8/14/26 - Dominion Energy asks to recoup $922M in fuel costs from customers

You're listening to the VPM Daily Newscast, the recap of today's top stories in central Virginia. From the VPM Newsroom in Richmond, I'm Sean Magoey. Virginia Commonwealth University is set to welcome the class of 2030 ahead of the start of the fall semester. VPM News editor Megan Moore has the details about move-in weekend. Heavy traffic, limited parking, and road closures are expected around VCU's Monroe Park campus as students start moving in this weekend. Starting at 8 a.m. on Friday and Saturday, Laurel Street will be closed between Broad and Main Streets. VCU Police will be directing traffic at Summoner sections with Laurel Street, including at West Franklin and West Main Streets. There are also several construction projects underway near the campus that will impact drivers. The first day of classes for VCU students is Tuesday. Megan Moore, VPM News. Dominion Energy has asked state regulators to recover an additional $922 million from customers for fuel and power costs. The company cited extreme winter weather and higher than expected natural gas prices. The utility also asked to spread those costs over 7 to 10 years, avoiding a roughly $20 monthly bill increase. Instead, typical residential ratepayers would see their bill go up about $8. We should note that Dominion Energy is a VPN sponsor. The Virginia Department of Health is updating its guidelines for when repeated or severe violations at nursing homes trigger state sanctions. VDH's proposed guidelines would require sanctions if the same violation occurs on two consecutive inspections or on three in an 18-month period. Public comment on the guidance is open through September 9th. A Richmond Circuit Court judge has dismissed a lawsuit challenging the approval of a Churchill Downs gambling venue that opened last fall. Judge Richard Campbell ruled that Henrico County lacked standing to appeal the Virginia Racing Commission's approval of the Rowshire Gaming Parlor's application. Henrico took issue with the commission's use of a 1992 referendum, which authorized certain types of wagering, to sign off on the application for 175 historical horse racing terminals at the facility. Many Virginia kids have gone to summer camp this year. For Virginia's native nations, it's become an opportunity to connect young people with their cultures and give them something meaningful to do while their parents work. VPM news reporter Megan Pauley visited two tribal summer camps recently to see how that strategy is playing out.

Jessica Stewart is taking campers on a mid-July nature walk around the Chickahominee Tribal Center grounds in Charles City County. She's pointing out elements of cultural significance along the way. What have we been taught by our ancestors in order to make this a sacred space? Ellie? Stopping near the powwow grounds where the tribe gathers to sing, dance, and honor their culture every September. She says the ground is first blessed with tobacco. We also bless something else. What provides us music for the powwow? Drums. Stewart is a citizen of the Chickahominy tribe. She started this culture camp four years ago, inspired by a Saturday morning program she attended growing up. It was called Indian School, and Stewart and her peers learned traditional crafts like beadwork, leather, and pottery, while also learning about the tribe's history, until the decades-long program ended in the early 2000s. And so how could I bring that selfishly to my children? How can they have that same experience? The Chickahominee's six-week summer camp this year enrolled over 40 kids, ages 5 to 14. Campers take weekly field trips, including to Jamestown and the Virginia Living Museum in Newport News. They do traditional crafting, and they learn their native language, Algonquin. One, two, eyes on me. After their morning walk, kids head back inside to prepare for language review and a beating workshop. Makkah. What's Makkah? Squash. Good deal, good deal. All right, let's see. That's Tanya Stewart, another tribal citizen and Jessica's cousin. She's been teaching Algonquin to the kids and has been learning the language herself as part of an inner tribal language revitalization project. The Chickahomni tribe has been leading for the past few years. She says it's amazing to see the kids learning so quickly. Because they're like sponges. They're picking it up. They're retaining it. Seven-year-old Eden lists some of the Algonquin words she's learned so far. We learned corn, like it was a culture way, and we learned some. Squash is maka and beans is proco to us and her heap is bird. Her 10-year-old sister, Eliana, says the language isn't lost. It's just been resting. So we're trying to bring it back from its sleep so we can let people know. We are still here. Another camper, Sienna, who's 10 years old and lives in Henrico County, said she was eager to spend time in Charles City County this summer. It just means a lot because I like learning about my culture and I just like learning things that I haven't learned before. It's just a fun time being here with my friends and family. Tanya Stewart also teaches native crafts like how to make regalia, including dance bells and raw hide rattles. All right, so your next one, you're going to do blue, two blacks, and a blue.

A blue, two blacks, and a blue. She also remembers the Saturday morning Indian school program growing up. Her mother and aunts taught beadwork and pottery there. Two of her aunts were master potters. That's something to be proud of and also something to keep up because I don't want that to end with them. So that's another reason for teaching the kids. Stewart says the camp helps kids understand their own identities. She didn't see her culture reflected in textbooks while growing up in Charles City County in the 1980s. Going to school and in the books, learning that you don't exist. But then coming home, and Mom was teaching me this, you know, how to do different things. Educational resources haven't caught up to real time. Jessica Stewart says she tries to incorporate all of the tribe's history, the good and the uncomfortable, into the camp's lessons. Like how the tribe had to run its own school when segregation-era policies barred native students from attending schools with white kids. It's something that is very healing to my heart to see these kids come together and be with their native peers and to be proud of who they are and to share that with other people. And then I want another one at the back. This one is at the back. Okay, well, which one do you want at the back? Because you got a couple pictures left. You got that? Oh, that one's a good one. Do you want that one on the front? Virginia's Upper Matapenai tribe has also been running a summer camp for the past few years in Prince William County. Martin Sanika is the tribe's environmental and cultural resource specialist. He says the camp is an important way to let kids know that there are jobs and other leadership opportunities available within the tribe. You've got to show kids as they're growing up and starting to think about what they want to do with their lives that, hey, here's all the opportunities you have to work for your own community, to better your community, to create the programs that you wanted to see, you know, as a youth or as a young adult. The camp isn't just focused on teaching historical traditions. Kids also learn what they can do to preserve their culture and environment today. And so fishing and being a waterman is a huge part of a lot of these communities. And so teaching these kids what should or shouldn't be in the water is just kind of helping them secure that for the next generation. What is that? This is a scale. This is how you will measure how much they weigh. On the last day of camp, kids learn how to weigh and measure fish before heading over to a nearby pond to cast a line themselves. The tribe's environmental and fisheries, technician Carrie Fox, imparts helpful fish handling knowledge and teaches them how to tell the difference between native fish species, like white catfish and sturgeon.

and invasive species like the blue catfish. The lesson resonated with eight-year-old piper. They're very, very slimy. So you always have to wet your hands before you hold them, or that can make them sick. Or you can hurt them if you hold them at a wrong angle. Piper says her favorite part about this camp is the fishing. The tribe holds regular family fishing nights. Ooh, I love fishing. I love fishing. I love fishing. When they heard the word fishing, my brain just lit up. Piper's not alone. The fishing day was a huge success for others like 4-year-old Ella and 7-year-old Luke. He grabbed the worm! He sure did. Oh, I want to catch another fish. Megan Pauley, VPM News. This has been the VPM Daily Newscast. VPM. The fatal shooting of a teenager at a protest in Seattle has gone unsolved for six years. This is open in your face. How are there no answers? Our investigation has uncovered new evidence and witnesses who say they've never talked to police. Did police ever call you? Not once. Listen to We Keep Us Safe, a new true crime series on the Embedded podcast from NPR.