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“It would be a good idea to, you know, take the bull by the horns and try to solve those problems. So we don't have to worry about the future.”- Department of Environmental Quality Director Mike Robland, in a Thursday hearing with state lawmakers on the findings of the agency’s groundwater report.
The International Paper mill at Franklin, Va., photographed in August 2019, is one of the largest users of groundwater in the Eastern Virginia Groundwater Management Area. (Photo by Sarah Vogelsong/Virginia Mercury)
By Shannon Heckt
After the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality released a 117-page report indicating that available groundwater east of Interstate-95 is “declining (in) availability in the near future,” the agency pitched recommendations on how to tackle the issue to lawmakers Thursday in Richmond.
The report detailed the groundwater needs for the Eastern Groundwater Management Area, and showed that the region would not be able to handle any new major water withdrawal permits for industry use without risking water availability.
A small group of toddlers sit on the carpet in a home daycare as they play together with toy animals. (Photo by Getty Images)
By Nathaniel Cline
Amanda Daugherty, a mother from Nottoway County, valued the Head Start program in Virginia because it closely reflected her values and experience before she was hired by the program in October 2021.
Now, four years later, the program Daugherty called “very special” is facing an overhaul.
Virginia Department of Health officials are working to overhaul the nursing home system in the state and plan to adopt a new sanctions standard by the end of 2026. (Photo by Getty Images)
By Charlotte Rene Woods
Stories of neglect in care or unsanitary living situations have plagued several of Virginia’s nursing home facilities in recent years and data backs up a lapse in oversight by state agencies.
With reform efforts underway, the Virginia Department of Health officials said they aim to adopt sanction criteria by the end of the year to rein in bad actors and get troubled facilities back on track.
COMMENTARY
By Jim Spencer
The initial public comment period for an unprecedented proposal to mine minerals from the Atlantic Ocean off Virginia’s Eastern Shore ends on Saturday, Aug. 22. Over 1,300 comments have been filed, the vast majority opposing offshore mineral leases.
But thanks to the arcane U.S. regulatory approval process, the door to public input will close with most Eastern Shore residents lacking enough information to judge the risks to their livelihoods and shorelines.
The stakes are enormous.
By Charlotte Rene Woods
Despite winning a lawsuit earlier this year that found that certain Virginians with felony convictions should not have lost their voting rights, some Virginians missed their chance to vote in congressional primary elections earlier this month.
But a new ruling from U.S. District Court Judge John Gibney means that they will be able to vote in this November’s general elections and weigh in on a state constitutional amendment that would enshrine restored voting rights for people with felony convictions, so long as their prison sentences are complete.
NEWS TO KNOW
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"Pharrell's Adidas Virginia Adistar Jellyfish returns this weekend." | Sports Illustrated
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