Dentists across the country are raising questions after one of Wisconsin’s largest dental insurance companies purchased a Madison-based dental practice with more than 30 locations. 

The post Dentists across Wisconsin worry after insurance company buys large dental practice appeared first on WPR.

More than 100 waterfront property owners in Wisconsin are backing a petition to require decontamination of wake boats moving between lakes to prevent the spread of invasive species.

The post Wisconsin residents renew call to require decontamination of wake boats appeared first on WPR.

A lobbying group for Wisconsin restaurants lauds several aspects in President Trump's recent reconciliation law. But a Milwaukee chef says the president’s immigration crackdown and tariffs are causing new concerns.

The post Trump’s spending law aims to help the food industry. But Wisconsin restaurant prices are still likely to go up, industry insiders say appeared first on WPR.

For the past two decades, meteorologist Barbara Boustead has been combining her love of and expertise in both the weather and the “Little House” series. Now, she is out with a new book.

The post Were Laura Ingalls Wilder’s stories of extreme weather accurate? appeared first on WPR.

Cathy and Mrs. Chapman’s new business venture hits a serious obstacle; Geordie secretly intervenes in Alphy’s personal life.

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Exploring how the coverage of the unsolved 19th century case of Jack the Ripper created a template for the modern-day true crime obsession.

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The home cooks showcase freshly made bread and fruity treats for the annual Great American Recipe bake sale.

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The library at the Green Bay Correctional Institution. Wisconsin Books to Prisoners and the Wisconsin Department of Corrections plan a second test of having books sent to incarcerated people. (Photo courtesy of Wisconsin Department of Corrections)

The nonprofit Wisconsin Books to Prisoners told the Wisconsin Examiner that another pilot project involving the nonprofit and the Wisconsin Department of Corrections will take place in the next three to four weeks. 

The collaborations between the nonprofit and the department might lead to the books project being permitted to send used books to people incarcerated in prisons across the state. 

The department said last year that it could no longer accept used books from anyone, including the nonprofit. The DOC cited concerns about drug smuggling and alleged that some book shipments tested positive for drugs. This led to scrutiny of the department’s rationale for the used book ban. 

“We have hundreds of requests for books that haven’t been fulfilled since the only-new-books policy was established,” Camy Matthay of Wisconsin Books to Prisoners said over email. 

In an August 2024 email to the books project, a DOC official said the concern was not with the nonprofit but with people who would impersonate it. 

In late June, the books project organizers said they were able to send used and new books to Oakhill Correctional Institution in a pilot program. The books were added to the library collection, making them available for checkout by those who requested them. 

DOC communications director Beth Hardtke said the pilot program was designed to allow the DOC to test and refine its screening process for donated reading materials to ensure safety. 

Hardtke said that between 2019 and 2023, 20 incarcerated people died of drug overdoses in DOC facilities, while none have died of drug overdoses in 2024 or so far in 2025. She also cited a study about harmful effects that can occur when incarcerated people are exposed to drug-soaked paper strips. 

“The goal is to eventually allow WBTP to send reading materials to individuals at any DOC facility — safely,” Hardtke said in late June. 

Hardtke said at the time that starting July 1, WBTP would be able to send requested materials directly to individuals at Oakhill instead of the library.

Instead, the DOC has asked for a second pilot, Matthay said. For that, the books project will send books to a library at a second prison. Matthay said this pilot will take place in the next three to four weeks. 

“Should our books pass inspection without issues at prison number two, WBTP hopes to return to fulfilling our mission, i.e., sending books directly to prisoners who request books from us,” Matthay said. 

She said the group is not likely to return to sending books to prisoners directly before September. 

Matthay said that per the DOC’s request, the group will no longer fulfill requests for specific titles. Instead, prisoners are asked to request books by subject matter or genre. 

She said the group provides tracking numbers that will validate the source of the books, and that the nonprofit will also include embossed receipts. 

According to Wisconsin Books to Prisoners, in August 2024, the group asked the DOC if the organization could resolve the concerns about impersonation by providing a postal service tracking number for every package of books it ships. 

Hardtke said the department recognizes the importance of education and books as part of rehabilitation and maintains libraries at all institutions, offers books on electronic tablets and has educational partnerships with the University of Wisconsin System and the state’s technical colleges. 

Critics have raised questions about the quality of the selection on the tablets and whether the quality of the libraries varies by institution. 

Matthay said that when boxes of books have been returned to the nonprofit over the years, the cause was confusion in the mailrooms. 

In late June, the nonprofit said that many of the packages of new books sent to prisoners had been returned to the group. Sending new books to prisoners is not banned by the DOC. 

“We think this problem will resolve itself,” Matthay said, as the DOC establishes better lines of communication between the agency’s headquarters and the institutions that take in the books. 

“The DOC understands that this will improve security for WBTP as well as the DOC,” Matthay said. She added that “it is also understood that when these pilots are completed and if we get a greenlight, that the new policy — whatever that may be — needs to be clearly communicated to all employees (and prisoners too) to avoid confusion.”

