of snow.
People would have frozen to death.

Speaker 1 (01:08:04):
Texter says Nancy Pelosi's right up there with tip O'Neil.
The speaker had five kids. She knows how to run
a tight ship, says the Texter. You would have to
uh three or four, talk three or four. The reason
no one knows about the twenty sixth Amendments and Jennings
Randolph is because it's not in the teach to the
Test narrative that West Virginia has. Boy, it's been a

(01:08:26):
long time since it took West Virginia history. I don't
remember if that was part of it or not. You
would think that would make the eighth grade curriculum. Yeah,
I'd have to look, it's been a long time to youjy,
been a long time.

Speaker 4 (01:08:39):
Well, I mean we don't spend a lot of time
on the Federalist papers. Can you say that because it's
not on a test somewhere. I don't know.

Speaker 1 (01:08:45):
If I gave you a blank map, could you do
all the countings? All fifty five?

Speaker 20 (01:08:49):
Oh?

Speaker 4 (01:08:49):
I would struggle with some. I'm sure, all.

Speaker 1 (01:08:54):
Right, we'll try that during the break. Three or four
talks before the text like yeah, we'll just uh pop quiz.
He didn't know that was coming today, did you now?
John Williams WI join us next talk line on Metro News,
the Voice of West Virginia. It's eleven thirty. Let's check
in with the Metro News radio network. Find out what's
happening all across the great state of West Virginia.

Speaker 23 (01:09:16):
West Virginia Metro News. I'm Chris Lawrence in Preston County.
A long night for volunteer firefighters. The Kingwood Fire Department
was the first to respond to a blaze at Appalachian
Wood Pellets around eleven thirty Wednesday night. Eventually, they were
joined by seven other departments to battle the fire in
the facility. Company officials say the fire began in a
bark storage building and then spread to other parts of

(01:09:39):
the operation. They are still working to determine the extent
of damage. Nobody injured, but for the moment, production is
idol although shipping and receiving continue to operate normally. It
was also a long night for firefighters with the US
Forest Service and others in Penelding County. A blaze identified
as the Woodside Fire near Cherry Grove in Penelding County
broke out Wednesday afternoon amid windy and warm condition. Andrea

(01:10:01):
Brandon with the Mononga Hill In National Forests said that
fire and those conditions spread quickly and they've been working
ever since trying to get ahead of it, and.

Speaker 14 (01:10:08):
We have cruise on site currently setting up containment lines.

Speaker 16 (01:10:13):
As of right now.

Speaker 20 (01:10:15):
We do know it is up at about eighty acres
in size and at about thirty percent contained.

Speaker 23 (01:10:23):
The wind died down overnight, but there's no rain in
the forecast until some time tomorrow. A Kapitol County woman
is jailed with a for a fatal hit and run
accident at Mason County. Fifty seven year old Virgil Patterson
of gallipalis ferry struck and killed along a rural road
in Mason County Tuesday. Thirty year old Marissa Russell of
Milton has been charged. You're listening to Metro News. The

(01:10:43):
Boys of West Virginia now showing on Metro News Television,
Peak Health. Your doctors built it, your neighbors love it,
and your friends at Hope Gas present episode three of
State of Minds. Tony Coreedi visits with former WVU head
coach Don Neeland.

Speaker 19 (01:10:58):
I told our guys setting our standards to beat Boston College,
we're setting the standards to beat Pitt and State.

Speaker 3 (01:11:06):
State of Minds Episode three now available, presented by Hope
Gas and Peak Health with support from Career Industries only
on the Metroneus Television app Hi.

Speaker 24 (01:11:15):
I'm Lane Tobin and I'm a project consultant with Civilar
Environmental Consultants. Growing up in West Virginia, I always dreamed
of giving back to my community. That's why I chose
CEC as an employee owned firm. We combined big company
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we're making and I couldn't be prouder. CC isn't just
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(01:11:37):
we engineer progress in the great state of West Virginia.

