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Federal ‘uncertainty’ delays start of $1.3B Microporous project in Pittsylvania
Construction on Microporous‘ $1.3 billion lithium-ion battery separator plant at the Southern Virginia Megasite at Berry Hill will be delayed from April until June or July, following uncertainty regarding its federal funding, according to a Pittsylvania County official. Matt Rowe, Pittsylvania’s economic development director, said Thursday he feels that the Tennessee company’s $1[...]
Warner worried about Microporous $100M grant
U.S. Sen. Mark Warner, Virginia’s senior Democratic senator, is worried about the possibility of the Trump administration clawing back a $100 million federal grant awarded by the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE) to Microporous, the Tennessee company planning to invest $1.3 billion to build a lithium-ion battery separator facility at the Southern Virginia Megasite at […]
Out and About – April 2025
1. On March 10, U.S. Sen. Mark Warner rode the Metro with Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority CEO Randy Clarke to discuss the impact of government funding on the transit system and other topics. (Photo courtesy Sen. Warner’s office) 2. U.S. Sens. Mark Warner and Tim Kaine, Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin, Virginia Tech President […]
Judge hits pause on Trump/Musk federal workforce buyout deadline
Less than 12 hours before the Trump administration‘s midnight Thursday deadline for 2 million federal workers to decide whether to accept a controversial buyout plan, a federal judge temporarily paused the clock, setting a hearing on the matter for Monday. Three unions representing about 800,000 federal workers filed the lawsuit to stop the deadline. In […]
Trump White House says tariffs will be enacted Feb. 1
The Trump administration says it will impose tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China beginning Saturday, Feb. 1. “The president will be implementing tomorrow 25% tariffs on Mexico, 25% tariffs on Canada and a 10% tariff on China for the illegal fentanyl that they have sourced and allowed to distribute into our country, which has killed […]
Kaine, Warner respond to Trump White House rescinding spending freeze memo
The White House budget office on Wednesday rescinded a controversial memo issued Monday that froze spending on more than $3 trillion in federal financial assistance, including grants and loans backing economic development and infrastructure projects across the nation. In the two-sentence memo issued Wednesday, Matthew J. Vaeth, acting director of the Office of Management and […]
Talking turkey: Va. is nation’s sixth largest producer
As we prepare to sit down to a turkey dinner on Thanksgiving, let’s consider where those birds come from and where they’re going. Virginia raises 7.1% of all U.S. turkeys, or 15.5 million turkeys a year, according to a new study by Trace One using U.S. Department of Agriculture data. That’s 429 million pounds of […]
If Trump cuts federal workforce, Warner predicts ‘disaster’ for Va.
U.S. Sen. Mark Warner said Thursday he hopes President-elect Donald Trump won’t pursue massive cuts and relocations in the federal workforce — because if he does, it would be a “disaster for Virginia’s economy,” particularly in Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads. “We would get hit worse than any other state,” Virginia’s senior senator said. Warner, [&he[...]
Micron expects to expand Manassas facility soon
Bolstered by hundreds of millions of dollars in state and federal funding, semiconductor manufacturing in Northern Virginia soon will be expanding. In May, Idaho-based Micron Technology applied for federal funding through the 2022 CHIPS and Science Act, which allocated more than $52 billion in subsidies for domestic companies researching and manufacturing semiconductors, to expand its […]
Va. gets initial approval for $1.48B to increase broadband
The U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Telecommunications and Information Administration (NTIA) has approved Virginia’s initial proposal for the Broadband Equity, Access, and Deployment (BEAD) program, according to a NTIA dashboard that tracks proposals. This approval means Virginia can now request access to $1.48 billion in federal funding to reach locations in the state that do[...]
GSA inspector general to probe FBI HQ site selection
Three weeks after U.S. Sen. Mark Warner lambasted a decision to place the FBI headquarters in Maryland instead of Springfield as “corrupt,” the Office of the Inspector General at the U.S. General Services Administration said Thursday it would launch an investigation immediately, according to a letter made public by Warner’s office. In the letter dated […]
Warner condemns FBI HQ site selection in Md. as ‘corrupt’
U.S. Sen. Mark Warner said Thursday that the FBI headquarters site selection — choosing Greenbelt, Maryland, over Springfield — was “corrupt” and that he expected better from the Biden administration. Warner’s comments followed a Thursday morning email by FBI director Christopher Wray to the agency’s entire workforce, saying that a former political appointee to the [&he[...]