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Multiple ambulances and police vehicles respond to a shooting at CrossPointe Community Church in Wayne, Mich., in June. Homicides fell 17% in the first half of 2025 compared with the same period in 2024, according to the Council on Criminal Justice’s latest crime trends report. (Photo by Emily Elconin/Getty Images)

Amid recent political rhetoric about rising crime and violence in American cities, a new analysis shows that violent crime has continued to decline this year.

Homicides and several other serious offenses, including gun assaults and carjackings, dropped during the first half of 2025 across 42 U.S. cities, continuing a downward trend that began in 2022, according to a new crime trends report released Thursday by the nonpartisan think tank Council on Criminal Justice.

Homicides fell 17% in the first half of 2025, compared with the same period in 2024, among the 30 cities that reported homicide data, according to the report.

During that same period, five cities saw increases in homicide — ranging from 6% in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, to 39% in Little Rock, Arkansas.

While the report’s authors say the continued drop in violent crime — especially homicides — is encouraging, they note that much of the decline stems from a few major cities with historically high rates, such as Baltimore and St. Louis.

More than half of the cities studied have higher homicide rates than before the COVID-19 pandemic. Overall, though, the analysis found that there were 14% fewer homicides during the first half of 2025 compared to the same period in 2019.

The authors say more research is needed before crediting any specific policy or practice for the continued drop in violent crime.

The group’s findings come as President Donald Trump continues to amplify concerns about crime, at times citing misleading statistics and narratives.

In a Truth Social post earlier this week, Trump claimed that cashless bail — a practice that allows people charged with a crime to be released pretrial without paying money, unless a judge deems them a threat to public safety — were fueling a national crime surge and endangering law enforcement.

He wrote: “Crime in American Cities started to significantly rise when they went to CASHLESS BAIL. The WORST criminals are flooding our streets and endangering even our great law enforcement officers. It is a complete disaster, and must be ended, IMMEDIATELY!”

Some research suggests that setting money bail isn’t effective in ensuring court appearances or improving public safety. Opponents of ending cash bail often raise concerns that released suspects might commit new, potentially more serious crimes. While that is possible in individual cases, studies show that eliminating cash bail does not lead to a widespread increase in crime.

The Truth Social post also marked a sharp shift from Trump’s remarks during a June roundtable with the Fraternal Order of Police, where he claimed the national murder rate had “plummeted by 28%” since he took office — a figure that overstates the decline and overlooks the fact that murder rates began falling well before he returned to office.

According to data consulting firm AH Datalytics, which manages the Real-Time Crime Index — a free tool that collects crime data from more than 400 law enforcement agencies nationwide — the number of homicides between January and May 2025 was 20.3% lower than the same period in 2024.

Similarly, data released in May by the Major Cities Chiefs Association showed that homicides fell roughly 20% in the first quarter of 2025 compared with the first three months of the prior year. The group’s data is based on a survey of 68 major metropolitan police departments nationwide.

Researchers at the Council on Criminal Justice note in their report that it’s difficult to pinpoint a single reason for the drop in homicides, but they note that fewer people appear to be exposed to high-risk situations, such as robberies.

Most major crimes fell in the first half of 2025 compared with the same period last year, according to the council’s report.

Motor vehicle thefts dropped by 25%, while reported gun assaults fell 21%. Robberies, residential and non-residential burglaries, shoplifting, and aggravated and sexual assaults also saw double-digit declines

Drug offenses held steady, while domestic violence reports rose slightly — by about 3%. Carjackings declined 24% and larcenies were down 5%.

Compared with the first half of 2019, before the pandemic and nationwide reckoning over racial justice and policing, overall homicides are down 14%, robberies by 30%, and sexual assaults by 28%.

Still, more than 60% of the cities in the council’s study sample report homicide rates that remain above 2019 levels.

Motor vehicle theft remains the only crime tracked in the report that is still elevated compared to pre-pandemic levels — up 25% since 2019 — although it has declined sharply since 2023.

The council also released another analysis on the lethality of violent crime, showing that while violent incidents have decreased, the share of violence that ends in death has increased significantly. In 1994, there were 2 homicides per 1,000 assaults and about 16 per 1,000 robberies. By 2020, those figures rose to 7.2 and 55.8, respectively.

Stateline reporter Amanda Hernández can be reached at ahernandez@stateline.org.

Stateline is part of States Newsroom, a nonprofit news network supported by grants and a coalition of donors as a 501c(3) public charity. Stateline maintains editorial independence. Contact Editor Scott S. Greenberger for questions: info@stateline.org.

As electric vehicle become more common, the conversation is shifting from how many are being sold to how well they’re being supported. A new study suggests that dealership service departments may not be keeping up.

Also: EV Crash Claims Jump 38%, And Repairs Are Pricier Than Ever

Based on customer survey data, the report reveals that 82 percent of EV buyers are open to purchasing another one. What’s shocking, though, is that this high level of satisfaction comes despite 85 percent needing some form of dealership service within the first year.

In the first half of 2025, more than 607,000 electric vehicles were sold in the United States, setting a new record. That surge may partly reflect a rush to buy before federal incentives begin phasing out. Those growing adoption numbers might make a concerning statistic even more challenging, too. EV owners who were able to get same-day service for their cars dropped from 40 percent in 2023 to just 28 percent in 2024.

