This July 5 @CityofWheeling meeting marked one year before a new Council and Mayor are sworn in after the May 2024 municipal elections. #FolkReporter

Follow this thread for the highlights of the meeting, or read the full story here:

1/23
thehudsoneditorial.com/p/wheeling-cit… First, the Finance Committee met at 5:00 to discuss three proposed used for ARPA funds-a mobile stage, ambulances, and/or Centre Market renovations.

ARPA funding is running dry. Councilors spent a great deal of time debating the best use of funds.
2/23thehudsoneditorial.com/p/arpa-funds-d…

The @CityofWheeling City Council and Public Works Committee met today, June 6. Several proclamations were made, ordinances approved, and over 35 new ordinances proposed.

Here are some of the stories from tonight. #folkreporter @FolkReporters

1/15 Public Works Comm updated the people about ongoing, multi-million $ projects. Street paving is 77% done, will wrap up in next 3 weeks. Some residents, like Ms Cadar, have complained about flooding potential in newly paved alleys. #folkreporter

2/15

The May 16 @CityofWheeling #CityCouncil meeting was unlike any other, due in large part to it's high attendance. Many came out in support of the LGBTQ+ and the upcoming Pride on the Plaza event. More than 60 people filled the chambers. Here's what you missed:

1/ Former state Sen Owens Brown was present, as well as current Delegate @WVUFLU. Del Fluharty, on entering the room, said "I heard something big was happening. Did I miss anything?" Something big indeed happened--an outpouring of support for #LGBTQ+ people #folkreporters

2/

The Ohio County Solid Waste Authority held its 2nd annual Earth Day block party on April 22 at @WhgHeritage Artisan Center. More than two dozen vendors greeted hundreds of Wheeling residents to celebrate the occasion. Let's meet some of them! #folkreporters

1/10 I spoke with OCSWA's Executive Director, Rebecca Friend, who said “I want people to know there’s hope, and there’s other people fighting to make our home better." Their booth diverted plants from the landfill, repotted them, and gave them to the community. #folkreporters

2/10

Guess who has two thumbs and just finished their write up of the Earth Day block party from three weeks ago??? Now I can write my FidoFest article and my article about the opening of timeless muses in a TIMELY manner and be happy. You may not know what I’m talking about but soon enough you will! Next article dropping at 10:00 Sunday. GO SUBSCRIBE TO MY s*bst*ck link in bio

I had the pleasure of sitting down with @RonScottJr304 at last month’s OCSWA Earth Day Block Party to talk about @MenOfChange304!

This all volunteer group started in 2020 so to uplift, empower, support, and engage the people of Wheeling!

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thehudsoneditorial.substack.com/p/men-of-chang… The @MenOfChange304 are well known for their community bike rides. The group promotes health and well-being initiatives while offering fellowship between neighbors in the city. They have held blood drives, back-to-school giveaways, and Halloween events! #folkreporters

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Just want folks who are sharing the Intelligencer’s story with Councilor Seidler’s comment to know the actual story is 90% Dittmar’s rant verbatim.

You aren’t the ones affected by the dissemination of her hate and bigotry, but my friends are! Hope the likes are worth it! Yes I’m gonna hype myself up. HERE is how you report on known bigots. You don’t copy them word-for-word, conspiracy and nastiness and all. You state what they are mad about and move on. This person is known universally in Wheeling. Now her message is being spread statewide

https://twitter.com/JusticeHudson97/status/1654265411490181121

The Wheeling City Council held its first meeting of May on Tuesday, May 2. It has received statewide attention after a known bigot had their six-minute tirade turned into a full-length story by a legacy paper.

Here are the stories you missed:

#folkreporters

(1/15) A potential $500,000 loan-financing program to assist in the repair of sidewalks was discussed, offered by @ViceMayorWhg Thalman, Ward 1. Currently, it is the property owner's responsibility to maintain sidewalks. Councilors Sklavounakis and Palmer spoke in opposition.

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Here are some specifics about @CityofWheeling recent City Council meeting. Support the work I do by reading the full article linked in this tweet, and by subscribing to my substack. Support @BlackByGodWV for empowering me to do this work. #folkreporters

1/13

https://twitter.com/JusticeHudson97/status/1648817719863590913

Wheeling's only official skyscraper, the Wheeling-Pittsburgh Steel Building, has seen estimated restoration costs rise from $21 million to $48 million, to which the audience gasped. @MayorWheeling and members of Council traveled to Canton, OH, to meet with developers

2/13

MAJOR UPDATE: @DEPWV Chief Communications Officer confirms one storage tank was found during @WVDOT @CityofWheeling Streetscape Project. @MillerEnvGroup has been contracted by Triton Construction to perform testing on water and sand found in tank. An odor of diesel was detected.

