rawdog

Tuesday morning, Patrick & Henry Community College baseball coach Brandon Nania was in a staff meeting at the school’s campus in Martinsville.

Twenty-four hours later, he and former P&H coach Barry Powell were standing inside Yankee Stadium watching former Patriots pitcher Bradley Hanner in a Yankees uniform preparing for a Major League Baseball game against the Seattle Mariners.

Hanner, 27, an Orange County High School graduate who pitched for Patrick & Henry for two seasons in 2018 and 2019, became the school’s first product to make the MLB ranks when the Yankees called him up Tuesday from their Class AAA affiliate in Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania.

Nania and Powell were not far behind, showing up in the Big Apple on Wednesday to take in a pair of games.

“I was in the middle of our staff meeting looking down at my phone and there’s Barry Powell calling me five times,” Nania said Friday. “He finally texted me and said, ‘Brad’s going to the Big Leagues. ‘Your flight’s booked. Meet me at my house at 7:15. We flew up [Wednesday] morning, got off the plane, put our bags down and we were at Yankee Stadium probably at noon.

“That was one of the coolest, most unbelievable experiences that I could have had on a baseball field. Taking the train over, it was like, ‘We’re going to the mecca of Major League Baseball.’ “

Hanner’s trip to New York took just a bit longer.

The 6-foot-4 right-hander, who originally committed to Young Harris College in Georgia after two years at Patrick & Henry, was drafted by the Minnesota Twins in the 21st round of the 2019 MLB Amateur Draft.

He debuted with the Twins’ entry at the Rookie level in the Gulf Coast League in 2019, advancing to Class A Ft. Myers in 2021 and High-A Cedar Rapids in the Midwest League in 2022.

Hanner entered the Rule 5 minor league draft where he was taken in the first round by the Cleveland Guardians. He played at the Class AA level in Akron in 2023 and split time between Akron and the Guardians’ Class AAA International League affiliate in Columbus in 2024.

Hanner spent the entire 2025 season in Columbus before the former P&H pitcher opted for free agency and was signed to a minor league contract by the Yankees in December.

Pitching 51 1/3 innings in relief for the Yankees’ affiliate in Scranton/Wilkes-Barre, he compiled a 6-2 won-lost record with a 2.10 ERA, four saves, 61 strikeouts and a 1.17 walks/innings pitched ratio.

The Yankees purchased Hanner’s contact from Scranton/Wilkes-Barre in July. The club immediately optioned Hanner to their Class AAA team, but the move also put him on the 40-man roster and made the reliever eligible for the MLB postseason.

In six minor league seasons (the 2020 season was cancelled by COVID-19), Hanner had a 37-24 record, 25 saves, a 3.93 ERA and 403 strikeouts in 348 innings.

Powell, who currently works as a regional scout for the New York Mets, recalled Hanner as a young player with good mechanics, a developing fastball and an outstanding breaking ball.

However, it was Hanner’s intangibles that struck Powell most when the big right-hander was playing at the NJCAA Division II level.

“The first time I saw him the thing that impressed me was his makeup,” Powell said. “He seemed to go about his business his way, in a positive way. He was not one to follow [others]. He was more of a leader. He set the standard for a lot of players there. When he threw his ‘bullpens’ it was not uncommon for the other guys to want to be close by and take a look.

“At that stage his fastball was more than adequate for his age. He was 90, 92 [mph]. But he could really spin it. You see enough athletic ability and then the mindset, which I think is so important, to develop these skills. You felt like with his work ethic, that this kid was going to develop.”

Hanner carries 220 pounds, up from 190 or so during his junior college days.

“He had a good frame. Looking at him the last couple days, his shoulders, his legs, he’s got a great pitcher’s body. He put a lot of time in the weight room. If you don’t have good mechanics and you try to throw harder and harder you’re going to run into injury problems. His mechanics were solid, good arm action. His [velocity] has picked up. Now it’s 94-96.

“He’s got his plan. He’s got his blinders on, so to speak. He does things his way. I never doubted him one bit.”

Hanner is the fifth Patrick & Henry baseball player selected in the MLB and the first to sniff the Major Leagues.

He was added to the roster when reliever Kelvin Castro was placed on the 15-day injured list.

Nania and Powell hoped to see him take the mound Wednesday, but the Yankees did not summon the right-hander in the game against the Mariners, which New York won 10-5 with five runs in the late innings.

They were in the stadium on Thursday when Seattle scored a 1-0 victory as Hanner again was not summoned.

“I was sitting next to his agent and he was like, ‘I don’t know if he’s going to throw tonight,’ ” Nania said. “They don’t really throw their guy they just called up in high-leverage situations.”

For a brief instant, Hanner thought his MLB debut might come in Wednesday’s game.

“He said, ‘My stomach was in my mouth,’ ” Nania related. “They radioed down and told me to get moving around. I was thinking this is it right here. It was a surreal feeling. I’m about to break the ice and be a Major Leaguer.’ “

Nania and Powell watched batting practice on the field and were able to meet briefly with Hanner before and after the two games they attended.

“Walking down the tunnel and onto the field … when I walked up the step and looked out onto Yankee Stadium, it was breathtaking,” Powell said. “I had tears in my eyes. It was just awesome. It just doesn’t happen every day.”

Hanner made his MLB debut Friday in Canada in the Yankees’ 3-1 loss to the Toronto Blue Jays.

Entering the game in the eighth inning with New York trailing 2-1, he struck out the first two hitters he faced, Charles McAdoo and George Springer, before Blue Jays catcher Alejandro Kirk tagged him for a solo home run. Hanner retired the next hitter, Andres Gimenez, on a bunt attempt to end the inning.

Even with superstars like Aaron Judge, Giancarlo Stanton and Cody Bellinger on the injured list, the Yankees still have a loaded pitching roster featuring Gerrit Cole, Max Fried and Cam Schlitter.

Powell was able to impart some advice to his former pitcher, and it had nothing to do with what to throw to Shohei Ohtani on a 3-2 count.

“Judge and Stanton are three lockers down and he’s talking with big-name players, it’s easy to get caught up,” the former P&H coach said. “I told him, ‘You belong here. Try not to be too impressed. Not that it isn’t an impressive scene, but don’t be ‘too’ impressed.”

Brand new Patrick & Henry athletic director Brandon Johnson plans to make the most of the situation.

“It’s huge,” he said. “It’s something we try to tell the kids. You come here. You make the most of it. Anything can happen to you.”

The post Former Patrick & Henry Community College player makes it to the big leagues with New York Yankees appeared first on Cardinal News.

A federal judge on Friday declined to postpone a change in state hemp regulations, set to take effect Saturday, that seven Virginia companies say will remove their ability to sell many products and could wipe out their businesses entirely. 

The change makes selling hemp gummies, drinks, oils and other products with more than 2 milligrams per package of tetrahydrocannabinol — THC, the main intoxicating compound in cannabis — illegal in Virginia. 

It came out of the state budget bill, finalized in June, that also will allow a limited number of licensed Virginia retailers to sell marijuana starting July 1 of next year.

Hemp business owners, represented by attorney and former state Sen. Chap Petersen, appeared Wednesday in federal court in Roanoke to ask U.S. District Judge Robert Ballou to delay the new rule, arguing that it will cause them significant harm and is happening too quickly for them to adjust.

“It will nullify, in some cases, 80 to 90% of their revenue and products,” Petersen said during the three-and-a-half-hour court hearing.

But Ballou said in his opinion published Friday that the businesses had not met the standards required for him to grant a delay and that “it is not the role of this Court to second-guess the Virginia legislature in setting an effective date for the new law.”

Petersen has previously said he hoped to postpone the new rule at least until the Virginia General Assembly could reconsider it. He has said that it came out of a rushed budget process that lacked public hearings and other standard processes.

In an interview Friday after the ruling, Petersen said that he was “disappointed” and that his clients could appeal the judge’s decision but they had not yet decided what steps to take next. 

“I thought we put forward pretty compelling evidence of the economic harm to my clients. I don’t know what else we could do,” Petersen said.

Companies say THC rule change could put them out of business

Up until the change in law, businesses have been able to sell hemp products with more than 2 milligrams of THC per package if the products also had at least 25 parts of cannabidiol — CBD, a non-intoxicating component of cannabis — for each part of THC. The products also must have no greater than 0.3% total THC.

Petersen and the hemp businesses sought a delay in ending this “25-to-1” rule as part of a larger federal lawsuit against Gov. Abigail Spanberger and other state and local officials. 

They argue that by making it illegal to sell hemp products with more than 2 milligrams of THC, Virginia is unconstitutionally taking away the value of the businesses’ property without compensating them.

“The bottom line is the profitable use for hemp after Aug. 15 is going to go away,” Petersen said during Wednesday’s hearing. 

But defense lawyers with the Virginia Attorney General’s Office countered that ending the 25-to-1 rule is not an unconstitutional taking of property and that the state has a right to enforce its own regulations. 

“It does concern some intoxicating products with real health and public safety risks,” said Ethan Fallon, deputy solicitor general with Attorney General Jay Jones’ office. 

Fallon and Senior Assistant Attorney General Pebbles Burgess argued that many of the businesses were operating before the 25-to-1 rule was enacted in 2023 and that they could sell other products after the rule goes away.

Furthermore, they argued that regardless of Virginia’s laws, the businesses already should be preparing for changes in the federal government’s definition of hemp — approved in November 2025 and set to take effect later this year — that further restricts total THC content to 0.4 milligrams per container. 

“The emergency aspect of them changing their business model isn’t quite as short as they’re suggesting,” Fallon said.

It remains to be seen what happens next. Multiple hemp business owners testified Wednesday that they might have to close up shop after the 25-to-1 rule ends.

Cody Moorefield, owner of Simply Hemp in Collinsville, testified that sales impacted by the change make up more than half of his store’s profits.

“Without these products, I don’t think there’s going to be enough for me to continue,” Moorefield said. 

Business owners argued that they’ve put thousands of dollars into investments that will no longer be viable. Retailers bought inventory, hemp processors made products with more THC than will be allowed and growers planted seeds in the spring but now face a fall harvest with fewer prospects for selling their plants.

“I really just don’t see it being a profitable market at all,” testified Graham Redfern, owner of Redfern Hemp Co., which grows hemp on a Caroline County farm.

Business owners said that they have not received guidance from state agencies about how to handle the drinks, oils and other products that they’ll no longer be able to sell.

“I have no idea what I’m supposed to do with this inventory,” testified Barbara Biddle, owner of Manassas-based District Hemp.

Some expressed concern about possible legal repercussions from ending up with potentially felony-level quantities of products on hand.

“I have tons of what could be considered marijuana in drink cans,” testified Travis Lane, whose company, Fauquier County-based Nova Hemp, sells THC-infused beverages.

Meanwhile, the federal lawsuit remains active. 

Besides District Hemp, Nova Hemp, Redfern Hemp Co. and Simply Hemp, other plaintiffs in the suit are Powhatan County-based Cypress Hemp, Chesterfield County-based Kultivate Wellness and Rockingham County-based Pure Shenandoah.

Besides Spanberger and Jones, defendants are Charles Green, commissioner of the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services; the Virginia Cannabis Control Authority; Jamie Patten, head of the cannabis authority; and multiple counties’ commonwealth’s attorneys.

The post Judge declines to delay THC rule change for hemp products appeared first on Cardinal News.

A federal judge on Friday declined to postpone a change in state hemp regulations, set to take effect Saturday, that seven Virginia companies say will remove their ability to sell many products and could wipe out their businesses entirely. 

The change makes selling hemp gummies, drinks, oils and other products with more than 2 milligrams per package of tetrahydrocannabinol — THC, the main intoxicating compound in cannabis — illegal in Virginia. 

It came out of the state budget bill, finalized in June, that also will allow a limited number of licensed Virginia retailers to sell marijuana starting July 1 of next year.