Wait Times Are Increasing

That’s one of many data points we’re learning about via a new study from CDK Global. It also tells us that owners who had to wait three days or more jumped from 9 percent to 14 percent between those two years.

Nearly a third of EV owners said servicing their electric vehicle took longer than a gas-powered one, with non-Tesla drivers feeling the wait more acutely. According to CDK, 34 percent of non-Tesla owners reported longer service times, compared to just 23 percent of Tesla owners. On the bright side, 53 percent of non-Tesla drivers said EV service cost less than gas vehicle maintenance, compared to 41 percent of Tesla owners.

“We know dealers are prepared for EV service, but our most recent findings show EV owners are waiting longer to have their cars serviced, and it’s taking multiple visits to have their issue resolved,” David Thomas, director of content marketing and automotive industry analyst at CDK, told Auto News.

How Long Did EV Service Take from Drop-Off to Completion?

While lots of owners had their issues fixed in a single trip, repeat visits to the dealer are on the rise. Just 65 percent of non-Tesla owners reported one-and-done service experiences. A whopping 21 percent needed four or five visits to fix their problem. That certainly sounds familiar, given some of the strange service issues we’ve covered here.

Not All the News Is Bad

The study isn’t without its upsides, though. Only 13 percent of EV owners said they had to pay out of pocket for service. 16 percent of appointments were recall-related, and that figure split evenly between Tesla and other brands.

Mobile service is also expanding, with 19 percent of owners reporting that a technician came to them to work on their car in 2024, up from 14 percent the year before. Dealer pickups are slowly gaining traction as well, climbing from 6 percent in 2023 to 9 percent in 2024.

Finally, it’s important to point out that this study is entirely based on customer surveys. These are electric vehicle owners, so while they do have first-hand experience, the data gathered here isn’t unquestionable. As is the case with any survey, bias is a major concern and almost certainly a factor in the results. That said, some statistics mentioned here, like how long service took, are likely good indicators of the average ownership experience. 

Imagine coming back home after a couple of weeks away to find your six-figure EV dead as a doornail. If it had been unplugged the whole time, slowly draining its battery, the situation might have made more sense. But in this case, the Cybertruck in question was connected to a charger the entire time.

More: Tesla Suddenly Wants You To Buy Now After Years Of Opposing EV Credits

When the owner, AJ Esguerra, returned to his Cybertruck after two weeks away, he realized it had been getting juice for almost two straight weeks. Parked in scorching-hot Arizona, he worried he’d fried something for good. One message to Tesla service ended up being all he needed.

Unexpected Silence After Two Weeks Plugged In

The initial worry for Esguerra was real. He posted to the Cybertruck Owner’s Club on Facebook looking for insight. “Need some help- we were on vacation for 2 weeks and just returned and the CT won’t power on at all. I looked at my app and it says it last connected 11 days ago,” he wrote.

Given the conditions, he thought perhaps the heat waves passing through Arizona might have come together with a constant trickle charge and ruined something on the truck.

“We’ve had record heat the past week. Is it possible it overheated and damaged the battery or can I try a master reset before I set up a service call,” he asked fellow owners. Responses were mostly kind but a few probably weren’t what he wanted to hear.

“It’s bricked bro…” said one person. “An insurance fire is the only solution,” said another. Thankfully, some folks provided reassurance and simply directed him to contact Tesla service. When he did, the ball rolled quickly downhill.

“Tesla service is on the way. Quick response through app and received a call immediately,” Esguerra says. From there, the technicians jumped the truck to life, towed it to a service center, and dug deeper.

The Real Culprit

What they found was that the power converter failed. According to AJ, it had nothing to do with charging the truck or the heat or the combination of the two. In fact, he says that Tesla told him to just leave it plugged in for as long as he wants.

“They recommend to keep it on the charger at all times. It will stop charging when it’s full. He said they have a lot of snowbirds with CTs that leave for months and keep it on the charger with no issues,” he says.

In a world full of cases where cars break and warranty or service work ends up being less than ideal, this is a nice break from that disappointment. AJ says he’s back on the road and that Tesla covered everything. That’s as happy an ending as one could hope for here. 

The twilight zone of the ocean is a mysterious place. At 200-1000 meters below the surface, it's a tough place to study. That's why, during World War II, people reading sonograms from this zone were perplexed when it looked as if the ocean floor was moving up. Every day. And then back down again before dawn. In this latest installment of Sea Camp, we explore what this historical mystery has to do with the Earth's ability to cycle and store carbon in the ocean's watery depths.

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The head of United Shipbuilding believes that Russia's only aircraft carrier, the Admiral Kuznetsov, will be decommissioned - a fate that Western analysts have long expected for the Soviet-era hulk. 

The Kuznetsov was built in USSR-era Ukraine at the Black Sea Shipyard, and she entered commissioned service in 1991, just as the Soviet Union collapsed. Shortly after her commissioning, the newly-independent Ukrainian government sent the commanding officer a letter of demand, claiming the ship as Ukrainian property and ordering that she be held in Sevastopol; the Russian Navy quickly ordered her departure and moved her out of reach. 

