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		<title>UK Defense Chief Warns Public: ‘Whole of Nation’ Must Prepare to ‘Fight’ Russia in WW3</title>
		<link>https://www.hopegirlblog.com/2025/12/17/uk-defense-chief-warns-public-whole-of-nation-must-prepare-to-fight-russia-in-ww3/</link>
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		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Hope]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Wed, 17 Dec 2025 15:00:07 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[ALTERNATIVE NEWS]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Defense Chief]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[fight]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[nation]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[public]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[russia]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[uk]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[WW3]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.hopegirlblog.com/?p=20134</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[<img width="300" height="154" src="https://www.hopegirlblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/uk-chief.jpg" class="webfeedsFeaturedVisual wp-post-image" alt="uk chief" style="display: block; margin: auto; margin-bottom: 5px;max-width: 100%;" link_thumbnail="" decoding="async" loading="lazy" /><p>Britain’s top military officer is openly warning the public to prepare for the unthinkable sacrifice of losing their “sons and daughters” in World War III, as the “whole of [the] nation” must be ready to “fight” in direct conflict with Russia.</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://www.hopegirlblog.com/2025/12/17/uk-defense-chief-warns-public-whole-of-nation-must-prepare-to-fight-russia-in-ww3/">UK Defense Chief Warns Public: ‘Whole of Nation’ Must Prepare to ‘Fight’ Russia in WW3</a> appeared first on <a href="https://www.hopegirlblog.com">HopeGirl Blog</a>.</p>
]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<img width="300" height="154" src="https://www.hopegirlblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/12/uk-chief.jpg" class="webfeedsFeaturedVisual wp-post-image" alt="uk chief" style="display: block; margin: auto; margin-bottom: 5px;max-width: 100%;" link_thumbnail="" decoding="async" loading="lazy" /><p>Britain’s top military officer is openly warning the public to prepare for the unthinkable sacrifice of losing their “sons and daughters” in World War III, as the “whole of [the] nation” must be ready to “fight” in direct conflict with Russia.</p>
<p>The alarming remarks mark one of the most explicit acknowledgments yet that Western governments are bracing their populations for large-scale war.</p>
<p>Air Chief Marshal Sir. Richard Knighton, the UK Chief of Defence Staff, delivered the stark prediction during a lecture at London’s RUSI think tank, insisting that “More families will know what sacrifice for our nation means.”</p>
<p>Knighton said the likelihood of Vladimir Putin launching an assault on Britain is “slim” but growing steadily, a familiar refrain from Western leaders who continue escalating military commitments abroad while warning of impending conflict at home.</p>
<p>“The situation is more dangerous than I have known during my career, and the price of peace is rising,” the British defense chief said.</p>
<p>“Our response needs to go beyond simply strengthening our armed forces.</p>
<p>“It needs a <strong>whole-of-nation</strong> response that builds our defense industrial capacity, grows the skills we need, harnesses the power of the institutions we will need in wartime, and ensures and increases the resilience of society and the infrastructure that supports it.”</p>
<p>His comments echoed recent remarks from French General Fabien Mandon.</p>
<p>As Slay News <a href="https://slaynews.com/news/top-french-general-warns-public-prepare-lose-your-children-war-russia/">reported</a>, Gen. Mandon caused political uproar last month when he declared that the French public must accept that the nation will “lose its children” in a war with Russia.</p>
<p>Mandon warned: “If our country falters because it is not prepared to accept – let’s be honest – to lose its children, to suffer economically because defense production will take precedence, then we are at risk.”</p>
<p>Knighton agreed, <a href="https://rumble.com/v733ig2-uk-defense-chief-warns-public-whole-of-nation-must-prepare-to-fight-russia-.html">saying</a>, “Fabien Mandon was right.</p>
<p>“More people being ready to <strong>fight</strong> for their country.”</p>
<p>He added that “Sons and daughters. Colleagues. Veterans. …will all have a role to play.</p>
<p>“To build. To serve. And if necessary, <strong>to fight</strong>.</p>
<p>“And more families will know what sacrifice for our nation means.”</p>
<p>The message was unmistakable: the British public must prepare for mobilization against a nuclear powerhouse.</p>
<p><strong>Britain Falling Behind Germany, France, and Poland in War Preparations, Knighton Says</strong></p>
<p>The military chief suggested Britain faces the same threat as Germany.</p>
<p>However, he noted that Germany is taking more aggressive steps to prepare its population for conflict, including reintroducing elements of national service and ramping up defense spending.</p>
<p>Knighton pointed to Berlin’s pledge to reach 3.5 percent of GDP on defense by 2029 and Poland’s already staggering 4.2 percent.</p>
<p>The UK’s ruling socialist Labour Party has promised to hit 2.5 percent by 2027, but Knighton hinted that this is nowhere near enough.</p>
<p>He also noted that “France and Germany [have] return[ed] to a form of national service.”</p>
<p>Then came the pointed jab at the Treasury:</p>
<p>“The threat in the UK isn’t really any different to the threat in Germany, for example.”</p>
<p><strong>MI6 Chief Announces Britain Is Already in a Shadow War</strong></p>
<p>The warnings come just days after MI6 Chief Blaise Metreweli declared that Britain is operating “in a space between peace and war.”</p>
<p>She vowed covert retaliation against Putin’s sabotage campaigns, stating her operatives must “seek to outplay them.</p>
<p>“In every domain. In every way.”</p>
<p>Invoking the spirit of the World War II Special Operations Executive, she said Britain’s wartime Prime Minister Winston Churchill’s famous call to “set Europe ablaze” serves as an inspiration to modern British intelligence.</p>
<p>Metreweli warned: “It is not enough to understand the world. We must shape it too.”</p>
<p><strong>WATCH:</strong></p>
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<p>Her remarks, paired with Knighton’s, paint a picture of a government openly preparing the British public for both visible and covert conflict with a nuclear power.</p>
<p><strong>NATO’s New Warning: “Conflict Is at Our Door”</strong></p>
<p>As Slay News previously <a href="https://slaynews.com/news/nato-chief-urges-europe-prepare-war-russia-widespread-suffering-extreme-losses/">reported</a>, NATO Secretary-General Mark Rutte has been sounding similar alarms, <a href="https://rumble.com/v72zaqk-nato-chief-urges-europe-to-prepare-for-ww3-with-russia-widespread-suffering.html">telling</a> European leaders that they must prepare for war “like our grandparents endured.”</p>
