Front Royal Police Department’s arrest report for the past 7 days:

In the ever-evolving landscape of the modern workplace, collaborative workspaces have become a beacon of innovation, productivity, and community. As companies strive to adapt to the changing needs of their workforce and the demands of the market, these dynamic environments offer a solution that fosters creativity, teamwork, and a sense of shared purpose. Here’s why saying “yes” to collaborative workspaces can be a game-changer for businesses and employees alike.

Boosted Productivity Through Shared Spaces

Collaborative workspaces are designed to break down the physical barriers that traditional office layouts often impose. By promoting an open and flexible environment, these spaces encourage spontaneous discussions, idea sharing, and cross-departmental collaboration. The result? A noticeable increase in productivity as employees feel more engaged and motivated to innovate.

Enhanced Collaboration and Communication

The essence of collaborative workspaces lies in their ability to bring people together. Gone are the days of working in isolation within the confines of a cubicle. Instead, these environments are built on the principle of shared spaces where interaction and cooperation are encouraged and integral to the work process. This setup naturally improves collaboration and communication among team members, leading to more cohesive and efficient workflows.

A Stronger Sense of Community and Belonging

One of the most significant benefits of collaborative workspaces is the sense of community they cultivate. Sharing a physical space allows employees to connect on a more personal level, fostering relationships that go beyond mere professional interactions. This sense of belonging not only enhances job satisfaction but also strengthens the company’s overall culture, making it a more attractive workplace.

Flexibility to Adapt and Innovate

Collaborative workspaces offer unparalleled flexibility, allowing companies to tailor the environment to the specific needs of their teams and projects. Whether it’s creating open spaces for brainstorming sessions, designing quiet zones for focused work, or setting up informal meeting areas, these workspaces can evolve to support various working styles and tasks. This adaptability is key in today’s fast-paced business world, where agility and responsiveness can make all the difference.

A New Paradigm for the Modern Workplace

As businesses navigate the challenges and opportunities of the 21st century, collaborative workspaces stand out as a powerful tool for fostering innovation, productivity, and a strong corporate culture. By embracing these environments, companies enhance their operational efficiency and create a more fulfilling and engaging workplace for their employees. The future of work is collaborative, and it’s time for businesses to embrace this shift and unlock the potential of their teams.

In an extraordinary leap forward for medical science, a team of researchers from Harvard Medical School and the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary has pioneered a gene therapy trial that promises a world of change for children born deaf. This clinical trial in China focused on children aged 1 to 7, all born completely deaf due to an inherited gene mutation.

Gene therapy, a revolutionary technique, works by inserting normal genes into cells to replace missing or defective ones. The deafness of the children in this trial was traced to a specific condition known as DFNB9, which was attributed to a mutation in the OTOF gene. This gene is crucial as it encodes otoferlin, a protein essential for transmitting sound to the inner ear. Without functional otoferlin, sound signals cannot reach the brain, resulting in total deafness. However, it’s important to note that this condition doesn’t cause any physical damage to the inner ear, making these children ideal candidates for gene therapy.

Five of the six children who underwent this pioneering treatment experienced significant improvements within 26 weeks. These children, who had lived in silence since birth, were suddenly able to understand and respond to speech and even recognize speech amidst noisy environments. Unfortunately, one child did not show any improvement, and researchers are still trying to understand why.

This trial not only opens new avenues for treating deafness but also kindles hope for advancements in gene therapy for various other conditions. The success observed in five out of six participants marks a significant milestone in medical science, showcasing the potential of gene therapy as a life-changing treatment for individuals with genetic disorders. As this research continues to evolve, it may pave the way for addressing other forms of deafness and potentially a myriad of genetic conditions affecting people around the globe.

In nutrition and dieting, protein is honored for its unparalleled ability to satisfy hunger and support muscle maintenance. This is a significant reason behind the popularity of high-protein, low-carb diets. Beyond merely quelling hunger, protein harbors a unique benefit for those on a weight loss journey: the preservation of muscle mass while shedding fat.

