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Pulling back the curtains on wage-theft enforcement in MN; Trump's latest attack is on RFK, Jr; NM LGBTQ+ equality group endorses 2024 'Rock Star' candidates; Michigan's youth justice reforms: Expanded diversion, no fees.

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Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg says rebuilding Baltimore's Key Bridge will be challenging and expensive. An Alabama Democrat flips a state legislature seat and former Connecticut senator Joe Lieberman dies at 82.

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Historic wildfires could create housing and health issues for rural Texans, a Kentucky program helps prison parolees start a new life, and descendants of Nicodemus, Kansas celebrate the Black settlers who journeyed across the 1870s plains seeking self-governance.

Oyster Shells on the Move

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Tuesday, July 9, 2013   

RICHMOND, Va. - It's the largest oyster-replenishment project in Virginia history. Barges carrying more than a billion fossilized oyster shells are being floated down the James River so the shells can be planted on some of the historically best grounds for growing new oysters, to provide habitat for natural oyster larvae to attach and grow.

According to Natural Resources Secretary Doug Domenech, the hope is there will be a big payoff when the new oysters can be harvested in several years.

"Oysters in Virginia are about a $8 million business now, and in fact last year we harvested the most oysters since 1989," he said.

Domenech says the empty oyster shells, that were mined beneath the James River near Jamestown, could fill about 4000 dump trucks.

The Virginia Marine Resources Commission estimates every $1 spent by the state to plant oyster shells yields $7 in economic benefits. But Domenech said there's another big reason to do it.

"Oysters filter the Bay, so there's an economic benefit to this and an environmental benefit," he declared.

According to the governor's office, oyster-replenishment funding has ranged from zero to as much as $1.3 million over the past two decades, but this is the first time it has surpassed the $2 million mark.





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