<p>He warned that the UK and other NATO countries are next in Russia’s sights, insisting:</p>
<p>“We are Russia‘s next target… Conflict is at our door.</p>
<p>“Russia has brought war back to Europe. And we must be prepared.”</p>
<p>Rutte said too many Western nations are “quietly complacent” and failing to understand the urgency of the moment.</p>
<p><strong>WATCH:</strong></p>
<p><script>!function(r,u,m,b,l,e){r._Rumble=b,r[b]||(r[b]=function(){(r[b]._=r[b]._||[]).push(arguments);if(r[b]._.length==1){l=u.createElement(m),e=u.getElementsByTagName(m)[0],l.async=1,l.src="https://rumble.com/embedJS/u2rucl"+(arguments[1].video?'.'+arguments[1].video:'')+"/?url="+encodeURIComponent(location.href)+"&args="+encodeURIComponent(JSON.stringify([].slice.apply(arguments))),e.parentNode.insertBefore(l,e)}})}(window, document, "script", "Rumble");</script></p>
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<p>The coordinated messaging coming from Britain, France, Germany, and NATO is unmistakable.</p>
<p>Western governments are normalizing the expectation of large-scale conflict and conditioning their citizens to accept casualties, even among the young.</p>
<p>Knighton’s blunt statement that Britain must be ready to “lose its sons and daughters” is not a minor policy comment.</p>
<p>It marks a dramatic escalation in rhetoric, signaling that the political class is preparing the public for sacrifice rather than pursuing de-escalation or diplomatic <a href="https://slaynews.com/news/leaked-call-exposes-european-plot-sabotage-trump-ukraine-russia-peace-deal/">peace efforts</a>.</p>
<p>Source: <a href="https://slaynews.com/news/uk-defense-chief-warns-public-whole-nation-must-prepare-fight-russia-ww3/" target="_blank" rel="noopener"> https://slaynews.com/news/uk-defense-chief-warns-public-whole-nation-must-prepare-fight-russia-ww3/</a></p>
<p>Bitchute: <a href="https://www.bitchute.com/channel/YBM3rvf5ydDM/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">https://www.bitchute.com/channel/YBM3rvf5ydDM/</a></p>
<p>Gab: <a href="https://gab.com/hopegirl" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">https://gab.com/hopegirl</a></p>
<p>Telegram: <a href="https://t.me/Hopegirl587" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">https://t.me/Hopegirl587</a></p>
<p>EMF Protection Products: <a href="http://www.ftwproject.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">www.ftwproject.com</a></p>
<p>QEG Clean Energy Academy: <a href="http://www.cleanenergyacademy.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">www.cleanenergyacademy.com</a></p>
<p>The post <a href="https://www.hopegirlblog.com/2025/12/17/uk-defense-chief-warns-public-whole-of-nation-must-prepare-to-fight-russia-in-ww3/">UK Defense Chief Warns Public: ‘Whole of Nation’ Must Prepare to ‘Fight’ Russia in WW3</a> appeared first on <a href="https://www.hopegirlblog.com">HopeGirl Blog</a>.</p>
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		<post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">20134</post-id>	</item>
		<item>
		<title>‘It will destroy this place:’ Tucker County residents fight for future against proposed data center</title>
		<link>https://www.hopegirlblog.com/2025/08/05/it-will-destroy-this-place-tucker-county-residents-fight-for-future-against-proposed-data-center/</link>
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		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Hope]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Tue, 05 Aug 2025 22:59:18 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[ALTERNATIVE NEWS]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[data center]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[DESTROY]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[fight]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[future]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[place]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[residents]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Tucker County]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.hopegirlblog.com/?p=18665</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[<img width="300" height="175" src="https://www.hopegirlblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/ashburn-virginia-2048x1192-1-300x175.jpeg" class="webfeedsFeaturedVisual wp-post-image" alt="ashburn-virginia-2048x1192" style="display: block; margin: auto; margin-bottom: 5px;max-width: 100%;" link_thumbnail="" decoding="async" loading="lazy" /><p>As a little known company has proposed a data center and natural gas plant in the tourism destination — known for its natural wonder and outdoor recreation — residents are left with questions, mounting concerns and few answers.</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://www.hopegirlblog.com/2025/08/05/it-will-destroy-this-place-tucker-county-residents-fight-for-future-against-proposed-data-center/">‘It will destroy this place:’ Tucker County residents fight for future against proposed data center</a> appeared first on <a href="https://www.hopegirlblog.com">HopeGirl Blog</a>.</p>
]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<img width="300" height="175" src="https://www.hopegirlblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/08/ashburn-virginia-2048x1192-1-300x175.jpeg" class="webfeedsFeaturedVisual wp-post-image" alt="ashburn-virginia-2048x1192" style="display: block; margin: auto; margin-bottom: 5px;max-width: 100%;" link_thumbnail="" decoding="async" loading="lazy" /><p>As a little known company has proposed a data center and natural gas plant in the tourism destination — known for its natural wonder and outdoor recreation — residents are left with questions, mounting concerns and few answers.</p>
<p>As a child, Nikki Forrester dreamed of living in a cabin in the woods surrounded by mountains, trees, water and the outdoor opportunities that came with the natural land. In 2022 — four years after earning her graduate degree and moving to Tucker County from Pittsburgh — Forrester and her partner made that dream a reality when they bought two acres of land near Davis, West Virginia to build a home.</p>
<p>Forrester has thrived in the small mountain town known for its mountain biking, hiking, stargazing, waterfalls and natural scenery. She and her partner moved into their new home in February. Hiking and biking trails are right outside her front door. In the winter, she said, snow piles up making the nearby mountains look like “heaven on Earth.”</p>
<p>It’s been quite literally a dream come true.</p>
<p>“I feel like I’ve never felt at home so much before. I love being in the woods. I love this community. It’s super cheesy, but this was my childhood dream and now it’s actually come true,” Forrester said. “It felt so good to set down roots here. We knew Davis was where we wanted to start our future.”</p>