Speaker 1 (01:11:39):
Find out what CEC can do for you. Visit CECI, Inc.
Dot com.

Speaker 23 (01:11:45):
The embattled assessor in Marshall County has pleaded guilty to
charges he had faced. Forty two year old Eric Buzzer
admitted to a charge of embezzlement and conspiracy. He used
a county pee card for his own personal use, taking
more than one hundred and seventeen thousand dollars that was
originally to go to county projects. He also admitted to
conspiring with a local car dealer to be part of

(01:12:05):
a kickbank scheme. He's now in the Northern Regional Jail
awaiting sentencing from the Metro News anchored Ask I'm Chris Lawrence.

Speaker 1 (01:12:31):
Three or four Talk three or four is the tax
line eight hundred and seven to sixty five talk phone
number eight hundred seven sixty five eighty two five five
text and calls coming up. West Virginia food banks received
less state funding this year in the budget bill that
was signed months before. The stamp benefits were delayed because

(01:12:53):
of the federal government shutdown. Front of the program. Amelia
Nicely has a story over at West Virginia Watch dot
com this morning, going into detail. Montague County Delegate John
Williams is the minority chair for the House Finance Committee.
He was in on those budget discussions and joins us
on Metro News talk Line this morning. John, good morning,
thanks for joining us.

Speaker 19 (01:13:14):
Thank you both for having me. I appreciate it.

Speaker 1 (01:13:16):
Good morning, appreciate you coming on. We're talking about the
Posey Perry Emergency Food Fund. Governor then Governor Jim Justice
launched that in twenty twenty three, a ten million dollar
reserve account dedicated to combating food insecurity in West Virginia. However,
the governor's first proposed budget did not include a line
item request to fund food banks at the same level

(01:13:38):
as Governor Justice. So, John, was there any discussion about
that during the budgeting process back during the session.

Speaker 19 (01:13:46):
There certainly was, And I think the biggest shame about it.
You know, you've been to those states of the States.
You know, sometimes in the minority, we don't stand up
as much during those speeches because we don't feel we
have as much to feel good about. But that certainly
was one of them. I remember that announcement. I remember
the story about who Perry Posey was, and that was

(01:14:09):
something that was a bypartisan measure to make sure that
folks had had food on the table. And so we
were certainly disappointed to see that when that wasn't included.

Speaker 16 (01:14:20):
In the budget.

Speaker 19 (01:14:21):
I think it was my colleague, Delegate Sean Hornbuckle asked
questions about that in finance, if I'm not mistaken, and
internally as Democrats, we talked about how to go about
that through through amendment or not, but we ended up
introducing I think nine amendments on the floor to the

(01:14:42):
budget bill, and and Posey was not one of them.
But it is something that we have advocated for, and
we're in a situation now where we see exactly why
it's word advocating for.

Speaker 4 (01:14:56):
I think it'll be back next year since we've kind
of been caught with our pants down.

Speaker 19 (01:15:01):
I think so. I think so, TJ. But I think
that's that's a good lesson in getting caught with one's
pants down, is that it's unlikely. The law of averages
would say that that doesn't uh that that incident is
unlikely to happen again, because other elements have have learned
their lesson as well. And so I think it's it's

(01:15:21):
a it's a cautionary tale to as as a government,
be prepared for any contingency that might come your way.
Uh And and What's more is it's not even just
we're we're caught with our pants down because we don't
have uh SNAP funding. That's that's been appropriated. That money
was to go to the already existing prevalence of hunger

(01:15:47):
and food and security in West Virginia. And so now
when you then compound that with the forty seven million
not coming in for SNAP benefits, now you're really in
a world of hurt. So I would hope that we
wouldn't just do the same appropriation. I would hope that
we would learn that we if anything like this did

(01:16:08):
ever happen, we want to appropriate money for an emergency,
but also let's recognize student security is a problem with
or without what's happening in the world right now, and
we need to address that as well.

