Scott Wellman of Christiansburg is the winner of columnist Dan Casey's contest in which he invited gun owners to send in a photo of themselves with their favorite weapon. Find out details and what Scott won on this post on Dan's blog.
Tuesday was the deadline to get on the ballot for elections in November. In today's Current, you'll see a list of who's running. Many candidates, you'll see, are unopposed.
Normally here on the news pages we steer clear of what's going on over on the editorial pages -- one of those separation of church and state things.
However, we will call your attention to this: The editorial writers have posted an item on their RoundTable editorial blog noting that they intend to write an editorial about the lack of candidates in the New River.
If anyone wants to weigh in on the subject, well, now's a good time.
Robert Scoble's visit to Blacksburg on Friday (to visit Rackspace and hang with geeks at Awful Arthur's) continues to make noise in the Blogosphere.
One of the concerns raised by Robert himself is that the newspaper's coverage misunderstood what Robert was saying about how Awful's should do a better job of employing technology.
Robert said the folks at Awful's should use technology to interact in real-time with more customers and potential customers about what was going on in the kitchen and elsewhere in the restaurant. Jeff called the restaurant to see how exactly the staff does use technology (so as not to criticize the restaurant without giving it a chance to respond), and that is what you will find in two of the story's final graphs.
If we had taken 10 more inches to space to discuss what Robert meant by his comment, then it would have been more clear. But, alas, there is a limit to our room.
EverythingNRV.com, a Giles County-based Web site providing news and information to residents throughout the New River Valley, ceased operations on Monday.
Owner Ron Walton said in a Saturday posting on the site that he and his wife were relocating to Northern Virginia.
He thanked several people who have worked with him on the site — Leigh Anne Correll, Larry Middleton and Tim Jackson.
“It was their passion that made this a difficult decision but in the end we knew that our move to D.C. would dictate a different business model and we knew that improvements in our site were greatly needed,” Walton said in the posting.
“Thus, we have decided to suspend operations of EverythingNRV.com effective this Monday, April 6th.”
The environmental story getting the most notice today will likely be about a ground hog in Pennsylvania or the mess that remains after a winter storm. But there are other stories out there.
For instance, a quick check of the internet looking for updates on the big coal ash sludge disaster in Tennesee didn't turn up much. But the Tennessean, Nashville's newspaper, is still on the case. Not surprisingly, some folks are turning to the courts for satisfaction. The Tennessee Valley Authority is telling people that if they hire a lawyer, the TVA won't be able to even talk to them. At least one woman said she's talked with the TVA. The utility's representatives said they'd get back with her within five days. That was two weeks ago.
"I've not gotten an attorney yet because I hear once you get an attorney TVA won't talk to you," the Tennessean quoted the woman. "At the same time, I'm not getting any communication from them now."
Meanwhile, tests conducted by Duke University researchers working with an environmental group, show elevated levels of toxins, even though the TVA is reportedly spending $1 million a day on the clean up.
Speaking of money, two Tennessee congressman are trying to get $25 million from the economic stimulus package working its way through Congress to go toward cleaning up the TVA's mess.
As always, you can find our previous blogging here and here.
Reporting on the Giles County coal ash project is here.
-- Tim Thornton
The big coal ash news might be that West Virginia Congressman Nick Rahall introduced legislation to regulate it.
The Southern Environmental Law Center -- an environmental group, obviously -- came up with its list of regulations.
Tennessee is asking more questions of the TVA.
Newspapers continue to discover that there are coal ash ponds in and near their coverage area.
President-elect Obama's pick to head the EPA has promised to investigate coal ash ponds. At least some states are getting a head start.
Our previous blogging is here.
Our stories about the pile of coal ash in Giles County can be found here.
By the way, here's a link to the company overseeing the Giles County site.
Dave Cooper has posted on Huntington Post again. And so has Erin Brokovich.
-- Tim Thornton
The day we ran a story about the Concerned Citizens of Giles County lodging another set of complaints about the coal ash site developing in Narrows, (Friday, Jan. 9) lots of coal ash news broke. First, the Associated Press came out with a good article about how much of this stuff is spread around the country and how it's disposed of. (Here are some graphics that tell about Virginia and coal ash. The interactive map will tell you about other states.)
Then came news that there was another leak at another TVA power plant. (TVA runs the plant where an earthen dam broke, covering about 300 acres with about a billion gallons of coal sludge.)