<p>But in March, <a href="https://wvlegals.com/air-quality-permit-notice-ridgeline-facility/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">one small public notice</a> posted in the Parsons Advocate — noticed by resident Pamela Moe, who <a href="https://goodmenproject.com/featured-content/big-tech-comes-to-tucker-county-wv/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">scrambled to find answers</a> after seeing it — changed Forrester’s assumptions about that future.</p>
<p>A Virginia-based company, Fundamental Data, was applying for an air permit from the West Virginia Department of Environmental Protection for what it called the “Ridgeline Facility.” The company’s heavily redacted application showed plans to build an off-the-grid natural gas power plant between Thomas and Davis. That power plant will likely be designed to power an enormous data center just a mile out from Tucker County’s most populous and tourist-attracting areas.</p>
<p>Earlier this month, representatives for Fundamental Data — who did not respond to requests for comment on this article — told the <a href="https://www.wsj.com/us-news/climate-environment/west-virginia-data-centers-2f9c9ece?gaa_at=eafs&amp;gaa_n=ASWzDAiFdj4jUk-0Zgej-IlzHspoV48J_gK1RkllBnh77CcYQJTGbX3mVzEEuHaH7VA%3D&amp;gaa_ts=68365f24&amp;gaa_sig=24YlvCnk0b4z7sdTCQ6PYz0eQs7FZwvPEP2JKpoLh1tZw7mUudZGJ74Jjw-wwhvz8Ip-h4Q4XyA0Ct1BXI5PDg%3D%3D" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Wall Street Journal</a> that the facility could be “among the largest data center campuses in the world,” spanning 10,000 acres across Tucker and Grant counties if fully realized.</p>
<p>Now, Forrester said, she and her neighbors are in the middle of what feels like a “fight for [their] lives” as they attempt to learn more about the vague development plans and fight against “big data.”</p>
<p>Her images of the future — skiing on white snow, hiking through waterfalls, looking up at clear and starry nights all with one-of-a-kind mountain scenery below — now exist in the shadows of a looming natural gas plant, an industrial complex and the contaminants that could come with them. The fresh, mountain air that surrounds her home and community could be infiltrated by tons of nitrogen oxide (gases that contribute to smog), carbon monoxide, particulate matter and other volatile organic compounds, per the company’s air permit application.</p>
<p>“Honestly, I feel like if this happens, it will destroy this place. People come here because it’s remote, it’s small, it’s surrounded by nature. If you have a giant power plant coughing up smoke and noise pollution and light pollution, it puts all of those things in jeopardy,” Forrester said. “It would honestly make me question whether I would want to live here anymore, because I do love the landscapes here so much, but they would be fundamentally altered and, I think, irreparably harmed if this actually comes to be.”</p>
<h4 class="editorialSubhed">Tucker United and a fight against the many ‘unknowns’</h4>
<p>Since learning of the project in March, Forrester and dozens of other Tucker County residents have banned together and formed <a href="https://www.tuckerunited.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Tucker United</a>. The residents — all volunteers — <a href="https://countryroads.substack.com/p/data-center-plan-draws-fierce-opposition" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">want answers</a> from Fundamental Data or anyone else regarding details of the proposed Ridgeline facility.</p>
<p>But that fight hasn’t been easy. The state DEP <a href="https://www.wvgazettemail.com/news/energy_and_environment/dep-oks-confidentiality-claims-in-expected-data-center-projects-air-permit-requests/article_27cbe41c-70c3-4cdc-b1e0-1e315c099d07.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">has allowed</a> Fundamental Data — a company with <a href="https://countryroads.substack.com/p/visit-to-fundamental-datas-office" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">little to no information</a> publicly available — to submit a <a href="https://www.wvgazettemail.com/news/energy_and_environment/dep-questions-data-center-developer-confidentiality-claims-in-air-permit-requests/article_d635a030-f14c-4daa-be66-f15c27bd9d41.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">redacted</a> air permit application, omitting details regarding potential air pollutants that could come from the site.</p>
<figure id="attachment_10062" class="wp-caption aligncenter"><a href="https://westvirginiawatch.com/2025/05/28/it-will-destroy-this-place-tucker-county-residents-fight-for-future-against-proposed-data-center/screenshot-7/" rel="attachment wp-att-10062"><img fetchpriority="high" decoding="async" class="wp-image-10062 size-large" src="https://westvirginiawatch.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/Screenshot-2025-05-27-at-4.16.45%E2%80%AFPM-1024x638.jpeg" sizes="(max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px" srcset="https://westvirginiawatch.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/Screenshot-2025-05-27-at-4.16.45 PM-1024x638.jpeg 1024w, https://westvirginiawatch.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/Screenshot-2025-05-27-at-4.16.45 PM-300x187.jpeg 300w, https://westvirginiawatch.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/Screenshot-2025-05-27-at-4.16.45 PM-768x478.jpeg 768w, https://westvirginiawatch.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/Screenshot-2025-05-27-at-4.16.45 PM-1536x956.jpeg 1536w, https://westvirginiawatch.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/Screenshot-2025-05-27-at-4.16.45 PM.jpeg 1850w" alt="" width="1024" height="638" /></a><figcaption class="wp-caption-text"><i class="fas fa-camera"></i> A heavily redacted page from Fundamental Data’s air permit application to the state Department of  Environmental Protection.</figcaption></figure>
<p>According to reporting in <a href="https://countryroads.substack.com/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">Country Roads News</a>, local officials were <a href="https://countryroads.substack.com/p/data-center-plan-draws-fierce-opposition" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">unaware</a> of the project before reporters and members of the public brought it to their attention.</p>
<p>Reading the Wall Street Journal article was the first time most residents were alerted about the potential size of the planned development.</p>
<p>Josh Nease, who lives outside of Thomas and Davis in an unincorporated part of Tucker County, said the unknowns about the project have been the most frustrating part to grapple with.</p>
<p>“There’s no lack of uncertainty right now, that’s for sure,” said Nease, a sixth generation West Virginian who moved to Tucker County after spending vacations there as a child growing up in Bridgeport. “I think the unknowns here are really worrying.”</p>
<p>If given the chance, he would want to ask representatives of Fundamental Data the following questions: Why the lack of transparency? Why does the company want to locate in Tucker County and why not further out from the towns? And why does it feel like there’s resistance against working with the local governments and community members?</p>