Speaker 1 (01:16:19):
Anigue County Delegate John Williams joining us here on Metro
News talk line, the governor announced this morning another I
think two and a half million dollars being released for
state food banks in response to the SNAP benefits that
have been suspended by the federal government shutdown. That brings
the total to I think around fourteen million dollars. But
my question is, John, is this the right approach, or

(01:16:42):
should the governor tap his contingency fund or even bring
the legislature back to appropriate funding for this.

Speaker 19 (01:16:48):
Well, I'm just I'm so thankful that we have gotten
that money, and I appreciate the fact that he has
appropriated that, but I think there is so much more
that we can doing. So if you look at the
money that's going to a food bank, let's start off
with the fact that food banks are less well equipped

(01:17:09):
than the retail sector is to get these benefits out. TJ.
You're gonna love this man, what I'm about to say.
Let's let let's let private industry administer these benefits because
they know what they're doing, and that's what SNAP allows
you to do. The amount of food that you can
deliver on a per dollar basis is way higher through

(01:17:31):
snaps than it is just with food banks. So that's
one reason why we need to be doing more. The
other one is just the sheer amount that the funding
is different, So that eleven million while great West Virginians
are missing out on a total of forty seven million
dollars to have their SNAP benefits, and we know now
that those benefits are going to be partially funded.

Speaker 25 (01:17:54):
That's great.

Speaker 19 (01:17:55):
But I don't want our children to be partially fed,
and so that's where the legislature comes in, or the
contingency fund to backfill those dollars to be added two
EBT cards to go out to our people so that
we don't have hungry folks. And whether that's a contingency
fund or the legislature. As you might know, the Democrats

(01:18:17):
we asked to go into session last week. We haven't
heard back about that, and so just yesterday we circulated
a petition amongst our Republican colleagues to call ourselves into session.
You need sixty votes in the House and three fifths
in the Senate as well, and I'm hopeful that we'll
build consensus on that because more needs to be done.

Speaker 4 (01:18:40):
John, I almost took the bait, but I'm not going
to opine about how easy it should be to do
an ach into a vendor payment program. I'm not going
to take the bait you almost got me to. That's
really good. I do ask you this though. So David,
and we're talking about the Rainy Day Fund. Other people
have been it's raining. Steven Allen Adams appropriately pointed out
out that it's really called the Revenue shortfall fund. I've said,

(01:19:03):
you know, maybe we need to reclaim it. The Hey,
this is the money we're always going to have and invest,
so the bond market gives us cheap interest.

Speaker 1 (01:19:09):
Fund.

Speaker 4 (01:19:10):
With all that said, should we have a nuts and
bolts contingency like a family emergency fund, like a good
family steward or their finances would have to say if
it's food banks, or it's this, or it's that, we've
got some money that, hey, it's not there for any
other purpose. We don't have to worry about the bond
agencies derating us if we take it. I mean, should

(01:19:33):
we look at something like that.

Speaker 19 (01:19:35):
Well, I don't know that we have to. I certainly
appreciate Steven's technical reading of the revenue shortfall fund that
that is correct. But at the end of the day,
what is revenue? What is government revenue? It's at the
end of the day, it manifests itself into services that
your people depend on. And so we have right now

(01:19:57):
a services shortfall. Difficant services shortfall. Okay, we're talking about food.
Democrats have been out on a kitchen table tour. I
don't know how much more kitchen table it gets than food,
and so I think that we can we can take
money from that fund uh and and not feel bad
since it is the revenue shortfall fund. I think that

(01:20:18):
one of the best points you made there, TJ was
that it really is just so that we can go
to Wall Street and get a good, good bond rating.
Meanwhile do what we want to on taxes, lower taxes,
and not have our credit rating downgraded. But that's that's
the game that that we can't play forever. But that's
the discussion for another show.

