FXBG ADVANCE Tuesday 7/14/26 NEWSLETTER
The New Data Center Alley. Fourth of July at the Megamart. Another Data-Center-Driven Rate Increase. New News in Virginia.
The New Data Center Alley
By Steve Watkins, ADVANCE EDITOR
Last summer, University of Mary Washington students Chloe Adler and Owen Wheeler made a goofy two-minute video using AI called Berry Blaster. Their fellow student Alanah Cleare, a third producer, starred in the production. This year, Adler and Wheeler, working with UMW Assistant Professor J.D. Swerzenski, upped their game considerably with a 26-minute professional-grade YouTube video titled The New Data Center Alley: Development in Fredericksburg, Stafford, and Spotsylvania, Virginia.
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Fourth of July at the Megamart
By Yam Munah, ADVANCE CONTRIBUTOR
I spent much of the afternoon of America’s 250th birthday floating in a pool. After record breaking heat and a trip to the hospital with what turned out to be dehydration, a floppy hat on my head and a cup of spicy fruit in my hand purchased that morning at the Latino Megamart was all the celebration I could muster.
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Another Data-Center-Driven Rate Increase from Dominion
Bruce Saller, ADVANCE CONTRIBUTOR
Dominion electric bills went up again effective July 1, and you can expect additional increases in 2027. Here’s how it breaks down, and how the rapid installation of data centers in Virginia is driving energy costs up—and up by a lot—for the average consumer:
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New News from Around the State
VaNews/VIRGINIA PUBLIC ACCESS PROJECT
Louise Lucas’s phone was wiretapped by FBI, journalist’s records intercepted, court records show
By KATE SELTZER, Virginian-Pilot (Metered Paywall - 2 articles a month)
A U.S. District Court judge authorized the FBI to monitor state Sen. Louise Lucas’ phone communications between March 6 and April 6 of this year, according to sealed federal court records. Those communications included correspondence with journalists, according to a letter received Monday by a Virginian-Pilot reporter. The letter outlines the timeframe of the wiretap and flags Lucas’ cellphone number as the target phone. “During the period of authorized interception, wire communications to or from your telephone were intercepted,” the July 7 letter states. The recordings were later sealed, according to the letter.
Virginia’s Governor Weighs in on Pivotal Case About Data Center Transmission Costs
By CHARLES PAULLIN, Inside Climate News
Virginia Gov. Abigail Spanberger, through a filing submitted by her newly appointed chief energy officer, is urging regulators at the State Corporation Commission to assign costs of transmission projects driven by data center needs to those facilities. The governor’s involvement in an electricity utility case is unusual. Agencies under the purview of the governor, including the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality, are regularly involved with cases, but it’s rare for the governor to get involved directly.
Virginia education department says failed proposal to delay cut scores stemmed from legislative mandates
By NATHANIEL CLINE, Virginia Mercury
The Virginia Department of Education says its unsuccessful and much-criticized pitch to push back the state’s new proficiency benchmarks for reading and math by two years was a result of legislative mandates, recommendations from the state’s official legislative watchdog and feedback from a statewide listening tour over a span of three months. Last month, staff presented the proposal to the Board of Education to continue the state’s plan to raise academic benchmarks for students in reading and math. The plan followed an initiative to address Virginia students’ significant declines in these subjects in grades 3 through 8, which the coronavirus pandemic exacerbated.
Virginia sets group-buying program to save on solar installations
By DAVE RESS, Richmond Times-Dispatch (Subscription Required)
Virginia will be the first state in the nation to have a statewide group purchasing program to help residents cut the cost of installing solar panels to lower their power bills. Although the “Switch Together” program has been available in Northern Virginia localities, it will now be offered in more than 100 communities across the state, with plans to expand it to every locality, said Gov. Abigail Spanberger. The idea behind Switch Together is that when several households in the same area want to install solar panels, they can get discounts on the cost of installation.
Seeking Control of the House, Democrats Try Again in Rural Districts
By KATE ZERNIKE, New York Times (Metered Paywall - 1 to 2 articles a month)
Beth Macy built her career writing about the plagues inflicted on rural America, most famously the opioid epidemic in “Dopesick,” but also the job losses from trade agreements that devastated communities across Appalachia. Now running as a Democrat in the kind of House district she says she is uniquely qualified to reach, she recited the 4-H pledge from memory — “I pledge my head to clearer thinking, my heart to greater loyalty, my hands to larger service” — before about 25 farmers and three goats in a barn in the Shenandoah Valley in Virginia. A giant fan tried in vain to blow off the 100-degree heat. “Wouldn’t it be nice if we had some of that pledge coming out of Washington?” Ms. Macy asked as some in the crowd nodded.
Articles from newspapers throughout the Commonwealth and Washington D.C. Firewalls will block you from reading some, but you’ll at least have some idea about what’s going on from the headlines and summaries. CLICK HERE.
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