Researchers at the University of Illinois have illuminated the role of leucine, an amino acid found in protein, as a critical element in maintaining muscle integrity during weight loss. Leucine has been spotlighted for its muscle-preserving qualities, especially notable when overall calorie intake is reduced, making it a valuable ally in the construction of a lean, healthy physique.

For individuals aiming to harness the benefits of protein and leucine without the added animal fats found in meat, many low-fat, leucine-rich alternatives exist. These include:

• Firm Tofu: A 1/2 cup serving contains 1,511 mg of leucine.
• Low-fat Cottage Cheese: A 1/2 cup serving offers 1,440 mg of leucine.
• Fat-free Milk: 8 ounces provides 818 mg of leucine.
• Reduced-fat Mozzarella Cheese: 1 ounce comes with 670 mg of leucine.
• Reduced-fat Cheddar Cheese: 1 ounce includes 608 mg of leucine.
• Eggs: One hard-boiled or soft-boiled egg has 538 mg of leucine.
• Cooked Couscous: 1 cup provides 464 mg of leucine.

Incorporating these leucine-rich, low-fat protein sources into your diet can be a strategic move for those aiming to lose weight without sacrificing muscle. This approach not only aids in achieving a more toned and defined physique but also ensures that the body is receiving adequate nourishment to support overall health and well-being.

Adapting your diet to include a variety of these protein sources can offer a balanced and nutritious pathway towards weight loss. Proteins can also more effectively satisfy hunger than fats or carbohydrates and secure muscle mass for a stronger, healthier you.

You can find and register for all library events on our website, www.samuelslibrary.net.

The Library will be closed for Memorial Day, Monday, May 27th.

One-Time Events

Bird ID and Photography

Saturday, May 18th from 9:00 AM to 11:00 AM

In person. We will meet at the Shenandoah River State Park visitor center to review bird identification and tips of photographing birds. After the meeting at the visitor center, we will explore habitats that birds frequent to observe them and photograph these flying wonders. Sturdy footwear is recommended. All types of cameras from smartphones to professional cameras and levels of photographers are welcomed. Note: State Park parking fees rules apply for attending this program. The Library has a limited number of LVA state park bags with passes. Availability is not guaranteed.

Ongoing Programs

What the Tech!

Every Tuesday from 2:00 PM to 3:30 PM

In person. Need help with technology? Come by the library’s Meeting Room B where we will be going over computers and other technology basics. Having trouble with your phone, tablet, laptop, or other device? Bring it in, and we’ll help!

Bad Romance

Wednesday, May 1st from 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM

First Wednesday of every month.

In person. Do you consider yourself a hopeless romantic?  Are bad romances a guilty pleasure of yours?  Can’t get enough puns? Can you quote every line from your favorite rom-com? Then you should join us for Bad Romance, where Samuels Public Library will have a themed discussion for the romance genre every month. Indulge us with your favorite romance books, movies, music or other media, and possibly discover a new treat in this awesome informal discussion! New members are always welcome!

Genealogy Club

Wednesday, May 8th from 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM

Second Wednesday of every month.

In person. Interested in your family’s history? Already done extensive research and want to be able to share your finds? Join our genealogy club where both novices and experts alike can come together and talk about different genealogy topics.

Books & Beyond

Thursday, May 9th from 6:00 PM to 7:45 PM

Second Thursday of every month.

In person. Do you love books and sharing them as much as we do? Join us to delve into new worlds of conversation about new books at your community’s public library! The theme this month is Nature. Read anything relating to nature, animals, the outdoors, plants, etc!

Phoenix Project – Hope for New Beginnings

Tuesday, May 29th from 1:00 PM to 4:00 PM

Third Tuesday of every month.

In person. Serving all members of the Front Royal/Warren County community who have experienced or are currently experiencing domestic violence or sexual assault. Phoenix Project Advocates are available to provide crisis intervention, supportive counseling, safety planning, information, education, and more. Their services are free, confidential, and trauma-informed. Hope. Help. Healing.

Almost 20,000 acres have been lit by flames that primarily torched the western and central parts of the state so far during Virginia’s 2024 spring fire season. With about a week left until the season ends, that is double the amount of acres affected annually in the state across its 10-year average.