<p>Luanne McGovern, an engineer by trade who owns property in Tucker County and who sits on the board of West Virginia Highlands Conservancy, an environmental nonprofit in the region, holds similar frustrations to Nease.</p>
<p>Per the <a href="https://westvirginiawatch.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/FD-air-permit-app.pdf">permit application</a>, the Ridgeline facility — in its currently proposed form — would use gas-fueled turbines with heat recovery steam generators. Diesel would be kept on site in three 10 million gallon storage tanks as a backup power source in case of gas line interruptions. Those tanks would be 66 feet tall and 180 feet in diameter. Leaks from pumps and valves, among other pieces of equipment, are to be expected per the application. Operations for the facility should begin by 2028.</p>
<p>When residents started working together to make sense of Fundamental Data’s air permit application, they asked McGovern to look it over and share her thoughts. Having worked on similar permit requests before, she knew what she was looking at: A large, natural gas power plant.</p>
<p>What was more notable, however, was what she was unable to view.</p>
<p>Pollutants were listed on the request, but only in annual caps. There was no information on water usage despite <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/climate-environment/2023/04/25/data-centers-drought-water-use/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">some data centers</a> using up to 5 million gallons of drinking water a day, <a href="https://utulsa.edu/news/data-centers-draining-resources-in-water-stressed-communities/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">straining resources</a> in communities. While the heights of the diesel storage tanks were included, she said information on the turbines wasn’t.</p>
<p>While the DEP <a href="https://westvirginiawatch.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/Cbi_Response_From_The_Dep.pdf">asked for clarification</a> on Fundamental Data’s redactions following an influx of public comments from concerned residents, the company said it believed the omitted information met the state’s standard for confidentiality. The DEP ended up agreeing.</p>
<p>Fundamental Data, through its representative Casey Chapman, provided some details to the DEP in an attempt to put the public at ease: the site “does not plan” to use water from local water systems, rivers or streams and won’t discharge wastewater into them; mountains surrounding the development should “substantially limit” its visibility from populated areas and the facility “expects” to operate at noise levels that adhere with federal regulations.</p>
<p>But McGovern still had questions.</p>
<p>“Where is the water coming from? How high are these turbines? Where will they be? If we had some answers to these questions, we could do some modeling and figure out what the potential environmental impact would be, but we don’t,” McGovern said. “We’re just completely in the dark. There’s so many unanswered questions. As an engineer, there’s huge parts of this permit that are just bad. There’s no information provided, not even a level of standard of information that you would expect.”</p>
<p>Nease is realistic; he understands that these are complex issues and the state — as well as his region — are attempting to find new ways to bolster the economy and, hopefully, improve West Virginia’s economic standings long term.</p>
<p>He sees the <a href="https://mountainstatespotlight.org/2024/10/02/tucker-county-2024-voter-voices/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">challenges</a> hitting Tucker County residents every day. There’s a housing shortage and short-term rentals are driving up costs for the places that do exist, pricing out residents who can’t afford to live where they work. While tourism can bring in crowds, it’s often only seasonal. The county’s population — like most of West Virginia — is declining.</p>
<p>“I fully understand the need to diversify the economy. I support doing that, we talk about it all the time. I guess I’m just not sure that a project like this is the solution,” Nease said. “We just don’t know enough about it. We don’t know if this is going to benefit the Tucker County economy. I sure hope it does, but all I have to rely on for that are vague statements.”</p>
<h4 class="editorialSubhed">‘It feels extractive:’ West Virginia data centers to operate with no local oversight, questionable economic gains</h4>
<p>On March 18 — <a href="https://countryroads.substack.com/p/data-center-timeline-shows-race-to" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">the same day</a> that Fundamental Data submitted its air permit application to the DEP — <a href="https://www.wvlegislature.gov/Bill_Status/bills_history.cfm?INPUT=2014&amp;year=2025&amp;sessiontype=RS" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">House Bill 2014</a> was introduced at the state Legislature to incentivize data centers to locate in West Virginia and generate their own power sources through microgrids. Senate President Randy Smith, a Republican who represents Tucker County and voted for HB 2014, did not respond to requests for comment on this article.</p>
<p>Despite being a key priority for Gov. Patrick Morrisey who requested its introduction, the bill was presented more than halfway through the state’s 60-day session. In back-and-forths over several weeks, lawmakers amended the bill again and again. One change removed a requirement for microgrids to use renewable energy sources, opening the door for coal and natural gas. Several other amendments changed the tax structure for any property taxes collected on the developments.</p>
<p>The version of the bill that <a href="https://westvirginiawatch.com/2025/04/30/morrisey-signs-priority-bill-meant-to-incentivize-data-centers-micro-grids-locating-in-wv/">now stands as law</a> allows “high impact data centers” to curtail local zoning ordinances and other regulatory processes and establishes a certified microgrid program, which means data centers can produce and use their own power without attaching to already existing utilities.</p>
<p>The law creates a specialized tax structure for data centers and microgrids, which must be placed in designated districts. Local governments have little say or control over those districts, which are established at the state level.</p>
<p>Taxes collected on any data centers and microgrids operating in West Virginia would be split as so: 50% will go to the personal income tax reduction fund, 30% will go to the county where the data center is located, 10% will go to the remaining 54 counties split on a per capita basis using the most recent U.S. Census, 5% will be placed in the Economic Enhancement Grant Fund administered by the Water Development Authority and the final 5% will be put in the newly created Electric Grid Stabilization and Security Fund.</p>
<p>Initially, those taxes were going to be completely diverted away from localities where the data centers would be located, angering county commissioners and other local leaders from throughout the state.</p>
