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Local News & Events in Jefferson County WV

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Latest Stories

Shepherd University President Announces Plan To Retire At End Of School Year

Governor Morrisey Provides Details of 25-Year Energy Plan

Jefferson County Fair 2025 Gallery

Charles Town Dedicates African American Cemetery

Jefferson County Development Authority Gets New Board Members

Shepherdstown Celebrates Appalachian Heritage

Chamber Music Festival Connects Appalachia & The World

Electric Company To Share Details Of New Transmission Line

CTUB And American Water Present Service Area Arguments At Public Service Commision Hearing

County Commission Holds Ribbon Cutting At New Government Buildings

Preparing For Disasters: Local Alerts & Training

Local Intervenors Added To Middleway Bottling Plant Lawsuit

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Economy & Environment

Rediscovering Hummingbirds

September 1, 2020 Tagged With: hummingbirds

Ruby-throated hummingbirds. illustration.

Can you find something positive to remember about this summer, despite the lockdown and the quarantine? I shall remember this as the summer we rediscovered hummingbirds. Read the Full Story >>

Butterfly Weed — Outstanding In Our Field

August 1, 2020 Tagged With: butterflies, grassland bird habitat initiative, Potomac Valley Audubon Society

zebra butterfly sipping nectar from the flower of an orange butterfly weed plant.

We were talking and my wife suddenly stood with her mouth open, staring out into our distant hayfield. “That looks like orange butterfly weed!” she exclaimed, her eyes wide with surprise. Read the Full Story >>

Perspectives from a Local Solar Professional

July 30, 2020 Tagged With: renewable energy, SIGHTLINE, solar, zoning

high stalks of corn with solar panels barely visible over the top of the cornstalks.

For the first article in this series, we invited Danny Chiotos to research and address some questions about the nature of the specific solar generation project that initiated the request for proposed zoning amendment ZTA 19-03. Read the Full Story >>

Protected Farmland Expanding in Jefferson County

July 1, 2020 Tagged With: agriculture, conservation easement, farming, Farmland Protection Act

The Ware Family standing outside next to a sign that declares their farmland has been authorized for a conservation easement.

Six years ago, the Farmland Protection Board set a long-term goal of obtaining conservation easements on 20,000 acres -- representing roughly one-third of the total farmland in Jefferson County.  Read the Full Story >>

Country Roads Not Friendly to Rockwool

March 9, 2020 Tagged With: air pollution, Jefferson County Vision, Mountaineer Gas, rockwool, water pollution

Jefferson County Vision

The Rockwool factory in Ranson has been encountering some rocky roads as of late and the fight to keep them from their final destination continues. Read the Full Story >>

Wake Up: It’s Later Than You Think.

March 9, 2020

Birds flying near a birdhouse

March sneaks up on me. I still consider it the beginning of nature’s year when the earliest spring birds and flowers appear. But now there’s a somber side to nature’s awakening—an odd, empty feeling, like waking up to discover I forgot to set the alarm clock. Time has passed while I’ve been snoozing. What did I miss and why is it so quiet? Read the Full Story >>

Big Manufacturers Want a Big Property Tax Break

February 5, 2020 Tagged With: economic development, West Virginia Manufacturers Association

a refinery with towers and smokestacks belching smoke surrounded by a dreary, overcast, flat landscape.

Once again, the West Virginia Manufacturers Association (WVMA) is coming to the Legislature with a proposal to give large manufacturers and mining companies a property tax break. Read the Full Story >>

Winter is Party Time for Crows

January 12, 2020

People might say a crow is a crow, but in the Potomac and Shenandoah Valley, when you see a crow it could be one of three different species. By far, the most common is the American crow, followed by the slightly smaller Fish crow. Occasionally a Northern raven will join them. All three species nest here and can be seen all year. But they’re more evident and easier to see in winter. Read the Full Story >>

At the Crossroads of Passion and Purpose: She Walked the Walk

January 6, 2020 Tagged With: Resist Rockwool, rockwool, Tracy Danzey, water pollution

Resist Rockwool

Shepherdstown resident Tracy Danzey grew up in the Parkersburg (WV) area, in a little town called Vienna—an idyllic childhood as she recalls, suburban and wooded, with plenty of time spent outdoors and, especially, in the water.  Read the Full Story >>

Clean Drinking Water Bill to be Introduced

January 3, 2020 Tagged With: department of environmental protection, drinking water, Tracy Danzey, water pollution

A narrow, winding river courses off into the distance through the connected valleys of surrounding forested mountains.

On December 16, several members of the House of Delegates, I included, held a press conference in Charleston at which we announced that we would be sponsoring a bill that would significantly improve drinking water protection. Read the Full Story >>

Tracing the Travels of Saw-Whet Owls

December 22, 2019 Tagged With: Potomac Valley Audubon Society, saw-whet owls

saw-whet owl

The caravan of cars reached the top of South Mountain. A couple-dozen riders emerged into the night, bundled into parkas and wearing winter coats. As we inhaled crisp November air, our ears were blasted with a continuous amplified recording that sounded like a big truck backing up. Read the Full Story >>

Exit the Baby Boomers

December 10, 2019 Tagged With: climate change, economic development

outmigration

For years, we’ve watched our young people leave West Virginia. The children of our friends, whom we’ve watched grow up, head off to college or a job opportunity, and they don’t come back. Now, their parents—our friends and neighbors—are entering or nearing retirement, and asking one another: Are you going to stay in West Virginia? It’s remarkable how many say no, or give a long sigh and shrug that says, “I don’t know.” It’s not that they have somewhere else calling them. It’s the politics. Read the Full Story >>

Bringing Back Bobwhite Quail

November 20, 2019 Tagged With: conservation, Nature Conservancy, quail

On our wall hangs an ammunition poster printed in the 1940s featuring a crouched rabbit and ten Bobwhite quail. Painted by sporting artist Lynn Bogue Hunt, it celebrates bygone days when hunting was a favorite fall pastime. Read the Full Story >>

Neglected West Virginia Downtowns Receive Redevelopment Help

October 30, 2019 Tagged With: brownfields, Downtown Appalachia Redevelopment Initiative, economic development, Natural Capital Investment Fund, revitalization

Appalachia

West Virginia downtowns in dire need of redevelopment and revitalization are getting much needed aid through the Downtown Appalachia Redevelopment Initiative. Read the Full Story >>

Welcome Back, Bob White!

October 12, 2019 Tagged With: conservation, Quail Recovery Initiative, Tomblin Wildlife Management

Doug Pifer

The whistled call, “Bob-White,” is seldom heard here anymore. But that may be about to change. Interested farmers and landowners in Virginia and West Virginia now have an opportunity to bring the cheerful little quail back to their original habitat. Read the Full Story >>

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