Cooling costs to rise, Hampton SPARK Shops, DHS looks to pull some CBP officers: Sunrise Brief

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Top stories: Cooling costs to rise, Hampton SPARK Shops, DHS looks to pull some CBP officers

1. Dominion Energy customers facing financial hardship can get up to $300 in assistance starting June 1.

   Summer cooling expected to increase, how to get assistance in bill payment program

   Home cooling costs are expected to rise significantly this summer. The National Energy Assistance Directors Association projects the average cost of electricity for home cooling will reach $778 this summer — an 8.5 percent increase from last year and nearly 37 percent higher than in 2020. Dominion Energy's Energy Share program provides bill payment assistance for any type of cooling source and is open to any customer experiencing financial hardship — not just those who meet a specific income threshold.

   "Our energy share program is not income-based," explained Cherise Newsome, a Dominion Energy spokesperson. "It's for any customer who is experiencing financial hardship. That could be unexpected medical costs, a temporary interruption in pay, uh, customers who might be experiencing changes or increases in childcare costs. You know, any of those items that throw off your household budget and you need a little bit of help just to get you through, that's what this bill payment assistance is all about."

   Customers must show proof of financial hardship to qualify. Those who qualify may also be eligible for free energy efficiency upgrades for their homes.

2. A space in Peninsula Town Center in Hampton could be the key to a successful future for some small businesses in Hampton.

   SPARK-ing growth: Hampton starting new SPARK Shops program to help small businesses grow

   The city is renting the space to use as a business incubator. Chad Ginter, owner of Ginter services, knows starting a business isn’t easy. He believes what the city of Hampton is doing will be very beneficial for people who go through the program. “Marketing help, networking help, business training for, like, at least a year. I didn’t have any of that," Ginter explained. "that would've been very, very helpful for me."

   All something the program could help with. It’s called SPARK Shops. Gray said it will serve multiple purposes. “It’s for the home-based that’s looking for an opportunity to kind of build their footprint and their customer base with a brick-and-mortar space but without having to do a long-term lease," said Hampton Mayor Jimmy Gray

   According to the city’s website, the program offers a year of development and marketing help, a year of help finding a permanent spot for the business, and three years of mentoring and technical assistance. “The SPARK Shops will also serve as a space for our entrepreneurship academy in Hampton City Schools, for those students who are trying to build businesses to have a retail space that they can learn to develop their businesses and have a place to display goods and services that they provide," Gray said. Anyone interested in SPARK Shops can apply online.

3. The Department of Homeland Security is considering removing Customs and Border Protection officers from international airports in so-called “sanctuary cities.”

   It is unclear how the plan would be implemented, as many U.S. airports are located in Democratic-led cities. Last year, the Department of Justice released a list of jurisdictions it considers sanctuaries for migrants in the country illegally. The DOJ says those cities and states impede the enforcement of federal immigration laws. Many of these jurisdictions argue they are under no obligation to assist federal authorities with immigration violations, such as expired visas and work permits.

   Cities on the list include Chicago, San Francisco, Seattle, Los Angeles and New York — all home to some of the nation’s busiest international airports. “We are currently drawing up plans to say, listen, these sanctuary cities where radical left Democrats aren’t allowing us to do our job and enforce federal laws — we shouldn’t be processing international flights into their cities, either,” Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin said in a Fox News interview.

   Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy pushed back, testifying before Congress last week. “We have people from around the world that need to be able to fly into all different kinds of places,” Duffy said. “We shouldn’t shut down air travel in a state that doesn’t agree with our politics.” In 2025, there were more than 1.8 million international flights carrying 259 million passengers. New York’s JFK was the busiest U.S. airport for international travel, followed by Los Angeles, Miami and San Francisco.

This morning's weather: Scattered showers today, Clearing and cooler tomorrow

Meteorologist Myles Henderson says look for a mix of partly to mostly cloudy skies today. Scattered showers with isolated storms are possible, mainly in the afternoon. Temperatures will top out near 80 today, close to normal for this time of year.
Cooler and breezy tomorrow. Look for clearing skies Tuesday with highs near 70 and a NE wind at 10 to 20 mph.

For the latest weather updates, watch Myles live on News 3 This Morning here.

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