<p>Kelly Allen, executive director of the West Virginia Center on Budget and Policy, said the fact that 50% of any tax revenue collected going to offset the state’s personal income tax cuts is a concern, especially while only 30% will return to localities that host the data centers.</p>
<p>“Local governments are really limited in the ways that they can raise revenue, which is largely controlled by either the state constitution or the state legislature. So taking away a significant slice of one of the only ways that they can raise revenue — through property taxes — leaves [localities] with fewer options to fund basic services,” Allen said. “At the same time, these data centers and micro grids are probably going to increase the need for the public services that local governments pay for.”</p>
<p>Allen pointed to the potential risks that come with operating power plants: county fire and police services will be needed for safety at the plants and water districts may be impacted, she said.</p>
<p>Essentially, she said, counties will be on the hook for funding more services while only receiving a fraction of the revenue generated by the sources of those costs.</p>
<p>And, generally, there’s no guarantee — despite Fundamental Data’s claims for the Tucker County facility — that data centers will serve as massive employers.</p>
<p>Nationwide, according to the U.S. Census, jobs in data centers <a href="https://www.census.gov/library/stories/2025/01/data-centers.html" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">are increasing</a>. But more than 40% of all jobs in 2023 existed in just three states. Per an <a href="https://www.businessinsider.com/data-center-job-boom-in-construction-not-big-tech-2025-3#:~:text=Data%20centers%20contributed%204.7%20million,during%20construction%2C%20and%20less%20after." target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">analysis by Business Insider</a>, most of the data center jobs available are only in construction and contracted from outside the places the centers are located.</p>
<p>Data centers are largely automated. Microsoft, <a href="https://local.microsoft.com/blog/frequently-asked-questions-about-our-datacenters/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">for example</a>, employs just 50 people per a facility. In West Virginia — because of the inclusion of microgrids, which aren’t mandated to be created for data centers — the picture could look different. But again, the lack of details from companies coming here makes the real impact difficult if not impossible to determine.</p>
<p>Allen said she’s wary of the state’s potential reliance on data centers for a financial boom given the state’s history of extraction-based economics.</p>
<p>Like with the coal economy, residents across the state will bear the aesthetic, environmental and health costs associated with living near data centers and their power plants. Most of the profits, however, may not return to them, Allen said.</p>
<p>“It’s not exactly identical to coal or natural gas or timber, but it feels extractive in the same way in that the benefits of the data center are borne by people outside of West Virginia, while the costs are borne by our residents,” Allen said.</p>
<p>Nease said that while he wants to be “pragmatic” about the potential for development in Tucker County, he can’t help but think of the state’s history in that regard either.</p>
<p>“I’m worried we’re going to fall into that same trap again. It’s an age old story — not just for West Virginia. Some people are going to benefit from this project, they just might not be here,” Nease said. “The company will benefit, its [shareholders] will. But will we?”</p>
<h4 class="editorialSubhed">‘A race to the bottom:’ While West Virginia lawmakers want to compete with Virginia, locals say it’s not possible</h4>
<p>While state lawmakers spent hours this legislative session debating how to craft the state’s new law to attract data centers, several couldn’t stop thinking about — or mentioning — neighboring Virginia, where the development of large, high-impact data centers have boomed.</p>
<p>Echoing sentiments shared by Morrisey through his “Backyard Brawl” plan to compete with neighboring states economically, delegates — including Del. Clay Riley, R-Harrison, who sits on the House Committee on Energy and Public Works, where the bill passed — said they wanted to see data center development here thrive like it has in Northern Virginia.</p>
<p>Loudoun County, Virginia has been dubbed “Data Center Alley.” It’s <a href="https://www.nbcnews.com/business/business-news/data-center-boom-worlds-largest-market-not-slowing-dominion-energy-say-rcna204206" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">home</a> to the largest data center market in the world.</p>
<p>But that development didn’t happen overnight, said Julie Bolthouse, director of land use at Piedmont Environmental Council in Virginia.</p>
<p>The industry started building in Northern Virginia in the 1990s and 2000s. Some of the largest data and internet providers at the time were located there. Over time, though, the market has changed.</p>
<p>Bolthouse said what used to be small complexes organized like business parks — featuring restaurants, shopping, day cares and more for people who lived in the region — are now large campuses with few people, no outside amenities and mostly computers and software.</p>
<p>And those “hyper-scaled” complexes — in Virginia and beyond — haven’t come without costs. The pollutants emitted by large centers are known to exacerbate respiratory problems and other health conditions. Residents nearby can hear the incessant buzzing and hums of the computers and generators at work. Light pollution, depending on the size and type of facility, can be impossible to ignore.</p>
<p>But these issues — outside of the environmental ones — vary place to place because of local ordinances.</p>
<p>“That is like the only thing that’s really protecting Virginia communities, because the only way that the people who live in these localities are able to get any kind of protection is because of noise ordinances, because of the lighting ordinances,” Bolthouse said.</p>
<p>In West Virginia under HB 2014, residents won’t have the same protections or powers due to the state’s superseding of local ordinances.</p>
<p>And now, decades into Virginia’s ever changing data center sector, Bolthouse and other environmentalists are seeking more regulations on the state level since the nature of these data centers has changed so much over such a short period of time.</p>
<p>“That’s the push we’re seeing now — for the state to come in and add additional regulations, to look at the environmental impact,” Bolthouse said. “No one is talking about taking away the ability of localities to regulate these facilities. I can’t imagine that.”</p>
<p>And while the landscape for data centers is evolving in Loudoun County and beyond, the reason so many large companies have decided to locate their centers in Northern Virginia goes back to the 1990s. The infrastructure for them to be developed, Bolthouse said, already existed — it wasn’t newly created like West Virginia is attempting to do.</p>
