Thanks for the clicks, Cardinal readers. Welcome to the latest weekly batch of Tech Briefs, items covering the digital and life sciences landscapes. Look for it every Wednesday in Cardinal News.
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Virginia’s U.S. Senate delegation signed on to a bipartisan letter last week pushing government agencies to expand data collection and public reporting on what impact artificial intelligence is having on the country’s workforce.
Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., and Josh Hawley, R-Mo., led the group in writing the U.S. Department of Labor, Bureau of Labor Statistics and Census Bureau that policymakers and researchers will need reliable federal data to understand coming changes as AI rapidly becomes more enmeshed in industries, according to a news release from Warner’s office.
Warner’s colleague, Sen. Tim Kaine, D-Va., and six other senators from both sides of the congressional aisle signed it.
“The emergence of autonomous technologies, including agentic AI and robotics integrating AI, present opportunities for a dramatic shift in the nature of work,” they wrote. “However, reporting from across the private sector, academia, and media depict an uncertain picture of artificial intelligence’s current and potential impact on the workforce, with some use cases demonstrating a high probability of job disruption and others making the case for employment growth.
“Recent reporting has generated an increased focus on artificial intelligence’s effect on new labor entrants. As such, it is imperative that the federal government serves as an agile, objective, and reliable source of information regarding the significant labor market changes that this technological advancement presents.”
Warner and Hawley had previously teamed on the AI-Related Job Impacts Clarity Act, which would require major companies and federal agencies to report AI-related layoffs to the Department of Labor for a publicly available report, according to the news release. The bill, which they introduced in November, is in the Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions. Kaine signed on as a co-sponsor in January.
Automated aircraft company teams with Virginia Tech for research, flight testing
A Manassas aviation company building automated planes that can take off and land in the space of 150 feet is joining up with a Virginia Tech-run smart airspace program.
Electra-aero Inc. is the first manufacturer to team with the Virginia Advanced Air Mobility Smart Airspace program, according to a Virginia Tech news release. Also on board is NAVOS Air, which the Federal Aviation Administration has authorized to develop instrument flight procedures.
Virginia Tech’s Mid-Atlantic Aviation Partnership, or MAAP, an FAA test site on the Blacksburg campus, is leading the Smart Airspace program, which took off in March 2025 with funding and technical support from the Virginia Department of Aviation. Their work centers on advanced air mobility.
The U.S. Department of Transportation describes advanced air mobility, or AAM, on its website as “a rapidly-emerging new sector of the aerospace industry that aims to safely and efficiently integrate highly automated aircraft into American airspace.”
AAM is a collection of emerging tech applied particularly to new aircraft types. The goal is “agile, affordable and accessible” flights that “drive infrastructure development, employment, and innovation,” according to the Transportation Department site.
The Smart Airspace program’s goal is to create the United States’ first FAA-approved civil instrument flight rules network for advanced air mobility research.
“The instrument flight rules system provides regulations and procedures for pilots relying on instruments, rather than vision, and gives air traffic controllers a clear understanding of flight paths,” according to the Virginia Tech release.
Electra has built the world’s first hybrid-electric ultra-short aircraft, which is a fixed-wing airplane designed to take off and land in spaces as short as 150 feet, while flying at altitudes the Transportation Department listed as lower than 5,000 feet.
The company specializes in the type of craft that Smart Airspace program officials hope to help integrate into the national airspace.
“We are so excited to partner with Electra, as well as a host of other industry experts,” said Tombo Jones, director of MAAP. “As a Federal Aviation Administration test site, our mission is to assist with the safe integration of emergent technology aircraft into the national airspace.
“To unlock the promise of advanced flight, we need both innovative airframes and the new AAM optimized infrastructure to support them. The smart airspace program helps answer this call by serving as a national platform for collaboration among a diverse group of partners who, together, will be instrumental to the path ahead.”
Pembroke co-op receives grant for broadband expansion
Giles County’s broadband connectivity will grow by 89 locations via a $700,000 grant announced last week.
The Appalachian Regional Commission awarded the grant to Pembroke Telephone Cooperative, according to a news release from the office of U.S. Rep. Morgan Griffith, R-Salem. The co-op, known as PemTel, will use the money to install a fiber network serving 74 homes, plus 15 businesses and community anchor institutions.
NRCC’s annual Cyber Day offers free computer tune-up
New River Community College is offering free device services to the public on March 28.
Several NRCC information technology students and Josh Taylor, an IT professor, will work on any Windows or Android laptop, desktop, tablet or phone on Cyber Day, from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m. in Edwards Hall, at the college’s Dublin campus.
The event runs alongside the school’s Family Fun Festival and Campus Cruise In.