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Recent Articles from Kira Jenkins
Breaking rank
What a difference a year makes. On July 13, 2021, against a backdrop of ships blasting their horns and spraying water in celebration at the Port of Virginia’s Norfolk International Terminals, Gov. Ralph Northam sat for a harborside interview with CNBC, which had just named Virginia the nation’s best state for business for an unprecedented […]
Virginia’s Fortune 500 companies
Virginia continues to perform well on the Fortune 500, with 21 companies from the commonwealth making the 2022 list, which ranks the 500 largest publicly traded companies in the United States by total revenue. Mortgage finance company Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corp. (“Freddie Mac”) once again topped Virginia’s list of Fortune 500 companies. With $65.89 […]
CVTC property inches closer to redevelopment
Once home to more than 3,600 people with intellectual disabilities and other conditions, the Central Virginia Training Center property in Amherst County is drawing closer to a different future. In June, Gov. Glenn Youngkin signed into law the latest state budget, which removed $25 million in tax obligations from the 350-acre site, making it more […]
Youngkin, CNBC see room for growth in Va.
In July, Virginia ceded the top spot in CNBC’s America’s Top States for Business rankings to neighboring North Carolina, with Virginia taking third place in the annual list. Virginia had previously held the No. 1 slot for a record-breaking two years — a feat no other state has matched in the coveted award’s 15-year history. […]
Big deals
These are some of the state’s biggest economic development announcements in 2021 and 2022, expected to create at least 100 jobs each. CENTRAL VIRGINIA Chesterfield County: Lego Group, the manufacturer of the iconic brightly colored interlocking plastic toy bricks, announced in June it will build a $1 billion plant in Chesterfield County’s Meadowville Technology Park, […]
Boeing will move global HQ to Arlington
The Boeing Co., the world’s third-largest defense contractor, is moving its global headquarters from Chicago to Arlington, the company announced May 5. With more than 141,500 employees worldwide and operations in more than 65 countries, the aerospace and defense company will be the largest defense contractor headquartered in Virginia. Boeing already employs 400 people at its […]
Gift of a lifetime
For Dr. Todd Stravitz, February was an opportune time to make the largest gift in the history of Virginia Commonwealth University — a $104 million donation to support liver research. The retired medical director of VCU Health’s Hume-Lee Transplant Center, Stravitz is an heir to the Boar’s Head Provisions Co. Inc. fortune. His mother, Barbara […]
The gift givers
While 2020 represented a significant year for philanthropic shifts toward social and racial justice causes, 2021 and early 2022 have seen a return to traditional giving, with many of Virginia’s largest donations benefiting universities, medical research and the arts. Donations to Virginia institutions — topped by a $104 million gift in February from Dr. […]
Interesting times
History doesn’t repeat itself, but it often rhymes, according to an apt but apocryphal quote frequently misattributed to Mark Twain. We’re certainly seeing that dynamic writ large in the 2020s, though events don’t seem content with reviving just one era. A deadly pandemic has taken millions of lives across the globe. Inflation and mortgage rates […]
Something phishy
About seven or eight years ago, I was sitting at my desk one morning when I received an urgent text from my then-boss. She was holding a meeting, according to the text, and needed me to purchase $1,000 in electronic gift cards as a giveaway to the attendees as soon as possible. Needless to say, […]