https://twitter.com/justicehudson97/status/1648741813950218265

.@DEPWV says no immediate threat is posed to the Ohio River, but no test results have been submitted. Work on removal was completed on April 17. Comment from @CityofWheeling has not been received, but the Public Relations Specialist confirmed she is working on it w/ City Manager

NOT A DRILL—check out my article on Show of Hands that is about to be featured in a Wheeling-local paper! Ya boy is getting paid for this one

https://twitter.com/justicehudson97/status/1648154944342458368

And one of the contestants found my posts with my handmade alien mask and wants to paint portraits of me!! Hello!!?? What is happening who knew my big break would be a local wheeling event

So sorry for the delayed thread— a dear friend who is leaving town came to say goodbye. We hadn’t spoken for a couple months and they are moving from Wheeling! Really care for this person and wanted to spend as much time with them as possible. Please SHARE parts of that thread. Many important stories that shouldn’t be buried! The nastiness of this council meeting was unlike anything I had seen. Personal attacks against any Councilor should not be accepted.

THREAD: Wheeling City Council Holds Contentious Meeting— Resolution Re-Affirming the Civil Rights of Wheeling Residents rejected 3-3. Here are the highlights.

If you like my reporting check out the full article here: open.substack.com/pub/thehudsone…

1/15 I WILL BE GOING OUT OF CHRONOLOGICAL ORDER. Spiciest stuff first. Before we start- 1) security checks were held, 2) @MayorWheeling was absent, 3) out of the three meetings I’ve reported on not ONE has had full attendance of the #citycouncil. Roughly 20 citizens in attendance
2/15

Hey! Do you work for an equitable organization looking for a self-motivated, passionate worker with years of demonstrated skills in leadership, team work, public speaking, relationship building, and community engagement I'm your man! I come with bonus farming knowledge! I have 3+ years experience with people aged 7 to 21, from five to twenty people, on community cleanup tasks, cooking classes, farm-related tasks etc. I have created content for these work and volunteer groups, lead their activities, and coordinated with coworkers to achieve this

I noticed this when East Palestine train derailment happened- an influx of right-wing conspiracy theorists. That’s when I first heard of “smart cities.” This is the comment section of a recent “RAW Alerts” tweet. The account attracts many of these conspiracies. Some very suspect things happening on this platform, as we’re all aware. Not sure what we do to combat such viral misinformation and conspiracy web spinning. In my opinion this is a bad omen

My HS marching band went to Disney a week after the 2014 Charleston water crisis and we kept joking when we saw Woody we’d say “WOODY! Someone poisoned our waterhole!” Or we’d say “hope this water isn’t poison” before drinking at restaurants. We were 15-17 y/o Honorable mention is this hilarious ride photo where I’m literally not paying attention to the jump scare lmao. Can’t stop laughing at this.

Going through my Instagram now feeling nostalgic. Pic on left is me in Cardiff, Wales, about to vote in my first U.S. General Election. Right is me with Sec Tennant before I left. In 2016 I was (I think) the only person to vote via email in WV. It was a pilot program! Scrolled to high school times…. BRO. I forgot something hit me senior year and I started taking costume days SO SERIOUSLY. (1) DEAD JOAN RIVERS, (2) Voltaire, (3) “throwback Thursday,” (4) tweedle Dee and tweedle dum

Excited for Legislature chaos to end so around May I can try and get interviews with Del Fluharty and Sen Chapman. Maybe Sen Weld too but I know far less about him than the two from my county Inbefore something crazy happens and the Leg goes into special session for months and every capitol beat reporter lives their own personal Groundhog Day hell

Bro the barista just called me out for not waiting in line and leaving early yesterday lmao. I feel clocked to death all I could say was “I just did the same thing to Market Cafe” If I come into your two-person-working coffee shop and there’s 4 or more people in front of me I am just accepting it’s a 20 minute wait, and accepting I don’t want it that bad.

Just a casual reminder our elected officials are PEOPLE. Particularly in WV, most electeds are part-time basis. If you think they act “unprofessional” it’s because they’re CITIZENS. They’re your neighbors. Sometimes, they’re you’re crazy trump neighbors. All to say, give some grace. Working the city council beat and interviewing Rosemary gave such insight to how average these folks are. Hold back your more reactionary tendencies. Keep holding feet to the fire, but remember these aren’t (typically) millionaires.

Thinking of a few story ideas as I drink some high life and build a forester in my Minecraft world. One, comparing prices for funerary services around wheeling. Two, talking with Johnny Haught, MMA fight, who offered protection for the cancelled Primanti Bros drag brunch. Third, a history of the suspension bridge from completion to collapse to rebuilding all the way to its closing to vehicles in 2019 and the current revitalization project. I have other stories I’m keeping to my chest. The ones listed as so mundane any and all are welcome to copy🙂