Speaker 1 (01:20:38):
John Williams, Bontague County Delegate, joining us here on Metro
News talk line. John in Montgaey County in particular, I
know there have been food drives, churches are working together
to try to collect and distribute food. What are you
seeing on the ground.

Speaker 19 (01:20:54):
Yeah, I'm seeing a lot of good things, And I
think I think it's such a double edged sore because
you are seeing the goodness of the people of West
Virginia who love and care about their neighbors and they
are answering the call. But at the same time, those
same generous, loving neighbors also have already paid tax dollars

(01:21:18):
to the State of West Virginia that are sitting in
what I will call colloquially the Rainy Day Fund, and
those monies should be expended. They have already paid for this,
And so while while the outpouring is fantastic, it's beautiful,
it's great, I think that this has already been paid

(01:21:38):
for with tax dollars and we need to be tapping
into that instead of simply asking for the taxpayer to
answer the call yet again.

Speaker 4 (01:21:46):
As we get through the emergency and we put this
behind us and the government opens back up hopefully soon,
should we shift the conversation to the number of people
that we have on Snap Because I knew we had
a lot, Candidly, I didn't know it was two hundred
and seventy thousand people, or sixteen percent of the population.

Speaker 1 (01:22:04):
I don't know what kind of churn is involved in that.

Speaker 4 (01:22:06):
I'm not saying people are on it forever, but it
just seems really high.

Speaker 1 (01:22:11):
John.

Speaker 4 (01:22:11):
That's not your fault, it's not anybody's specific fault. But
I don't know how we fix it, but it seems
like it'd be a good thing to concentrate on.

Speaker 19 (01:22:18):
Yeah, I mean, no doubt in a perfect world you
wouldn't have anyone on Snap benefits, But alas the world
isn't perfect, and so as we've continued as a society
over the past two three hundred years to progress, we're
able to allocate money towards towards feeding our neighbors. And

(01:22:39):
so I think bringing jobs, bringing industry, making West Virginia
an even better place to live is a part of
getting people off of those benefits. But until such time
as those economic conditions exist, I will stand steadfastly in
defending those benefits. I don't think it was Roosevelt said

(01:23:04):
something to the effect of, you don't judge a society
by the incredible wealth that a few have. You judge
the society by the mass wealth that the masses enjoyed.
And I think that that's what we need to live
up to in West Virginia for our neighbors.

Speaker 1 (01:23:19):
He's John Williams, Montague County Delegate. He's the House Finance
Committee Minority Chair. And John, appreciate you hopping on with
us this morning. Good to talk to you again. Man.

Speaker 19 (01:23:29):
Hey. Thanks when you said friend of the program, I
thought you were talking about me, and then you mentioned
Amelia and nicely, so I'll keep working towards that. Guys.
Thank you.

Speaker 1 (01:23:39):
John. We appreciate it, buddy, Thank you.

Speaker 19 (01:23:41):
All right, thank you here much.

Speaker 1 (01:23:42):
John Williams, Montague County Delegate, take a break. We have
to your text. Rest of the show belongs to you
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Speaker 22 (01:24:40):
Some say he's a man of mystery. Others say he's
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Speaker 1 (01:24:43):
No one saw coming. It's showtime.

Speaker 22 (01:24:46):
The Holiday hit Maker walks the office halls with West
Virginia Lottery holiday scratch offs and an unstoppable spirit. What
are you doing.

Speaker 1 (01:24:54):
Bringing the holiday high here? Enjoy scratch off? It's on me?

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Whoa ticket?

Speaker 1 (01:25:00):
My work here is done.

Speaker 22 (01:25:01):
Be the surprise hit maker. West Virginia Lottery games fun,
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Speaker 1 (01:25:06):
Please play responsibly.

Speaker 3 (01:25:20):
Met your News talk Line is presented by Encovia Insurance
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about most. Visit encova dot com to learn more.