Hemp business owners, represented by attorney and former state Sen. Chap Petersen, appeared Wednesday in federal court in Roanoke to ask U.S. District Judge Robert Ballou to delay the new rule, arguing that it will cause them significant harm and is happening too quickly for them to adjust.

“It will nullify, in some cases, 80 to 90% of their revenue and products,” Petersen said during the three-and-a-half-hour court hearing.

But Ballou said in his opinion published Friday that the businesses had not met the standards required for him to grant a delay and that “it is not the role of this Court to second-guess the Virginia legislature in setting an effective date for the new law.”

Petersen has previously said he hoped to postpone the new rule at least until the Virginia General Assembly could reconsider it. He has said that it came out of a rushed budget process that lacked public hearings and other standard processes.

In an interview Friday after the ruling, Petersen said that he was “disappointed” and that his clients could appeal the judge’s decision but they had not yet decided what steps to take next. 

“I thought we put forward pretty compelling evidence of the economic harm to my clients. I don’t know what else we could do,” Petersen said.

Companies say THC rule change could put them out of business

Up until the change in law, businesses have been able to sell hemp products with more than 2 milligrams of THC per package if the products also had at least 25 parts of cannabidiol — CBD, a non-intoxicating component of cannabis — for each part of THC. The products also must have no greater than 0.3% total THC.

Petersen and the hemp businesses sought a delay in ending this “25-to-1” rule as part of a larger federal lawsuit against Gov. Abigail Spanberger and other state and local officials. 

They argue that by making it illegal to sell hemp products with more than 2 milligrams of THC, Virginia is unconstitutionally taking away the value of the businesses’ property without compensating them.

“The bottom line is the profitable use for hemp after Aug. 15 is going to go away,” Petersen said during Wednesday’s hearing. 

But defense lawyers with the Virginia Attorney General’s Office countered that ending the 25-to-1 rule is not an unconstitutional taking of property and that the state has a right to enforce its own regulations. 

“It does concern some intoxicating products with real health and public safety risks,” said Ethan Fallon, deputy solicitor general with Attorney General Jay Jones’ office. 

Fallon and Senior Assistant Attorney General Pebbles Burgess argued that many of the businesses were operating before the 25-to-1 rule was enacted in 2023 and that they could sell other products after the rule goes away.

Furthermore, they argued that regardless of Virginia’s laws, the businesses already should be preparing for changes in the federal government’s definition of hemp — approved in November 2025 and set to take effect later this year — that further restricts total THC content to 0.4 milligrams per container. 

“The emergency aspect of them changing their business model isn’t quite as short as they’re suggesting,” Fallon said.

It remains to be seen what happens next. Multiple hemp business owners testified Wednesday that they might have to close up shop after the 25-to-1 rule ends.

Cody Moorefield, owner of Simply Hemp in Collinsville, testified that sales impacted by the change make up more than half of his store’s profits.

“Without these products, I don’t think there’s going to be enough for me to continue,” Moorefield said. 

Business owners argued that they’ve put thousands of dollars into investments that will no longer be viable. Retailers bought inventory, hemp processors made products with more THC than will be allowed and growers planted seeds in the spring but now face a fall harvest with fewer prospects for selling their plants.

“I really just don’t see it being a profitable market at all,” testified Graham Redfern, owner of Redfern Hemp Co., which grows hemp on a Caroline County farm.

Business owners said that they have not received guidance from state agencies about how to handle the drinks, oils and other products that they’ll no longer be able to sell.

“I have no idea what I’m supposed to do with this inventory,” testified Barbara Biddle, owner of Manassas-based District Hemp.

Some expressed concern about possible legal repercussions from ending up with potentially felony-level quantities of products on hand.

“I have tons of what could be considered marijuana in drink cans,” testified Travis Lane, whose company, Fauquier County-based Nova Hemp, sells THC-infused beverages.

Meanwhile, the federal lawsuit remains active. 

Besides District Hemp, Nova Hemp, Redfern Hemp Co. and Simply Hemp, other plaintiffs in the suit are Powhatan County-based Cypress Hemp, Chesterfield County-based Kultivate Wellness and Rockingham County-based Pure Shenandoah.

Besides Spanberger and Jones, defendants are Charles Green, commissioner of the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services; the Virginia Cannabis Control Authority; Jamie Patten, head of the cannabis authority; and multiple counties’ commonwealth’s attorneys.

The post Judge declines to delay THC rule change for hemp products appeared first on Cardinal News.

A federal judge on Friday declined to postpone a change in state hemp regulations, set to take effect Saturday, that seven Virginia companies say will remove their ability to sell many products and could wipe out their businesses entirely. 

The change makes selling hemp gummies, drinks, oils and other products with more than 2 milligrams per package of tetrahydrocannabinol — THC, the main intoxicating compound in cannabis — illegal in Virginia. 

It came out of the state budget bill, finalized in June, that also will allow a limited number of licensed Virginia retailers to sell marijuana starting July 1 of next year.

Hemp business owners, represented by attorney and former state Sen. Chap Petersen, appeared Wednesday in federal court in Roanoke to ask U.S. District Judge Robert Ballou to delay the new rule, arguing that it will cause them significant harm and is happening too quickly for them to adjust.

“It will nullify, in some cases, 80 to 90% of their revenue and products,” Petersen said during the three-and-a-half-hour court hearing.

But Ballou said in his opinion published Friday that the businesses had not met the standards required for him to grant a delay and that “it is not the role of this Court to second-guess the Virginia legislature in setting an effective date for the new law.”

Petersen has previously said he hoped to postpone the new rule at least until the Virginia General Assembly could reconsider it. He has said that it came out of a rushed budget process that lacked public hearings and other standard processes.

In an interview Friday after the ruling, Petersen said that he was “disappointed” and that his clients could appeal the judge’s decision but they had not yet decided what steps to take next. 

“I thought we put forward pretty compelling evidence of the economic harm to my clients. I don’t know what else we could do,” Petersen said.

Companies say THC rule change could put them out of business

Up until the change in law, businesses have been able to sell hemp products with more than 2 milligrams of THC per package if the products also had at least 25 parts of cannabidiol — CBD, a non-intoxicating component of cannabis — for each part of THC. The products also must have no greater than 0.3% total THC.

Petersen and the hemp businesses sought a delay in ending this “25-to-1” rule as part of a larger federal lawsuit against Gov. Abigail Spanberger and other state and local officials. 

They argue that by making it illegal to sell hemp products with more than 2 milligrams of THC, Virginia is unconstitutionally taking away the value of the businesses’ property without compensating them.

“The bottom line is the profitable use for hemp after Aug. 15 is going to go away,” Petersen said during Wednesday’s hearing. 

But defense lawyers with the Virginia Attorney General’s Office countered that ending the 25-to-1 rule is not an unconstitutional taking of property and that the state has a right to enforce its own regulations. 

“It does concern some intoxicating products with real health and public safety risks,” said Ethan Fallon, deputy solicitor general with Attorney General Jay Jones’ office. 

Fallon and Senior Assistant Attorney General Pebbles Burgess argued that many of the businesses were operating before the 25-to-1 rule was enacted in 2023 and that they could sell other products after the rule goes away.

Furthermore, they argued that regardless of Virginia’s laws, the businesses already should be preparing for changes in the federal government’s definition of hemp — approved in November 2025 and set to take effect later this year — that further restricts total THC content to 0.4 milligrams per container. 

“The emergency aspect of them changing their business model isn’t quite as short as they’re suggesting,” Fallon said.

It remains to be seen what happens next. Multiple hemp business owners testified Wednesday that they might have to close up shop after the 25-to-1 rule ends.

Cody Moorefield, owner of Simply Hemp in Collinsville, testified that sales impacted by the change make up more than half of his store’s profits.

“Without these products, I don’t think there’s going to be enough for me to continue,” Moorefield said. 

Business owners argued that they’ve put thousands of dollars into investments that will no longer be viable. Retailers bought inventory, hemp processors made products with more THC than will be allowed and growers planted seeds in the spring but now face a fall harvest with fewer prospects for selling their plants.

“I really just don’t see it being a profitable market at all,” testified Graham Redfern, owner of Redfern Hemp Co., which grows hemp on a Caroline County farm.

Business owners said that they have not received guidance from state agencies about how to handle the drinks, oils and other products that they’ll no longer be able to sell.

“I have no idea what I’m supposed to do with this inventory,” testified Barbara Biddle, owner of Manassas-based District Hemp.

Some expressed concern about possible legal repercussions from ending up with potentially felony-level quantities of products on hand.

“I have tons of what could be considered marijuana in drink cans,” testified Travis Lane, whose company, Fauquier County-based Nova Hemp, sells THC-infused beverages.

Meanwhile, the federal lawsuit remains active. 

Besides District Hemp, Nova Hemp, Redfern Hemp Co. and Simply Hemp, other plaintiffs in the suit are Powhatan County-based Cypress Hemp, Chesterfield County-based Kultivate Wellness and Rockingham County-based Pure Shenandoah.

Besides Spanberger and Jones, defendants are Charles Green, commissioner of the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services; the Virginia Cannabis Control Authority; Jamie Patten, head of the cannabis authority; and multiple counties’ commonwealth’s attorneys.

The post Judge declines to delay THC rule change for hemp products appeared first on Cardinal News.

Walking past racks of white tulle, satin and lace at Church Street Bridal, Linda Ellis-Williams sees more than wedding gowns. 

“To most people, it’s a dress. To brides, it’s a symbol of the most important day of their life. To victims, it’s help — to free themselves from domestic violence and be able to continue their life,” said Ellis-Williams, director of victim services for the YWCA of Central Virginia.

The nonprofit runs Church Street Bridal as its main fundraiser, directing revenue from dress sales to its domestic violence support and prevention programs. 

“The biggest statement I can say of all is that those dresses, when they sell, they keep our doors open to the YWCA,” she said.

She knows the importance of an open door. In 1992, she fled to the YWCA with her three children — ages 6 months, 18 months, and 4 years old at the time — to escape her abusive husband. 

“That violence would have continued had these doors not been open,” said Ellis-Williams, who started volunteering for the YWCA shortly after, and now has more than 30 years of experience in providing support and resources to families in need. “My life has never been the same. And I’m one story, but that same story has worked for thousands and thousands of families right here in Central Virginia.”

The YWCA of Central Virginia operates out of Lynchburg and serves the city along with seven nearby counties, covering an area of 4,400 square miles and 400,000 residents. It’s been a local branch of the YWCA, a national advocacy and service organization, since 1912 and helps women and families with resources such as domestic violence shelters, an affordable housing program, court advocacy services and a 24/7 sexual assault hotline. 

Church Street Bridal has been spreading the message about those services, while selling dresses to fund them, for the past 20 years. Its role feels more important now than ever, Ellis-Williams said, as needs for services at the YWCA increase while government funding decreases.  

The goals beyond the gowns 

Church Street Bridal accomplishes three goals at once, said Jessica Boardman, the shop’s manager.

For one, it makes dress shopping financially accessible for the Lynchburg community, she said. 

The average wedding dress today costs $2,100, up from $1,900 in 2022 and $1,600 in 2018, according to annual surveys conducted by The Knot, a wedding planning platform.

“So a lot of brides think that because they have a small budget, they can’t have a good time shopping for a dress or can’t have a quality dress at all,” she said. 

The average customer spends about $600 or $700 for a wedding dress at Church Street Bridal, with some options as affordable as $300, Boardman said. 

The shop receives all of its dresses at no cost, as donations come from bridal salons across the country. Those salons have sample dresses on showroom floors that brides try on before placing their orders, but the sample dresses themselves are never sold. At the end of a season, salons have no more use for the sample dresses — and can be convinced to donate them if it means they get a tax write-off, Boardman said.

