Tudor’s “Mountaineer” biscuit was named “The South’s Best Biscuit” in an online poll contest held by Garden & Gun, a southern lifestyle magazine.
West Virginia’s biscuit business icon is receiving a regional reward. Homebased in Charleston, fans of the Tudor’s Biscuit World restaurant chain have taken a country breakfast staple to award winning heights.
Tudor’s “Mountaineer” biscuit was named “The South’s Best Biscuit” in an online poll contest held by Garden & Gun, a southern lifestyle magazine.
Garden & Gun had the public vote in a bracket-style contest to name the best biscuit among regional chains, local favorites, national chains, and gas stations. Tudor’s took 56 percent of the final vote to win the title.
“This win was made possible by Tudor’s customers, and we truly appreciate each and every one of them,” said Ray Burke of Tudor’s. “Tudor’s has been a staple breakfast for West Virginians on the go for decades, and we want to thank them for their loyalty.”
The “Mountaineer” was the specific biscuit to win the Garden & Gun contest. It consists of country ham, potato, egg, and cheese on a made-from-scratch buttermilk biscuit.
To say thanks to voters, Tudors’ will hold a Customer Appreciation Day on Monday, April 22, by offering a Buy-One-Get-One free deal for its “Mountaineer” and “Thundering Herd” biscuits.
Hill Top House Hotel, a controversial luxury venue planned for Harpers Ferry, is pursuing new financing models through West Virginia’s tax increment financing program.
Overlooking the Potomac River, the future site of the Hill Top House Hotel has been blocked off with chain-link fences and sheets of fabric for years.
First proposed in 2007, the luxury hotel aimed to renovate and expand a historic nineteenth-century hotel that had fallen into disrepair.
The plan generated controversy among residents concerned about the scale of the project, which includes an underground parking garage, on-site restaurant and public green space.
For their part, representatives with SWaN & Legend Venture Partners — the Virginia-based investment group that owns the property — have maintained their intention to see the project through, even as local objections have ebbed and flowed.
But community pushback has not come without challenges, according to SWaN CEO Karen Schaufeld. The years of delays to the project have altered the project’s costs, which Schaufeld said rose significantly during the COVID-19 pandemic.
“The increase in construction and building costs due to numerous delays and, subsequently, the COVID-19 pandemic caused Hill Top’s total project cost to balloon to $150 million,” she wrote Thursday in an email to West Virginia Public Broadcasting.
To offset these new costs and help complete a project decades in the making, SWaN representatives are pursuing a new financing model: West Virginia’s tax increment financing (TIF) program.
Schaufeld wrote that admission to the program is a “financial necessity” for the hotel’s completion.
Some properties along Washington Street in Harpers Ferry have been purchased and prepared for development by SWaN & Legend Venture Partners.
Photo Credit: Jack Walker/West Virginia Public Broadcasting
The TIF program identifies areas in need of development and economic revitalization. By designating these areas as TIF districts, property developers can receive financial support for their projects on site.
When a site is declared a TIF district, its property value is frozen for a number of years, during which property owners can further develop within the district without facing increased property taxes.
On April 4, the Jefferson County Commission took the first steps toward securing the hotel its new status, voting narrowly to submit a TIF district application to the West Virginia Department of Economic Development.
This is merely a first step in the process, as the Jefferson County Commission will receive final approval over TIF districting plans.
Still, during an April 4 commission meeting, some members of the commission expressed concern over the speed of the application process, and encouraged additional time for public feedback.
Additionally, county commissioners expressed concern that the application was not complete at the time of their voting.
“I think we need to schedule another public hearing,” said County Commissioner Tricia Jackson, who voted against the application. “I think it would be irresponsible and reckless for this commission to advance this without having completed application information and [having] the public’s involvement.”
Last fall, the commission hosted a separate public hearing to receive community input over the plans. Additionally, the commission hosted a workshop on TIF districts in late March in preparation for the project.