<p>“There’s such a robust fiber network here. These data centers are kind of like a gigantic global computer. They talk to each other, and so the closer they are to all the other cloud providers, the better,” Bolthouse said. “When you put a data center here, your data is stored in Northern Virginia and you are in spitting distance to [Amazon], Google, Microsoft, all the big co-locators … probably every big business has an operation here in Northern Virginia. So it’s like the Wall Street of the data center industry. That’s why they want to locate here.”</p>
<p>Bolthouse warned that without regulations, without protections and without the advantages that Virginia has through its location and infrastructure, West Virginia could be attempting to enter a new sector by inviting in the “worst players.”</p>
<p>“What you’re going to get if you do it this way is the worst players, the ones that didn’t need to be in Northern Virginia … the players that are wanting that lack of regulations because they didn’t want to abide by rules and didn’t want to or need to protect communities, which is worse for West Virginia and the communities,” Bolthouse said. “What West Virginia is doing is not what Virginia is doing.”</p>
<p>She said West Virginia needs to look at the assets it already has, not the assets others in the sector have worked with for decades.</p>
<p>Those assets, in Bolthouse’s words, are the same things that made Forrester feel like her childhood dreams were coming true when she built a home in Tucker County: the state’s “beautiful mountains, its rivers, its natural beauty and outdoor opportunities.”</p>
<p>“That’s what West Virginia should be leveraging. The state shouldn’t be trying to get something that another state has already secured the market on,” Bolthouse said. “I don’t know that West Virginia can become the next Data Center Alley. I don’t think that’s actually feasible … You’re trying to basically have a race to the bottom, and you’re only going to get the worst players.”</p>
<p>Source:  <a href="https://westvirginiawatch.com/2025/05/28/it-will-destroy-this-place-tucker-county-residents-fight-for-future-against-proposed-data-center/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">https://westvirginiawatch.com/2025/05/28/it-will-destroy-this-place-tucker-county-residents-fight-for-future-against-proposed-data-center/</a></p>
<p>Bitchute: <a href="https://www.bitchute.com/channel/YBM3rvf5ydDM/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">https://www.bi,tchut,e.com/channel/YBM3rvf5ydDM/</a></p>
<p>Gab: <a href="https://gab.com/hopegirl" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">https://gab.com/hopegirl</a></p>
<p>Telegram: <a href="https://t.me/Hopegirl587" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">https://t.me/Hopegirl587</a></p>
<p>EMF Protection Products: <a href="http://www.ftwproject.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">www.ftwproject.com</a></p>
<p>QEG Clean Energy Academy: <a href="http://www.cleanenergyacademy.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">www.cleanenergyacademy.com</a></p>
<p>Forbidden Tech Book: <a href="http://www.forbiddentech.website" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">www.forbiddentech.website</a></p>
<p>The post <a href="https://www.hopegirlblog.com/2025/08/05/it-will-destroy-this-place-tucker-county-residents-fight-for-future-against-proposed-data-center/">‘It will destroy this place:’ Tucker County residents fight for future against proposed data center</a> appeared first on <a href="https://www.hopegirlblog.com">HopeGirl Blog</a>.</p>
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		<post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">18665</post-id>	</item>
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		<title>You&#8217;re Not Paranoid-DARPA&#8217;s Ouija Frequency Is ON (Here&#8217;s How to Fight It)</title>
		<link>https://www.hopegirlblog.com/2025/05/30/youre-not-paranoid-darpas-ouija-frequency-is-on-heres-how-to-fight-it/</link>
					<comments>https://www.hopegirlblog.com/2025/05/30/youre-not-paranoid-darpas-ouija-frequency-is-on-heres-how-to-fight-it/#respond</comments>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Hope]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Fri, 30 May 2025 14:00:03 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[ALTERNATIVE NEWS]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[DARPA]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[fight]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[FREQUENCY]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Ouija]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Paranoid]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.hopegirlblog.com/?p=17930</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[<img width="300" height="167" src="https://www.hopegirlblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/under-attack-300x167.jpg" class="webfeedsFeaturedVisual wp-post-image" alt="under attack" style="display: block; margin: auto; margin-bottom: 5px;max-width: 100%;" link_thumbnail="" decoding="async" loading="lazy" /><p>They activated something-and now people are feeling it.</p>
<p>Satellites, low frequencies, DARPA documents... and unexplained fear. In this urgent broadcast, we break down what might actually be causing this "Fear Frequency" and how to protect yourself against it. We also reveal frequencies that counteract the attack-tools, not theories.</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://www.hopegirlblog.com/2025/05/30/youre-not-paranoid-darpas-ouija-frequency-is-on-heres-how-to-fight-it/">You&#8217;re Not Paranoid-DARPA&#8217;s Ouija Frequency Is ON (Here&#8217;s How to Fight It)</a> appeared first on <a href="https://www.hopegirlblog.com">HopeGirl Blog</a>.</p>
]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<img width="300" height="167" src="https://www.hopegirlblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/05/under-attack-300x167.jpg" class="webfeedsFeaturedVisual wp-post-image" alt="under attack" style="display: block; margin: auto; margin-bottom: 5px;max-width: 100%;" link_thumbnail="" decoding="async" loading="lazy" /><p>They activated something-and now people are feeling it.</p>
<p>Satellites, low frequencies, DARPA documents&#8230; and unexplained fear. In this urgent broadcast, we break down what might actually be causing this &#8220;Fear Frequency&#8221; and how to protect yourself against it. We also reveal frequencies that counteract the attack-tools, not theories.</p>
<div class="jetpack-video-wrapper"><iframe class="youtube-player" width="640" height="360" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/4a8wK_HazXw?version=3&#038;rel=1&#038;showsearch=0&#038;showinfo=1&#038;iv_load_policy=1&#038;fs=1&#038;hl=en-US&#038;autohide=2&#038;wmode=transparent" allowfullscreen="true" style="border:0;" sandbox="allow-scripts allow-same-origin allow-popups allow-presentation allow-popups-to-escape-sandbox"></iframe></div>
<p>Source:  <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4a8wK_HazXw" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4a8wK_HazXw</a></p>
