skip to main content
skip to newscasts

Tuesday, March 19, 2024

Public News Service Logo
facebook instagram linkedin reddit youtube twitter
view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

SD public defense duties shift from counties to state; SCOTUS appears skeptical of restricting government communications with social media companies; Trump lawyers say he can't make bond; new scholarships aim to connect class of 2024 to high-demand jobs.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

The SCOTUS weighs government influence on social media, and who groups like the NRA can do business with. Biden signs an executive order to advance women's health research and the White House tells Israel it's responsible for the Gaza humanitarian crisis.

view newscast page
play newscast audioPlay

Midwest regenerative farmers are rethinking chicken production, Medicare Advantage is squeezing the finances of rural hospitals and California's extreme swing from floods to drought has some thinking it's time to turn rural farm parcels into floodplains.

Research, Protection Continue for Clinch, Powell Rivers

play audio
Play

Friday, July 13, 2018   

RICHMOND, Va. – In southwest Virginia, two rivers will continue to get federal and state support, from agencies that say protecting and restoring them will pay off with better water quality – for people, and for endangered freshwater mussels.

Federal and state agencies are extending a 2008 agreement for another ten years of improvements for the Clinch and Powell rivers, which run through the Great Appalachian Valley into Tennessee.

Butch Lambert – deputy director with the Virginia Department of Mines, Minerals and Energy – says while the mussel population is no longer dwindling, growth in numbers has yet to be seen.

"They're not declining, but they're just not a healthy population and recovering like they should be,” says Lambert. “So, that's the reason for continuing on with the research."

Apart from wildlife, he says water quality is important because the rivers have become hubs for public use, with swimming, fishing and canoeing. The creation of the Clinch River State Park and the Powell River Blueway in Tennessee have made the region even more of an outdoor recreation destination.

Lambert says honing in on abandoned coal-mine sites to clean up near the rivers has had a very positive impact.

"We've seen an improvement in water quality to not only the Clinch and Powell rivers themselves, but to the tributaries that fade into those rivers," says Lambert.

The Nature Conservancy is part of the efforts, along with the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality, the Tennessee Department of Environment and Conservation, and the U.S. EPA.


get more stories like this via email

more stories
Iowa families can apply for up to $7,600 a year for private school costs. (Adobe Stock)

Social Issues

play sound

An ethics committee in the Republican-led Iowa House has dismissed a complaint filed by a group of community activists against a state lawmaker for hi…


play sound

Each spring, hundreds of thousands of California high school seniors have to figure out if they can afford to go to college in the fall - and two new …

Health and Wellness

play sound

A health care workforce shortage in New Hampshire is leaving Alzheimer's patients and their families with few options for treatment. Patients facing …


South Dakota ranks 49th in the country for its contribution to indigent legal defense costs, according to a 2023 report from the Indigent Legal Services Task Force. (Adobe Stock)

Social Issues

play sound

South Dakota is creating an Office of Indigent Legal Services after House Bill 1057 passed the Legislature with nearly unanimous support this month…

Social Issues

play sound

This year's high school graduates will be eligible for 14,000 new scholarships offered through Opportunity Next Colorado, a $21 million investment …

The new law will apply only to future sales of Indiana farmland. (Adobe Stock)

Environment

play sound

A bipartisan law set to take effect this summer prohibits foreign adversaries from buying Hoosier farmland. The signature of Gov. Eric Holcomb was …

Social Issues

play sound

Today, people across Arizona are voting in the Presidential Preference Election, a chance for registered Democrats and Republicans to choose their …

Environment

play sound

Traffic deaths are trending higher in Minnesota this year after a decline the previous year. Groups pushing for safer roads are convinced a small …

 

Phone: 303.448.9105 Toll Free: 888.891.9416 Fax: 208.247.1830 Your trusted member- and audience-supported news source since 1996 Copyright © 2021