{"id":10274,"date":"2026-06-05T14:16:00","date_gmt":"2026-06-05T18:16:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/localtalkweekly.com\/?p=10274"},"modified":"2026-06-03T16:20:39","modified_gmt":"2026-06-03T20:20:39","slug":"belleville-picked-a-new-mayor-after-frustration","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/localtalkweekly.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/05\/belleville-picked-a-new-mayor-after-frustration\/","title":{"rendered":"Belleville Picked a New Mayor After Frustration"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong><em>EDITORIAL<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"294\" height=\"450\" src=\"http:\/\/localtalkweekly.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/Dhiren-Shah-2023-294x450.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-6721\" style=\"width:194px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/localtalkweekly.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/Dhiren-Shah-2023-294x450.jpg 294w, https:\/\/localtalkweekly.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/Dhiren-Shah-2023-98x150.jpg 98w, https:\/\/localtalkweekly.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/Dhiren-Shah-2023-768x1175.jpg 768w, https:\/\/localtalkweekly.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/Dhiren-Shah-2023-1004x1536.jpg 1004w, https:\/\/localtalkweekly.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/Dhiren-Shah-2023-1338x2048.jpg 1338w, https:\/\/localtalkweekly.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/Dhiren-Shah-2023-600x918.jpg 600w, https:\/\/localtalkweekly.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/Dhiren-Shah-2023-scaled.jpg 1673w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 294px) 100vw, 294px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong><em>BY DHIREN SHAH<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong><em>Hello Readers,<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Frank Velez, 24, was elected as Mayor of Belleville. He took an interest in politics at the age of 19, due to his sister having special needs. Due to the 14-alarm fire and the way Mayor Melham and his administration handled school closings for one week and residents\u2019 accommodations, it made the people mad. Mayor Melham lost the election by over 1,000 votes. (59% to 41%). Velez said that he will work for the people. Hopefully, he will keep to what he promised in his campaign as mayor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The NY Knicks are in the NBA Finals for the first time since 1999. As a NY Knicks fan I hope they can win the Finals and we all can cheer and make our day special and have a memory for life. The Knicks must win four games against the Spurs to be champions. Ironically, it was the Spurs that the Knicks played in 1999, but lost the series 4-1.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">A United Airlines flight flying from Newark to Palma de Mallorca, Spain had a bomb scare on May 30th. It turns out that a teenager on the plane named his Fitbit Bluetooth device BOMB, which caused the panic.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">The US-Iran war continues. President Trump wants to make a peace one day and the other day he change his mind. Even though he might be right at some extent, changing every day and affecting the whole world according to his whims is not good. Closing the Strait of Hormuz is not good for Iran or the US. The whole world is suffering due to a shortage of oil and an unclear future. The current proposed ceasefire peace extension is in jeopardy due to Israel making strikes against Lebanon. It\u2019s like Israel wants the war to keep going for some reason.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Tulsi Gabbard, the director of National Intelligence, has resigned and will leave as of June 30 due to the health of her husband. President Trump already announced Bill Pulte as acting director of National Intelligence. Pulte does not have experience in the spy department. However, Trump said that Pulte has experience in managing the most sensitive matters in America.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Newark Mayor Ras Baraka has announced that he will go after GEO group, the major private prison company that runs Delaney Hall, rather than going against the federal immigration agency. He said that it has been a yearlong legal battle against GEO Group. He also said that GEO group did not take proper permits to reopen last year. I think Mayor Baraka has done the right approach. This huge protest happened because the protestors heard that the facility was not giving proper food and treating them badly.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Senator Cory Booker is the only Democratic Candidate for the Senate. However, four Republican have shown interest in unseating Booker. I don\u2019t think it will be possible. Senator Booker is smart, is fighting for the people and is a very articulate person. We need him to represent us.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\"><strong><em>Have a wonderful week. I\u2019ll talk to you next week.<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>EDITORIAL BY DHIREN SHAH Hello Readers, Frank Velez, 24, was elected as Mayor of Belleville. He took an interest in politics at the age of 19, due to his sister having special needs. Due to the 14-alarm fire and the way Mayor Melham and his administration handled school closings for one week and residents\u2019 accommodations, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_active":false,"_monsterinsights_sitenote_note":"","_monsterinsights_sitenote_category":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[45],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-10274","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-editorial"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Belleville Picked a New Mayor After Frustration -<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/localtalkweekly.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/05\/belleville-picked-a-new-mayor-after-frustration\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Belleville Picked a New Mayor After Frustration -\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"EDITORIAL BY DHIREN SHAH Hello Readers, Frank Velez, 24, was elected as Mayor of Belleville. He took an interest in politics at the age of 19, due to his sister having special needs. Due to the 14-alarm fire and the way Mayor Melham and his administration handled school closings for one week and residents\u2019 accommodations, [&hellip;]\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/localtalkweekly.com\/index.php\/2026\/06\/05\/belleville-picked-a-new-mayor-after-frustration\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-06-05T18:16:00+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/localtalkweekly.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/Dhiren-Shah-2023-294x450.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Dhiren\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Dhiren\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" 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