WMRA Daily 7/7/26

the facility. The incident is the latest in a series of safety concerns at the facility that WTVR has been investigating since September 2025. In a wide-ranging interview with Politico's Energy Podcasts released Monday, Governor Abigail Spanberger talked about data centers, energy costs in the midterm elections. Radio IQ's Brad Cutner reports. In the interview with Politico's Josh Siegel, Governor Abigail Spanberger defended Virginia's commitment to data centers and the importance the Commonwealth's environmental laws can have in the industry if it stays in our borders. If they're not coming to Virginia and they're going to some other state that isn't going to have the same environmental priorities, now from a national perspective, we're seeing the proliferation

of an industry at a kind of lower level of environmental protections or technological investment. Bamberger also spoke about rising energy costs saying Southwest Virginia was getting hit hardest. She blamed President Donald Trump's war on renewables and the war with Iran. zero carbon emission generation or use of fuel cell technology instead of diesel backups. These are ways that we can move into a future where we are both creating greater stability in our consumer marketplace for energy. Ultimately, that stability can be impactful on prices. A single term governor who won in 2025 by 15 points also spoke to the growing wave of progressive

candidates winning Democratic primaries ahead of the two. 26 midterm. I think that various candidates resonate in various parts of the country. And I think that what will be the challenge when this new Congress comes in is that all those voices matter and in different ways. All 11 of Virginia's congressional seats are up for grabs this fall alongside one of the Commonwealth's U.S. senators. In Richmond, I'm Brad Cutner. Running against a well-known and well-financed candidate can be frustrating. Most of those on the ballot this year are struggling for attention and campaign contributions. Radio IQ's Michael Pope reports. The first congressional district in Eastern Virginia has seven candidates in the Democratic primary,

although Henrico prosecutor Shannon Taylor has more money and more name recognition than all of her competitors. And that's frustrating for candidates who have to raise enough money just to get endorsement interviews, candidates like Tim Swinsky. The thing about all of those endorsements, all of the money that is required to just get even in the room, Those are the groups that claim that they have everybody's best interest in mind. They're the ones that claim that they're trying to make our politics better. But if you make money, a keystone of all of the things that you do, then, in my opinion, you're kind of full of it. Many of the candidates on the ballot this year are running against longtime incumbents, like Congressman Don Byer of Alexandria.

He's facing four opponents in the Democratic primary, including Adam Dunnigan. Everyone kind of wants the David and Goliath fight. and we are seeing at least a few datids around the country beat the Goliaths. And whether it's fair or not to paint the entire Democratic Party establishment with the same brush, everybody's angry. Like, everyone outside of Democratic committee rooms is angry at the stagnation of the Democratic Party and their inability to stop the impeachment of a second Trump term. The primary is four weeks away and early voting has already started.

Michael Pope. A new study finds that, when AI models are asked to illustrate small rural towns. The results are not always realistic. The technology appears to have an easier time producing images of large cities such as Washington, D.C. As more city planners turn to AI, this bias may cause more problems for rural America. Also with Radio IQ, Roxy Todd reports. Virginia Tech Geography researcher John Han Kim set out to test how an artificial intelligence image generator could produce an illustration of the town where he lives, Blacksburg, population 44,000.

We also ask local residents, do you think this AI generated images looks realistic? These residents agreed. The images AI produced were off. Kim's study found that AI has an easier time producing images for larger cities than it does for small rural towns. Typically, this AI model performed poorer for. or the areas, like low-density area, rural area, or low-income area, that have already suffered from the limited resources.

This raises ethical questions. If urban planners and policymakers increasingly look to artificial intelligence to solve problems, areas that have historically been neglected may continue to see less authentic representation. It's like a vicious cycle. Kim thinks one of the things causing AI's limitations is related to news coverage. With the rise of news deserts, there are often fewer images and news stories online that show rural communities. AI programmers also may be less aware of online publications for small towns or news sites that aren't owned by large media companies. I'm Roxy Todd.

