News

Catch up on local gardening news and events in Pike, Stark and Summit counties in Ohio.

The Biden administration’s actions around oil and gas development, the environment and the climate have created a lot of uncertainty for the industry that employs tens of thousands of people in Ohio and Pennsylvania, oil and gas industry leaders say.

Gov. Mike DeWine announced Jenifer French as his choice to succeed Sam Randazzo, who resigned Nov. 20 after the FBI raided his home.

According to documents acquired by the environmental group FracTracker Alliance, a whistleblower contacted the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration in 2019 with allegations that the pipeline may have been built with a defective corrosion coating.

The White House Office of Management and Budget is considering a recommendation that would expand the definition of rural to include larger areas. But rural researchers say the changes could make it harder for rural communities to get funding and for researchers to track what is happening in rural areas, and that they’re based on an oversimplified view of what metropolitan means.

The Ohio Power Siting Board is holding two virtual public hearings for proposed solar farms in Defiance and Union counties.

The U.S. House passed a bill that would reform farm labor and create pathways to legal status for farm workers without legal status.

The state got a grant from the USDA to give farmers markets and on-farm markets free wireless EBT processing equipment.

Pennsylvania announced its commitment to buy power from a 191 megawatt solar project that will be built in seven arrays across six counties. Called Pennsylvania PULSE, the project is being touted by the state as the largest government solar energy commitment in the nation to date.

The Ohio Power Siting Board approved the applications for two new utility-scale solar facilities in Madison and Highland counties. The projects would cover more than 3,500 acres of land.