The Ohio Valley Digest — Saturday, May 9, 2026

Your daily brief for the Valley

The day in one paragraph

Jefferson County’s overdose deaths in the first four months of 2026 — eight already — are nearly equal to the entire 2025 total. Wheeling’s sewage plant is going to smell for three to four weeks while it cleans out its digesters. Rails to Trails is bringing the federal infrastructure power-brokers to Steubenville-Weirton in September, in what looks like the next move in the Market Street Bridge replacement story. And West Virginia votes Tuesday — early voting closes today — in the first closed Republican primary in roughly 40 years, and the first election that requires an ID with a photo on it.

What happened this week

Eight overdose deaths so far in Jefferson County. Health District Director Andrew Henry confirmed eight overdose deaths year-to-date — four in April alone — versus ten total for all of 2025. Fentanyl is still the dominant drug. Naloxone is available at the health department, the Family Recovery Center, and at NaloxBoxes around the county. The Prevention & Recovery Board’s next public meeting is Monday, May 18, at 524 Madison Ave. in Steubenville.

Wheeling’s sewage plant cleanout will smell. The Water Pollution Control Plant on Main Street is pulling sludge from its digesters — a $500,000-to-$600,000 cleanout ahead of $1.4 million in repairs, all part of a $43.85 million wastewater-improvement plan. City Manager Robert Herron said the work will take three to four weeks, with intermittent odors reaching downtown and Wheeling Island.

Rails to Trails brings the federal power-brokers in September. The Rails to Trails Conservancy will tour the closed Market Street Bridge with elected officials and federal-agency staff in September, just as West Virginia gets ready to spend the $87.5 million federal award Sen. Capito secured to replace the 120-year-old span. Public meetings on the bridge replacement run in Steubenville and Follansbee over the next 10 days. RTC estimates a completed Pittsburgh-to-Columbus trail would generate $230 million in new annual visitor spending.

The Diocese turns the page. This morning’s editorials honor outgoing Bishop Mark Brennan and welcome incoming Bishop Evelio Menjivar-Ayala, whose installation Mass is set for Wednesday, July 2 at the Cathedral of St. Joseph in Wheeling. The transition lands two days after the death of former Bishop Bransfield in Philadelphia.

Marietta tabled the building-permit handoff. Marietta City Council voted 5–2 to table Ordinance 40, which would have moved zoning, code inspection, and building permits to the Southeast Ohio Building Department. Permit work stays in-house for now.

Wood County will set the rates. Union Williams PSD is expanding past the 4,000-customer threshold, which moves rate-setting from the WV Public Service Commission in Charleston to the Wood County Commission. Wood already sets rates for Lubeck and Mineral Wells PSDs.

Three-way race in Williamstown. Two open Council seats drew three candidates: incumbents Marty Seufer (longtime finance director) and Pat Peters (former Williamstown High principal) facing challenger Jeff Meeks. Water-system remediation is the central campaign issue.

What might cost you more (or less) this week

Gas prices are still moving on Iran. WTI crude swung from $107 down to $88 and back above $95 last week as Iran rebuffed the U.S. settlement proposal demanding war reparations. AAA’s national average is $4.46 a gallon. Translation: the pump price you see this weekend was set by something happening in the Middle East on Wednesday, and that’s likely to keep being true for a while.

Electric bills, the same direction. PJM’s most recent capacity auction cleared at the cap — $329.17 a megawatt-day for this delivery year, $333.44 for next year. That’s the wholesale-power cost that flows into your AEP bill over the coming year. Data-center demand is the driver.

Natural gas at home, modestly better. Henry Hub spot was $2.79/MMBtu Friday. Marcellus rig count is 37, flat for six straight weeks — production is steady, not climbing.

Names to know this week

• West Virginia primary Tuesday, May 12. First closed Republican primary in roughly 40 years (West Virginia opened its primaries to unaffiliated voters in the mid-1980s; the GOP Executive Committee voted last year to close its primary again — unaffiliated voters can still pull a Democratic ballot). It is also the first election that requires an ID with a photo on it; voter ID has been required for several years, but until now the list of acceptable IDs included non-photo documents like hunting licenses and bank statements. Free photo IDs are available at county courthouses and the Secretary of State’s office. Northern Panhandle ballot includes Joe Eddy vs. Sen. Laura Wakim Chapman in the Senate District 1 GOP primary (Capito endorsed Eddy; Gov. Morrisey endorsed Chapman); Mark Zatezalo vs. Tony Viola in House District 2; incumbent Eron Chek vs. Ronnie Jones for Hancock Commission; Matthew Saseen vs. Scott Himrod for Bethlehem mayor.
• Wetzel County school operational levy is also on Tuesday’s ballot. The $25 million annual levy funds school resource officers, building security, and free breakfast / lunch / after-school dinner for every student. Continuously approved since the 1950s.
• Ohio County voters in precincts 20 and 31: the Masonic Lodge in Fulton is no longer a polling place. Vote at Generations Restaurant and Pub, 338 National Road.
• Sen. Dave McCormick visited the Homer City data-center conversion site in PA Friday and pitched a federal bill that would cap water-permit reviews at one year — a bill that would directly affect Tenaska’s Tri-State Energy Hub permitting on this side of the river.

This weekend in the Valley

• Pepperoni Roll Festival — 10 a.m. today, Wheeling Park. Cook-off, eating contest, vendors.
• Wheeling Food Truck Festival — 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. today, Wheeling Heritage Port. 20+ trucks; benefits NAMI WV.
• Stairs for Strides 5K — 9 a.m. today, Wheeling Heritage Port.
• Help Me Grow Community Baby Shower — 10 a.m. to 1 p.m. today, Marietta Knights of Columbus Hall, 312 Franklin St.
• Washington County Historical Society open house — 1 to 4 p.m. today, 346 Muskingum Drive, Marietta.
• Wheeling Nailers vs. Maine Mariners, Game 2 — 7:10 p.m. today, WesBanco Arena. Kelly Cup North Division Final.
• Tribute Quartet concert — 7 p.m. today, Ava Methodist Church, Noble County.
• Mother’s Day Buffet — Sunday, 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., River City Restaurant.
• Fearing Township VFD Mother’s Day Dinner — Sunday, 11 a.m., 1975 Stanleyville Road, Whipple, $12/$6.
• St. Henry’s Mother’s Day Dinner — Sunday, 11 a.m. to 2 p.m., Lower Salem, $15/$7.

Got a tip, an obituary, or something we should know about? Reply here or send an email to tips@ohiovalleydigest.org — it goes straight to Jeremy.

The Ohio Valley Digest covers Belmont, Jefferson, Harrison, Columbiana, Monroe, Noble, Morgan, Guernsey, and Washington (OH) counties; Marshall, Wetzel, Ohio, Brooke, and Hancock (WV).