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Navy warship spills 4K gallons of fuel into Virginia river

YORKTOWN, Va. (AP) — The U.S. Navy has confirmed that a large warship spilled 4,000 gallons of fuel into a Virginia river late last week.

WAVY-TV reported Monday that the USS Philippine Sea, a guided-missile cruiser, spilled the diesel fuel into the York River on Thursday morning. A U.S. Fleet Forces Command Environmental Public Affairs Officer said the ship was docked at the Naval Weapons Station in Yorktown at the time.

He said most of the fuel was contained, and cleanup efforts began immediately using a fuel vacuum truck. The official added that there was little impact to the shoreline.

The Navy is investigating the cause of the spill.

Va. health dept. improves nursing home inspection backlog, reforms sanction criteria for facilities

Stories of neglect in care or unsanitary living situations have plagued several of Virginia’s nursing home facilities in recent years and data backs up a lapse in oversight by state agencies.  With reform efforts underway, the Virginia Department of Health officials said they aim to adopt sanction criteria by the end of the year to rein in bad actors and get troubled facilities back on track.  As of July, 58% of Virginia’s nursing homes were overdue for inspections and 68 of Virginia’s 289 nursing homes were found to have serious deficiencies, according to ProPublica. Several of the state’s flagged facilities with numerous deficiencies also had high staffing turnover rates.  The issue has been salient among various healthcare spaces, including VDH. 
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