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Mayor defends accusations in Petersburg casino-choice resolution: ‘We told the truth’
Mayor Sam Parham vowed Wednesday that the city was moving forward with getting its casino referendum on the November ballot despite political “sideshows” from one of Petersburg's state legislators and a casino union who he says have tried to derail that progress. Parham’s comments came during an impromptu news conference after City Council amended and re-enacted, Wednesday night, a resolution picking The Cordish Companies and Bruce Smith Enterprise to build a multi-use casino-centric resort on 92 acres off Wagner Road. That resolution was originally adopted last week, but Wednesday's meeting was called to correct a clerical error.
Virginia moves into hydrogen economy as Danish firm invests in Chesterfield plant
A Danish chemicals firm’s more than $400 million investment in a new Chesterfield County plant will bring Virginia into the business of making hydrogen as a clean energy source. The Topsøe Holding A/S plant will make a new kind of hydrogen fuel cell, one that the company says can generate clean energy for fossil-fuel users like steel mills and shipping companies that cannot simply electrify operations and that generate nearly a third of the world’s greenhouse gases.
Wilderness Battlefield back on list of Most Endangered Historic Places due to development
An influential preservation coalition assembled near a crossroads of history Wednesday morning to announce the Civil War Wilderness Battlefield is back on the list of America’s “11 Most Endangered Historic Places.” The National Trust for Historic Preservation approved the designation due to the massive Wilderness Crossing development envisioned, over 40 years, on more than 2,500 acres … in eastern Orange County. … Allowing developers to build Wilderness Crossing with its thousands of new houses, commercial buildings and data centers threatens the area’s history, environment, natural resources and quality of life, according to the coalition.
Solar project proposed on Bent Mountain; Blacksburg’s ESS to expand
A Massachusetts renewable energy company has proposed placing solar panels on Bent Mountain. New Leaf Energy Inc. proposed construction of an energy facility at 9150 Reed Road that would begin generating electricity in 2027. The site is a former apple orchard — now mostly cleared for pasture — that belongs to Glenn Reed. The facility, which is described as small, will generate 3 megawatts or 4 megawatts of energy, the proposal said.
Bill banning certain driveway, pavement sealants to take effect this July
After attempting to ban the products in previous sessions, the Democratic legislature passed a bill Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin signed that bans the sale of pavement sealant containing a set of chemicals environmental groups say seep into the environment, causing health issues for wildlife and humans. The ban begins July 1. House Bill 985 prohibits the sale of the sealant used for driveways and parking lots that use certain concentrations of Polycyclic Aromatic Hydrocarbons, or PAHs, chemicals commonly found in coal tar.
VCU students upset about school’s handling of pro-Palestine protest
Students at Virginia Commonwealth University that VPM News spoke with Tuesday were upset with the way university officials handled Monday’s student-led protest calling for an end to the Israel-Hamas war — and for the university to comply with a list of demands. “Today’s the last day of classes,” said 23-year-old VCU student William Spencer outside the James Cabell Library on Tuesday. “I don’t understand why you don’t let this sit out a week. And then people go home at the end of next week. And so honestly, I think it would have been much better from the university to just tolerate it.” Spencer, who attended Monday’s protest, questioned the university’s decision to get police involved and so quickly. He said he witnessed students get hurt.
New rules for ‘forever chemicals’ mean challenges, high costs for Fauquier County
Fauquier County has until 2029 to remove “forever chemicals” from public drinking water to comply with new EPA standards, but it’s going to be a heavy lift. This month, the Environmental Protection Agency released a first-of-its-kind standard for regulating PFAS compounds; it places strict limits on the concentration of chemicals allowed in public drinking water. PFAS, known as “forever chemicals,” are man-made chemical compounds that are incredibly difficult to destroy and do not break down naturally.
Students, faculty arrested at Virginia Tech now face possibility of university discipline
Emon Green was one of 82 people arrested and charged with trespassing on Sunday night at a pro-Palestinian encampment as it was being broken up by Virginia Tech campus police. But dealing with the aftermath with the university could be worse than facing his misdemeanor charge. “I’m more concerned about what the school is going to do, than what the law is going to do,” Green said Wednesday while visiting the protest that had once again formed outside the student center, across the sidewalk from the Graduate Life Center where the encampment had convened for three days.
C’ville residents: Comparing 2017 white supremacist rally to pro-Palestinian campus protests unfair
Rabbi Tom Gutherz of Congregation Beth Israel, Charlottesville’s only synagogue, says it’s “political theater” to compare the campus protests against U.S. involvement in the war in Gaza to the white supremacist rallies that took place in Charlottesville in August 2017 — which is what former president Donald Trump did last week. On April 24, after a day in a felony criminal trial in Manhattan, Trump criticized President Joe Biden’s handling of college protests by comparing them to the violent events in 2017, including the car attack by a neo-Nazi on counter-protesters that killed Heather Heyer and critically injured others.
Officials identify 13 people arrested on VCU campus at pro-Palestine protest
VCU officials on Tuesday identified the 13 people who were arrested Monday night on the lawn outside the James Branch Cabell Library after hundreds of protesters pitched a makeshift encampment in the park to protest Israel’s offensive in Gaza.