Schaufeld said that the TIF district application “is a dynamic document, which contains values that change with time.”
This Harpers Ferry overlook has been slated for the development of Hill Top House Hotel, prompting detours for local access roads.
Photo Credit: Jack Walker/West Virginia Public Broadcasting
“Since the progression of this TIF application was delayed by many months due to the Jefferson County Commission itself, there are certain areas that are being updated,” she wrote.
Other members of the commission said delaying the application process could have adverse effects on the project on the whole.
County Commissioner Pasha Majdi, who voted in favor of the application, added that the commission would have time to review the results from the Department of Economic Development before making a final decision.
“I’m concerned that if we delay this application, we would risk losing funding for public benefits like an underground parking garage and green space,” he said. “The project, it’s going to continue regardless. But without a TIF these public benefits could be lost.”
Ultimately, the commission voted in favor of the application 3 to 2, advancing a project characterized by years-long standstills.
In her email, Schaufeld wrote that SWaN expects a “swift turnaround” on their application, and a response from the Department of Economic Development within 60 days of its submission.
Once a response has been received, the application will return to the Jefferson County Commission for final approval. If approved, the county will then have three to six months to finalize bonds for the project.
Schaufeld added that the project’s latest advancement has brought renewed excitement.
“We hope that after many years of costly delays we will be able to bring this project to life so that these economic benefits can finally come to Jefferson County,” she wrote.
Employees at Federal Correctional Complex Hazelton who are in good standing will receive a 25 percent pay increase — part of an effort to boost staff retention and promote facility safety.
Personnel at a Preston County prison will soon receive a 25 percent pay increase, following union protests over understaffing last year.
The Federal Bureau of Prisons and the United States Office of Personnel Management approved the pay increase Thursday as part of an effort to increase staff retention at the Federal Correctional Complex Hazelton.
Staffing issues at the federal prison gained attention in 2018 following the deaths of three inmates in a seven-month span, including the murder of an inmate serving a life sentence.
Leadership changes following the incident improved staffing levels at the facility, according to corrections officer Justin Tarovisky, who also serves as union president of the American Federation of Government Employees Local 420 chapter.
Tarovisky’s union represents more than 600 workers at the facility, from West Virginia, Maryland and Pennsylvania, he said.
But the departure of some members of the facility’s leadership, coupled with the fallout of the COVID-19 pandemic, exacerbated prior staffing issues to a new degree, Tarovisky said.
“Since that, we’ve drastically declined,” he said. In September, union representatives reported that more than 80 corrections officer positions were vacant.
Tarovisky said that understaffing in correctional facilities poses safety risks for current personnel.
“I mean, we’re a 24-hour operation. It’s not a job where you just leave at the end of the day, you go home, and you don’t have nobody there,” he said. “We have to have correctional officers at the facility to run a safe mission.”
To raise awareness about challenges to the facility, union workers lined a Monongalia County roadside last September, picketing with bright-colored signs demanding new hiring initiatives.
“We need hiring incentives to bring in new recruits,” Tarovisky said. “You have a lot of other law enforcement agencies within this country — whether it’s state police, whether it’s corrections in Pennsylvania — that … were offering higher incentives. So why would you want to come to Hazelton?”
Tarovisky said state officials were receptive to the union’s requests.
In November, Sen. Joe Manchin, D-W.Va., sent a letter to the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) urging the organization’s approval of a 25 percent retention incentive for staff at the facility.
“FCC Hazelton faces a dangerous staffing shortage that, while challenging, could be improved by providing current employees with a much-deserved pay increase,” he wrote in the letter.
After the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) published a report in February that the BOP failed to prevent the deaths of 14 inmates at the West Virginia facility in just eight years — the second-highest number in the nation — Manchin renewed his calls for federal intervention.
Other allegations disclosed in a 2023 DOJ report included the falsification of documents from supervisory staff at the facility; the usage of racial slurs and punitive housing restrictions from workers; and even the assault of inmates by facility staff.
