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Applications open Jan. 19 for new PPP round
The relief loan floodgates will reopen Tuesday, as the U.S. Small Business Administration opens the latest $284.5 billion round of Paycheck Protection Program (PPP) funding available. This time, borrowers who received allocations during the initial rounds of PPP funding in 2020 can reapply under Second Draw PPP Loan applications. First Draw PPP Loans are for […]
Va. sees highest number of initial jobless claims since July 2020
Last week, more than 28,000 Virginians filed initial unemployment claims — a 44.5% jump from the previous week. This is the greatest number of initial claims reported since July 2020. During the week ending Jan. 9, 28,227 Virginians filed initial claims, which was an increase of 8,697 from the previous week. This could in part […]
Initial jobless claims jumped 64.3% last week
The number of initial jobless claims filed last week jumped a staggering 64.3% to more than 19,000, according to Virginia Employment Commission data released Thursday. This is the highest number of initial claims reported since August 2020. For the week ending Jan. 2, 19,530 Virginians filed initial claims for unemployment, an increase of 7,640 claimants […]
Representing the underdogs
Although it’s hard to think way back to January 2020, a time before a year of social unrest, pandemic and economic peril, that’s when Virginia’s legislature and executive branch became majority-Democrat for the first time since 1993. However, even if some Virginians forgot about this significant shift, Republican lawmakers have not. Just before Thanksgiving, Virginia […]
Barter Theatre hangs on with Moonlite shows
Abingdon’s Moonlite Theatre is on the National Register of Historic Places and in the lyrics of at least two country western songs, but the drive-in movie theater was closed for most of the last decade. When Katy Brown visited it last spring, “it was a wreck,” she recalls, “but I thought all we’d have to […]
The VirginiaBusiness.com Top Five
The top trending stories on VirginiaBusiness.com from Nov. 16 to Dec. 15 included the news that Gov. Ralph Northam was ordering new restrictions based on post-Thanksgiving surges in coronavirus cases. Wise County is first to receive Starlink internet in Va. The pilot program from Elon Musk’s SpaceX will provide broadband via low-orbit satellites. (Dec. 14) […]
2020 Political Roundtable: Trump vs. Biden
The pandemic brought record early voter turnout, stretching official election outcomes for days — but a panel of five statewide political experts resoundingly predicted the day after the election that now-President-elect Biden would be the 46th president of the United States. On Nov. 4, 2020, Virginia Business held its 14th annual Political Roundtable event. Editor […]
Short and … sweet?
Even before the pandemic and ensuing recession took hold in Virginia, 2020 already had the makings for a novel year in the General Assembly. Having won majorities in both houses in the November 2019 elections, Democrats took back full control of the legislature for the first time in a generation. With Gov. Ralph Northam in […]
Number of initial jobless claims remained at 14K last week
The number of initial jobless claims filed last week stayed close to its Aug. 8 peak, with more than 14,000 Virginians filing new unemployment claims, according to Virginia Employment Commission data released Wednesday. For the week ending Dec. 19, 14,640 Virginians filed initial claims for unemployment, an increase of 131 claimants from the previous week. […]
Pandemic brings end to decade of job gains
The public health crisis brought an unanticipated end to 11 straight quarters of economic growth and nearly a decade of job gains in Virginia, according to Old Dominion University’s 2020 State of the Commonwealth Report, released on Dec. 20 by ODU’s Dragas Center for Economic Analysis and Policy. “The COVID-19 pandemic has dramatically affected how […]
Roanoke, local credit union launch small business relief fund
The city of Roanoke and Roanoke-based credit union Freedom First announced Tuesday a partnership that will disburse small business relief grants of up to $25,000 to those affected by the coronavirus. The $416,250 program will use Community Development Block Grant-Coronavirus (CDBG-CV) federal funding. The program is intended for businesses that are at risk of closing […]
Richmond extends deadline for second small business grant fund
The city of Richmond announced Monday it has extended the deadline for its Richmond Recovers II Grant Program through Dec. 18. The program will provide applicants with grants of $15,000 for COVID-19 pandemic relief and will be funded with $2 million from the city’s CARES Act appropriation. Small businesses other than restaurants, retail and beverage […]
