Virginia On Demand for August 13, 2026

Welcome to Radio IQ's Virginia on demand for this Thursday, a daily podcast from Radio IQ featuring the top stories across Virginia. I'm Jeff Bossard. New data contained in a letter from the National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health reveals that underground coal miners in central Appalachia are suffering from black lung at the highest rates since the 1970s. Many of those miners are treated in Virginia, as Mason Adams reports. One in three coal miners in Kentucky, Virginia, and West Virginia with at least 25 years of experience, tested positive for black lung, according to federal data. And Virginia is a focal point, according to Howard Berkus, a longtime NPR reporter who recently analyzed the data. The clinic that sees more coal miners testing for black lung disease and identifies more black lung disease is in southwestern Virginia, Stone Mountain Health Services, because they offer a complete range of services from the... testing and respiratory therapy and also legal services to help miners apply for black lung benefits, they draw miners from all over Appalachia. Those services in the clinic's location means Stone Mountain draws a disproportionate percentage of coal miners with black lung. Stone Mountain has seen about 30% of all the coal miners seen by federally funded black lung clinics throughout the country. That's a pretty big chunk of what's going on out there that is happening in Virginia. Justin Hicks of Kentucky Public Radio says the mine safety and health administration data reveals that about 1,500 miners work underground in Virginia coal mines, potentially exposing them to toxic silica dust. A contributing factor to progressive massive fibrosis, also known as complicated black lung disease. I'm Mason Adams. Coming up, Part 3 in Sandy Houseman's series on Virginia's prison system. Today, as health care costs have skyrocketed, we'll get the possibility of reforming parole in the Commonwealth. That's stories up shortly. Northern Virginia will start adding jobs this fall. According to a new report from the Stephen Fuller Institute at George Mason University, Michael Pope has details. Like the rest of the DMV, Northern Virginia got slammed during Trump 2.0. And the unemployment numbers are still growing with people who took the fork in the road during Doge and left the workforce. Now, there might be light at the end of the tunnel. It's outperforming by... underperforming less. That's Keith Waters at the Stephen Fuller Institute at George Mason University. Doge did not hit Northern Virginia as hard as it did the rest of the region, which you can kind of expect. The district is most heavily reliant on federal government. Suburban Maryland is reliant on life services, which are not particularly popular with this administration. He says the institute's forecast now calls for employment to grow by October. That's

two months earlier than the previous forecast. It's still too early to say that that's turned a corner, but the fact that that's kind of taken a pause in its decline is potentially one of the reasons why the region's economy is looking a little brighter than it otherwise would have. He says the Northern Virginia economy sustained the twin economic shocks of losing jobs and grants since Trump took office. Now, he says the region is acclimating and set to grow later this year and into 2027. I'm Michael Pope. An urban search and rescue team from Fairfax County is headed to Columbia after a 7.4 magnitude earthquake there earlier this week. Task Force One is a 10-person disaster coordination and structural engineering assessment team. It's being dispatched in support of the U.S. State Department's response effort. The earthquake has killed at least 250 people. The Trump administration is considering leasing a tract of ocean off the eastern shore for mineral mining that dredges up huge portions of the seabed. Catherine Hafner of W.HRO and Norfolk reports communities are pushing back. Shinkatik resident Jim Dawson has been fishing these waters for more than 40 years. He worries digging up the seafloor would disturb the complex microscopic world that dwells there and helps feed his livelihood. It's just a very diverse. phenomenal amount of species that are all together out there. And when you mess with one thing, you know, it all sets the other. Jill Bieri with the Nature Conservancy says mining could threaten 60 years of conservation work in the area, like restoring seagrass. Not only has there been millions and millions of dollars invested in protecting this place, but it is a huge driver in our culture here on the eastern shore. It's just too important a place to embark on something that might have a negative impact. The counties of Acomac and Northampton formally opposed the proposal. Catherine Hafner, WHRO News. The nation's main firefighters union has voted to censure Governor Abigail Spanberger over her veto of collective bargaining legislation. According to the Richmond Times Dispatch, the International Association of Firefighters said it's a formal reprimand for what's described as a, quote, willful violation of Abigail Spanberger's explicit promises. The governor had proposed amendments to the collective bargaining measure which lawmakers later rejected. Abigail Spanberger then vetoed the bills. But a spokeswoman for Abigail Spanberger said she has long been a champion for Virginia's firefighters. Virginia professional firefighters President Kirk Dietrich said they're, quote, willing to sit down with her and discuss the path forward. And if legislation is approved as planned, we'll retract the censure resolution.