The dresses that Church Street Bridal sells have never been worn in weddings, only tried on in fitting rooms and put right back on the rack, Boardman said. That means dresses are as good as new, and her team of stylists gives brides a full consultation and styling experience like traditional salons offer.  

Everyone “deserves to feel loved and seen and beautiful” as they prepare for their wedding, Boardman said, whether they spend $600 or $6,000 on a dress.  

A second goal of the shop, Boardman said, is to spread the word about the YWCA’s mission. 

All appointments at Church Street Bridal start the same way, she said. She invites the bride-to-be to get comfortable on the shop’s rose-colored velvet loveseats and share her story: her excitement, her nerves, her hopes for the big day, and of course, her ideas for the style of her gown. Boardman likes to sit cross-legged on the floor in front of the bride to listen — it’s a small action that lets everyone know they can be themselves in the safe space of the shop, she said. 

Then Boardman shares the story of Church Street Bridal: how every dollar that women spend there on wedding dresses and other formal dresses, accessories and jewelry goes directly to support women in need in the Lynchburg area.

That outreach makes a big difference in ensuring that people from all corners of the Lynchburg community are aware of what resources are available to those experiencing abuse, said Nancy Hubbard, CEO of the YWCA of Central Virginia. It’s work that never ends, she said, as about a third of women will experience domestic violence in their lifetime.

“You look at the statistic, one in three people, and then you look at who’s in the dress shop: a mother of a bride, a sister, a cousin, a friend. Almost everybody knows someone who has experienced domestic violence, or they may be experiencing it themselves,” she said.

The third and most prominent goal is to raise money for the YWCA, Boardman said. 

“Some of our social occasion dresses are $60, and that doesn’t sound like a lot, but that’s bus passes for one of our residents to be able to get back and forth to her new job. It’s food or new blankets for our safe houses,” Boardman said. “It may sound like a few bucks to you, but to our residents, it’s everything. It makes a world of difference for somebody who’s been through the wringer and finally has the courage to take the next step.”

Need grows for services, and grants aren’t keeping up 

Since Church Street Bridal opened in 2004, it has generated more than $4 million in sales and funded crucial services as the need for them remains strong, Hubbard said.

Family and intimate partner violence accounts for about a third of all homicides in Virginia each year, according to the state health department. In the city of Lynchburg alone, six women have died due to domestic violence in the past two years, Hubbard told the Lynchburg City Council in October. 

And the state Department of Social Services reported 41 child deaths in Virginia due to physical abuse and neglect in its most recent annual report on child maltreatment. 

“That’s what motivates us. And I hate to say that, but when we see people dying, we have to do more. We just know we have to do more,” Ellis-Williams said. 

Over her more than 30 years in the field, she said she’s seen abuse start younger — as early as middle and high school relationships. She’s seen technology expand the reach of abuse, especially when it comes to stalkers using location tracking. And most recently, she’s seen the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic, when families were trapped at home with abusers for extended periods of time. 

Meanwhile, government funding has been reduced since 2020, Hubbard said. Public financial documents show that the nonprofit received close to $1.3 million in government grants then, compared to about $960,000 in the 2025 fiscal year. Like other nonprofits, Hubbard said, the YWCA of Central Virginia faces increased competition for the limited funding that’s still available from government and private pools. 

Before the pandemic, the nonprofit could afford to have five case managers for victims seeking services, Hubbard said. 

“We now have two, and that’s the kind of thing that makes a difference. We’ve just seen our funding slowly cut, cut, cut,” she said.

Having steady revenue from the bridal shop is key to maintaining service levels, she said, but it can still be difficult for the nonprofit to fund budget items like building maintenance. 

That’s where donors come in, Hubbard said. This fall, the YWCA plans to launch a campaign where members of the community can claim each of the 157 windows on the Church Street headquarters building and pay for them to be repainted. 

But brides are the most important donors of all, Hubbard said.

“By letting us participate in the happiest day of their life, they are helping women who are not going through the happiest day of their lives,” she said. “Buying a dress is saying, ‘I am happy. I am in a safe place. But there are women out there who are not, and I can honor them in a small way by including them on my happy day.’”

The post In Lynchburg, brides can buy discounted gowns that help fund services for domestic violence victims   appeared first on Cardinal News.

In 1857, slavery was nearing its end, although no one in the South realized that yet. However, in Roanoke County, a widow named Sarah Betts knew that her time on earth was drawing to a close. She sat down to write out her will.

She seems to have had a soft spot for one particular slave she owned because her will contained this provision: “It is my desire that my slave Claiborne Scott and his wife Ann and their infant child Sally Betts shall have an opportunity to purchase themselves, that they may be free,” Sarah Betts wrote.

It’s unclear why the child had the surname of her enslavers, but that’s not the unusual part. The conditional nature of this promise of freedom was.

Betts explicitly did not grant freedom to the couple’s oldest daughter, Bettie, who was given to Sarah Betts’ niece, who would then take her out of state.

As for Claiborne Scott and his wife, Betts set the price of their freedom at $1,200 — said to be about $40,000 today — and gave Scott 10 years to raise the amount. If he couldn’t raise that amount, then Betts directed that “my Executors shall sell said slaves at auction.”

Scott faced a ticking clock: Raise that amount of money or risk seeing his family auctioned off and split apart. Even then, he never saw his oldest child again.

Scott managed to raise the required amount, doing so in five years instead of the required ten. But as he drew closer to reaching the financial target, he still faced a Virginia law that required freed slaves to leave the state within a year. Scott petitioned the General Assembly for permission to stay. According to a new museum exhibit about Scott’s case, “his request included the signatures of more than 30 Roanoke County residents who supported the family’s continued residency. Among them was Hollins [Institute, now University] president Charles Cocke, who Claiborne and Ann worked under for 14 years.”

The General Assembly approved Scott’s petition to stay in Virginia. This legal victory was a bittersweet one. Ann Scott never saw her purchased freedom. She died in February 1862 — one month before her husband paid his final payment for their liberty.

* * *

The story of Claiborne Scott’s quest for freedom is laid out in a new exhibit at the Harrison Museum of African American Culture in Roanoke.

It’s part of a larger exhibit put together by the Virginia Museum of History and Culture in Richmond that calls attention to a population that we often forget existed in Virginia — “Un/bound: Free Black Virginians, 1619-1865” reminds us that history is often not as simple as the version we were taught in school. Throughout the slavery era, there were also free Black Virginians, whose mere presence presented challenges to both the law and Virginia’s prevailing social order.

The exhibit in Richmond is on display through July 4, 2027. If you’re in the state capital between now and then, this is a side trip you ought to take. However, the museum has also put together a smaller traveling show, which is now at the Harrison Museum in Roanoke until Aug. 24 and will be at the Floyd County Historical Society Sept. 2-Oct. 19. Any library, school or museum in Virginia can book this traveling show; the schedule shows lots of dates available. The Harrison Museum exhibit includes additions put together by the museum’s researcher, Brittney Flowers, that bring to light not only Scott’s situation but another Roanoke Valley story about conditional freedom that we’ll get to shortly. Other museums around the state could likely come up with their own stories to add.

The exhibit peels away the shorthand version of history we learned in school to look at just how messy the actual events were. Americans did not invent slavery, but they did invent the laws that governed it on these shores. The exhibit reminds us that when the first Africans were unwillingly brought to Virginia in 1619, there were no laws that governed their status. “Because laws about slavery were evolving, Black people used the courts to challenge their enslavement,” the exhibit says. Most failed, but some succeeded before slavery became an accepted legal fact in the mid-1600s.

One famous legal case involved Elizabeth Key, born into slavery in what was then Warwick County (and today is Newport News). Her mother was Black, her father was white. Key cited English common law at the time to argue that because her father was free, she should be, as well. “She also argued that her enslavement was void because as a Christian, it was unlawful for one Christian to enslave another,” the exhibit says. “The General Assembly agreed, releasing her from service” in 1656. Then legislators apparently realized what they had done, given how many slave owners were fathering children with their enslaved women. In 1662, the legislature passed a new law that said someone’s legal status — free or slave — passed through the mother, not the father. Five years later, the legislature “declared that Christian baptism did not exempt someone from slavery.”

And yet, despite all this, there were still free Black Virginians. They tended to be in the cities, and often were small business owners. The first land battle of the American Revolution in Virginia was the Battle of Great Bridge in modern-day Chesapeake; the hero on the Virginia side was a free Black man from Portsmouth, Billy Flora, who owned a livery stable. He stood his ground and kept the British from crossing a key bridge. (We’ve written about Flora in our Cardinal 250 series on little-known aspects of Virginia’s role in independence; we also have a podcast about him.)

The late 1700s saw many of Virginia’s elite wrestle with how to square slavery with their declarations of liberty. That era saw a wave of manumissions that added to Virginia’s free Black population. Up until then, the governor was required to approve all decisions to free a slave. In 1782, just a year after the Battle of Yorktown, the General Assembly passed a law that allowed any slaveowner to free his human property without involving the governor. The museum says “hundreds, if not thousands, of white Virginians” freed their slaves.

Then came the backlash. “As the number of free Black Virginians grew, so did the number of restrictions they faced,” the exhibit says. Special taxes were imposed on them; failure “could result in someone being hired out in involuntary servitude to pay their debt.” A system of pass laws was set up — special documents that Black Virginians had to carry to prove their freedom. It was illegal for Black Virginians, free or slave, to gather to learn to read.

As with the Scott case later, some of those early manumissions came with conditions. One such example involved a Botetourt County minister named Edward Mitchell.

In 1790, Mitchell seems to have been struck by a crisis of conscience.

He came to believe that slavery was a sin. He wrote out the legal paperwork to free the four adults he enslaved, two men and two women, couples named Roger and Elizabeth Rogers, and Samuel Callendar and Rachel Nelson.

However, Mitchell’s epiphany about the sin of slavery had its limits. Although he told the court that he was “convinced in my own Judgment that it is contrary to the principals of Christianity to hold our Fellow Creatures in bondage or Slavery,” that manumission did not immediately apply to the children of his enslaved workers. Mitchell specified that the girls would remain enslaved until they turned 18; the boys until they reached 21 or, in some cases, 25.

At the time, the oldest of the children was just 12, a boy who faced nine more years of servitude. The two youngest were just a year old. Lucy Nelson faced 17 more years of slavery; William Rogers 20 years. By the time he aged out into freedom in 1810, a full two decades had passed.

“During that time, his parents lived with uncertainty: whether he would survive, whether he would be sold away, and whether the promise of the document would ever be honored,” the exhibit says. There were other complications, too: Had Lucy Nelson given birth before she gained her freedom — and teenage motherhood was not unusual in that era — any children she had would have been born into slavery, because they were not covered by Mitchell’s manumission document.

The 20-year process of freeing all the enslaved people who lived on Mitchell’s land in Botetourt County was unusually long, and presented another challenge. In 1806, the General Assembly passed an even harsher law: Any slave freed after that date had to leave the state within a year. Free Blacks from other states were forbidden to move into the state. Three of the enslaved children covered by Mitchell’s manumission were not freed until after that fateful date.

And yet, despite all this, there still remained a population of free Black Virginians. By the time of the Civil War, there were 58,042 free Black Virginians, a figure higher than any other slave-holding state except Maryland. An unusually high number of free Black Virginians lived on the Eastern Shore, believed to be a consequence of both manumissions and the unique freedoms offered by water-related trades. In 1860, Accomack County had more free Black residents than any other locality in Virginia — 4,380. That meant 23% of the county’s residents were free Black Virginians. Put another way, 43% of the county’s Black population was free, living alongside another 57% that was enslaved. In Petersburg, the free Black population accounted for about 17% of the city’s total residents.