There’s no question that the fires visibly caused an immediate loss of vegetation and wildlife habitat, but state and federal officials said in interviews with the Mercury last week the blazes provide some benefits and are a centuries-old resource management tool.

“It does play an important role in the ecosystem,” said Michael Downey, assistant director for wildfire mitigation and prevention at the Virginia Department of Forestry. “In the public’s eye it is a natural disaster, but we do try to keep it in a controlled, contained environment.”

Prescribed, or controlled, blazes are regularly implemented by state and federal agencies, which include the Department of Forestry, the Department of Wildlife Resources and the U.S. Forest Service. It’s the unruly nature of the wildfires that can cause concern, particularly given the proximity to neighborhoods and communities where people live.

“We don’t want people thinking, ‘Let’s go start a wildfire,’ but there are benefits,” said Michael Puckett, a small game project leader at DWR, adding that the fires are not solely a matter of loss of wildlife habitat, but a “matter of change.”

It’s the human communities abutting the wooded areas that are inhibiting wildlife’s ability to roam freely to and from impacted areas. Humans also contribute to some of the causes of the fires.

“As wildfires grow in severity/intensity, we will see species moving in new patterns and places in order to find new habitat,” both immediately after fires and in the longer term as species’ ranges shift, said Misty Boos, U.S. conservation policy manager at Wildlands Network.

“This underscores the importance of protecting large, connected landscapes and wildlife corridors so species can move and adapt, but it also demonstrates the importance of wildlife coexistence.”

Flora and Fauna

Starting at the ground level, the fires’ effects can matriculate down into the soil, depending on the severity, determined by fire intensity and duration.

The fires’ effect can increase dirt’s water repellency, or inability to hold water, leading to it eroding and potentially ending up in waterways.

Following the fires that hit the state in 2016, researchers at Virginia Tech found that some severely-burned areas were water repellent at rates of 68-74%. The unburned areas showed water repellency at a rate of 0-18%, the research found.

“A lot of fires in [Virginia] don’t get as large or hot as those out west, but in local areas we can see pretty severe burn severities,” said Ryan D. Stewart, an associate professor at Virginia Tech.

“Areas that have moderate to severe burn severities can have issues like the upper duff and organic layers being consumed, and development of a layer a few inches deep that does not easily rewet.”

A forest in Highland County during a prescribed burn by the Virginia Department of Forestry in 2021. (Sarah Vogelsong/Virginia Mercury)

On the flora aspect, the clearing of taller trees can pave way for sunlight to reach the lower level vegetation, said Puckett. Creating a more diverse portfolio of vegetation within the forest can create a more diverse ecosystem, added Lane Gibbons, fire management specialist at Shenandoah National Park.

“If you kind of think of it in terms of investing, you don’t invest all of your money in one thing. That’s too much of a gamble,” said Gibbons. “You really want a diverse portfolio. It works very [similarly] in forests. If you have more of a diverse portinfo — tall versus short, young versus old —  if you have a greater variation [and] then you have a greater variation of types of organisms using those resources.”

Over time, forests in Virginia have become more resilient, with thicker oak trees popping up in places more susceptible to fires, Gibbons added, with less-deterrent maple pines growing in areas less likely to catch a blaze.

While oaks may be stronger, they also can attract invasive animal species, like the Spongy Moth, whose presence requires some maintenance and can be found throughout the state.

The caterpillar-like creatures provide benefits to forested areas by thinning out trees, allowing other plants to grow. But the bugs feed primarily on the oaks attracting them, which, in addition to their fire resilience, provide numerous benefits to the climate, including capturing carbon in the atmosphere.

“We’re looking at ways to bring back oak and fire is one of those ways to do a timber stand improvement,” Downey said, describing the process of removing undesirable species and then setting fires to bring back nutrients into the soil. “That’s sometimes what oak needs for it to regenerate.”

On the fauna aspect, the Wildlife Center of Virginia took in a bear cub found to suffer from smoke inhalation. Smaller amphibious animals like the box turtle suffer from the havoc wreaked by the blazes, because they live in small brush or leaf litter and can’t move out fast enough.

