Claytor Lake recovery efforts still going strong after Hurricane Helene.Preview: The Amherst County school system will not hold classes today due to a potential bomb threat. The school system relayed the threat to the Amherst County Sheriff's Office yesterday and canceled all district activities. All after-school activities scheduled for today have also been canceled.
Virginia's two U.S. senators are announcing a new federal fund to help replace lead pipes in the state. Democratic Senators Mark Warner and Tim Kaine say just over 35-million dollars will be available to help identify and replace lead pipes in the state. A new federal rule will require the replacement of lead pipes nationwide within the next ten years. The EPA estimates there are about 180-thousand lead service lines currently in use in Virginia.
Parts of the lower U.S., including Virginia, will be seeing the northern lights again tonight because of a solar storm. A spokesperson for the federal Space Weather Prediction Center said power grid operators across the country are taking precautions because a severe solar storm could affect power systems and satellite operations. Space dot com reports the solar storm hit earth Thursday as a severe G4-class geomagnetic storm, but is expected to reach extreme G5 levels Friday. The G4 geomagnetic storm watch Thursday was only the second issued by NOAA Space Weather Prediction Center officials since 2005.