The life of free Blacks in the slavery era was a complicated one. Often families included both free and enslaved members, which meant that even some free Black Virginians faced the threat of their families being broken up if a spouse or child was still enslaved. However, when slavery and the Civil War ended, these free Black Virginians formed part of a new leadership class in the state. In 1867, a Reconstruction-era legislature convened in Richmond to write a new constitution. The assembly was notable because it included 20 Black men. Half of them had been free before the Civil War.

* * *

There’s more to this story: While the Scotts never saw their daughter, Bettie, again, they did stay in touch through letters, some of which are shown in the display. Bettie also did well for herself — and others. “Bettie went on to achieve remarkable economic prosperity after Emancipation,” the display says. “She and her husband, Charles Birthright, became landowners and philanthropists, donating funds to construct local schools and maintaining influence in both the white and Black communities. After the couple died, they donated more than 500 acres of their estate to the Tuscaloosa Institute — today known as Stillman College. Their donation remained the single largest charitable contribution to the historically Black college until the 1980s.”

History is often tragic, but sometimes sublime — and always complicated.

For more political news and analysis, see our weekly political newsletter, West of the Capital, that comes out on Friday afternoon.

The post An enslaved man in Roanoke County was once given 10 years to raise the money to buy his freedom — or risk seeing his family sold at auction appeared first on Cardinal News.

In 1857, slavery was nearing its end, although no one in the South realized that yet. However, in Roanoke County, a widow named Sarah Betts knew that her time on earth was drawing to a close. She sat down to write out her will.

She seems to have had a soft spot for one particular slave she owned because her will contained this provision: “It is my desire that my slave Claiborne Scott and his wife Ann and their infant child Sally Betts shall have an opportunity to purchase themselves, that they may be free,” Sarah Betts wrote.

It’s unclear why the child had the surname of her enslavers, but that’s not the unusual part. The conditional nature of this promise of freedom was.

Betts explicitly did not grant freedom to the couple’s oldest daughter, Bettie, who was given to Sarah Betts’ niece, who would then take her out of state.

As for Claiborne Scott and his wife, Betts set the price of their freedom at $1,200 — said to be about $40,000 today — and gave Scott 10 years to raise the amount. If he couldn’t raise that amount, then Betts directed that “my Executors shall sell said slaves at auction.”

Scott faced a ticking clock: Raise that amount of money or risk seeing his family auctioned off and split apart. Even then, he never saw his oldest child again.

Scott managed to raise the required amount, doing so in five years instead of the required ten. But as he drew closer to reaching the financial target, he still faced a Virginia law that required freed slaves to leave the state within a year. Scott petitioned the General Assembly for permission to stay. According to a new museum exhibit about Scott’s case, “his request included the signatures of more than 30 Roanoke County residents who supported the family’s continued residency. Among them was Hollins [Institute, now University] president Charles Cocke, who Claiborne and Ann worked under for 14 years.”

The General Assembly approved Scott’s petition to stay in Virginia. This legal victory was a bittersweet one. Ann Scott never saw her purchased freedom. She died in February 1862 — one month before her husband paid his final payment for their liberty.

* * *

The story of Claiborne Scott’s quest for freedom is laid out in a new exhibit at the Harrison Museum of African American Culture in Roanoke.

It’s part of a larger exhibit put together by the Virginia Museum of History and Culture in Richmond that calls attention to a population that we often forget existed in Virginia — “Un/bound: Free Black Virginians, 1619-1865” reminds us that history is often not as simple as the version we were taught in school. Throughout the slavery era, there were also free Black Virginians, whose mere presence presented challenges to both the law and Virginia’s prevailing social order.

The exhibit in Richmond is on display through July 4, 2027. If you’re in the state capital between now and then, this is a side trip you ought to take. However, the museum has also put together a smaller traveling show, which is now at the Harrison Museum in Roanoke until Aug. 24 and will be at the Floyd County Historical Society Sept. 2-Oct. 19. Any library, school or museum in Virginia can book this traveling show; the schedule shows lots of dates available. The Harrison Museum exhibit includes additions put together by the museum’s researcher, Brittney Flowers, that bring to light not only Scott’s situation but another Roanoke Valley story about conditional freedom that we’ll get to shortly. Other museums around the state could likely come up with their own stories to add.

The exhibit peels away the shorthand version of history we learned in school to look at just how messy the actual events were. Americans did not invent slavery, but they did invent the laws that governed it on these shores. The exhibit reminds us that when the first Africans were unwillingly brought to Virginia in 1619, there were no laws that governed their status. “Because laws about slavery were evolving, Black people used the courts to challenge their enslavement,” the exhibit says. Most failed, but some succeeded before slavery became an accepted legal fact in the mid-1600s.

One famous legal case involved Elizabeth Key, born into slavery in what was then Warwick County (and today is Newport News). Her mother was Black, her father was white. Key cited English common law at the time to argue that because her father was free, she should be, as well. “She also argued that her enslavement was void because as a Christian, it was unlawful for one Christian to enslave another,” the exhibit says. “The General Assembly agreed, releasing her from service” in 1656. Then legislators apparently realized what they had done, given how many slave owners were fathering children with their enslaved women. In 1662, the legislature passed a new law that said someone’s legal status — free or slave — passed through the mother, not the father. Five years later, the legislature “declared that Christian baptism did not exempt someone from slavery.”

And yet, despite all this, there were still free Black Virginians. They tended to be in the cities, and often were small business owners. The first land battle of the American Revolution in Virginia was the Battle of Great Bridge in modern-day Chesapeake; the hero on the Virginia side was a free Black man from Portsmouth, Billy Flora, who owned a livery stable. He stood his ground and kept the British from crossing a key bridge. (We’ve written about Flora in our Cardinal 250 series on little-known aspects of Virginia’s role in independence; we also have a podcast about him.)

The late 1700s saw many of Virginia’s elite wrestle with how to square slavery with their declarations of liberty. That era saw a wave of manumissions that added to Virginia’s free Black population. Up until then, the governor was required to approve all decisions to free a slave. In 1782, just a year after the Battle of Yorktown, the General Assembly passed a law that allowed any slaveowner to free his human property without involving the governor. The museum says “hundreds, if not thousands, of white Virginians” freed their slaves.

Then came the backlash. “As the number of free Black Virginians grew, so did the number of restrictions they faced,” the exhibit says. Special taxes were imposed on them; failure “could result in someone being hired out in involuntary servitude to pay their debt.” A system of pass laws was set up — special documents that Black Virginians had to carry to prove their freedom. It was illegal for Black Virginians, free or slave, to gather to learn to read.

As with the Scott case later, some of those early manumissions came with conditions. One such example involved a Botetourt County minister named Edward Mitchell.

In 1790, Mitchell seems to have been struck by a crisis of conscience.

He came to believe that slavery was a sin. He wrote out the legal paperwork to free the four adults he enslaved, two men and two women, couples named Roger and Elizabeth Rogers, and Samuel Callendar and Rachel Nelson.

However, Mitchell’s epiphany about the sin of slavery had its limits. Although he told the court that he was “convinced in my own Judgment that it is contrary to the principals of Christianity to hold our Fellow Creatures in bondage or Slavery,” that manumission did not immediately apply to the children of his enslaved workers. Mitchell specified that the girls would remain enslaved until they turned 18; the boys until they reached 21 or, in some cases, 25.

At the time, the oldest of the children was just 12, a boy who faced nine more years of servitude. The two youngest were just a year old. Lucy Nelson faced 17 more years of slavery; William Rogers 20 years. By the time he aged out into freedom in 1810, a full two decades had passed.

“During that time, his parents lived with uncertainty: whether he would survive, whether he would be sold away, and whether the promise of the document would ever be honored,” the exhibit says. There were other complications, too: Had Lucy Nelson given birth before she gained her freedom — and teenage motherhood was not unusual in that era — any children she had would have been born into slavery, because they were not covered by Mitchell’s manumission document.

The 20-year process of freeing all the enslaved people who lived on Mitchell’s land in Botetourt County was unusually long, and presented another challenge. In 1806, the General Assembly passed an even harsher law: Any slave freed after that date had to leave the state within a year. Free Blacks from other states were forbidden to move into the state. Three of the enslaved children covered by Mitchell’s manumission were not freed until after that fateful date.

And yet, despite all this, there still remained a population of free Black Virginians. By the time of the Civil War, there were 58,042 free Black Virginians, a figure higher than any other slave-holding state except Maryland. An unusually high number of free Black Virginians lived on the Eastern Shore, believed to be a consequence of both manumissions and the unique freedoms offered by water-related trades. In 1860, Accomack County had more free Black residents than any other locality in Virginia — 4,380. That meant 23% of the county’s residents were free Black Virginians. Put another way, 43% of the county’s Black population was free, living alongside another 57% that was enslaved. In Petersburg, the free Black population accounted for about 17% of the city’s total residents.

The life of free Blacks in the slavery era was a complicated one. Often families included both free and enslaved members, which meant that even some free Black Virginians faced the threat of their families being broken up if a spouse or child was still enslaved. However, when slavery and the Civil War ended, these free Black Virginians formed part of a new leadership class in the state. In 1867, a Reconstruction-era legislature convened in Richmond to write a new constitution. The assembly was notable because it included 20 Black men. Half of them had been free before the Civil War.

* * *

There’s more to this story: While the Scotts never saw their daughter, Bettie, again, they did stay in touch through letters, some of which are shown in the display. Bettie also did well for herself — and others. “Bettie went on to achieve remarkable economic prosperity after Emancipation,” the display says. “She and her husband, Charles Birthright, became landowners and philanthropists, donating funds to construct local schools and maintaining influence in both the white and Black communities. After the couple died, they donated more than 500 acres of their estate to the Tuscaloosa Institute — today known as Stillman College. Their donation remained the single largest charitable contribution to the historically Black college until the 1980s.”

History is often tragic, but sometimes sublime — and always complicated.

For more political news and analysis, see our weekly political newsletter, West of the Capital, that comes out on Friday afternoon.

The post An enslaved man in Roanoke County was once given 10 years to raise the money to buy his freedom — or risk seeing his family sold at auction appeared first on Cardinal News.

In 1857, slavery was nearing its end, although no one in the South realized that yet. However, in Roanoke County, a widow named Sarah Betts knew that her time on earth was drawing to a close. She sat down to write out her will.

She seems to have had a soft spot for one particular slave she owned because her will contained this provision: “It is my desire that my slave Claiborne Scott and his wife Ann and their infant child Sally Betts shall have an opportunity to purchase themselves, that they may be free,” Sarah Betts wrote.

It’s unclear why the child had the surname of her enslavers, but that’s not the unusual part. The conditional nature of this promise of freedom was.

Betts explicitly did not grant freedom to the couple’s oldest daughter, Bettie, who was given to Sarah Betts’ niece, who would then take her out of state.

As for Claiborne Scott and his wife, Betts set the price of their freedom at $1,200 — said to be about $40,000 today — and gave Scott 10 years to raise the amount. If he couldn’t raise that amount, then Betts directed that “my Executors shall sell said slaves at auction.”

Scott faced a ticking clock: Raise that amount of money or risk seeing his family auctioned off and split apart. Even then, he never saw his oldest child again.

Scott managed to raise the required amount, doing so in five years instead of the required ten. But as he drew closer to reaching the financial target, he still faced a Virginia law that required freed slaves to leave the state within a year. Scott petitioned the General Assembly for permission to stay. According to a new museum exhibit about Scott’s case, “his request included the signatures of more than 30 Roanoke County residents who supported the family’s continued residency. Among them was Hollins [Institute, now University] president Charles Cocke, who Claiborne and Ann worked under for 14 years.”

The General Assembly approved Scott’s petition to stay in Virginia. This legal victory was a bittersweet one. Ann Scott never saw her purchased freedom. She died in February 1862 — one month before her husband paid his final payment for their liberty.