But larger wildlife that call the western parts of the state home, like turkey or small game like squirrels, may be displaced immediately, but sometimes they can be seen returning to the area before the smoke clears, Puckett said.

“We have enough moisture in the system here,” said Puckett, adding that wildlife can return within a year. “It’s not like cases out west that may burn down into the soil with the dry climate and lack of rainfall. Things don’t tend to recover as quickly as they do here.”

Human influence

It’s often humans, who infringe on animal habitats, that create cause for concern related to wildfires.

According to information released in January by the Weldon Cooper Center for Population Estimates, some rural areas of Virginia saw losses in population while others saw gains. Page County’s population grew by 2 to 4% from 2020 to 2023. Some central and eastern areas of the state, including Louisa County, grew by over 4%.

Population change from 2020 to 2023. (Courtesy of Weldon Cooper Center Population Estimates)

Those increasing populations spur the development of communities abutting wooded areas that frequently prevent wildlife from being able to roam freely away from fires. Republican Gov. Glenn Youngkin signed House Bill 309 and Senate Bill 461, which directs the Virginia Department of Forestry to create a plan that includes protection of wildlife corridors, and large contiguous blocks of forests.

“As we’ve seen, events like wildfire (as well as floods, hurricanes, extreme snow storms, etc.) can temporarily bring wildlife into closer proximity to people, which can cause conflicts,” said Boos, with Wildlands Network.

More development means more utility infrastructure, such as electric power lines, getting built. The strong winds this past season that led to  power lines being knocked down and sparking blazes, instead of natural causes like lightning strikes that happen in Alaska.

“80 to 90% of fires are caused by humans,” Downey said.

When asked about downed power lines causing some of the fires this past spring, spokesperson for Shenandoah Valley Electric Cooperative said the utility, “will continue to cooperate with all affected localities to assess damage as we rebuild damaged power grid infrastructure.”

“This widespread event, combined with extremely low humidity, made conditions favorable for wildfires,” said Preston Knight, SVEC spokesperson. “Many communities throughout our service territory have experienced wildfires and our hearts go out to those who have suffered anguish and loss.”

Residents can clear debris from around their homes to prevent the fires from spreading, a task the Department of Forestry can help with despite their limited capacity, Downey said.

“We can only do what we can with our resources,” Downey said.

Impact going forward

Leading up to the fall and spring fire season, there were periods of drought identified by the Department of Environmental Quality. A report from the U.S. The Department of Agriculture found that “increased fuel load and more frequent droughts may increase wildfire frequency and intensity within the Southeast.”

That same USDA report said ways to make forests more resilient included, “taking steps necessary to appropriately manage stand density, hydrologic characteristics, and natural habitats,” and that these steps “can also have a positive impact on the ecological functioning and overall health of the forest.”

Adding fuel to the fire, literally: A study out of the University of California Riverside found plants are more easily burning as a result of absorbing more carbon that’s in the air, carbon created by pollution.

Creating markets for pulpwood and biomass that come from the over 16 million acres of forests in Virginia, about 80% of which are privately owned, can help reduce fuels by removing “less desirable species and residuals from the understory and floor of the forest,” said Corey Connors, executive director of the Virginia Forestry Association.

One of the authors of the University of California study’s said in a statement that, “we do need to implement better fire control and have more prescribed burns to use up plant fuel. We need to get rid of the old stuff.

“But the best way to decrease wildfires is to mitigate our carbon dioxide emissions,” Gomez said. “We need more emission control now.”

In Virginia the largest sources of emissions are transportation, followed by the commercial industry sector and electricity generation, according to DEQ.

While international research points to human-created emissions causing climate change, the impacts of climate change on the fires affecting the adaptability of the ecosystem in forests is still being determined, Gibbons said.

“It’s a topic that we’re trying to figure out,” he said. “We’ll implement strategies as we learn more.”

by Charlie Paullin, Virginia Mercury

Virginia Mercury is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Virginia Mercury maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Samantha Willis for questions: info@virginiamercury.com. Follow Virginia Mercury on Facebook and Twitter.