Kuznetsov is part of Russia's Northern Fleet, and has spent most of her service life in and around Murmansk. She made half a dozen training deployments to the Mediterranean over the decades, supported by Russia's leased base in Tartus, Syria.  

The carrier made a single combat deployment to the Eastern Mediterranean during the Battle of Aleppo in 2016, and she launched 400 sorties in support of dictator Bashar al-Assad's troops during a weeks-long fight. The Syrian campaign presented Russia's first opportunity to test out naval flight operations in combat conditions, with limited success; Kuznetsov lost two fighters due to failures of the ship's arresting gear during the campaign.

In 2017, after returning from the Syrian mission, Kuznetsov entered a shipyard period to replace her boilers and modernize her systems - and she never emerged. A long string of setbacks kept slowing down the project: in 2018, the floating drydock that supported the carrier sank out from beneath her. The dock's sinking left Russia without a facility large enough to drydock the carrier, so a pair of graving docks in Murmansk were combined and enlarged to create enough room to hold her. In 2019, while awaiting completion of the new graving dock, the ship suffered a major fire, which killed two and caused significant damage.  

In May 2022, four years after the floating drydock sank, Kuznetsov finally entered the enlarged graving dock. But by that point, Russia had begun its invasion of Ukraine, cutting off its supply chain for Soviet-compatible marine engines and spares - a niche that Ukrainian factories had filled for Russia's navy since the communist era.

Another fire in December 2022 set back the Kuznetsov's revival further, followed by crewing issues. Kuznetsov's crew was rumored disbanded in 2023, and officials publicly discussed a need to recruit replacements to fill out a 1,500-person roster. By late 2024, public records showed that many of Kuznetsov's crewmembers were reassigned to the front lines with the 1st Guards Tank Army, according to open source analyst David Axe. This prompted predictions from Western commentators that Kuznetzov - now approaching her fourth decade and increasingly obsolete - would be decommissioned. 

On Friday, the head of top Russian defense shipbuilder United Shipbuilding Corp. (USC) told state news outlet Kommersant that Kuznetov will likely be disposed of by sale or demolition. "We believe there is no point in repairing it anymore. It is over 40-years old, and it is extremely expensive," Andrei Kostin, head of shipyard owner VTB Bank, told Kommersant.

His comments followed earlier reports in Russian media that the project was under review. "The future belongs to carriers of robotic systems and unmanned aircraft," former Russian Pacific Fleet commander Adm. Sergei Avakyants told Izvestia in early July. "Carriers] can be destroyed in a few minutes with modern weapons."

Admiral Kuznetsov's sister ship, Varyag, was never completed at the Black Sea Shipyard; she was sold to Chinese interests as a hulk. Varyag was towed to Dalian and fitted out, and lives on in service today with the PLA Navy as the Liaoning. 

 

On Saturday night, the Israeli military intercepted and boarded an activist aid ship in international waters, preventing it from approaching Gaza with a cargo of food. 

The British-flagged vessel Handala (AIS reporting name Navarn) got under way from Italy in mid-July, carrying 21 passengers and crew. The vessel's holds were loaded with baby formula and food to provide symbolic relief for the ongoing food shortage in Gaza. 

At a position about 70 nautical miles from Gazan shores, an armed Israeli boarding team came aboard the vessel. The first moments of the interdiction were captured on a social media livestream, which soon ended. After taking command of the vessel, the boarding team changed course and headed for Ashdod; on arrival, the activists were detained and questioned.

pic.twitter.com/gEnomcTTxL

— Prof Zenkus (@anthonyzenkus) July 27, 2025

"The vessel is safely making its way to the shores of Israel. All passengers are safe," the Israeli foreign ministry said in a statement. "Unauthorized attempts to breach the blockade are dangerous, unlawful, and undermine ongoing humanitarian efforts."

A spokesperson for the vessel's operator, the Freedom Flotilla Coalition, said that the unauthorized boarding in international waters was a violation of international law. 

Italian Foreign Minister Antonio Tajani spoke with Israel's foreign minister on Sunday to discuss the fate of two Italian activists who were aboard the vessel. According to Saar, the detainees have two options: sign a prewritten declaration and leave voluntarily, or stay in detention and be forcibly repatriated.

It is the second time this summer that Israel has intercepted and seized a Freedom Flotilla vessel in international waters. The first, the Madleen, was interdicted in June; the passengers on that voyage included activist Greta Thunberg and a member of European Parliament, Rima Hassan. The Madleen's crew reported a suspected drone attack off Malta in May, which delayed its departure for Gaza. 

Israel's government has prohibited inbound vessel traffic to the shores of Gaza for 18 years, part of its attempt to prevent foreign armament from reaching terrorist group Hamas. In light of the current food shortage emergency in the territory, the naval blockade has taken on new meaning, and the Freedom Flotilla Coalition has renewed long-dormant attempts to break it. 

Gaza's Hamas-linked health ministry - the only source of statistical information on population-level health in the Gaza Strip - says that more than 130 people have died of starvation in the territory since the start of the Israeli operation in 2023. More than half were children, according to the ministry. 