* * *

The story of Claiborne Scott’s quest for freedom is laid out in a new exhibit at the Harrison Museum of African American Culture in Roanoke.

It’s part of a larger exhibit put together by the Virginia Museum of History and Culture in Richmond that calls attention to a population that we often forget existed in Virginia — “Un/bound: Free Black Virginians, 1619-1865” reminds us that history is often not as simple as the version we were taught in school. Throughout the slavery era, there were also free Black Virginians, whose mere presence presented challenges to both the law and Virginia’s prevailing social order.

The exhibit in Richmond is on display through July 4, 2027. If you’re in the state capital between now and then, this is a side trip you ought to take. However, the museum has also put together a smaller traveling show, which is now at the Harrison Museum in Roanoke until Aug. 24 and will be at the Floyd County Historical Society Sept. 2-Oct. 19. Any library, school or museum in Virginia can book this traveling show; the schedule shows lots of dates available. The Harrison Museum exhibit includes additions put together by the museum’s researcher, Brittney Flowers, that bring to light not only Scott’s situation but another Roanoke Valley story about conditional freedom that we’ll get to shortly. Other museums around the state could likely come up with their own stories to add.

The exhibit peels away the shorthand version of history we learned in school to look at just how messy the actual events were. Americans did not invent slavery, but they did invent the laws that governed it on these shores. The exhibit reminds us that when the first Africans were unwillingly brought to Virginia in 1619, there were no laws that governed their status. “Because laws about slavery were evolving, Black people used the courts to challenge their enslavement,” the exhibit says. Most failed, but some succeeded before slavery became an accepted legal fact in the mid-1600s.

One famous legal case involved Elizabeth Key, born into slavery in what was then Warwick County (and today is Newport News). Her mother was Black, her father was white. Key cited English common law at the time to argue that because her father was free, she should be, as well. “She also argued that her enslavement was void because as a Christian, it was unlawful for one Christian to enslave another,” the exhibit says. “The General Assembly agreed, releasing her from service” in 1656. Then legislators apparently realized what they had done, given how many slave owners were fathering children with their enslaved women. In 1662, the legislature passed a new law that said someone’s legal status — free or slave — passed through the mother, not the father. Five years later, the legislature “declared that Christian baptism did not exempt someone from slavery.”

And yet, despite all this, there were still free Black Virginians. They tended to be in the cities, and often were small business owners. The first land battle of the American Revolution in Virginia was the Battle of Great Bridge in modern-day Chesapeake; the hero on the Virginia side was a free Black man from Portsmouth, Billy Flora, who owned a livery stable. He stood his ground and kept the British from crossing a key bridge. (We’ve written about Flora in our Cardinal 250 series on little-known aspects of Virginia’s role in independence; we also have a podcast about him.)

The late 1700s saw many of Virginia’s elite wrestle with how to square slavery with their declarations of liberty. That era saw a wave of manumissions that added to Virginia’s free Black population. Up until then, the governor was required to approve all decisions to free a slave. In 1782, just a year after the Battle of Yorktown, the General Assembly passed a law that allowed any slaveowner to free his human property without involving the governor. The museum says “hundreds, if not thousands, of white Virginians” freed their slaves.

Then came the backlash. “As the number of free Black Virginians grew, so did the number of restrictions they faced,” the exhibit says. Special taxes were imposed on them; failure “could result in someone being hired out in involuntary servitude to pay their debt.” A system of pass laws was set up — special documents that Black Virginians had to carry to prove their freedom. It was illegal for Black Virginians, free or slave, to gather to learn to read.

As with the Scott case later, some of those early manumissions came with conditions. One such example involved a Botetourt County minister named Edward Mitchell.

In 1790, Mitchell seems to have been struck by a crisis of conscience.

He came to believe that slavery was a sin. He wrote out the legal paperwork to free the four adults he enslaved, two men and two women, couples named Roger and Elizabeth Rogers, and Samuel Callendar and Rachel Nelson.

However, Mitchell’s epiphany about the sin of slavery had its limits. Although he told the court that he was “convinced in my own Judgment that it is contrary to the principals of Christianity to hold our Fellow Creatures in bondage or Slavery,” that manumission did not immediately apply to the children of his enslaved workers. Mitchell specified that the girls would remain enslaved until they turned 18; the boys until they reached 21 or, in some cases, 25.

At the time, the oldest of the children was just 12, a boy who faced nine more years of servitude. The two youngest were just a year old. Lucy Nelson faced 17 more years of slavery; William Rogers 20 years. By the time he aged out into freedom in 1810, a full two decades had passed.

“During that time, his parents lived with uncertainty: whether he would survive, whether he would be sold away, and whether the promise of the document would ever be honored,” the exhibit says. There were other complications, too: Had Lucy Nelson given birth before she gained her freedom — and teenage motherhood was not unusual in that era — any children she had would have been born into slavery, because they were not covered by Mitchell’s manumission document.

The 20-year process of freeing all the enslaved people who lived on Mitchell’s land in Botetourt County was unusually long, and presented another challenge. In 1806, the General Assembly passed an even harsher law: Any slave freed after that date had to leave the state within a year. Free Blacks from other states were forbidden to move into the state. Three of the enslaved children covered by Mitchell’s manumission were not freed until after that fateful date.

And yet, despite all this, there still remained a population of free Black Virginians. By the time of the Civil War, there were 58,042 free Black Virginians, a figure higher than any other slave-holding state except Maryland. An unusually high number of free Black Virginians lived on the Eastern Shore, believed to be a consequence of both manumissions and the unique freedoms offered by water-related trades. In 1860, Accomack County had more free Black residents than any other locality in Virginia — 4,380. That meant 23% of the county’s residents were free Black Virginians. Put another way, 43% of the county’s Black population was free, living alongside another 57% that was enslaved. In Petersburg, the free Black population accounted for about 17% of the city’s total residents.

The life of free Blacks in the slavery era was a complicated one. Often families included both free and enslaved members, which meant that even some free Black Virginians faced the threat of their families being broken up if a spouse or child was still enslaved. However, when slavery and the Civil War ended, these free Black Virginians formed part of a new leadership class in the state. In 1867, a Reconstruction-era legislature convened in Richmond to write a new constitution. The assembly was notable because it included 20 Black men. Half of them had been free before the Civil War.

* * *

There’s more to this story: While the Scotts never saw their daughter, Bettie, again, they did stay in touch through letters, some of which are shown in the display. Bettie also did well for herself — and others. “Bettie went on to achieve remarkable economic prosperity after Emancipation,” the display says. “She and her husband, Charles Birthright, became landowners and philanthropists, donating funds to construct local schools and maintaining influence in both the white and Black communities. After the couple died, they donated more than 500 acres of their estate to the Tuscaloosa Institute — today known as Stillman College. Their donation remained the single largest charitable contribution to the historically Black college until the 1980s.”

History is often tragic, but sometimes sublime — and always complicated.

For more political news and analysis, see our weekly political newsletter, West of the Capital, that comes out on Friday afternoon.

The post An enslaved man in Roanoke County was once given 10 years to raise the money to buy his freedom — or risk seeing his family sold at auction appeared first on Cardinal News.

Virginia is levying a $179,000 fine over environmental violations from construction work as a major natural gas pipeline expands in southern Pittsylvania County.

The Transcontinental Gas Pipeline, owned by The Williams Companies, is a nearly 10,000-mile system that runs from Texas to New York. Williams is adding about 26 miles of additional pipeline in Pittsylvania as part of a larger project to increase how much natural gas the Transco line can carry from Chatham to points southeast.

The expansion is expected to be in service late next year. It also includes new pipeline and compressor stations in North Carolina and compressor station modifications in South Carolina, Georgia and Alabama. Compressor stations increase the pressure of natural gas to keep it moving through a pipeline.

The Virginia Department of Environmental Quality said that inspections this past spring and summer revealed dozens of instances of improper controls to manage erosion, sediment and stormwater runoff at the Pittsylvania County work site. The DEQ enforces regulations to protect soil and water during construction.

Examples included missing or improperly installed waterbars, which redirect rainwater to prevent erosion, and missing perimeter controls around wetlands. A DEQ report described the severity of most of the problems as “marginal” or “moderate” but said the company had a “serious” level of culpability and had “repeat patterns of violations.”

“This is a large linear project with a sophisticated owner and many of the items were failures to comply with Transcontinental’s own plans,” DEQ staff, led by enforcement director Kristen Sadtler, wrote in an enforcement plan recommending the $179,000 fine. 

The DEQ sent a warning in April and notices of violation in June. Williams paused much of its construction activity at the Pittsylvania site, worked to correct the violations, met with DEQ staff and retrained field personnel on environmental compliance.

Cherice Corley, a spokesperson for Williams, said in a statement to Cardinal News that the company “takes its environmental responsibilities seriously” and resumed construction activities after implementing corrective measures.

“We remain committed to working closely with regulators and constructing the project in accordance with all applicable environmental requirements,” Corley said.

A six-figure civil penalty from the DEQ is not common but not without precedent. Last year, the department levied penalties totaling nearly $121,000 on the solar developer Energix. Earlier this year, it cited the Alton Post Office Solar project in Halifax County to the tune of $106,000.

The DEQ posted a public notice about the Transcontinental Gas Pipeline penalty on Monday and is taking public comments until Sept. 9.

The post State levies $179,000 penalty over Transco work in Pittsylvania County appeared first on Cardinal News.

Welcome to Notes from the Square, a roundup of state politics and policy news. Each week, we bring you updates on the movers and shakers in Virginia politics as well as the legislation and initiatives they’re supporting or opposing — with a Southwest and Southside Virginia focus. 

Got a tip or story idea? Email me at elizabeth@cardinalnews.org.

Congressman Morgan Griffith weighs in on Dominion and NextEra merger

Rep. Morgan Griffith, R-Salem, urged Gov. Abigail Spanberger to protect coal as she intervenes in the proposed merger between Dominion Energy and Florida-based NextEra Energy in a letter he sent to the governor Friday. (Disclosure: Dominion is one of our donors, but donors have no say in news decisions; see our policy).

In that letter, Griffith noted that though few of his constituents in the 9th Congressional District are Dominion customers — most in the Southwest Virginia region get their energy from Appalachian Power Company — the merger could impact the district he represents.

“My interest in the merger case concerns the Virginia City Hybrid Energy Center (VCHEC) power plant that Dominion Energy owns and operates in my district near St. Paul,” Griffith wrote.

The power plant generates 610 megawatts of electricity at the site using waste coal, known as gob, and sawmill waste as fuel, he said. The merger could affect control over VCHEC, one of Virginia’s last remaining coal-fired power plants, Griffith’s office said.

“I want the new company to understand the economic and environmental assets this plant offers to Southwest Virginia and the State as a whole,” Griffith said.

Griffith argued in his letter that the plant provides essential baseload power to enhance the reliability of the electric grid while also reducing methane emissions, remediating waterways in the 9th District and cleaning up legacy waste sites at a lower cost to the taxpayer. It also employs nearly 160 people at a high wage and pays about $8.5 million in taxes per year to Wise County and the city of St. Paul. The coal plant, Griffith’s office said, has also supported local jobs and cleaned up millions of tons of waste coal in Southwest Virginia since it opened in 2012.

“I am concerned about potential negative impacts that the merger could have on VCHEC as it is allowed to operate until 2045 under the Virginia Code,” Griffith wrote in his letter to Spanberger. “I urge you not to forget our constituents in Wise County as you participate in this merger case.”

Spanberger’s office did not respond when asked if the governor has reviewed Griffith’s letter. 

Lt. Gov. Hashmi launches statewide energy costs listening tour

Speaking of energy, Lt. Gov. Ghazala Hashmi announced that she will hit the road in September to criss-cross the commonwealth for a listening tour focused on energy costs amid the pending merger between Dominion and NextEra. 