Manchin said that understaffing exacerbated dangerous conditions like these in the facility. Likewise, Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., said that the 2023 DOJ findings suggested the facility was unable to provide a safe environment for inmates and workers.
Tarovisky credits calls from West Virginia’s senators, plus additional support from U.S. Rep. Alex Mooney, with pushing the pay increase forward.
“Unbelievable job, what they’ve done for the staff at Hazelton. This is what we’ve been asking for, and this is what they’ve been pressing on,” he said. “They put all politics aside to represent the people at FCC Hazelton.”
The pay raise will apply to all of the facility’s corrections officers who are currently in good standing. But it will also bump starting salaries at the facility up by 25 percent, which Tarovisky said will help make the facility more enticing in a competitive job market.
“That’s what’s so great about this,” he said. “Now, we can compete even higher with other agencies.”
Manchin applauded the new funding in a Thursday press release, adding that he hopes it will reduce safety risks in the prison.
“The facility has long suffered from severe staffing shortages, especially of correctional officers, that have resulted in a hostile environment for both employees and inmates,” he said. “This pay incentive is much-deserved for current employees and will help recruit new qualified officers and staff, which will promote safer conditions for employees and inmates.”
**Editor’s note: A previous version of this story incorrectly stated that allegations of falsified documents and staff abuse came from a February 2024 Department of Justice report. They came from a September 2023 report. The story has been updated with the correction.
Allegheny Wood Products announced it was closing its doors in February, laying off more than 900 employees. AHF Products, a wood flooring company, has agreed to acquire two sawmills from the defunct company.
Allegheny Wood Products announced it was closing its doors in February, laying off more than 900 employees. AHF Products, a wood flooring company, has agreed to acquire two sawmills from the defunct company.
Chief Operating Officer Jake Loftis said the acquisition will save an estimated 80 jobs that would have been lost last week.
“We are excited to add this capability to AHF and operate the mills at a capacity that will positively impact people and these two communities,” Loftis said.
Allegheny Wood Products was a supplier of lumber to the flooring company.
“It’s another key step to ensure AHF’s success now and in the future,” Lofits said.
The sawmills will now continue to supply lumber for AHF, a step the wood flooring company said was necessary for securing lumber supplies for current and future operations. The sawmills that will reopen are located in Greenbrier and Randolph counties.
AHF said West Virginia lumber could be used for other company locations in the future, although currently, it is not economical to do so.
Eastern hardwood has steeply declined in the last two decades, sitting at 40 percent of what it was in 2007.
As many as 90 postal workers could have their jobs affected by the downgrading of a West Virginia mail facility. This figure is higher than union representatives anticipated.
As many as 90 postal workers could have their jobs affected by the downgrading of a West Virginia mail facility — a figure notably higher than union representatives previously anticipated.
The United States Postal Service (USPS) announced Tuesday that it would carry out plans to transfer outgoing mail processing from the Charleston Processing and Distribution Center to facilities in Pennsylvania.
The decision followed months of deliberation, as well as intense pushback from union workers and state officials concerned with the fate of West Virginia’s only full USPS processing center.
Tim Holstein, vice president of the Charleston-based American Postal Workers Union Local 133, has been an outspoken opponent of the downgrade.
He said union workers worried that more employees would be impacted than the USPS initially estimated. “Multiple members could possibly be relocated or moved out of state, possibly uprooting families and lives,” he told West Virginia Public Broadcasting in February.
When the final report came out on Tuesday, Holstein said workers’ fears were actualized.
In January, the USPS released an initial report that estimated changes to the facility would bring a net decrease of 24 postal workers.
At a first glance, that number is similar to the net decrease of 23 postal workers from the final plans released in April. But the final report also included a breakdown omitted from the initial report.
This laid bare the full extent of changes in store for workers, Holstein said.
Forty-one career employees — 28 career mail processing clerks and 13 career maintenance workers — could be transferred out of the Charleston facility.
