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Recent Articles from Kira Jenkins
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, […]
Civica to produce lower-cost insulin
Civica Rx, a nonprofit generic drug-maker with a pharmaceutical manufacturing plant under construction in Petersburg, plans to produce three forms of insulin priced at $30 per vial beginning in early 2024, a project that dovetails with a bill in Congress that would cap consumers’ out-of-pocket insulin costs. Civica’s 140,000-square-foot, $124.5 million Petersburg production facility will [&hel[...]
Rising to the challenges
Last summer, as I was eating dinner at a Norfolk bar with a group of my Lead Virginia classmates from far Southwest Virginia, one of them asked what decision makers in Richmond thought about their region. “Most of them don’t think about it at all,” I replied bluntly and not a little sadly. During my […]
Code red
Although many business sectors focused on moving on from the COVID-19 pandemic once vaccines became broadly available in 2021, Virginia’s health care industry has remained heavily burdened by continuing caseload surges and extreme staffing shortages. In September 2021, Gov. Ralph Northam voiced frustration at a news conference, saying, “It’s getting to the point where we […]
The great rethink
As we enter Year 3 of the COVID-19 pandemic, the overwhelming question has become less, “When will we return to normal?” and more, “What do we want ‘normal’ to look like?” A year ago, as COVID-19 vaccines became more broadly available, many of us thought life in 2022 would be a lot more like 2019. […]
The big crunch
Although the “Great Resignation” is hitting other industries harder, Virginia law firms are experiencing a tight labor market while also seeing increased demand for services. Alison McKee, a past president of the Virginia Bar Association and an attorney at Kaufman & Canoles PC in Virginia Beach, notes that “2021 was the busiest year in a […]
The bigger picture
Welcome to the 10th edition of The Big Book. Virginia Business Publisher Bernie Niemeier had the inspiration for this annual issue more than a decade ago when he was retrieving his mail and noted the heft of Vanity Fair’s jam-packed annual Hollywood issue. “Why can’t we have a big book like this?” he thought to […]
Real world learning
In 2021, colleges and universities got back to semi-normal, holding more classes in person and hosting sporting events and commencement ceremonies. Many institutions required students, faculty and other employees to be vaccinated against COVID-19 last fall, and some schools also mandated booster shots. In Hampton Roads, three institutions — Old Dominion University, Norfolk State University [&hel[...]
Hubs and spokes
Economic conditions bounced back across many sectors in 2021, but the COVID-19 pandemic still impacted development deals occurring in Virginia. The state saw a great deal of focus on manufacturing and supply chain growth, areas expected to stay busy despite the recent change in state political leadership. In Hampton Roads, many of the region’s major […]