The tour will make stops in Loudoun, Hampton Roads, Richmond, Charlottesville and Roanoke, Hashmi’s office said. The lieutenant governor’s goal is to bring together local elected officials, energy experts, and community members and give Virginians an opportunity to hear from experts, ask questions and share their perspectives on the pending merger. 

“An acquisition of this size and significance requires a thorough, transparent review,” Hashmi said in a statement. “Virginians deserve the opportunity to understand what this proposal could mean for their utility bills, their community, and our shared energy future. These conversations are about listening, sharing information, and ensuring the public has a meaningful voice before a decision of this magnitude is made.” 

Input gathered through the tour will help to inform conversations about Virginia’s energy future and reinforce the importance of a transparent, accountable review process, her office said. 

Hashmi’s Roanoke stop is slated for Thursday, September 24.

Gov. Spanberger encourages Virginians to serve as elections officers

Speaking of the governor, Spanberger put out a call out to Virginians to serve as elections officers on Tuesday, which was National Poll Worker Recruitment Day. 

Apparently every day is a “national day”: Today’s “national day” (as I write this on August 13) is geared toward fancy food and drink. August 13 is National Prosecco Day and National Filet Mignon Day. Tomorrow’s “national day” (when this is set to publish on August 14) is slated to be National Creamsicle Day and National Navajo Code Talkers Day, according to the National Day Calendar website. 

Anyway, on Tuesday, National Poll Worker Recruitment Day (which was also, supposedly, National Sons and Daughters Day, National Presidential Joke Day and National Raspberry Bombe Day), Spanberger encouraged Virginians to consider serving as poll workers ahead of the November midterm elections. 

“Every year in our Commonwealth, poll workers play an essential role in supporting our secure, accurate, and fair elections and allowing Virginians to make their voices heard,” Spanberger said in a statement. “We have some of the most talented and experienced election staff in the nation working at our polls. Ahead of our upcoming elections, I am encouraging more committed Virginians who would like to serve their communities to do so in this deeply meaningful way.”

Qualified Virginia voters who are interested in serving as Officers of Election — which is what the commonwealth calls poll workers — can find additional information and complete the online application on the Department of Elections website. Officers of Election receive compensation for their service.

More board appointments and high school essay contest winners announced by the governor

Let’s keep this Spanberger news train moving. The governor issued dozens more board appointments on Monday. 

Here’s a list of folks that she appointed from the Southwest and Southside regions of the commonwealth: 

Governor’s Advisory Council on Revenue Estimates (GACRE)

• Robert Mills of Pittsylvania, president, Briar View Farms

Joint Advisory Board of Economists (JABE)

• Dr. David Kohl of Blacksburg, professor emeritus, Virginia Tech
• Dr. Can Dogan of Blacksburg, associate professor, Radford University
• Dr. Alice Kassens of Fincastle, dean of the School of Business, Economics, and Analytics, Roanoke College

Scientific and Technical Advisory Committee to the Chesapeake Bay Executive Council

• Dr. Michael Sorice of Blacksburg, associate professor, Virginia Tech

State Water Control Board

• Jerald Hess of Goochland, associate general counsel, Apex Clean Energy

Task Force for the Identification of the History of Formerly Enslaved African Americans in Virginia

• Karice Luck-Brimmer of Danville, genealogist, Thomas Jefferson Foundation, Inc./Monticello

And lastly but definitely not least-ly, to add to this list of Southwest and Southside residents, Spanberger announced Thursday the winners of the Virginia Council on Women’s 15th Annual High School Essay Contest. 

The winners from the Southwest and Southside regions of the commonwealth are: 

• Kamori Dillard, Martinsville High School, Martinsville; and
• Emmaline Dowell, Chilhowie High School, Chilhowie. 

The Virginia Council on Women established the essay contest in 2012 to award scholarships to high school junior and senior girls planning to pursue STEAM-H careers at institutions of higher education. More than 300 young women from across the commonwealth submitted essays this year about why they want to pursue a STEAM-H career, the governor’s office said. To date, the council has awarded more than $225,000 in scholarships through this annual essay contest.

The post Notes from the Square: Griffith weighs in on Dominion, NextEra merger appeared first on Cardinal News.

Hi all! 

Back with my weekly column to tell you about some happenings around the coalfields. If you scroll far enough in this edition, you’ll be rewarded with a dog photo! Sorry to all the cat people. 

My meet and greet in Big Stone Gap is next week. Please come by 404 Cafe and Creamery from 5-7 p.m. on Thursday to talk about things you’d like me to cover and enjoy some ice cream on us. I’m really looking forward to meeting you.

If you can’t make it, or it’s too far a drive, please drop me a line at anna@cardinalnews.org. Let’s stay in touch. 

A “last dance” 

Last weekend, many came to celebrate a state historical marker dedicated to the former James A. Bland High School in Big Stone Gap, a segregated school for Black students in Wise and Lee counties.

What now serves as Big Stone Gap’s town hall was one of three Black high schools in the area, including Appalachia Training School and Central High. 

During the dedication, the alumni board ducked out to begin preparing for their 27th and final reunion. 

Since 1971, alumni have been gathering every two years to remember the schools and people that brought them together, said Pauline Martin Adams, president of the alumni association. They’re all getting older, she said, and since younger generations attended integrated high schools after 1965, they decided it would be the last time.

“It was probably, believe it or not, the best reunion we’ve ever had,” Adams said, recounting the cocktail hour and banquet held at Big Stone Gap’s country club. People made the trip from all corners of the country, and they danced to a DJ late into the night. The next morning, they held a traditional ceremony to honor those in their community who have passed away.

Adams attended the Bland school before integration in 1965, and finished school at Appalachia High School. She lives in Richmond now but remembers growing up in Appalachia fondly, and still makes the trip home to see family every few months.  

“When I got home I had a thousand emails saying bravo, what a wonderful time,” she said. “We did what we set out to do. We made it a beautiful last dance.” 

The alumni association will stay connected by newsletter, and Adams is quite sure they’ll find a way to gather again. 

Lee County is reviving its chamber of commerce

Heather Hitchler, a Georgia native, moved to Lee County five years ago to find that the chamber of commerce in her new home had been defunct for several years. 

A technologist and business owner, she started gauging the interest of local business owners in coming together to promote countywide economic development. She’s now up to 56 different businesses that want to be a part of the revitalization, she said. 

Anyone interested can attend a coffee chat on Wednesday, Aug. 19, between 9-11 a.m. The event will be held at Sips n’ Sweets in Jonesville, or can be attended virtually. 

The event is a no-pressure opportunity for people to get to know each other, Hitchler said. She hopes to have discussions on how to bring new businesses in while supporting the ones they already have. 

Hitchler said she is currently working on making a joint calendar for events and a business directory, hoping it helps facilitate collaboration and avoid scheduling conflicts. 

She also wants to involve younger entrepreneurs in the new initiative. Hitchler leads a work program for vocational students in Lee County that helps pair them with jobs in the community. 

“We’ve got so much potential here, we can grow it, no matter what it is,” she said.

New narcotics detection K9 in Russell County 

Nova, a 3-year-old German shepherd shorthair mix, started her work last week as a narcotics detection K9 for the Russell County Sheriff’s Office in Lebanon. 

Nova arrived in Russell County after being saved from euthanization at a shelter in Los Angeles. She was given a second chance through Sector K9 Foundation, a nonprofit based in Waxahachie, Texas, that trains rescue dogs into working police K9s. 

It’s a selective program –– just one in 400 dogs who are tested are selected, said founder Wes Keeling. 

Nova made the cut. She passed all the tests and spent about six weeks training in Texas before she was picked up by Erik Hinchey, a deputy with Russell County. 

She went through weeks of training in Texas, where she learned how to pinpoint a location, and sit and indicate with her nose where the odor is. 

K9s are trained to pick up different odors in Virginia, but are no longer trained to detect marijuana. The state loosened its laws surrounding marijuana, and personal, at-home use is legal. A retail market was approved earlier this year and is set to begin in mid-2027.

For now, hold back your pets if you see Nova around town as she warms up to people. 

“I think a lot of people look at it as shelter dogs can’t do this, but I’ve spent 10 years proving that they can,” Keeling said.

The post Southwest Virginia Field Notes: A final reunion in Big Stone Gap  appeared first on Cardinal News.

Here are some of the top headlines from other news outlets around Virginia. Some content may be behind a metered paywall:

Politics:

Frederick County eyes first-in-state move to remove data centers as permitted use. — Winchester Star

Governor orders flags lowered in honor of sheriff’s deputy killed in crash. — WDBJ-TV

Spotsylvania supervisors approve call for statewide moratorium on data centers. — Fredericksburg Free Press

Augusta County approves referendum on sales tax for schools. — (Staunton) News Leader.

Covington approves referendum for sales tax for schools. — The Recorder

(See our previous story on the statewide picture regarding these referendums.)

Education:

Python reportedly causes overnight fire at Bedford County school — WDBJ-TV

7th grader in Lee County charged with stabbing teacher — WCYB-TV

Roanoke school board organizes search to replace retiring superintendent. — The Roanoke Times (paywall).

Economy:

Unsafe, closed garage near Amtrak station in Roanoke sold. — The Roanoke Times (paywall).

Breeze Airways to halt direct flights from Tri-Cities to Dulles. — WJHL-TV

Weather:

For more weather news, follow weather journalist Kevin Myatt on Twitter / X at @kevinmyattwx and sign up for his free weather email newsletter. His weekly column appears in Cardinal News each Wednesday afternoon.

The post Headlines from across the state: Frederick County eyes first-in-state move to remove data centers as permitted use, more . . . appeared first on Cardinal News.

Here are some of the top headlines from other news outlets around Virginia. Some content may be behind a metered paywall:

Politics:

Frederick County eyes first-in-state move to remove data centers as permitted use. — Winchester Star

Governor orders flags lowered in honor of sheriff’s deputy killed in crash. — WDBJ-TV

Spotsylvania supervisors approve call for statewide moratorium on data centers. — Fredericksburg Free Press

Augusta County approves referendum on sales tax for schools. — (Staunton) News Leader.

Covington approves referendum for sales tax for schools. — The Recorder

(See our previous story on the statewide picture regarding these referendums.)

Education:

Python reportedly causes overnight fire at Bedford County school — WDBJ-TV

7th grader in Lee County charged with stabbing teacher — WCYB-TV

Roanoke school board organizes search to replace retiring superintendent. — The Roanoke Times (paywall).

Economy:

Unsafe, closed garage near Amtrak station in Roanoke sold. — The Roanoke Times (paywall).

Breeze Airways to halt direct flights from Tri-Cities to Dulles. — WJHL-TV

Weather:

For more weather news, follow weather journalist Kevin Myatt on Twitter / X at @kevinmyattwx and sign up for his free weather email newsletter. His weekly column appears in Cardinal News each Wednesday afternoon.

The post Headlines from across the state: Frederick County eyes first-in-state move to remove data centers as permitted use, more . . . appeared first on Cardinal News.

Here are some of the top headlines from other news outlets around Virginia. Some content may be behind a metered paywall:

Politics:

Frederick County eyes first-in-state move to remove data centers as permitted use. — Winchester Star

Governor orders flags lowered in honor of sheriff’s deputy killed in crash. — WDBJ-TV

Spotsylvania supervisors approve call for statewide moratorium on data centers. — Fredericksburg Free Press

Augusta County approves referendum on sales tax for schools. — (Staunton) News Leader.

Covington approves referendum for sales tax for schools. — The Recorder

(See our previous story on the statewide picture regarding these referendums.)

Education:

Python reportedly causes overnight fire at Bedford County school — WDBJ-TV

7th grader in Lee County charged with stabbing teacher — WCYB-TV

Roanoke school board organizes search to replace retiring superintendent. — The Roanoke Times (paywall).