In calculating a net decrease, the USPS offset this number with employees gained at the Pittsburgh-area facilities. But Holstein said transferring facilities is not a simple process, and that it might not be a viable option for some employees.
“It’s very difficult to uproot your family and your life, especially if you’ve lived in a particular area, and move to another place that has a higher cost of living,” he said.
The report also said that 25 postal support employees and 24 mail handler assistants could lose their positions. These are non-career roles, which lack the protections of career positions and can be terminated by the USPS.
Positions At Stake
Position
Number Of Workers Affected
Eligible To Be Laid Off?
Mail Processing Clerks
28
No
Postal Support Employees
25
Yes
Mail Handler Assistants
24
Yes
Maintenance Workers
13
No
According to the United States Postal Service, a total of 90 workers at the Charleston Processing and Distribution Center could have their positions affected in the months ahead. Graphic Credit: Jack Walker/West Virginia Public Broadcasting
Together, that means a total of 90 career and non-career workers could be impacted through transfers and layoffs, respectively.
Holstein said that by providing just one number — the net decrease — the USPS misrepresented changes to the facility. The net figure was nearly four times lower than the cumulative number of positions impacted.
In an email to West Virginia Public Broadcasting, USPS Spokesperson Susan Wright did not address these claims.
However, she wrote that numbers included in the initial report were based on USPS estimates at the time.
Wright also wrote that “all bargaining employee reassignments will be made in accordance with the respective collective bargaining agreements.”
Still, Holstein said that the release of the final report reignited concerns over USPS transparency among workers.
While the net employee decrease was included prominently on the report’s third page, the full breakdown was included pages into the report, with terms and figures Holstein described as convoluted.
Hours after the report came out, Holstein said he had to pull out a pencil and perform arithmetic to fully grasp the number of positions affected by the downgrade.
“Once you get deeper into the math, you’re finding out that they’re using a net combined number that makes it more palatable for the public … in hopes that we’re not going to start digging into the numbers,” he said.
Union representatives were not alone in expressing disapproval of the final plans. Sen. Shelley Moore Capito, R-W.Va., released a statement Tuesday expressing concern over how many workers could be impacted.
“I am disappointed that USPS has decided to move forward with plans to shrink the role of the Charleston facility,” she said. “It is also very disappointing to see the number of jobs impacted by these changes has grown from USPS’s initial findings.”
While the USPS describes their plans as final, Holstein said he and fellow workers will continue to challenge them within the boundaries of their positions.
“The fight is not over,” he said. “Until we start to see a relocation or the non-career employees let go, we’re still on the fight. We’re still going to give it 100 percent.”
Tim Holstein said he had to do handwritten arithmetic to understand the full extent of staff changes at the Charleston Processing and Distribution Center. Photo Credit: Tim Holstein/American Postal Workers Union Local 133
As of Wednesday afternoon, more than 76,000 Appalachian Power customers were still waiting for their power to be restored.
Tens of thousands of Appalachian Power customers remain without electricity after Tuesday’s storm.
As of Wednesday afternoon, more than 76,000 Appalachian Power customers were still waiting for their power to be restored.
An update from the company on Wednesday morning indicated most customers in four counties – Boone, Logan, Mingo and Raleigh – could expect to have their power back by 11 p.m. Wednesday.
It also said most customers in Cabell, Clay, Fayette, Greenbrier, Jackson, Kanawha, Lincoln, Mason, Nicholas, Putnam, Roane and Wayne counties could expect restoration by 11 p.m. Thursday.
More than 2,200 workers are part of that effort, the utility said, including 1,300 line workers from several surrounding states.
They’re dealing with downed trees, broken or damaged poles and transformers, and wires on the ground.
Customers can check their outage status, view an outage map, report an outage or sign up for outage alerts at AppalachianPower.com.
Appalachian Power is an underwriter of West Virginia Public Broadcasting.