Emery and Henry University will welcome its largest ever undergraduate class this fall. The school in Southwest Virginia says nearly 500 new students are enrolled for the fall, an increase of nearly 30 percent and the largest number in its 190-year history. Officials say the growth can be attributed to a major tuition reduction, and the Emery and Henry Promise, a program that completely covers tuition for eligible Virginia students. Over the last two years, Virginia's Department of Corrections exceeded its budget for medical care by $48 million. That's because our present population is aging, and inmates have all the diseases commonly associated with old age. At the same time, our correctional centers have two few officers, and the department is already Virginia's most expensive agency, costing taxpayers over $1.6 billion a year. Now elected officials are considering a single solution to both of those problems, as Sandy Hausman reports. It costs the state an average of $12,645 last year to provide medical care for one prison inmate. The total bill for health care was so big. that the Department of Corrections had to impose a hiring freeze, even though many prisons were understaffed. At the same time, the state started moving inmates who behaved well to one of four model prisons, where they got better food, more classes, and they hope a chance for early release. Among them is 66-year-old Steve Goodman, who's been in for 35 years. I don't think the way I used to. I don't act the way I used to. What I did to get locked up, and I'm horrified that I did it now looking back. His cellmate, 62-year-old Doug Ankney, says he committed his crime in the midst of a mental health crisis after a childhood of abuse. There was a lot of sexual abuse, alcoholism, violence, drug abuse. I wasn't even old enough to go to school the first time I was drunk. Both men are veterans, have been modeled prisoners and are now devout Christians. Ankney says their demographic is unlikely to commit new crimes. Generally, the people that pose the lowest risk of recidivism are people who are elderly and who have also done like 20 years or more in prison. I also have met some people in their 30s and 40. They came in when they were teens. And a lot of them have their act together. And some prisoners in these facilities have, no doubt, adjusted their attitude, like Keith Hill. After previous convictions for fraud and theft, he broke into a food lion, stole a shipment of cigarettes, and sold them to convenience stores near Lynchburg. For that, he got 68 years. But he says he's no longer angry about his sentence. You know why you can't become better, Sandy. You have to accept responsibility for what you did. I did something that I shouldn't have done. I have to man up and I have to live with it. Many are putting their hope in a new parole board appointed by Governor Abigail Spanberger. But if July is any indication, that body will not be freeing large numbers of prisoners. In July, 107 applied, but only 13 were granted parole. There is talk of making all inmates eligible for consideration.

A right Virginia abolished 31 years ago. I don't know a time frame and I wouldn't want to speculate. Tajman Haft is with the Humanization Project, a nonprofit that advocates for prison reform. I do know that people from both parties, think tank folks, lobbyists, there's a lot of people that have been working behind the scenes to move us in that direction. And I think the evidence of that is the fact that there's a study this year being done about the lack of parole and the potential reinstatement and what all that would mean. As the Joint Legislative Audit and Review Commission, or Jailark, works on that report, the new parole board must grapple with a challenging requirement imposed some years ago by the General Assembly and ignored by the Yon administration. Prisoners who come up for parole are entitled to a public hearing, and inmate Ascari Lumumba is suing to enforce the rule. First of all, these are public officials, you're government officials who have to be accountable to the public. And from the prisoner perspective, a lot of us want to be able to show the public that we actually have changed, that we're different people and that we're not, you know, the caricatures that they paint us out to be, we're not the worst moment of our life. And the governor's office has not addressed the other option for early release, getting a pardon. Here's prisoner Tim Wright. Everybody's in the dark on the pardon process. You have guys who have been waiting eight years. They put their pardon in at the end of North term. young consent to do anything, and nobody can get any information as to what this administration process is going to be for handling clemencies. Jay Lark will issue its report on the likely impact of reinstating parole in December of 27, in time for consideration and a possible vote by state lawmakers in 2008. I'm Sandy Houseman. Well, of daily rain chances into the weekend. Today's forecast, a mix of sun and clouds around the region. Some isolated showers and storms are possible. Highs into low 80s to 96 around Danville, 93 for Roanoke, Charlottesville, and Richmond. You'll feel close to or in the triple digits as you move east to the Blue Ridge. We'll keep some clouds tonight, possibly a stray shower, rumble of thunder, the best chance in the southwest, lows in the upper 60s to 75 for Richmond. Friday, pretty cloudy, more scattered showers and storms, stronger storms are possible. High temperatures in the low 80s to... 92 for Roanoke, 94 for Danville, again feeling hotter, especially in the south side. Some clouds, another chance for spotty showers and storm Saturday, highs in the low 80s to 90 for the Danville area. Thanks for listening to Virginia On Demand. A little reminder, subscribe and tell your friends about it. For Radio IQ, I'm Jeff Bonsor.