Speaker 1 (01:25:30):
Text line is three or four Talk three oh four
phone numbers eight hundred and seven to sixty five talk
eight two five five. Jackpots are growing in West Virginia.
Jackpots on the rise every week. Powerball hits Mondays, Wednesdays
and Saturdays. Mega Millions lights up Tuesdays and Fridays. That's
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Play in store and online eighteen plus to play. Please

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play responsibly. The Powerball jackpot is four hundred and sixty
seven million dollars. Mega Millions jackpot is for eight hundred
and forty three million, so go ahead play today. Texter
says keeping a good bond rating is more important than
feeding children. That's Republican policy for you. The problem with
homelessness is that organizations that try to help them, if

(01:26:16):
they help the homeless issue, the organization goes away and
those individuals lose funding and their jobs. These organizations do
not want homelessness to end. On nine to eleven oh one,
the liberals made a lot of hay about people driving
American flags past American mosques as bullying. Now there are
libs flying Palestinian and Mexican flags getting elected in Democrat

(01:26:39):
strongholds like New York. Apparently the phrase never forget as
a lifespan of a little over twenty years.

Speaker 4 (01:26:46):
First Amendment, fly whatever flag you want.

Speaker 1 (01:26:50):
Three or four talk three four. As Amanda Amanda Amelia
nicely reports on the politics of government shut down, snap programs,
and food banks. Maybe Dave could ask her if politic
it might help Trump if he uses the White House
ballroom as a food bank. What is the status of
the construction there anyway, Dave asks the Texter. Yeah, sure,

(01:27:10):
use it as a food bank, because I still don't care.
Three or four talk three or four. Fortieth anniversary of
the nineteen eighty five flood. I was eight and still
have the newspaper three or four talk three of four
Jerry and Poka wants to weigh in.

Speaker 19 (01:27:27):
Hey, Jerry, the Democrats have pushed and pushed and pushed on.

Speaker 25 (01:27:33):
This thing and try to blame Trump, and the whole
thing actually boils back down to the Democrats wanted to
cram a three in and a half dollars more into
the budget than the Continuing Resolution represented. The Continuing Resolution

(01:27:56):
would have funded everything and forced a Democrat to have
to go back on the Congressional floor and negotiate funding.
They own this shutdown because they don't want to negotiate
on the House floor where they know they will not
get what they.

Speaker 1 (01:28:18):
Yuh, Jerry will lost you. But I got your point there.
Sorry about that technical difficulties maybe because of the shutdown.
Let's blame that, sure, why not? But I get what
Jerry's saying there to j He's making a point, and
I think a lot of people feel that way. A
lot of people go the other way too.

Speaker 4 (01:28:34):
But the problem is both of them, both budgets, either
the c ARE now or what the extension of the ACA,
We're still spending trillions more than what we have. No
one wants to talk about that. Maybe except me. But
I mean, that's that's the part that's so frustrating to
me that folks you know, oh, well it's better to
only have a three or a two trillion dollar deficit

(01:28:56):
than a three point five trillion dollar deficit.

Speaker 1 (01:28:57):
Well you know they're both gonna kill us. So yes,
that's the larger picture. But the whole thing shut down.
We're not getting anything done. I'm not getting anything done
because Democrats are using this spending resolution as as leverage
and a policy debate that they lost a few months ago.
And Republicans would be in the wrong if they were
trying to pull this stuff too. They would be absolutely

(01:29:20):
in the wrong to try to use budgeting just to
keep the government open because you lost a policy issue.

Speaker 4 (01:29:27):
If you're Republicans, do you up the ante and instead
of just another clean cr which you know you'll have
to do from scratch, because now you would have what
a week and like three days on the existing one
if you were to use that whatever it is, right,
do you do the clean sear but also some of
the appropriations bills. I think you up the ANTE. I
think you have to, don't you.

Speaker 1 (01:29:48):
You have to get this thing. Somebody has to get
this thing moving at some point, and.

Speaker 4 (01:29:52):
An appropriation bill is law, right, so you know it's
it's not like you can you can. I don't see
how polar on the floor you try to renegotiate those
when they've bipartisanally come out of committee.