Finally today, the Folks Run Ruritan Club held their annual 4th of July yard sale this weekend. WMRA's Randy B. Hagey paid a visit to see the wear is on display and hear how people. people were feeling about the country on its 250th birthday. The temperature was rapidly climbing towards 95 degrees at 9 a.m. on Saturday, and the park in the foothills of the mountains thrummed with activity. People cautiously hopeful for the future of the country and unabashedly excited for barbecue chicken and Turner ham sandwiches. Chuck DeHeart was one of the club members helping run the show,

coming out days earlier to mark off vendor spaces and answering questions on social media. On Saturday morning, I was making ham sandwiches. We have people that are flowering pre-slice Turner ham from just around the corner up here, and then the friars, and then the sandwich builders and sellers. And we're just going to do about 960 their figuring today. Yeah, it's a lot of pigs. Turner Hams is a 77-year-old meat-curing operation in Fultz Run,

regional legends in the world of salty, savory country ham. The Turner family also helped start the local Rurton Club and purchase the property. where they hold the yard sale and other events. Dee Hart said a chunk of the club's proceeds go back into maintaining the park. A year ago, we had 100 grand in improvements thanks to some of our money, some county money, and some church money added to the playground.

We've got a track down here. That's a big piece of it. We help people out here and there when we hear they could use little help, somebody gets burned out or, you know, going for cancer treatments. We have money to the food bank. We gave the county this acre for the fire department a couple of years ago.

On the 250th anniversary of the adoption of the Declaration of Independence, club member Lena Custer was busy selling breakfast trays, hamburgers, and chili dogs. So proud to be an American. Well, we're in the land of the free. It's a great place, and especially here in Volksrun, we have a beautiful park that we have for the community to take part in. Around 125 vendors peddled hand and power. tools, 3D printed toys, antique glassware, porch geese, and baseball cards.

14-year-old Samuel Messina set up next to his grandparents' booth to play guitar and sing. His grandfather started teaching him when he was eight years old. A picture's worth a thousand words, but you can't see what those shades of gray keep covered. I like country, country gospel. Very, very Christian music. Ted Lupton of Winchester was out selling deer antlers, empty hornet, its nests and antiques. And when asked about the direction our nation is headed in, he admitted that he was concerned. I mean, here, our governor run as one thing, but she's more to the left

of what she said she would run as. But then there's times when she's come back to the center and surprised me. Lufton disagrees with Governor Abigail Spanberger's embrace of climate groups like the U.S. Climate Alliance and Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative. The environment changes, climate changes constantly we haven't done it I read an article in national geographic 6,000 years ago the Sahara Desert was a lush oasis man wouldn't round with this UV 6,000 years ago so I think a lot of that stuff is is used for political monetary gain mean both parties can get together do things I got more faith in American people than I've been let down a few times

Libby Makely of Newmarket came for the barbecue chicken. I will always be proud to be an American regardless. Too many people have fought and died so that we can do just what we're doing today. And, you know, it does make you a little emotional. As far as the direction of the country, I mean, I like the traditions. I respect our president. I might not always agree with the things he does. But I think if you're an American, you should respect our laws and you should, you should, you

vote and participate and be proud of your country. Live poultry were for sale from a farm in Timberville, owned and operated by Vern Lininger, who also teaches math and computer science at Birdwater College. If you go buy brown eggs from the supermarket, they're laid by the Red Sexlings. So they're a good brown egg laying bird. We have some.

The other large fowl are the Wyandots. Wyandots are more heritage breed. His family operation has been a staple at this yard sale for the past 20 years, as he reflected on the country's 250th anniversary. I'm happy to be an American. I'm not content with where we are. Okay. We still need to get better.

You know, if you look at the long trajectory over time, we have improved a lot over the years. I mean, it's up and down. I do a lot of business with immigrants. Okay. So we have a lot of Kurdish members that come out to the farm and buy lambs. You know, the Hispanics, we sell a lot of chickens, poultry to.

My farm needs the immigrants. Let's be blunt. Any animal that you're going to eat, they're our best customers. Okay? I keep hoping. We're getting better. Hope, trepidation, pride. The yard sale denizens carried these alongside ducklings,

strates donuts, fishing poles, and figurines, as they continued an American experiment 250 years in the making. For WMRA News, I'm Randy B. Hakey. Check out photos from this story at WMRA.org and on our app. For WMRA News, I'm Bob Levicki. Thanks for listening. and I hope you enjoy your Tuesday.