daily304 - Episode 03.19.23
daily304's podcast
English - March 19, 2024 07:00 - 2 minutes - 3.91 MB - ★★★★★ - 11 ratingsDaily News News almostheaven daily304 westvirginia yeswv Homepage Download Apple Podcasts Google Podcasts Overcast Castro Pocket Casts RSS feed
Welcome to the daily304 – your window into Wonderful, Almost Heaven, West Virginia.
Today is Tuesday, March 19, 2024.
WV’s solar energy continues to grow with the addition of Marion County’s Fort Martin site. A new campaign targets potential first-time foster parents. And explore new technologies at the Focus Forward conference in Morgantown…on today’s daily304.#1 – From WV NEWS – West Virginia has long been one of the nation’s leading producers of electrical energy, largely due to the coal industry. Until the beginning of this year, when FirstEnergy’s Fort Martin solar site in Marion County came online, the largest solar array in the state belonged to Toyota.
Visitors to the campus of Toyota Manufacturing West Virginia in Buffalo are greeted by the sight of its SmartFlower solar array. The campus also is home to a 5-acre array of more traditional-looking solar panels.
The arrays are capable of generating 2.6 megawatts of power. The energy is used to power a number of employee services buildings on the campus and three EV charging stations.
FirstEnergy’s solar site on the site of its Fort Martin Power Station has about seven times the generating capacity of Toyota’s array.
The 80-acre site has nearly 50,000 solar panels capable of producing up to 18.9 megawatts per hour. The site is the first of five the company has said it plans to operate in the region.
“It is important to have this voluntary option available to customers, as renewable energy is a large economic driver in both attracting new industry to West Virginia and keeping existing companies that now require a portion of their electricity to come from renewable sources,” said Jim Myers, president of FirstEnergy’s West Virginia operations.
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#2 – From METRO NEWS – A few different agencies are joining forces to recruit more foster parents and address the shortage of foster care placements in West Virginia during a newly-launched, statewide campaign.
The West Virginia Department of Human Services, along with Aetna Better Health of West Virginia, Mission West Virginia, and 10 foster care organizations around the state are all collaborating for the initiative, which targets first-time foster care parents as recruits, and focuses on finding older youth in the system good, stable homes.
The Executive Director of Mountain Health Promise with Aetna Better Health of West Virginia Kathy Szafran said the organizations all agreed there’s a great need in those areas. They are particularly looking for single or married adults who may have considered fostering in the past but have not yet taken the steps needed to become qualified.
“The focus is on honesty, urgency, and duty,” she said. “We want folks in West Virginia to be able to know that we need them and we need them now.”
They encourage those considering being a foster parent to visit wefosterwv.org as the next step, as it’s a central resource outlining everything you need to know to become qualified.
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#3 – From WVPEC -- Get ready to thrive in tomorrow’s digital world with Focus Forward.
This conference, sponsored by the West Virginia Public Education Collaborative, explores how new technologies will continue to revolutionize every aspect of society - at work, at school and at home.
The event takes place March 27 at Morgantown Marriott at Waterfront Place.
The event is free and open to the public but registration is required. Sign up now!
Learn more:
Find these stories and more at wv.gov/daily304.
The daily304 curated news and information is brought to you by the West Virginia Department of Commerce: Sharing the wealth, beauty and opportunity in West Virginia with the world. Follow the daily304 on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram @daily304. Or find us online at wv.gov and just click the daily304 logo.
That’s all for now. Take care. Be safe. Get outside and enjoy all the opportunity West Virginia has to offer.