<p>Bitchute: <a href="https://www.bitchute.com/channel/YBM3rvf5ydDM/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">https://www.bi,tchut,e.com/channel/YBM3rvf5ydDM/</a></p>
<p>Gab: <a href="https://gab.com/hopegirl" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">https://gab.com/hopegirl</a></p>
<p>Telegram: <a href="https://t.me/Hopegirl587" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">https://t.me/Hopegirl587</a></p>
<p>EMF Protection Products: <a href="http://www.ftwproject.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">www.ftwproject.com</a></p>
<p>QEG Clean Energy Academy: <a href="http://www.cleanenergyacademy.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">www.cleanenergyacademy.com</a></p>
<p>Forbidden Tech Book: <a href="http://www.forbiddentech.website" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">www.forbiddentech.website</a></p>
<p>The post <a href="https://www.hopegirlblog.com/2025/05/30/youre-not-paranoid-darpas-ouija-frequency-is-on-heres-how-to-fight-it/">You&#8217;re Not Paranoid-DARPA&#8217;s Ouija Frequency Is ON (Here&#8217;s How to Fight It)</a> appeared first on <a href="https://www.hopegirlblog.com">HopeGirl Blog</a>.</p>
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		<post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">17930</post-id>	</item>
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		<title>After 2-year Legal Fight, CDC Releases 780,000 Vaccine Injury Reports From V-safe System &#124; Facts Matter</title>
		<link>https://www.hopegirlblog.com/2024/04/18/after-2-year-legal-fight-cdc-releases-780000-vaccine-injury-reports-from-v-safe-system-facts-matter/</link>
					<comments>https://www.hopegirlblog.com/2024/04/18/after-2-year-legal-fight-cdc-releases-780000-vaccine-injury-reports-from-v-safe-system-facts-matter/#respond</comments>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[Hope]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Thu, 18 Apr 2024 20:00:42 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[ALTERNATIVE NEWS]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[2-year]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[cdc]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[fight]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[legal]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[Releases 780k]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[reports]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[V-safe System]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[vaccine injury]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.hopegirlblog.com/?p=13936</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[<img width="300" height="171" src="https://www.hopegirlblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/780k-vaxx-injured-300x171.png" class="webfeedsFeaturedVisual wp-post-image" alt="780k vaxx injured" style="display: block; margin: auto; margin-bottom: 5px;max-width: 100%;" link_thumbnail="" decoding="async" loading="lazy" /><p>After resisting legal challenges for 2 years, the CDC has finally begun to release tranches of vaccine injury data that came from the self-reporting V-safe system. Let’s go through the history of this legal battle, as well as what the data reveals.</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://www.hopegirlblog.com/2024/04/18/after-2-year-legal-fight-cdc-releases-780000-vaccine-injury-reports-from-v-safe-system-facts-matter/">After 2-year Legal Fight, CDC Releases 780,000 Vaccine Injury Reports From V-safe System | Facts Matter</a> appeared first on <a href="https://www.hopegirlblog.com">HopeGirl Blog</a>.</p>
]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<img width="300" height="171" src="https://www.hopegirlblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2024/04/780k-vaxx-injured-300x171.png" class="webfeedsFeaturedVisual wp-post-image" alt="780k vaxx injured" style="display: block; margin: auto; margin-bottom: 5px;max-width: 100%;" link_thumbnail="" decoding="async" loading="lazy" /><p>After resisting legal challenges for 2 years, the CDC has finally begun to release tranches of vaccine injury data that came from the self-reporting V-safe system. Let’s go through the history of this legal battle, as well as what the data reveals.</p>
<div><a href="https://www.theepochtimes.com/epochtv/after-2-year-legal-fight-cdc-releases-780k-vaccine-injury-reports-from-v-safe-system-facts-matter-exclusive-5626589">Click HERE to watch video</a></div>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>Source: <a href="https://www.theepochtimes.com/epochtv/after-2-year-legal-fight-cdc-releases-780k-vaccine-injury-reports-from-v-safe-system-facts-matter-exclusive-5626589" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">https://www.theepochtimes.com/epochtv/after-2-year-legal-fight-cdc-releases-780k-vaccine-injury-reports-from-v-safe-system-facts-matter-exclusive-5626589</a></p>
<p style="text-align: left;">Bitchute: <a href="https://www.bitchute.com/channel/YBM3rvf5ydDM/" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">https://www.bitchute.com/channel/YBM3rvf5ydDM/</a></p>
<p>Gab: <a href="https://gab.com/hopegirl" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">https://gab.com/hopegirl</a></p>
<p>Telegram: <a href="https://t.me/Hopegirl587" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">https://t.me/Hopegirl587</a></p>
<p>EMF Protection Products: <a href="http://www.ftwproject.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">www.ftwproject.com</a></p>
<p>QEG Clean Energy Academy: <a href="http://www.cleanenergyacademy.com" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">www.cleanenergyacademy.com</a></p>
<p>Forbidden Tech Book: <a href="http://www.forbiddentech.website" target="_blank" rel="noopener noreferrer">www.forbiddentech.website</a></p>
<p>The post <a href="https://www.hopegirlblog.com/2024/04/18/after-2-year-legal-fight-cdc-releases-780000-vaccine-injury-reports-from-v-safe-system-facts-matter/">After 2-year Legal Fight, CDC Releases 780,000 Vaccine Injury Reports From V-safe System | Facts Matter</a> appeared first on <a href="https://www.hopegirlblog.com">HopeGirl Blog</a>.</p>
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			<slash:comments>0</slash:comments>
		
		
		<post-id xmlns="com-wordpress:feed-additions:1">13936</post-id>	</item>
		<item>
		<title>Harnessing the power of light to fight cancer</title>
		<link>https://www.hopegirlblog.com/2016/03/15/harnessing-the-power-of-light-to-fight-cancer/</link>
					<comments>https://www.hopegirlblog.com/2016/03/15/harnessing-the-power-of-light-to-fight-cancer/#respond</comments>
		
		<dc:creator><![CDATA[hopegirl]]></dc:creator>
		<pubDate>Tue, 15 Mar 2016 20:25:31 +0000</pubDate>
				<category><![CDATA[ALTERNATIVE NEWS]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[cancer]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[fight]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[harnessing]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[light]]></category>
		<category><![CDATA[power]]></category>
