Followups – December 2015

Congress acts on renewal of the Export-Import Bank
The U.S. House of Representatives passed a transportation funding bill in early November that also would renew the Export-Import Bank.

The Senate had earlier passed its version of a transportation bill, which also included bank reauthorization. The bills were expected to be reconciled in a conference committee.

The November issue examined complaints by a number of  Virginia businesses that the bank’s  expiration had created problems in completing overseas deals. Orbital  ATK in Dulles, for example, said its commercial satellite business lost a $100 million contract because it was unable to offer export financing to foreign customers.
  
Oyster harvest surges
The governor’s office reported in early November that Virginia’s oyster harvest rose 24 percent last year to more than 650,000 bushels, the most in nearly three decades.

The oyster harvest has grown from just 24,000 bushels in 2003 to 659,000 in 2014. The dockside value of last year’s harvest was $33.8 million, up from $22.2 million the year before.

Virginia Business looked at the revival of the commonwealth’s oyster industry in its October issue.

Name change
The Census Bureau will begin identifying Tysons Corner in Fairfax County as simply Tysons beginning next year.

The change follows increasing usage of  the shortened name by local residents and businesses for several years.

Virginia Business discussed the possible name change with a representative of the Tysons Partnership, a forum for issues related to the area’s redevelopment, in the December 2012 issue.

CORRECTION
A story on the Calkain Cos. in the November issue incorrectly described the Reston-based firm as a qualified intermediary. In 1031 exchanges, Calkain subleases property to a qualified intermediary who holds the money until the sellers can reinvest in a new property.