Economy:

Unsafe, closed garage near Amtrak station in Roanoke sold. — The Roanoke Times (paywall).

Breeze Airways to halt direct flights from Tri-Cities to Dulles. — WJHL-TV

Weather:

For more weather news, follow weather journalist Kevin Myatt on Twitter / X at @kevinmyattwx and sign up for his free weather email newsletter. His weekly column appears in Cardinal News each Wednesday afternoon.

The post Headlines from across the state: Frederick County eyes first-in-state move to remove data centers as permitted use, more . . . appeared first on Cardinal News.

As a clean energy education nonprofit, we regularly have conversations with Virginians about the future of energy in the commonwealth. What starts as discussions about the work we do often delves into larger conversations about clean energy technologies and the mix of energy sources we use to power our grid here in Virginia. More often than not in these conversations, I hear the question: “Can solar fully power our grid?” To which the truth is no, it can’t, not alone or practically. This answer leaves many a bit perplexed, prompting questions about why the state and developers are investing so much in solar, raising counterpoints about the use of farmland, and arguing that the commonwealth should look at other forms of energy generation and abandon solar. 

Somehow, our energy debate has become an all-or-nothing conversation. Opponents of solar often claim it can’t meet all our electricity needs, as if that should end the discussion altogether. Yet no serious energy expert argues that solar should replace every other source of electricity. The question isn’t whether solar can do everything. The question is whether solar plays an important role in meeting Virginia’s growing energy needs. That answer is unequivocally yes. 

Virginia is experiencing unprecedented growth in electricity demand. New businesses, manufacturing, electrification and data centers all require more power, and they require it quickly. Meeting that demand won’t be accomplished by a single technology. It will take an energy portfolio that is affordable, reliable and diverse. 

That’s where solar plays an important role. It is among the fastest energy sources to deploy and one of the most cost-effective sources of new electricity available today. Coupled with battery storage, solar can be an even more effective tool — storing excess electricity when production is high and delivering it back to the grid during periods of peak demand or when generation declines. 

Of course, affordability is only part of the equation. Reliability is equally important. Solar alone cannot provide electricity around the clock, which is why Virginia also needs dependable baseload generation that strengthens grid reliability. Every energy source has strengths and limitations. Good energy policy recognizes those tradeoffs instead of pretending one technology can do it all. 

I often forget that many of my peers, friends and family are not entrenched in the energy conversation like I am, not recognizing that Virginia is on the brink of an energy crisis because how would one know without being informed — a light switch clicks and lights turn on, but we need to ensure that remains the case for years to come. At Energy Right, we’ve long supported an all-of-the-above energy strategy because that’s what our current energy reality demands. We don’t need to choose between solar and natural gas or between batteries and nuclear. We need each resource to do what it does best. 

Unfortunately, too much of today’s public conversation is driven by false choices. The fact that solar cannot meet 100 percent of our electricity demand is often used as an argument to build no solar at all, which doesn’t logically hold up. We don’t reject natural gas because it isn’t emissions-free, nor do we reject nuclear because it takes time to build and permit. We recognize that each technology contributes something valuable to the grid.

As Virginia plans for the future and addresses the impending energy crisis, we must prioritize practical solutions. Our energy challenges are too large to leave proven, affordable technologies on the sidelines. We know that solar isn’t the entire puzzle, but it is an essential piece. If we’re serious about keeping the lights on, attracting new jobs, maintaining reliability and keeping energy affordable, we need to stop debating whether a single technology can do it all and start building an energy portfolio in which all resources have a role. 

On the farmland aspect of the conversation, one of the most common misconceptions that we at Energy Right hear about solar energy in Virginia and across the United States is that solar development takes over farmland and threatens agriculture. However, new research released on June 18th from the Solar Energy Industries Association tells a very different story. According to SEIA, all solar development in the United States currently occupies just 0.07% of the nation’s prime agricultural land, and no state uses more than 0.5% of prime farmland for solar, demonstrating that solar’s footprint remains relatively small compared to the land available for farming. On the contrary, millions of acres of farmland are lost each year to residential, commercial, and industrial development, with suburban expansion in the U.S. using 5.9 times as much prime farmland from 2014 to 2024 as solar did during the same period. In Virginia, that story remains the same. Of the 11,662.5 square miles of USDA prime farmland in Virginia, just 43.8 square miles are used for solar. That’s just 0.37% of Virginia prime farmland that is being used to generate 7.6 GW and power over 850,000 homes in the commonwealth. 

When I think about these kinds of conversations, I realize it isn’t really about whether solar can power the entire grid. It’s about how easily complex energy issues are reduced to simple talking points, something we cannot continue doing if we want to be serious about the needs of the commonwealth. The reality is that Virginia doesn’t have the luxury of choosing just one energy source. Our growing electricity demand requires solutions that leverage the advantages of various technologies while accounting for their limitations. 

Solar won’t solve all the problems we face, just as nuclear, natural gas or any other single resource won’t either. But dismissing solar because it isn’t a silver bullet ignores the important role it plays in keeping energy affordable, expanding generation quickly, and strengthening our grid alongside other reliable resources. If we want to keep the lights on, support economic growth, and preserve Virginia’s energy future from potential rolling blackouts, we need to move past false ideas and have honest conversations about building an energy portfolio in which every resource has a purpose. That’s how we’ll meet the demands of tomorrow, by recognizing that solving our energy challenges isn’t about finding one perfect answer, but putting together all the right pieces of the puzzle.

Jack Wilson is director of communications at Energy Right.

The post Energy group: Solar is a piece of the puzzle, not a silver bullet — and that’s okay  appeared first on Cardinal News.

The Konnarock Crew built about 200 feet of new Appalachian Trail paths on Catawba Mountain around McAfee Knob in recent days — splitting rocks, digging through underbrush, leveling out trails and measuring each step down to the right angle, to the exact degree.

The volunteer group was started in 1982 and is named for the small community that sits at the base of Whitetop Mountain on the border of Smyth and Washington counties — the crew’s former base camp. It works from Virginia to Georgia in conjunction with the Appalachian Trail Conservancy. The crew was created to handle multi-mile relocation projects that came as a result of federal legislation in the late 1970s that allocated funds to acquire private land for a continuous Appalachian Trail — at the time, hundreds of miles of trail still sat along highway shoulders, said Kathryn Herndon-Powell, ATC Virginia’s regional director.

On Monday, it finished up its last workday after a long week. It was the crew’s 13th work session since April. 

This session’s crew of nine focused on trail relocation along one of the most popular stretches of the entire trail, with a goal to make it easier for hikers to find a campsite instead of creating impromptu paths by trampling vegetation. Over the years, hikers and campers take shortcuts, which create unintended trails where people might get lost, Herndon-Powell said. 

The volunteers cover up those trails and reroute them to remove a confusing juncture. It’s part of an ongoing project on Catawba Mountain to improve campers’ experiences. The project is a huge lift — literally, with about 125,500-pound logs used, transported to the work site through a 400-foot high line system, similar to a zipline. 

Twelve tent pads — or flat ground with log borders where people can set up camp — were built further away from the trail during prior sessions, which are new for the AT, Herndon-Powell said. The project has also involved building dozens of stairs out of logs that connect to a stream and a bathroom facility.

The work of turning the ground to trails starts with Scot Brevick, from Georgia, who on Monday was “roughing in” the trail, or making an outline of where it would be in the underbrush. He then digs out the soil with an axe until he gets to the mineral part of the ground — which will see less erosion. 

Donna Miller and assistant crew leader Brittany Hendricks were busy “perfecting” the trail that had already been dug out. This involves spreading the berm — or the hump on the edge of the trail made of dirt and plants — so that water can flow past the trail, removing any humps and bumps in the trail and creating a specific angle that water can flow past without eroding the trail.

That would be 45 degrees on the edges, with a five-degree slope, which Hendricks uses a level to measure, although it’s apparent she can estimate to the degree just by looking at the ground.

“It gives you a lot to appreciate,” she said of the meticulous work. “I turn into a positive Karen when I see people off trail now.”

Miller, who’s new to the crew, is from central Pennsylvania. She said she retired in June and “needed something to fill her time that brought her joy.”

Meanwhile, down the slope, Steven Besore, the crew leader, was busy directing a group that was flipping a rock into a hole that was dug for it.

Besore is from Mount Airy, North Carolina, and said this is his second year with the crew. When he’s not working with trail crews, he said, he’s hiking or canoeing. It’s his 17th week working on the trail this year, and he’s about to travel up to Vermont to continue work until November.

His section of the crew Monday morning was working on building steps that climb up a slope. He said it’s so rocky that the crew only completes about two steps every eight hours. He said small excavators are sometimes used to build trails, but he thinks they dig far too deep and work better for mountain biking trails, not hiking trails.

The volunteers go through orientation at the beginning of the week, he said, which includes a safety briefing on all of the tools they’re using. For example, they learn what the “blood circle” is — hold your tool out at arm’s length and spin in a circle. Nobody should be standing near that circle, lest they get hit with a pickaxe.

“Every piece of PPE [personal protective equipment] we have on is because a volunteer got hurt,” Besore said, laughing. The volunteers all wear umpire knee and shin guards from Play it Again Sports and hard hats while they work. He said they adjust practices as issues arise.

Whatever trail is left to be built when the Konnarock Crew wraps up this week will be built by the Roanoke Appalachian Trail Club — a group of mostly retirees that works on over 120 miles of the AT. They work on the trails about once per week, Herndon-Powell said.

Herndon-Powell said spending just one day building or maintaining a trail can give someone an appreciation for the work and precision that goes into a trail. 

“The AT has the best volunteers anywhere,” Herndon-Powell said. “I do worry about it,” she said of the possibility of declining volunteerism, “but I also think we’ve been so lucky for so long to have an incredible volunteer workforce.” She said this year, the ATC actually had a waitlist because the group put a lot of effort into recruitment for the Konnarock Crew.

She said she has heard people remark that it’s “lucky” that the mountain just happens to have log stairs, not realizing that those stairs were built by hand.

“Every footstep that you take is a lovingly-crafted bespoke, custom to this exact location,” she said. “It’s hard work, a lot of sweat, and a lot of problem-solving on the spot. It’s a beautiful tradition.”

Herndon-Powell said at the end of each season, she makes a piñata for the crew in the shape of something representative of the year. This year’s piñata represents a cooler that was chewed on by a bear during the session, she said.

The post ‘A beautiful tradition’: What goes behind the upkeep of the Appalachian Trail  appeared first on Cardinal News.

Virginia has taken action against the most notorious high-volume users of electricity: data centers.

The state has imposed a new tax on the energy that data centers use. It’s also devised other new regulations on data centers. Virginia has made it clear that data centers can no longer plug into the grid without some consequences.

At the same time, though, Virginia has now enthusiastically authorized another set of high-volume users of electricity who, on a square-foot basis, may use even more energy than data centers — and who don’t have to pay those power consumption taxes.

I refer to cannabis growhouses.

During the most recent General Assembly session, there was a lot of wrangling about various aspects of legalizing cannabis — how many licenses to issue, who should get preference in licensing, what kind of penalties there should be for those who still break the law. If there was attention devoted to the power consumption of cannabis growhouses, it didn’t get much ink (or, should we say these days, electrons).

Most cannabis, though, is grown indoors (for reasons of quality, quantity and security) and indoor agriculture of any kind is power-intensive.

In the marijuana business press (yes, there is such a thing), it’s frequently asserted that cannabis growhouses require more power on a square-foot basis than data centers. This is usually reported in the context that cannabis growers need to find more energy-efficient ways to grow their crop.

To be sure, data centers overall use more power than cannabis growhouses simply because there are a lot more of them. Nationally, cannabis growhouses account for 1% of the nation’s power use, according to Marijuana Business Daily. By contrast, data centers are now said to use 6% of the nation’s power.

