Virginia Public Radio

Appalachia is known for its abundance of water. But a new study finds that climate change could have a strange effect here, causing both more floods and more droughts.

Robbie Harris reports.

  Pythium Pathogen grown from Chincoteage water samples. (Credit Erica Goss)

At Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge on the Eastern Shore, a herd of wild ponies is under attack by a deadly infection.

So far, eight female ponies have died, and the volunteer fire department that owns the herd is fighting to prevent additional deaths.

Pamela D’Angelo reports the region’s changing climate is creating an ideal environment for the disease.

  Veterinarian Richard Hansen inspects ponies. (Credit Pamela D’Angelo)

For the past three years, a mysterious micro-organism has been infecting the famous wild ponies of Chincoteague National Wildlife Refuge.

The infection is known as swamp cancer and it has killed eight female ponies so far.

The volunteer fire department that owns the herd and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, which oversees the refuge, have brought in scientists and veterinarians to try to eliminate the culprit and cure the disease.

Pamela D’Angelo reports.

Private war games in Hanover County have some neighbors upset. And the toll road industry in the Hampton Roads area is now bigger than some of the region’s better known economic mainstays.

Those have been among the most read stories over the past week at the Virginia Public Access Project’s Va. News link. 

More now from Fred Echols.

Rental scooters provide a new transportation alternative but if riders get careless they could finish their trip in an ambulance.

And the University of Virginia is working to memorialize the contributions of enslaved people.

Those have been among the most read stories over the past week at the Virginia Public Access Project’s Va. News link.

More from Fred Echols.

Governor Ralph Northam greets workers at a mobile DMV office in Roanoke. (Credit David Seidel)

Just under 35,000 people in Virginia have gotten their driver’s license back. That’s since July 1st, when a new policy stopped the practice of suspending licenses as a punishment for not paying court fines.

As Mallory Noe-Payne reports, the next push is reaching the hundreds of thousands who are eligible, but just need to apply.

New campaign finance disclosures are revealing the contours of Election 2019.

Michael Pope explains how.

Organic chicken farming and industrial chicken production have been polar opposites up until now. But a Virginia man is looking to change that.

And newly released numbers show how some Virginia communities have been inundated by opioids. 

Those have been among the most read stories over the past week at the Virginia Public Access Project’s Va. News link. 

More now from Fred Echols.

  Experts say new crash dummies and computer models may help design safer cars for women and people over 65.  (Credit UVA)

A team of engineers at the University of Virginia reviewed data from nearly 23,000 crashes and concluded there are some big problems with car safety systems.

Sandy Hausman reports that women and people over 65 are at extra risk.

Gov. Ralph Northam

It’s been five months since Democratic Governor Ralph Northam’s blackface scandal upended Virginia politics.

Now, as Michael Pope reports, new campaign finance disclosures show the governor’s political action committee is up and running.

Grande Dixence is the tallest gravity dam in the world. (Credit: Sandy Hausman)

Faced with worrisome warnings of climate change, Virginia is weighing green options for producing energy.

Solar and wind are sources favored by this state’s two largest utilities, but what about water power?  Virginia is blessed with mountains and rivers.

Sandy Hausman traveled to a place where dams provide 60-percent of the power to report on the prospects for hydro in Virginia.

  Alex Wehring and educational outreach possum Posey enjoy an eclectic lunch at the Wildlife Center of Virginia. (Credit Sandy Hausman)

This month the Wildlife Center of Virginia marked a milestone: Caring for its 800,000 patient – a possum.

In years past, rabbits have been the most common animals cared for at the clinic in Waynesboro, but today it’s possums that claims the title.

Sandy Hausman reports on why those animals are vulnerable to injury and why you might want to protect them.

Virginia students who might not be all that interested in traditional sports now have a chance to represent their high schools in a new kind of competition. And a storm has taken down much of what remained of a 1930’s “segregation wall.”

Those have been among the most read stories over the past week at the Virginia Public Access Project’s Va. News link.

More now from Fred Echols.

The number of shark attacks on the east coast has increased, but experts say we shouldn’t blame them.

The problem, they claim, is the human population keeps growing, and more people are going to the beach.

And sharks are themselves under attack.  Sandy Hausman reports on why, and on what Virginia scientists are doing to protect them.

Credit: Chris Dlugosz via Flickr/CC

Virginia Congressman Bobby Scott is using his position as chairman of the Education and Labor Committee to push for a 15-dollar an hour minimum wage.

Michael Pope reports a new analysis is a mixed bag for that effort.

House Democratic Leader Eileen Filler-Corn asks Republican Speaker Kirk Cox to bring all eight of the governor’s gun-control bills to the House floor for an up or down vote. (Credit: Michael Pope)

Lawmakers are leaving the Capitol empty handed after a brief special session on gun control.

Michael Pope has this report from the Capitol.