Amidst rising diplomatic pressure, Israel announced Sunday that it is allowing more UN aid convoys into Gaza, partially reversing food-delivery restrictions that it has had in place since March. 

 

As Port of Lomé grows its transshipment role in West Africa, major global powers including the U.S and Russia are moving to secure access to the important maritime hub. The increase in volume of trade between Asia and West Africa has seen Lomé port transform into a key regional container port. Major ocean carriers, specifically MSC, have responded by redeploying ultra-large container vessels (ULCVs) to the route. This has come as a major boost for liner connectivity of West African ports including Lomé.

In view of these trade advantages, the U.S has pledged to expand its African market access through Lomé port. Last week, the U.S Embassy in Lomé led by the Chargé d’Affaires Richard C. Michaels conducted a tour of the port facility. The delegation also held a meeting with the management of Lomé Container Terminal (LCT) to explore commercial opportunities for U.S businesses.

“With advanced deep-water capabilities, cutting-edge equipment, and an annual throughput exceeding 30 million tons, Lomé offers U.S businesses unmatched access to African markets. Ongoing infrastructure expansion, including a dry-port and industrial zone further enhances the port’s role as a growing gateway,” commented U.S Embassy in Togo.

The port tour follows shortly after U.S President Donald Trump met five African leaders in Washington. The African leaders were largely from countries in West Africa including Gabon, Guinea-Bissau, Liberia, Mauritania and Senegal. The meeting with Trump concentrated on trade opportunities for both sides, at a time the U.S government is cutting aid in Africa and other regions.

Meanwhile, Russia has ratified its military cooperation agreement with Togo, which was initially signed early this year. As per the agreement, Russia and Togo will jointly hold military exercises, training exchanges and weapons and military equipment support. Notably, the agreement also covers support in hydrography, navigation and combatting piracy.

According to some observers, the agreement will give Russia unfettered access to Togo’s strategic seaport of Lomé. Visit by Russian military ships to ports in Togo is covered by the cooperation.

“Togo is considered the most organized and equipped in Tropical Africa. For example, the busiest seaport in the West African region is located on its territory,” said Vladimir Gruzdev, a member of the Russian Government Commission on Legislative Activity, which drafted the ratification law of the defense cooperation.

Top image: Container terminal at Lome, Togo (Houaito Affo Daniel / CC BY SA 4.0)

 

Authorities in Greece have busted a group of six stevedoring employees for allegedly smuggling drugs through the Port of Piraeus, the third time in three years that workers or officials at the port have been detained in connection with cocaine imports. 

According to local media, the personnel were employed by a private firm that runs cargo operations at Piraeus. They have been charged with participating in international organized crime, and have denied the charges. 

The narcotics were allegedly loaded into reefer containers of bananas departing Ecuador, a common cover cargo for cocaine shipped out of South America. Ecuador's banana producing region near Guayaquil is a major transshipment area for the drug: bananas are a high-volume cargo, so the contaminated shipments are difficult for customs officers to single out. Banana cargoes are commonly shipped to destination markets for cocaine (Europe and North America), making them a convenient carrier. 

Greek police said that they obtained surveillance of the group's communications, and that the scheme was led by an Albanian crime group. The overseers of the scheme used the employees' port access, and would direct them to retrieve drugs out of "dirty" containers. Albanian mafia organizations are among the leading players in cocaine shipping, and are believed to have close ties with Italy's Ndrangheta, an acknowledged leader in European cocaine trafficking.

The arrest follows after a high-stakes raid in the Neo Ikonio sector of Piraues on Monday. Authorities caught four stevedoring employees in the act of recovering cocaine from a shipping container, and a chase ensued: the suspects attempted to get away in a Porsche mini-SUV, and the police shot out its tires to halt their escape. 

 

The fifth generation to run the family business, Randall Crutchfield is both humbled and challenged by his new role.

Welcome, Randall, and congratulations on 150 years of achievement! Let's start with a brief history of the company, in your own words, and some of the milestones along the way.

Yes, sure thing. So my great-great-grandfather, Charles J. Colonna, was a ship's carpenter who settled in Norfolk, working for another gentleman who owned a shipyard, which was just a marine railway. That was the technology back then.

He decided to set out on his own but needed some money to do so. Meanwhile, his older brother, Benjamin A. Colonna, who went to Virginia Military Institute and was the only Colonna of that generation to be able to go to school, had made an agreement with their father that, because he had the opportunity to go to college, he needed to look out for his other siblings. So part of living up to that deal was a $2,000 loan to his brother Charles to build a marine railway here in Norfolk.

And that's how the shipyard started.

A lesser known piece of that history was that the $2,000 was actually not enough to get the shipyard off the ground, and Charles had to borrow another $2,000 a couple of years later. But it all worked out.

In 1891, the Colonnas put in a second and third marine railway. Amazingly, the #3 Marine Railway is still in operation today and is booked solid. So it's very cool to be able to walk folks around and show them that piece of equipment that's been around for 135 years.

What's a marine railway?