Speaker 1 (01:30:05):
I think that would be tough. Yeah, three or four
talk three four. Let's squeeze at a couple more texts
here before the final break. The shutdown is on both sides.
Neither side will budge. I'm sick of one side blaming
the other side or the other, says the Texter.

Speaker 4 (01:30:19):
Will be careful, You're gonna end up like us both sides,
both sides.

Speaker 1 (01:30:23):
How often do we hear that Dave every day? The
people who forgot nine to eleven aren't the Libs. It's
the current administration that goes to Saudi Kingdom and give
them all the weapons and ammunition. Most of the nine
eleven terrorists were from Saudi Arabia. Guys, remember when the
Japanese bomb Pearl Harbor. Now West Virginia has a Toyota

(01:30:44):
car factory that prompts up its economy. Talk about never forget,
says the Texter. Brad Smith, Please run for governor we
need someone who loves West Virginia. I would say no
to that just because I like him where he is. Selfishly,
I think he's doing a bang up job where he
is right now at Marshall University. But that's just me

(01:31:06):
being selfish. Three or four talk three or four of
the text line. All right, a couple more texts. We'll
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Speaker 6 (01:31:35):
We are there for.

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You to care for you.

Speaker 1 (01:31:41):
We are here.

Speaker 27 (01:31:46):
A new episode of Live Healthy West Virginia is now
posted on the podcast center of wv metronews dot com
and the metro News TV app.

Speaker 6 (01:31:53):
Don't be afraid to get screened for lung cancer.

Speaker 1 (01:31:56):
The sooner you do, the better the outcome.

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Even when we do find cancer, the treatment now is
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are surviving, They're living longer and thriving.

Speaker 27 (01:32:06):
Listen to Live Healthy West Virginia for candid conversations with
insights for improving your health and well being. Live Healthy
West Virginia is presented by WVU Medicine.

Speaker 1 (01:32:33):
A couple of more texts here before we call it
a day. At WU Medicine, our nationally recognized Heart and
Vascular Institute is focused on keeping your heart strong. Our
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Vascular Institute, West Virginia's leader in heart care. For more information,
visit w Medicine org. Slash hearts. Back to the text line,
three or four talk three or four guys? Really WU
football gameing momentum after winning one game after five losses
in a row, can you say, Homer Metro news, Yep,

(01:33:16):
you got me, they got they got me. W W
Homer right here, Yep, you've been paying attention three or
four talk three or four. H I'll just say it.
Hope is in the business to make money. It's for stockholders.
Talking about the rating isn't everybody in business to make money.

Speaker 4 (01:33:34):
What's wrong with that? What's wrong with that? Investors gave
millions of dollars up front to be able to build
that system that otherwise wouldn't be there.

Speaker 1 (01:33:42):
Yeah, they ought to get a return. And Look, I
thought Morgan O'Brien that we spoke to him back in
the ten o'clock I thought he did a good job
explaining it. Look, he took it and said, yes, the
timing was bad with regard to the naming of the
coliseum and the raid increase, but it's two different things.
The increase has nothing to do with the naming rights.
And I understand why people connected the two. Yeah, it

(01:34:04):
was bad timing, bad optics, but they are not connected.
And I think he did a good job of explaining that.

Speaker 4 (01:34:09):
I don't understand why people connect the two. When's the
last time you told your neighbor what to do with
their savings account. When's the last time you told your
neighbor what to do with their savings account.

Speaker 1 (01:34:18):
I think it was pretty obvious why people connected the two.
All right, coming up Met News midday, David Amanda, We'll
get you through the middle part of the day. Then
it's Metro News Hotline with Dave Weekly. After that, follow
the news the day over at the website wv metronews
dot com. Steamerly coming up tomorrow. Stirewalt stops by as well.
This is talk Line on Metro News for forty years,

(01:34:40):
the voice of West Virginia,

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