The Ohio Valley Digest — Tuesday, May 12, 2026

Your daily brief for the seven counties.

The day in one paragraph

It’s Election Day in West Virginia, with polls open until 7:30 tonight under closed Republican rules and a new photo-ID requirement. About 67,000 West Virginians already voted early — turnout a hair higher than the last off-year primary. In Wheeling, the Planning Commission gave the green light to the $122 million WVU Cancer Institute building on the old OVMC site, and the city’s tourism bureau picked a $25.9 million contractor for the long-promised Wheeling Gateway Center. In Steubenville, the owner of the Fort Steuben Mall has two more weeks to fix the building or watch the city close it. And in Weirton, the city’s pick for the Water Board pulled his name back after weekend social-media attacks because he works at Form Energy.

What happened this week

Election Day in West Virginia. Polls are open 6:30 a.m. to 7:30 p.m. Tuesday. On the Northern Panhandle ballot: the Senate District 1 Republican primary between incumbent Laura Wakim Chapman and Wellsburg manufacturing CEO Joe Eddy (the winner faces Del. Shawn Fluharty in November), mayoral primaries in Bethlehem and Cameron, the Hancock County Animal Shelter levy, and a long list of Marshall County municipal races. Voters without a qualifying photo ID can still vote by bringing someone to verify them or by casting a provisional ballot.

Wheeling banks two big construction approvals in one night. The Planning Commission unanimously approved the final site plan for the $122 million WVU Cancer Institute regional cancer complex on the former OVMC site — 122,477 square feet, four floors, about 130 employees, with construction targeted to start in June and wrap up in December 2028. Separately, the city’s tourism bureau (CVB) chose Stonemile Group LLC at a $25.9 million base bid to build the long-promised Wheeling Gateway Center. Director Frank O’Brien hopes to break ground late this summer.

Fort Steuben Mall on a two-week clock. Total Finance, the mall’s owner, asked Steubenville for a six-month extension on the city’s April 27 building-code letter. Then it asked for 60 days. The city said no to both. The stand-alone stores at the property — J.C. Penney, Walmart, Texas Roadhouse, Eat’n Park, Dunham’s, Aspen Dental, The Shoe Department Encore, and 7 Ranges — won’t be affected. The smaller mall-interior tenants could be relocated near the entrance if Total Finance does the repairs.

Weirton: a Water Board pick withdraws over Form Energy. Mayor Dean Harris’s nominee for the Water Board, Lawrence Wright, asked Monday to be pulled from consideration after weekend social-media posts attacked him over his employer — the Form Energy battery plant at the old Weirton Steel site. Harris called Wright “highly educated and qualified” and the withdrawal “disappointing.” Ward 4 Councilman Rick Stead called the campaign against Wright “reprehensible.” On the same day’s WV Senate District 1 ballot, Joe Eddy is pitching that same Form Energy parcel as ideal for “data centers and combined cycle gas plants on a microgrid type basis.” Form Energy is now a political fault line in Weirton.

Hancock County Schools draws dice from a jar to set teacher seniority. State law from 2019 required school districts to use random drawings when employees share a start date — Hancock never did it. Superintendent Walt Saunders had teachers do it Monday, with reductions in force already finalized May 1. Veteran teacher Danielle Spratling, who has 15 years in education, called the process “nerve-racking, almost degrading.”

The Marietta levee got another concrete pour Friday, and the Muskingum Watershed Conservancy District is pushing a $350-million-a-year federal Ohio River Restoration Act introduced by Sen. John Fetterman and Sen. Todd Young. For comparison, the Great Lakes Restoration Initiative gets $550 million a year.

What might cost you more (or less) this week

Pump prices are still elevated. WTI crude was around $97–98 a barrel Monday; Brent (the international price) is still carrying a $15-to-$20 premium tied to the Strait of Hormuz crisis. AAA’s Jim Garrity told WTOV9 the volatility you’re seeing at local stations is a mix of Midwest refinery issues and the lingering effect of the Iran war on crude.

Natural gas at the wellhead is up. Henry Hub spot was at $2.92 per million BTUs Monday, up 6% on the day. That’s mixed news in the Valley: producers on the Marcellus/Utica permit roster (Ascent, EOG, Range, CNX) get better netbacks, but the same producers' Q1 reports also pointed to higher fertilizer-input costs hitting Ohio Valley farmers this spring.

Electric bills are still the topic. Mountain State Spotlight reported this weekend that some southern West Virginia residential bills are running $400+ a month, with voters telling the paper their legislators have prioritized coal and data centers over residential affordability. The Appalachian Power / FirstEnergy / Mon Power footprint that serves the Panhandle works the same way.

Names to know this week

Andy Wilson — Gov. DeWine’s pick to replace Dave Yost as Ohio Attorney General. Wilson has been running the state Department of Public Safety; he serves through January 11, 2027.

Laura Wakim Chapman / Joe Eddy / Shawn Fluharty — Senate District 1 primary on today’s WV ballot; Fluharty (D) waits in November.

Total Finance — owner of the Fort Steuben Mall; two-week clock on whether they fix the building or face condemnation.

Ralph Petrella — Steubenville mayor; met with HUD Friday on coordinating nuisance-property enforcement in federally supported housing.

Brandi Denoon-Damewood — director of the Hancock County Animal Shelter; the levy on today’s Hancock ballot would raise about $300,000 a year for four years.

Andrew Henry — Jefferson County health commissioner; eight fatal overdoses logged year-to-date in 2026, already nearing 2025’s full-year total of 10. Four were in April.

Jonathan Bratten of Hopedale — wrote a letter to the Harrison News-Herald rejecting the County Improvement Corporation’s characterization of data-center impact as similar to “solar panels,” and citing the bitcoin mine outside Hopedale whose noise carries five miles.

Coming up in the Valley

Saturday, May 16: Margaret Manson Weir Memorial Park (formerly Marland Heights Park) rededication, noon to 3 p.m. in Weirton — free food, inflatables, face painting. Volunteer cleanup Thursday 4–7 p.m. if you want to help.

Thursday, May 14: Fort Steuben FOP Lodge 1 Police Memorial Day ceremony, 9 a.m. in front of the Steubenville Municipal Building, honoring ten Jefferson County line-of-duty deaths since 1908. Companion oldies concert by Impulse at Berkman Amphitheater Saturday 7–9 p.m.

Saturday, May 16: St. Clairsville officer steak fry at Central Park to support Officer Greg Clark, who suffered an unexpected medical emergency in February. Tickets $30.

Wednesday, May 27: Ohio Valley Civil War Roundtable — Jeanne Cox on PTSD and Civil War soldiers, 6:30 p.m. at the Ohio County Public Library.

Memorial Day: Hopedale Memorial Day Parade, May 25 — lineup 11:30 a.m. at Hopedale Fire Department.

In the longer view

The Mara Holdings deal for Long Ridge Energy’s 505 MW gas plant in Hannibal — $1.5 billion, 1,600 acres, with a 200-megawatt AI data center buildout planned starting in 2027 — is the on-the-ground proof that the gas-plant-plus-data-center playbook is operational in Monroe County, not theoretical. Ohio House Bill 706, which would require 12-year minimum contracts and stop utilities from charging other customers for data-center infrastructure, sits in active committee. The Mara closing window and the HB706 calendar are now on the same clock.

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).