It's a way of hoisting ships out of the water so they can be worked on. They were originally powered by horses. Picture a king post in the ground with a chain attached to it and two horses pulling the chain around the post, hauling the ship up. That was our first marine railway, and it could lift 40 tons.

Fast forward to 1920, when the #4 Marine Railway was installed. It had a capacity of 4,000 tons, which we believe was the largest in the world at the time. It was in operation for nearly 100 years and finally retired in 2014.

Amazing! What came next?

We trace our history through different eras, and the first hiccup came during World War I.

We were having conversations with the Department of Defense, which needed more capacity. So we installed the infrastructure to be able to meet that need. But we were a little bit late getting there because the war wound down at the same time we were building out this infrastructure, and we ended up in pretty tight times.

Then came the Great Depression and things were really tight. But we always stayed true to our legacy customers – the fishing boats, the transportation companies locally, barges, dredges and Navy work where and when we could. World War II came and we were busy again, and it was after the war that my granddad took over.

He was a big idea guy, and he took this sort of laid-back shipyard and hired the right managerial staff to grow it successfully. And that led to a lot of expansion.

But there was one last wrinkle. And look, you don't stay around a long time without some hardship. We landed a really nice contract with the Coast Guard in the late '80s. We had just bought a 16,000-ton drydock, and the contract was going to be the next big thing for Colonna. But the government terminated the contract, and we wound up filing Chapter 11 and doing a workout.

But the really cool thing about it is there are still people around who remember those really lean times and can tell stories of how tight things were and the sacrifices people had to make to stay at Colonna's, including foregoing portions of their paycheck for some periods of time.

But they were committed to the vision of the leadership and ownership here, and it wasn't a hard decision for them because they knew we were going to keep our word. That was a really poignant message for me – that folks had faith we were going to do the right thing, even if it was hard. And we did.

A great lesson to learn at any age.

Yes, it was.

So we dug out of that under the leadership of my granddad and a gentleman named Tom Godfrey. We started being really successful in our legacy ship repair work with the marine railways and drydocks, and we became a lot smarter about both the commercial and government work we were doing. That allowed us to start investing heavily in our infrastructure and our corporate structure.

We started Steel America, which is our heavy fabrication machining business. We started doing what we call Down River services at government installations and larger shipyards in the port. And we also started a temporary staffing company called Trade Team, all around the year 2000 timeframe.

So with the shipyard doing well, the legacy ship repair business doing well, and then these other handful of businesses being largely successful from the outset, it allowed us to really expand in granddad's later years.

He bought back several parcels, probably 40 or 50 acres of land that we had gotten rid of over that previous 100 years. And now we're able to incorporate that into what has become a 120-acre waterfront facility.

We added more than 100,000 square feet of industrial shop space with heavy cranes inside to do structural fabrication and machining. We bought a 1,000-ton-capacity marine Travelift in 2009, the largest ever built at the time, and added a third drydock in 2016.

These investments were all successes because we took a long-term approach. We weren't looking for a payback in three years or five years or anything like that. We just felt it was the right thing to do even if it was the hard thing to do.

Well, it's worked for 150 years.

It has. For me, putting things in the context of 150 years and connecting that to the business approach that, if we do the right thing, it's going to pay off long-term, sums up how my granddad and his father and grandfather really thought about the place. They never thought about it as a way to make lots of money for themselves. They always thought about it from the perspective of a caretaker – taking care of the facility and taking care of all the families that have worked here. And that's my perspective too.

Tell us about your management team. Who are the key members?

Yes, so we'll start with Jordan Webb. He's my #2 – President and General Manager. Jordan came to us in 2007, fresh out of Virginia Tech, and he just worked his way up through deck plate repair management – the "school of hard knocks" here at Colonna's.

Chris Hartwig did the same thing. He manages Steel America. He came around 2007 as well, straight out of college. The rest of the leadership team includes Rebecca Wieters, our CFO, who does a great job, and Chris Bates, who runs a company in Owensboro, Kentucky called Accurity Industrial Contractors.

Accurity's an interesting story. We were looking to diversify and wanted companies that matched our culture and also understood the concepts of project management and craftmanship. We met Chris about four years ago and acquired his company two years later. They work in the industrial power market. They're process pipe experts, so think about combined cycle power plants, coal-fired power plants, gas power plants.

It's no different than what we do in the shipyard – project management work that relies on blue collar, skilled tradespeople We've been able to share work back and forth. We've gotten them involved in some Department of Defense work, and they've helped us with some pipefitting on ship repair contracts and ship construction contracts. We're starting to realize certain synergies, which is really positive.

How many employees are there overall?

We typically carry 700 to 800 employees. Accurity in Kentucky generally runs about 100. Our West Coast facility in San Diego, called Colonna's Shipyard West, is only about 30 people, and everything else is here on our Norfolk campus. It's all one big campus – Colonna's Shipyard, Down River, Steel America, Weld America and Norfolk Barge.

You have all of these different divisions, and yet the name of the complany is simply Colonna's Shipyard. Why is that?

Yes, my granddad was firm that that's always going to be the name. It's just part of who we are – being steady and holding true to the legacy. And that's why it's always going to be the name.

Is there a good workforce in your area?

