Virginia Business// May 29, 2013//
U.S. District Judge Kiyo Matsumoto of the Eastern District of New York upheld a motion to dismiss a consolidated class action complaint against Richmond-based Apple REIT Cos. and several of its funds in a ruling issued in April. She determined that investors had received sufficient disclosure to understand the risks of investing in the non-traded public companies. (VirginiaBusiness.com)
One of the largest labor and employment law firms, Atlanta-based Ogletree, Deakins, Nash, Smoak & Stewart PC, has opened an office in Richmond. The office initially will be staffed by three attorneys. Jimmy F. Robinson Jr., who joins Ogletree Deakins from Troutman Sanders, is the office’s managing shareholder. (VirginiaBusiness.com)
Richmond-based Rainbow Station, a nationally accredited private preschool, has opened the first of 110 locations it plans to develop in China in the next five years. The company, begun by President and CEO Gail Johnson in 1989, has 10 U.S. locations in Virginia, North Carolina and Texas. Its first international location, in Shenzhen, China, opened on Jan. 26. (VirginiaBusiness.com)
Richmond International Airport is planning nearly $60 million in airfield infrastructure projects next year. The projects include reconstruction of a taxiway on the airport’s east side, building a new access road to the airfield’s east side from Williamsburg Road, reconstruction of an aging crossfield taxiway, construction of a snow-removal equipment building and rehabilitation of the air cargo apron and a general aviation parking ramp. (Richmond Times-Dispatch)
Hummus maker Sabra Dipping Co. is doubling the size of its Chesterfield County manufacturing plant in an $86 million expansion that will add about 117,000 square feet to its existing facility and create 140 more jobs. (Richmond Times-Dispatch)
In a study funded by the Charlottesville-based Focused Ultrasound Foundation, 15 patients suffering from medication-resistant hand tremors experienced an average 67 percent decrease in symptoms after undergoing a scalpel-free surgery that used high-intensity sound waves to burn away tissue in an area of the brain that helps regulate movement. Dr. W. Jeffrey Elias, a neurosurgeon at the University of Virginia, presented the one-year study results at a meeting of the American Association of Neurological Surgeons being held in New Orleans. (Richmond Times-Dispatch)
Cedar Fair Entertainment Co., the parent company of Kings Dominion, has chosen Richmond-based Ukrop’s Dress Express to supply uniform apparel for its 40,000 employees in 11 amusement parks and four water parks in the U.S. and Canada. Employees of the theme-park giant are wearing Ukrop’s Dress Express gear starting this season. According to John Carrico, Ukrop’s Dress Express president and CEO, the company added one full-time employee to its staff of nearly 50 and hired temporary employees to deal with the distribution work at its 75,000-square-foot warehouse/office space in a South Richmond industrial park. (Richmond Times-Dispatch)
University of Virginia pays the highest average full-time faculty salaries in the state, while full-time faculty at Washington & Lee earn the second-highest average salaries, according to a recent report. Full-time faculty members across all ranks at U.Va. earn an average $109,400. The average salary at Washington & Lee is $101,800, the American Association of University Professors said in its annual faculty salary report. The report surveyed more than 1,100 colleges and universities nationwide. Medical faculty salaries were excluded. (The Associated Press)
The Virginia Farm Bureau Federation, which owns The Meadow Event Park in Caroline County and the State Fair of Virginia, has purchased the Virginia Equine Extravaganza. The Meadow park will be the new permanent location for the equestrian trade show. This year’s show will be Nov. 1-3. The Farm Bureau wants to make the Meadow park, which hosts the State Fair and was the birthplace of Triple Crown winner Secretariat, a major horse-related events facility. (Fredericksburg Free-Lance Star)
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