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States are vying for money to start ‘hydrogen hubs.’ What are they?
Across the country, states are inking agreements with neighbors or striking out on their own to pursue billions in federal funding to set up “hydrogen hubs,” clustered centers for production, storage and use of the gas that many see as a crucial piece of the puzzle for decarbonizing the U.S. economy. How broad a role […]
For offshore wind aspirations to become reality, transmission hurdles must be cleared
President Joe Biden’s administration laid out ambitious additional goals last month to boost offshore wind power generation, one of the American renewable energy industry’s emerging wide open frontiers. The federal announcements come as coastal states across the country are increasingly setting offshore wind energy targets, seeking to capture not just clean energy but the potentially […]
Amid a massive American clean energy shift, grid operators play catch-up
For the better part of the past century, the American electric power system evolved around large, mostly fossil fuel power plants delivering electricity to residences, businesses and industry through a network of transmission and distribution wires that collectively came to be called the electric grid. But as the threat of climate change driven by carbon […]
Leaving Virginia. Again.
On a sticky Sunday afternoon in August 1997, my dad and I parked along Jamestown Road in Williamsburg and got out for a brief, self-guided tour of William and Mary’s old campus. A dreamy, humid haze hung over the deserted place, with the Sunken Gardens and sylvan brick paths lush and late-summer green. I said […]
Virginia GOP congressmen vote against resolution on Finland, Sweden and NATO
Three Virginia congressmen were among a relative handful of House Republicans who voted against a resolution expressing support for Finland and Sweden joining the North Atlantic Treaty Organization. U.S. Reps. Ben Cline, R-Botetourt, Bob Good, R-Campbell, and Morgan Griffith, R-Salem, joined 15 other GOP members to oppose the resolution, which passed the House Monday with […]
Beagle breeding facility shutting down over violations will be allowed to sell 500 dogs
A federal judge will allow Envigo — which is shutting down a controversial dog-breeding facility in Cumberland County under pressure from federal regulators because of a string of animal welfare violations— to sell more than 500 dogs to labs over the objections of the U.S. Department of Justice. Federal attorneys seeking an injunction to enforce […]
The shadow Jan. 6 still casts: ‘James Madison’s ultimate nightmare’
It was not unlike the formulaic false ending in a horror movie. You could have been forgiven for thinking the worst was over when the mob of MAGAns had been repulsed from the halls of the U.S. Capitol and Congress resumed its duty of certifying the presidential election returns last year. But the spectacle of […]
Virginia’s state schools superintendent is stepping down; Youngkin names education secretary
As the governor who appointed him winds down his term, Virginia’s superintendent of public instruction is stepping down. Superintendent of Public Instruction James Lane, appointed by Gov. Ralph Northam in 2018 to oversee the Virginia Department of Education, is leaving for an undisclosed position elsewhere as Gov.-elect Glenn Youngkin, who campaigned on a range of […]
Northam presents final budget, flush with cash, to lawmakers
Gov. Ralph Northam presented legislative budget writers Thursday with his final fiscal blueprint for Virginia government that proposes tax cuts, state employee pay raises, stoking the state’s reserve savings and strengthening the public retirement fund. Robust tax collections augmented by federal pandemic economic relief funds created unprecedented operational surpluses, even during the social and financial […]
Courts block prison health care provider’s attempts to contest contract cancelation
The Supreme Court of Virginia has blocked an attempt by the company that provided health care in state prisons to continue fighting the cancelation of its contract by prison officials. The court on Saturday denied a motion for a stay and a petition for review filed by Armor Correctional Health Services, which has been battling […]
‘Resilience in the face of horror and pain’: Emancipation and Freedom Monument unveiled in Richmond
Just weeks after the last Confederate statue on Richmond’s Monument Avenue was removed, a long-anticipated monument to emancipation was unveiled Wednesday on Brown’s Island. “Resilience in the face of horror and pain is what this day is all about, which is why a little rain and a train are not gonna stop us,” State Sen. […]
Pediatricians join call for masking in schools as conservatives chafe at governor’s ‘mandate’
With many students about to head back to classes later this month, the Virginia Chapter of the American Academy of Pediatrics says all children, regardless of vaccine status, should wear masks indoors in school. “This is based on the observation that COVID-19 infection rates are rapidly increasing across the commonwealth, the Delta variant is more […]