We have some of the greatest people in the U.S. working right here in Norfolk. Unfortunately, too many people have been swayed by the notion that blue collar work isn't for Americans. So we've got some convincing to do to really get folks in the younger age groups to realize that these are great-paying jobs and you don't need a college degree to get them.

What's your biggest concern right now?

I think for the country to be viable for the next generation, the big concern for folks in my position is making sure people realize that shipbuilding and ship repair are necessary not only for our national defense but for how we operate commercially.

So we've got some decisions to make, and they're going to be hard decisions. Do we want to continue to outsource everything we can or do we want to have a domestic manufacturing capability? And if we make a bad decision there, that drives right to the heart of what Colonna's has always been about, which is a blue collar, project management organization. And if as a country we decide that's not important to us, I have to go find something else to do for a living, right? And so do the 800 people that we have employed here.

Heavy stuff! Any final words for our readers?

Yes, I love what I do, and it's humbling for me to have the opportunity to be able to do this and do it for my family and for all the families that have contributed to this place. Just think about the thousands and thousands of people who chose to work here. You can go do anything else in the world.

So I feel a sense of gratitude and also an obligation to those people to do the right thing, even if it's hard, to make the best decisions for all of us as much as possible. And I believe that over time, if you have that intention and that guiding principle, it's going to aggregate to making a lot of good decisions.

Are we going to make bad decisions? Yes, but can we make them fast and then fix them fast? That's really key for me. And that's how I look at things.

Tony Munoz is founder, publisher and editor-in-chief of The Maritime Executive.

 

In the past one decade, Guyana has become a global energy powerhouse, with the oil boom reshaping the country’s international trade. Last year, Guyana’s economy expanded by 44 percent, marking the fifth consecutive year of double-digit growth. But the growing trade is putting a strain on Guyana’s aging port infrastructure. At an event last week by Shipping Association of Guyana, the country’s President Irfaan Ali highlighted wide-ranging port reforms that his government is pursuing.

A key part of this transformation agenda is a legislative reform in the port sector. President Ali announced that a new Port Act is in the drafting process, which will streamline the maritime sector in Guyana.

“We want our ports to be competitive, reliable and future-ready. That is why we are designing a modern Port Act which will govern development, regulation and oversight of port operations. Further, it will ensure safety, efficiency and transparency in the maritime sector,” added Ali.

Currently, port regulations are scattered in several key legislations including the Maritime Zones Act (2010), the Shipping Act 1998 and the Customs Act. Apart from the legal reforms, Guyana’s government is also in the process of establishing an independent Port Authority, which will have mandate to manage ports in the country. This role is currently under the Ports and Harbors Division, within the Maritime Administration Department (MARAD). The proposed Port Authority is an attempt to corporatize port management, as Guyana positions itself as a regional logistics hub.

Other projects on course include the development of a deep-water port in Berbice. The preparations for the $285 million port project has been ongoing since 2020. Early this year, President Ali confirmed that the government is finalizing the project planning in partnership with the international engineering firm Bechtel.

Additionally, the government has invested close to $10 million to remove ship wrecks from the Demerara Harbor, an important entry into Georgetown port. The work is ongoing which includes deepening the harbor, as Guyana moves to attract larger modern vessels.

Early this month, MARAD commissioned a new $3 million tugboat, the second of such vessel to be acquired in the last two years. The new tug Arau is built by Damen Shipyards and is 16 meters long, with a beam of 6 meters. The vessel is capable of towing and maneuvering ships between 10,000-20,000 GT. The expansion of the tugboat fleet is intended to enhance operational efficiency in Guyanese ports, according to MARAD.  

 

[By David Axe]

Unseen, largely unknown and, until recently, highly classified, the US Navy’s vast network of underwater sonars is one of its greatest advantages over rival fleets. The United States can detect many, if not most, enemy submarines through much of the world’s oceans.

A sub that can be detected can also be killed. It’s a profound problem for the Chinese navy as it eyes a possible amphibious assault across the Taiwan Strait. Its growing fleet of quiet attack submarines could protect the landing force—but only if they themselves can avoid detection.

The problem for the US is that the Chinese fully appreciate how vulnerable they are underwater—and they’re actively thinking about ways to end that vulnerability. The US fleet needs new and better ways of defending its underwater sensors during a seabed battle that could get very nasty, very quickly in the months and weeks leading up to a possible Chinese move against Taiwan.

In particular, the US needs more ships that can repair the sensor network at sea. ‘There are only a small handful of vessels capable of such at-sea repairs, fewer than 10 globally, and they are easy targets when on station,’ warned Chris O’Flaherty, a retired Royal Navy captain with deep experience in undersea warfare.

The US Navy was a pioneer in seabed surveillance. In 1950, the service launched the then highly secret Project Jezebel, a generational effort to lay thousands of miles of undersea cable connecting sensitive acoustic sensors to shore stations staffed by sonar analysts.

By the time the navy declassified the Integrated Undersea Surveillance System in 1991, it also included catamaran surveillance ships towing additional acoustic arrays. Today, the system—again largely cloaked in secrecy—probably also features many small drones on the surface and under the waves. Shore sensors, ocean surveillance satellites and reconnaissance aircraft, crewed and uncrewed, also complement the undersea equipment.

