Virginia
Maryland must not duplicate Virginia’s data center errors | READER COMMENTARY
In 2020, the Maryland General Assembly passed a sales and use tax exemption for qualified data centers that substantially lowered the construction cost to between 55 to 65% of initial expenses (Please note that Gov. Larry Hogan had no involvement in this bill except for signing it).
In a recent commentary, former Maryland Commerce Secretary Michael Gill suggests that we “take a page from Virginia’s playbook and cut out unnecessary red tape while encouraging the growth of promising new industries” (“Let’s make Maryland ‘open for business’ again,” May 17). Unfortunately, what the author calls red tape are the environmental laws and regulations that protect people and the environment.
Virginia has now seen the errors in its approach and is now scrambling to protect its people from the harmful effects of data centers. Here are a few things to consider when thinking about data centers: Greenhouse gas emissions from the power usage, air and noise pollution caused by the use of diesel backup generators that need to be run almost weekly to ensure working order, noise from the server themselves, water consumption, water runoff and installing miles of underground fiber optic cable to mention a few.
In fact, Virginia in 2024 had 17 pieces of legislation introduced to restrict data centers and Loudoun County just passed local restrictions. In Northern Virginia, there are now over 4,000 commercial backup diesel generators, many times the size of a typical household generator.
The numbers are stunning: One data center can use the same amount of energy as 50,000 homes. This demand has real-world consequences: Virginia’s Prince William County saw a 19% rise in greenhouse gas emissions between 2005 and 2018, a time-period that matches the data center expansion in the county.
Data centers are increasingly essential to our modern life and have the potential to bring economic gains to Maryland. However, we must implement essential guardrails that protect our climate and our communities. I hate to say it, but there are no jobs on a dead planet.
— Dave Arndt, Baltimore
The writer is co-chair of the Maryland Legislative Coalition Climate Justice Wing.
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RICHMOND, Va. — Friday will be sunny and seasonably warm, with highs in the upper 70s and low 80s.
The pattern of cool nights and mild afternoons will continue through the weekend and through much of next week as upper-level flow continues to bring reinforcing mild and dry air out of eastern Canada.
Rain chances will be very limited over the next week, with only a slim chance with a frontal passage on Monday.
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PITTSYLVANIA COUNTY, Va. (WSET) — Ressie Keen, a 107-year-old Pittsylvania County woman, is safe after escaping a house fire that destroyed her more than 100-year-old home, leaving behind a yard filled with charred debris and scattered belongings.
Keen said she has no special secret to her longevity.
“I ain’t got no secret, just thanking the Lord to let me stay here to see 107,” she said.
Keen said she moved to the home decades ago and built a life there.
“I’ve moved there in 1969, our first crop was made in 1970, and I been living there ever since,” she said.
The fire broke out in Keen’s bedroom on Thursday afternoon. Keen said she and her sitter got out as the fire grew.
“I don’t know what happened, only thing I knew to do was to get out of there. So me and my sitter we got out. She tried to put it out but she couldn’t,” Keen said.
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Pittsylvania County Fire Marshal Scott Hutcherson said investigators believe the fire started with an electrical issue.
“We think we had an electric outlet failure, more or less; an adaptor on the outlet probably failed,” Hutcherson said. He said the fire spread quickly once it ignited nearby items. “It set the bed on fire and the clothes that was on top of it, the material on top of it, what’s pretty much what got the fire going. And then it easily spread to the second story.”
Keen’s son, Ronnie Keen, said the loss has been painful for the family.
“It was devastating real devastating, lot of memories lost. But I know those memories and emotions the things that were sentimental were still right here,” he said.
A family photo album was among the few items recovered. Pointing to one image, Ronnie Keen said, “That’s a picture of the house.”
He added that the album was badly damaged. “It’s so charred it’s kinda hard to open,” he said.
Keen also held onto her favorite cast-iron pan.
“I knew this wasn’t going to get burnt up,” she said.
The home was considered a total loss, but the family said the most important thing is that Ressie Keen survived. She is now living with her son.
“I’m overjoyed that she’s here with us and she’s safe,” Ronnie Keen said.
Hutcherson said to prevent this, make sure that there is a smoke alarm in your home. He says you can reach out to the Pittsylvania County Public Safety office for a free installation of a smoke alarm.
WISE COUNTY, VA (WCYB) — Virginia Governor Abigail Spanberger has requested the Virginia Attorney General’s Office investigate the 2025 homicide of a Wallens Ridge State Prison inmate.
The Attorney General’s Office confirmed the development to News 5 on Tuesday, May 27.
“The circumstances around the death of Aubrey McKay are of a very serious and troubling nature. Governor Spanberger has requested that the Office of the Attorney General conduct an investigation and initiate any criminal prosecutions that arise. This office will continue its thorough, complete, and timely investigation into these consequential matters,” Attorney General Jay Jones said in an emailed statement.
McKay died on June 4, 2025, while inside the Wise County correctional facility.
The Virginia Department of Corrections confirmed his death is being investigated as a homicide and said at least one officer was either reprimanded or placed on leave.
The Virginia medical examiner’s office listed McKay’s cause of death as multifactorial asphyxia. Virginia State Police also confirmed it is investigating the case.
The Smyth County Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office also confirmed it will no longer be involved in the case.
A spokesperson for the Wise County Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office told News 5 on May 25 that Smyth County would oversee the prosecution because of the nature of the investigation.
Smyth County Commonwealth’s Attorney Phillip Blevins later confirmed he has recused himself from the case.
In a court order provided to News 5 dated May 22, Blevins wrote that he has an association with at least one potential witness involved in the investigation. He was excused from the case.
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