The day before -- the day the Concerned Citizens were lodging their complaints -- the Senate committee on Environment and Public Works held a hearing about coal ash, the TVA and the big spill. You can watch the hearing, or read the key speeches, here.
Our continuing coverage of the Giles County coal ash controversy is here.
Our previous blogging on the subject is here.
-- Tim Thornton
It's been a while since we've checked in on the Tennessee coal ash flood. Though a story about the Giles County coal ash project ran in The Roanoke Times on New Year's Day.
The New York Times has a story today (Jan. 7) about how unregulated coal ash is. The story outlines a lot of what you already know. There aren't many regulations. The ash has all sorts of toxic stuff in. It's a bad idea to mix it with water. One thing was new to me, though. "In 2007, according to a coal industry estimate, 50 tons of fly ash even went to agricultural uses, like improving soil’s ability to hold water, despite a 1999 E.P.A. warning about high levels of arsenic." The story also says 131 million tons of coal ash was used for what's officially called beneficial uses in 2007.
NPR's morning edition had another story this morning, too.
Alternet added its take on the clean up.
A coalition of local residents and environmental groups is asking that a federal court oversee the cleanup and remediation and that the responsible parties compensate local residents. And even though, as Bloomberg.com reports, Kingston Mayor Troy Beets drank tap water at a press conference, locals -- and the others -- seem less likely to trust the Tennessee Valley Authority in the wake of the disaster. One reason may be reports that the TVA pretty much ignored earlier problems with the dikes that held in the sludge.
Living on Earth did a story in which someone living near the spill described the sludge as "Charcoal, gray, gooey, nasty, gummy."
This story suggests the spill might be bad for the sturgeon the Tennessee Aquarium and the Tennessee Wildlife Resources Agency are reintroducing to the state's river system.
Knoxbiz.com has a whole passel of links.
Our previous blogging on the flood is here and here.
Closer to home, the Concerned Citizens of Giles County plan to take another list of complaints and questions about the seven-acre coal ash pile being constructed on the banks of the New River in Narrows to the board of supervisors on Jan. 8. Stay tuned.
-- Tim Thornton
Now it's a week and a day. NPR had this report this morning. (Dec. 30. 2008)
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I took a couple of days off for Christmas, so I haven't updated the Tennessee coal ash flood information for a while. In the interim, there has been some national news coverage and even a front page story in The Roanoke Times. I've put a few links below to recent news coverage, a couple of blogs and the official EPA and TVA pages. At least two things have become clear in the past few days:
The spill was much larger than the TVA originally said.
The EPA has determined that there are (not surprisingly) elevated levels of heavy metals in the path of the flood, including very high levels of arsenic.
The TVA has not backed down, so far as I know, from its early explanations for the fish kills downstream. 1) It's been really cold. 2) Maybe the flood splashed a lot of fish of on the bank.
Here are the links. Some have sound. Some have video.
The New York Times story from Christmas Eve
The Chattanooga paper, Dec. 27
The Louisville Courier Journal Dec. 27
Environmental activist Dave Cooper on the Huffington Post
The Knoxville News Sentinel Monday, Dec. 29
The Institute for Southern Studies
The TVA page, including video of a news conference.
And here's all the stuff I've posted previously about the flood.
-- Tim Thornton
Emails for two seperate, but possibly interesting community events on Wednesday (Dec.17), landed in my inbox today.
The first: Six community videos highlighting the Blacksburg community will be screened at the Lyric Theatre at 5 p.m. Wednesday. "Frames Per Second" is a free public premiere.
Virginia Tech students enrolled in an advanced cinema production course called "Community Outreach Through Documentary Video" worked alongside community organizations around the New River Valley during the fall 2008 semester to raise awareness on issues that affect Blacksburg and its surrounding communities. The topics covered in these videos include the local arts culture, the increasing popular slow food movement, and the honeybee crisis for farmers across the state of Virginia. The course was created and taught by Ashley Maynor, Visiting Assistant Professor in the Department of Communication.
The second: A fundraiser for Blacksburg-based Peacework, a group that, according to the press release, works to help alleviate conditions of poverty and promote peace and prosperity through economic development partnerships and service around the world.
When: 8 to 11 p.m. Wednesday
Where: Awful Arthur's, 213 Draper Road SW, Blacksburg
Cost: $5
Contact: peacework.org
Ages 18 and up. Featuring Luke Skyrocker and raffle drawings all night. All proceeds benefit the anti-poverty initiatives of Peacework.
