Virginia’s film industry is hoping to transform itself into a year-round operation.

Yes, but: First it has to convince the General Assembly to write a few checks.

What’s happening: Lawmakers are fielding an array of proposals to boost the state’s existing film incentives, which in recent years brought productions like "The Good Lord Bird," two seasons of "Swagger," "Dope Sick" and a "The Walking Dead" spinoff.

Why it matters: Lawmakers backing the change argue that the current cap of $10.5 million a year isn’t enough to sustain jobs locally for the mostly Richmond-based crew and production companies that work on set.

• And because productions basically only go to locations with incentives, they say the only way to land more jobs is to dole out more cash.

What they’re saying: People who work in film in Virginia say they spend much of the year traveling to staff productions in other states because work in Virginia dries up as soon as the year’s incentives run out.

• "I'm literally on a job in New York City right now as we speak," Jarrod Russell, a camera operator and gaffer from Richmond, told Axios this week. "It's either go out of state or try to have another line of work."

By the numbers: The state's incentive program, created in its current form by former Gov. Bob McDonnell in 2013, lags behind neighbors, according to the Virginia Film Office.

• North Carolina offers $31 million a year. Kentucky offers $75 million, and West Virginia has no limit.

Worth noting: A 2019 review of the state’s incentive program by legislative auditors took a dim view of the incentives, finding that while they supported 580 jobs and $51 million in spending, the return in revenue to the state was just around 25 cents per dollar spent.

• Sen. Ghazala Hashmi, D-Chesterfield, says her proposal addresses some of those concerns by targeting television series.
• She says TV has a greater local economic impact because production companies build infrastructure like soundstages, hire local employees for longer periods and return every year.

What to watch: Lawmakers will decide whether any of the new programs get funded during budget negotiations later this month.

Another fight over Gov. Youngkin's nominees to key state posts is brewing in the General Assembly.

What’s happening: Senate Democrats signaled this week they might reject Youngkin's pick to lead the Virginia Department of Health and one of his appointees to the UVA Board of Visitors.

Details: Youngkin’s health director, Colin Greene, came under fire last year for his remarks downplaying the impact of racism on public health.

• He told the Washington Post at the time that, "If you say 'racism,' you're blaming white people" — remarks that drew public rebuke even from Youngkin.

On the UVA Board of Visitors, Democrats targeted Youngkin's appointment of Bert Ellis, a South Carolina businessman who graduated from the school in '75.

• Since then, he has written decrying the school’s "path to wokeness" and reportedly traveled to campus in 2020 with plans to remove a "F--- UVA" sign that a student living on the Lawn had posted on her door.

What they’re saying: "I just don’t think a 60-something-year-old man who goes to the grounds with a razor blade of any kind in his pocket intent on taking something off a student's door, I don’t think that's appropriate," Sen. Creigh Deeds, D-Charlottesville, said earlier this week, per the Virginia Mercury.

• Youngkin’s press secretary, Macaulay Porter, said Youngkin “believes both Dr. Greene and Mr. Ellis are well-qualified for their posts.”

Flashback: Last year, Democrats blocked Youngkin's appointment of Trump's former EPA director, Andrew Wheeler, to be his secretary of natural resources.

• The standoff prompted Republicans in the House to block a handful of routine appointments by former Gov. Ralph Northam that had not yet been approved.
• Youngkin ended up creating a new post in his administration for Wheeler that did not require General Assembly confirmation.

💸 Youngkin and GOP leaders in the House promised to make local school districts whole after the Department of Education miscalculated state aid, resulting in a surprise $201 million shortfall. (AP)

🪧 Youngkin joined an annual anti-abortion rally on Capitol Square for the second year in a row, expressing disappointment with Senate Democrats for blocking his proposed 15-week ban. (AP)

🚍 GRTC plans to install more surveillance cameras in its buses in response to recent assaults and the 2021 shooting death of a rider. (WRIC)

🎤 Portsmouth native Missy Elliott is among the 14 nominees for The Rock & Roll Hall of Fame's class of 2023. (Axios Cleveland)

It's been 15 years since Richmond's own Knitorious M.E.G. started yarn bombing parts of the city in need of love and color, but now the anonymous artist has her own show.

"Lovers Lane" — M.E.G.'s love bombs along a walkable route — opened Monday at Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden and runs daily through March 31.

• Admission is included with garden tickets: $17 for adults, $8 for kids.

M.E.G. focuses her work in the city limits in neighborhoods with a lot of signless street poles.

• "The more unexpected the spot, the better. I love areas that normally wouldn't get a lot of street art," she recently told the Times-Dispatch.

In her 15 years of yarn bombing, M.E.G. has completed 140 projects in town and plans to get to 150 by Valentine's Day.

Her most recent piece was near Pine Street Baptist Church in Oregon Hill.

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There's good reason to trust Punxsutawney Phil's prediction today.

• Over the past 75 years, Phil has correctly predicted whether there will be an early spring 69% of the time, according to an Axios analysis of NOAA data.
• We defined an early spring as one that’s significantly warmer — by one standard deviation — than the average of the previous 30 years, writes Axios data journalist Erin Davis.