Perdue Farms agrees to $4M settlement in child labor probe
Perdue Farms has agreed to pay $4 million in restitution to settle a federal investigation into alleged child labor violations at the company’s poultry processing plant on Virginia’s Eastern Shore. In October 2023, the U.S. Department of Labor‘s Wage and Hour Division announced it had launched a probe into alleged child labor violations at the […]
Firefly Aerospace to launch at Wallops Island
Cedar Park, Texas-based Firefly Aerospace has picked Virginia Spaceport Authority’s Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport located on Accomack County‘s Wallops Island as a new launch site for its two-stage orbital Alpha rocket, Gov. Glenn Youngkin announced Monday. A small launch vehicle, the Alpha serves commercial, civil and national security clients and can carry 2,200 pounds to low [&he[...]
Eastern Shore poultry plants under child labor probe
The U.S. Department of Labor is investigating allegations of child labor violations at the Tyson Foods and Perdue Farms poultry plants in Accomack County, after The New York Times recounted the story of a 14-year-old Guatemalan boy who was gravely injured while cleaning a Perdue slaughterhouse. Marcos Cux, whose arm was permanently crippled in a […]
Rocket Lab, Leidos sign contract for 4 rocket launches
California-based Rocket Lab USA has signed a contract with Reston-based Fortune 500 contractor Leidos to launch four Hypersonic Accelerator Suborbital Test Electron (HASTE) missions, the launch company announced Tuesday. The suborbital testbed launch vehicle missions will lift off from Rocket Lab’s Launch Complex 2 at the Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport, located at NASA’s Wallops Fligh[...]
Rocket Lab to launch new hypersonic rocket from Va.
California-based Rocket Lab USA Inc. will launch its new Hypersonic Accelerator Suborbital Test Electron (HASTE) rocket in Accomack County in the first half of 2023. The company introduced the suborbital testbed launch vehicle, derived from its Electron rocket, on Monday. Rocket Lab is preparing the HASTE vehicle for launch for a confidential customer at its […]
Rocket Lab launches first mission from U.S. soil
After more than a month’s delay, Rocket Lab USA’s first launch from U.S. soil at NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Accomack County blasted off Tuesday evening. The mission, “Virginia is for Launch Lovers,” lifted off around 6 p.m. EST from the company’s Launch Complex 2 at Virginia Space’s Mid-Atlantic Regional Spaceport within the NASA facility, […[...]
Rocket Lab announces December Va. launch window
Rocket Lab USA Inc. will launch the first U.S. mission for its Electron rocket from a launch pad on NASA’s Wallops Flight Facility in Accomack County during a 13-day window that opens Dec. 7. The company announced the Wallops launch Thursday. The mission, called “Virginia is for Launch Lovers,” will deploy satellites for Herndon-based HawkEye […]
Rocket Lab to boost Eastern Shore space biz
The Eastern Shore and Accomack County are well-acquainted with the rockets’ red glare. One of the oldest launch sites in the world, the NASA Wallops Flight Facility launched its first rocket on July 4, 1945. Given its history, it seems fitting that Wallops’ rocket business got a big payload boost in late February when California-based […]
Calif. aerospace company proposes Accomack County facility
Accomack County is a finalist for a proposed Rocket Lab USA Inc. facility, Gov. Ralph Northam announced Tuesday. If the county is selected, Long Beach, California-based aerospace company Rocket Lab would develop a facility to support part production, assembly, integration and test operations to support the launch of its Neutron launch vehicle from the NASA […]
Reopening will be delayed in Richmond, Accomack County
The city of Richmond and Accomack County, the Eastern Shore locality that has seen COVID-19 outbreaks in its poultry plants, will not enter Phase One of Gov. Ralph Northam’s “Forward Virginia” reopening plan Friday. Like Northern Virginia, the localities will wait two weeks until May 29. The governor’s announcement comes after Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney […]
CDC dispatches team to Eastern Shore poultry plants
A team from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is arriving in Virginia today to assist with containing COVID-19 outbreaks among workers at two large poultry processing plants in Accomack County, Gov. Ralph Northam announced during a news briefing Monday. The plants, operated by Arkansas-based Tysons Foods Inc. and Maryland-based Perdue Farms, employ more […]