If you’re concerned about the power grid, and where all that power is going to come from, you should worry more about data centers than cannabis growhouses. Nonetheless, cannabis growhouses are energy-intensive, so if we really want to worry about rising power demands, we probably shouldn’t ignore them, either.

When Colorado legalized retail cannabis, suddenly Denver found that 4% of its power supply was going to growhouses. Statewide, Colorado says that 2% of its power goes to growing weed. That’s not much compared to Virginia, where more than 25% of our power now goes to data centers. Still, at the same time that Virginia is trying to rein in the growth of power-hungry data centers, it’s given the green light to power-hungry growhouses.

This highlights the selective nature of Virginia’s concern about data centers. They are definitely power-hungry, but not necessarily uniquely power-hungry. Steve Haner, writing in the Jefferson Journal newsletter (from the conservative Jefferson Forum), recently wrote: “Charging a utility customer a tax based on what an electron is used for is a new and dangerous idea. The additional consumption tax will not be charged to a large factory with a similar energy load or apparently even the data centers running our telecommunication networks. Why should Amazon Web Services pay more for electricity than Verizon or Newport News Shipbuilding?”

A good question, indeed. The logical conclusion would be that we should tax all large electricity users, which means we’d be taxing Walmart — it takes a lot of power to run that all-night superstore — which means those costs will get passed on to customers. Or grocery stores. Or hospitals. Or, well, cannabis growhouses?

Here’s the question I set out to answer: We can measure a cannabis crop in many ways. By how many joints we can roll out of it. By how many edibles it might produce. We can certainly measure it by the dollar value in the marketplace. However, can we measure that cannabis crop in data center equivalents? In other words, creating a legal retail cannabis market in Virginia is the equivalent of adding how many data centers to the grid?

In the old days in math class, we’d call this a story problem.

Follow along as I do the math.

Never having grown cannabis myself, I’m going to trust the folks at Marijuana Business Daily who say that it takes anywhere from 2,000 to 5,000 kilowatt-hours to grow a single pound of weed.

So, how many pounds of weed will Virginia grow? We don’t know until we do it but we can look at the experience of other states that have gone down this road.

Virginia is slightly bigger, population-wise, than Washington state, which legalized retail sales in 2014, the same year Colorado did. Washington therefore has a more mature market than Virginia will and, perhaps, more pot-smokers, period. Still, let’s start the math with a state that’s population-equivalent. The most recent figures show that Washington produces 2.6 million pounds of the devil’s lettuce in a year’s time.

At 2,000 kilowatt-hours per pound, that’s 5.2 billion kilowatt-hours (or 5.2 million megawatt-hours) to produce Washington’s crop. Based on figures from Life Science Analysis & Reporting Solution, which promises “Independent health risk assessment and environmental permit intelligence,” that’s equivalent to 60 small data centers or six large “hyperscale” data centers. At 5,000 kilowatt-hours per pound, that’s 13 billion kilowatt-hours (or 13 million megawatt-hours). That’s equivalent to 15 hyperscale data centers or 148 smaller data centers. In reality, Washington state has a climate that allows about 30% of its cannabis crop to be grown outdoors. The expectation in Virginia is that all of ours will be grown indoors — well, all of our legal crop anyway. Can’t speak for those who still practice the old “Copperhead Road” method.

If Virginia’s pot smokers (and edible-chewers) crave their THC fix at the same rate as those in Washington state, then Virginia will need to have enough growhouses that would equal anywhere from six to 148 data centers, depending on the size of such facilities.

Now, here’s the good news (unless you intend to be one of those cannabis growers or retailers): Virginia’s not likely to be as pot-happy as Washington state, because few places are.

We just don’t have those kinds of West Coast sensibilities, shall we say.

Michigan has more people than Virginia, but a newer cannabis market, so let’s try a comparison there. Michigan Live reports that Michigan sold 1.36 million pounds of jazz cabbage last year, the seventh year of legal retail sales.

Same math, different state: At 2,000 kilowatt-hours per pound, that’s 2.72 billion kilowatt-hours or 2.72 million megawatt-hours. That works out to three hyperscale data centers or 31 smaller data centers. At 5,000 kilowatt-hours per pound, that’s 6.8 billion kilowatt-hours, 6.8 million megawatt-hours. That’s equal to eight hyperscale data centers or 78 smaller data centers.

Ohio did not begin retail sales until 2024, so 2025 was its first full year of legal sales. That might make for a better comparison to Virginia in the startup phase. The Buckeye State saw 171,491 pounds of weed sold. At 2,000 kilowatt-hours per pound, that’s 342.9 million kilowatt-hours or 342,982 megawatt-hours. That’s about half of one hyperscale data center or four smaller data centers. At 5,000 kilowatt-hours per pound, that’s 857.4 million kilowatt-hours or 857,455 megawatt-hours. In terms of data centers, that’s equivalent to one hyperscale data center or 10 smaller data centers.

The question is not whether we should be taxing data centers; the legislature has decided that. Rather, the question seems to be why we aren’t taxing these future cannabis growhouses for the power they will use?

For more political news and analysis, see our weekly political newsletter, West of the Capital, that comes out on Friday afternoon.

The post On a square-foot basis, cannabis growhouses use more power than data centers. Why isn’t their electricity use being taxed? appeared first on Cardinal News.

Virginia has taken action against the most notorious high-volume users of electricity: data centers.

The state has imposed a new tax on the energy that data centers use. It’s also devised other new regulations on data centers. Virginia has made it clear that data centers can no longer plug into the grid without some consequences.

At the same time, though, Virginia has now enthusiastically authorized another set of high-volume users of electricity who, on a square-foot basis, may use even more energy than data centers — and who don’t have to pay those power consumption taxes.

I refer to cannabis growhouses.

During the most recent General Assembly session, there was a lot of wrangling about various aspects of legalizing cannabis — how many licenses to issue, who should get preference in licensing, what kind of penalties there should be for those who still break the law. If there was attention devoted to the power consumption of cannabis growhouses, it didn’t get much ink (or, should we say these days, electrons).

Most cannabis, though, is grown indoors (for reasons of quality, quantity and security) and indoor agriculture of any kind is power-intensive.

In the marijuana business press (yes, there is such a thing), it’s frequently asserted that cannabis growhouses require more power on a square-foot basis than data centers. This is usually reported in the context that cannabis growers need to find more energy-efficient ways to grow their crop.

To be sure, data centers overall use more power than cannabis growhouses simply because there are a lot more of them. Nationally, cannabis growhouses account for 1% of the nation’s power use, according to Marijuana Business Daily. By contrast, data centers are now said to use 6% of the nation’s power.

If you’re concerned about the power grid, and where all that power is going to come from, you should worry more about data centers than cannabis growhouses. Nonetheless, cannabis growhouses are energy-intensive, so if we really want to worry about rising power demands, we probably shouldn’t ignore them, either.

When Colorado legalized retail cannabis, suddenly Denver found that 4% of its power supply was going to growhouses. Statewide, Colorado says that 2% of its power goes to growing weed. That’s not much compared to Virginia, where more than 25% of our power now goes to data centers. Still, at the same time that Virginia is trying to rein in the growth of power-hungry data centers, it’s given the green light to power-hungry growhouses.

This highlights the selective nature of Virginia’s concern about data centers. They are definitely power-hungry, but not necessarily uniquely power-hungry. Steve Haner, writing in the Jefferson Journal newsletter (from the conservative Jefferson Forum), recently wrote: “Charging a utility customer a tax based on what an electron is used for is a new and dangerous idea. The additional consumption tax will not be charged to a large factory with a similar energy load or apparently even the data centers running our telecommunication networks. Why should Amazon Web Services pay more for electricity than Verizon or Newport News Shipbuilding?”

A good question, indeed. The logical conclusion would be that we should tax all large electricity users, which means we’d be taxing Walmart — it takes a lot of power to run that all-night superstore — which means those costs will get passed on to customers. Or grocery stores. Or hospitals. Or, well, cannabis growhouses?

Here’s the question I set out to answer: We can measure a cannabis crop in many ways. By how many joints we can roll out of it. By how many edibles it might produce. We can certainly measure it by the dollar value in the marketplace. However, can we measure that cannabis crop in data center equivalents? In other words, creating a legal retail cannabis market in Virginia is the equivalent of adding how many data centers to the grid?

In the old days in math class, we’d call this a story problem.

Follow along as I do the math.

Never having grown cannabis myself, I’m going to trust the folks at Marijuana Business Daily who say that it takes anywhere from 2,000 to 5,000 kilowatt-hours to grow a single pound of weed.

So, how many pounds of weed will Virginia grow? We don’t know until we do it but we can look at the experience of other states that have gone down this road.

Virginia is slightly bigger, population-wise, than Washington state, which legalized retail sales in 2014, the same year Colorado did. Washington therefore has a more mature market than Virginia will and, perhaps, more pot-smokers, period. Still, let’s start the math with a state that’s population-equivalent. The most recent figures show that Washington produces 2.6 million pounds of the devil’s lettuce in a year’s time.

At 2,000 kilowatt-hours per pound, that’s 5.2 billion kilowatt-hours (or 5.2 million megawatt-hours) to produce Washington’s crop. Based on figures from Life Science Analysis & Reporting Solution, which promises “Independent health risk assessment and environmental permit intelligence,” that’s equivalent to 60 small data centers or six large “hyperscale” data centers. At 5,000 kilowatt-hours per pound, that’s 13 billion kilowatt-hours (or 13 million megawatt-hours). That’s equivalent to 15 hyperscale data centers or 148 smaller data centers. In reality, Washington state has a climate that allows about 30% of its cannabis crop to be grown outdoors. The expectation in Virginia is that all of ours will be grown indoors — well, all of our legal crop anyway. Can’t speak for those who still practice the old “Copperhead Road” method.

If Virginia’s pot smokers (and edible-chewers) crave their THC fix at the same rate as those in Washington state, then Virginia will need to have enough growhouses that would equal anywhere from six to 148 data centers, depending on the size of such facilities.

Now, here’s the good news (unless you intend to be one of those cannabis growers or retailers): Virginia’s not likely to be as pot-happy as Washington state, because few places are.

We just don’t have those kinds of West Coast sensibilities, shall we say.

Michigan has more people than Virginia, but a newer cannabis market, so let’s try a comparison there. Michigan Live reports that Michigan sold 1.36 million pounds of jazz cabbage last year, the seventh year of legal retail sales.

Same math, different state: At 2,000 kilowatt-hours per pound, that’s 2.72 billion kilowatt-hours or 2.72 million megawatt-hours. That works out to three hyperscale data centers or 31 smaller data centers. At 5,000 kilowatt-hours per pound, that’s 6.8 billion kilowatt-hours, 6.8 million megawatt-hours. That’s equal to eight hyperscale data centers or 78 smaller data centers.

Ohio did not begin retail sales until 2024, so 2025 was its first full year of legal sales. That might make for a better comparison to Virginia in the startup phase. The Buckeye State saw 171,491 pounds of weed sold. At 2,000 kilowatt-hours per pound, that’s 342.9 million kilowatt-hours or 342,982 megawatt-hours. That’s about half of one hyperscale data center or four smaller data centers. At 5,000 kilowatt-hours per pound, that’s 857.4 million kilowatt-hours or 857,455 megawatt-hours. In terms of data centers, that’s equivalent to one hyperscale data center or 10 smaller data centers.

The question is not whether we should be taxing data centers; the legislature has decided that. Rather, the question seems to be why we aren’t taxing these future cannabis growhouses for the power they will use?

For more political news and analysis, see our weekly political newsletter, West of the Capital, that comes out on Friday afternoon.

The post On a square-foot basis, cannabis growhouses use more power than data centers. Why isn’t their electricity use being taxed? appeared first on Cardinal News.