It’s not a totally global, totally comprehensive surveillance system—but it’s close. And it vexes naval planners of the People’s Republic of China. ‘The probability that PRC submarines are discovered when leaving port is extremely high,’ Senior Captain Zhang Ning, a faculty member at China’s Naval University of Engineering, wrote along with coauthors in a November 2023 journal article translated by Ryan Martinson, a professor at the US Naval War College.

‘There is a fairly high probability that PRC submarines will be detected and intercepted while operating in the Near Seas’ along the First Island Chain between Philippines and Japan, Zhang and his coauthors warned, according to Martinson. Cued by surveillance, US and allied anti-submarine forces—submarines, ships and aircraft—can cut off Chinese attack boats from the deep water where they could best perform their missions.

But the US surveillance system isn’t invulnerable, Zhang and his coauthors stressed. ‘The authors further argue that the location of individual “nodes” … in the U.S. undersea surveillance system can be located and “removed”,’ Martinson wrote in an analysis of Zhang and company’s own analysis, published by the Center for International Maritime Security.

O’Flaherty listed the ways Chinese forces could disable US undersea sensors. They ranged from the ‘relatively overt’—the deployment of remotely operated vehicles from unhidden surface motherships ‘to go down to almost any depth and to uncover and sever cables’—to ‘semi-covert’ methods. One semi-covert method would be sending autonomous submarines equipped with sonars to find the cables and plant explosive charges to cut them.

The Chinese may want to undertake a covert counter-cable effort far in advance of any attempt to invade Taiwan. Long-range underwater vehicles could ‘leave an explosive charge in the immediate vicinity of a cable, ready for actuation at a time of the owner’s choosing—which could be years hence,’ O’Flaherty said. ‘Actuation of such an explosive can be via a coded acoustic signal, which is very easy to achieve.’

Cables can be repaired, of course—usually by highly trained crew aboard specialized auxiliary vessels. The US Navy operates just one cable-repair ship, the 14,600-ton USNS Zeus, delivered to US Military Sealift Command in 1984. For several years now, the navy has been studying a possible replacement for the aging Zeus, but the service is still years away from signing a contract and cutting steel.

And anyway, there’s no way Zeus and its crew could perform their hard, precise work in contested waters during wartime. As O’Flaherty said, cable ships are ‘easy targets’.

It’s possible the US fleet’s single special-mission submarine—the heavily modified, 12,000-ton USS Jimmy Carter—could covertly deploy divers for select cable repairs. After all, finding, tapping and eavesdropping on the enemy’s cables is reportedly among the boat’s secret missions.

Even with Jimmy Carter on cable duty, the US Navy would be stretched thin trying to safeguard the surveillance system that lends it one of its greatest advantages in wartime. And forget hiring private companies to help. Even if they were willing to risk ships during open conflict, there’s a global shortage of commercial cable vessels. Fewer than 10 are in use, but one trade group claimed the world needs 20.

The US fleet still spends most of its nearly $40 billion annual shipbuilding budget on aircraft carriers, amphibious ships, destroyers, logistics ships and submarines. It had better start prioritizing cable vessels, too—and figure out how to protect them after the shooting starts.

David Axe is a journalist and filmmaker in South Carolina, United States.

This article appears courtesy of The Strategist and may be found in its original form here. 

 

The United Kingdom’s Royal Navy appears about to withdraw its permanently deployed frigate in the Gulf, HMS Lancaster.

HMS Lancaster (F229), a Type 23 frigate, is approaching the much-delayed end to its working life, having been the forward deployed frigate home-based at the UK’s Naval Support Facility in Bahrain. Although the UK has had a naval base in Bahrain since 1935, the facility was rebuilt at the expense of the Kingdom of Bahrain in 2018, on the basis that HMS Juffair, as it was renamed, would be the permanent home station to at least one frigate. Until recently, besides the forward deployed frigate, the base also supported minesweepers of the 9th Mine Counter-Measures Squadron and a Royal Fleet Auxiliary logistics vessel.

When HMS Lancaster returns home within the next few months to be decommissioned, the only Royal Navy operational ship remaining in Bahrain will be the Hunt-class minesweeper HMS Middleton (M34), with the Sandown Class minesweeper HMS Bangor (M109) dry-docked locally for repair after a collision with USS Gladiator (MCM-11).

The withdrawal of HMS Lancaster, notwithstanding the political ramifications, has been necessitated primarily by the withdrawal of Type 23 frigates from service before their replacements - the Type 26 Global Combat Ship and the Type 31 frigate - start coming into service in 2028. Using rotational crews, service aboard HMS Lancaster has generally been popular, as the vessel is almost continual operational - on anti-smuggling duties and committed to keeping the Straits of Hormuz open under the watchful eyes of the Iranian Navy and IRGC. HMS Lancaster has made two major drug seizures in recent months. She has also been trialling the use of Peregrine remote-controlled mini-helicopters for broadening the swathe of its surveillance sweep out to 100 miles while at sea.

HMS Lancaster's crew carries out a drug bust, May 2025 (UK MoD)