		<guid isPermaLink="false">https://www.hopegirlblog.com/?p=383</guid>

					<description><![CDATA[<img width="300" height="169" src="https://www.hopegirlblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/532168199_640x360-300x169.jpg" class="webfeedsFeaturedVisual wp-post-image" alt="532168199_640x360" style="display: block; margin: auto; margin-bottom: 5px;max-width: 100%;" link_thumbnail="" decoding="async" loading="lazy" /><p>Immunotherapy is one of the hottest emerging areas of cancer research. After all, using the...</p>
<p>The post <a href="https://www.hopegirlblog.com/2016/03/15/harnessing-the-power-of-light-to-fight-cancer/">Harnessing the power of light to fight cancer</a> appeared first on <a href="https://www.hopegirlblog.com">HopeGirl Blog</a>.</p>
]]></description>
										<content:encoded><![CDATA[<img width="300" height="169" src="https://www.hopegirlblog.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/01/532168199_640x360-300x169.jpg" class="webfeedsFeaturedVisual wp-post-image" alt="532168199_640x360" style="display: block; margin: auto; margin-bottom: 5px;max-width: 100%;" link_thumbnail="" decoding="async" loading="lazy" /><p>Immunotherapy is one of the hottest emerging areas of cancer research. After all, using the body&#8217;s own cells to fight cancer can be more effective and less invasive than flooding the entire system with toxic chemicals.</p>
<p>Yubin Zhou, Ph.D., assistant professor at the Center for Translational Cancer Research at the Texas A&amp;M Health Science Center Institute of Biosciences &amp; Technology, is studying how to use light to control the immune system and induce it to fight cancer.</p>
<p>&#8220;Although neuroscientists have been using light to stimulate neurons for years, this is the first time the technique, called optogenetics, has been used in the immune system,&#8221; Zhou said. In neuroscience, the process involves genetically engineering cells to produce proteins from light-sensitive microbes and results in nerve cells that will either send &#8212; or stop sending &#8212; nerve impulses when they are exposed to a particular color of light. &#8220;Neuroscientists have learned a lot about brain circuits using the technique,&#8221; Zhou said, &#8220;and now researchers in many other fields are giving it a try.&#8221;</p>
<p>Zhou and his collaborators have modified the technique for the immune system. It wasn&#8217;t easy: unlike nerve cells, immune cells don&#8217;t use tiny electrical impulses to communicate. Additionally, immune cells are located deep in the body and are constantly moving around, so getting the light to them can be difficult.</p>
<p>The development took some ingenuity and cooperation. &#8220;We collaborated with Dr. Gang Han at the University of Massachusetts Medical School who does bionanotechnology and photomedicine development,&#8221; Zhou said. &#8220;Together, we were able to combine state-of-the-art optogenetic approaches with cutting edge nanotechnology.&#8221; Called optogenetic immunomodulation, their method was featured in a recently published article in <em>eLife</em>.</p>
<p>&#8220;This work was driven by talented scientists in the lab: graduate students Lian He and Peng Tan and postdoctoral research fellow Guolin Ma, Ph.D.,&#8221; Zhou said, &#8220;who fearlessly undertook this daunting project and overcame all the challenging obstacles to make this technique into reality.&#8221;</p>
<p>With this method, the researchers can control the action of immune cells and &#8220;instruct&#8221; them to kill cancerous tumor cells. They use a near-infrared laser beam, which can penetrate deep &#8212; in this context, deep means a centimeter or two &#8212; into the tissue, where a nanoparticle turns the near-infrared light into blue light, and that directs the activity of genetically engineered immune cells. &#8220;We are able to wirelessly control the action of immune cells buried deep in tissue,&#8221; Zhou said.</p>
<p>The team genetically engineered immune cells so that a calcium gate-controlling protein became light sensitive. When they are exposed to the blue light emitted by the nanoparticle, their calcium ion gates open. When the light is turned off, the gates close. More light leads to a greater flow of calcium, so the researchers are able to finely tune the calcium-dependent actions of immune cells to fight against invading pathogens or tumor cells.</p>
<p>When an animal tumor model was injected with both the nanoparticle and the light-sensitive genetically engineered immune cells, the near-infrared laser beam caused calcium channels to open, which boosted an immune response to aid the killing of cancer cells. &#8220;The technique reduced tumor size and metastasis, so there are lots of applications,&#8221; Zhou said.</p>
<p>One advantage of this method is that it only activates a certain type of immune cell, the dendritic cell or T-cell, and only in one part of the body, near the draining lymph nodes or tumor, which helps cut down on the system-wide side effects often seen with chemotherapy. It&#8217;s also light-tunable, non-invasive and has great temporal resolution &#8212; in other words, it can be turned on when it is needed and turned off when it is not.</p>
<p>The implications of the research are far-reaching. &#8220;Other scientists will likely use the technique to help them study immune, heart and other types of cells that use calcium to perform their tasks,&#8221; Zhou said. &#8220;It&#8217;s quite a cool technology. With these tools, we can now not only answer fundamental questions of science that we never could before but also translate it into the clinic for disease intervention.&#8221;</p>
<p>In parallel, the Zhou lab has been applying this technique to establish a way to screen potential cancer drugs more effectively. &#8220;If successful,&#8221; Zhou said, &#8220;all these efforts would remarkably improve the current cancer immunotherapies by personalizing the treatment to exactly where and when it is needed, while reducing side effects.&#8221;</p>
<p>The above post is reprinted from materials provided by Texas A&amp;M University.</p>
<p>Journal Reference:</p>
<ol>
<li>Lian He, Yuanwei Zhang, Guolin Ma, Peng Tan, Zhanjun Li, Shengbing Zang, Xiang Wu, Ji Jing, Shaohai Fang, Lijuan Zhou, Youjun Wang, Yun Huang, Patrick G Hogan, Gang Han, Yubin Zhou. Near-infrared photoactivatable control of Ca2 signaling and optogenetic immunomodulation. eLife, 2015; 4 DOI: 10.7554/eLife.10024</li>
</ol>
<p>&nbsp;</p>
<p>(Source:  sciencedaily.com; January 21, 2016; http://tinyurl.com/je44ysf)</p>
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<h4>Read More:</h4>
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<li><a href="http://tinyurl.com/je44ysf" target="_blank">http://tinyurl.com/je44ysf</a></li>
</ul>
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<p>The post <a href="https://www.hopegirlblog.com/2016/03/15/harnessing-the-power-of-light-to-fight-cancer/">Harnessing the power of light to fight cancer</a> appeared first on <a href="https://www.hopegirlblog.com">HopeGirl Blog</a>.</p>
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