A group of naval engineers filed a federal class action lawsuit on Oct. 6 against 20 large government contractors and shipbuilders, including Virginia-based General Dynamics and Huntington Ingalls Industries, claiming that the corporations have for decades “maintained an illegal agreement not to actively recruit, or ‘poach,’ each other’s employees,” thus depriving naval engineers of “hundreds of millions of dollars in compensation.”
The lawsuit was filed in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia, and in addition to the parent companies HII and General Dynamics, other Virginia-based corporations and subsidiaries are named as defendants, including HII’s Newport News Shipbuilding division, General Dynamics Information Technology, Serco and CACI International. As of Wednesday, the defendants had not yet been served with the lawsuit, after which their attorneys will have 21 days to respond.
Plaintiffs Susan Scharpf and Anthony D’Armiento, represented by lead attorney Steven Jeffrey Toll of Washington, D.C., law firm Cohen Milstein Sellers & Toll, allege in the suit that executives at the 20 defendant corporations have long held an “unwritten ‘gentleman’s agreement'” in which the companies agreed not to actively recruit each other’s employees, which has led to lower wages for naval engineers. Although the lawsuit covers the period beginning in 2000, the complaint says the “no-poach conspiracy” likely dates back to the 1980s.
“Naked ‘no-poach’ agreements … are unlawful per se under the nation’s antitrust laws,” the complaint says. “The purpose and effect of such agreements is to cheat the highly skilled workers who design the most powerful military fleet in the world out of the competitive wages they deserve.”
The lawsuit notes that General Dynamics and HII “operate the only five shipyards in the country used to build large military vessels,” while engineering consulting firms — among them CACI and Serco — “help design, refit and maintain nearly every ship in the U.S. fleet. Behind closed doors, these consultants refer to themselves as the ‘Beltway Bandits.’ … All have headquarters in Northern Virginia, convenient to each other and the Pentagon.”
According to the suit, five consulting firms named as defendants were purchased by larger businesses with Virginia ties: Gibbs & Cox, now owned by Leidos; John J. McMullin Associates, owned by Serco; CSC’s naval engineering unit, now owned by CACI; and AMSEC, now owned by HII.
The suit says that some former executives and managers at companies named as defendants provided “direct evidence of the conspiracy,” including a “former insider from Huntington Ingalls [who] said that the company maintained a ‘do-not-hire list’ — a list of companies from which Huntington Ingalls would not poach naval engineers.”
This led to a “persistent shortage of qualified naval engineers,” the lawsuit claims. The 20 defendants employ fewer than 10,000 naval engineers nationwide, many of whom are based in the Washington, D.C./Northern Virginia area and in Norfolk and Newport News.
“Many defendants maintain offices for senior managers practically side-by-side on the same street abutting the Washington Navy Yard,” the complaint reads. “The ‘incestuous’ relationships among industry managers enabled defendants to monitor each other’s hiring practices, reinforce the agreement in direct communications, and punish firms who violated the agreement.” Also, the suit alleges, “defendants entered written agreements to not recruit each other’s naval engineers when working on the same project” as subcontractors or when submitting joint bids for contracts.
Scharpf and D’Armiento, the named plaintiffs, were both employed as naval architects. Scharpf, who, according to her LinkedIn account, is now employed as a patent examiner at the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, worked for Alion Science & Technology, CSC and Gibbs & Cox between 2007 and 2013, while D’Armiento worked for Northrop Grumman Ship Systems at Ingalls Shipyard in Mississippi from 2002 to 2004. NGSS was spun off from Northrup Grumman to become HII in 2011.
D’Armiento was previously a government whistleblower who, as a civilian Coast Guard worker, disclosed documents in 2007 showing that the U.S. Coast Guard knew about hundreds of defects in a communication system for the $640 million National Security Cutter vessel, part of the $25 billion Integrated Deepwater System program to replace Coast Guard equipment, including aircraft and ships.
According to the class action lawsuit filed last week, the annual median compensation for U.S. naval engineers as of last year was $96,910, an amount the plaintiffs argue “would have been materially higher” if not “for defendants’ conspiracy.” The plaintiffs and other class members seek damages in an amount to be determined, as well as pre- and post-judgment interest and attorneys’ fees. They are seeking a jury trial.
An HII spokesman said Wednesday the company is reviewing the filing and cannot comment at this time. A spokesman for General Dynamics said the company had no comment on the lawsuit, and representatives of Serco and CACI couldn’t immediately be reached for requests for comment Wednesday.
Linsey Marr, a university distinguished professor and the Charles P. Lunsford Professor of Civil and Environmental Engineering at Virginia Tech, on Wednesday was named one of this year’s 20 MacArthur Fellows.
A prestigious award known as the “genius grant,” the fellowship is awarded annually by the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation in recognition of excellence, originality and dedication to their fields, ranging from writing, visual arts and music composition to scientific research. The fellowship comes with an $ 800,000 award that recipients can use with no strings attached to further their work.
In an interview last year with Virginia Business, Marr, an environmental engineer, said she “toiled in obscurity” while studying airborne illnesses beginning in 2007, but her knowledge was in high demand with the start of COVID-19. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the World Health Organization and the White House sought her out, and she published more than 20 research papers in 2020. The State Council of Higher Education for Virginia (SCHEV) also recognized her as a 2022 Outstanding Faculty member. Earlier this week, she was inducted into the National Academy of Engineering’s class of 2023.
Marr earned her Ph.D. at the University of California at Berkeley, after receiving her bachelor’s degree at Harvard. She conducted postdoctoral research at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology before coming to Virginia Tech.
“I hope we can look back on this period as the era of peak air pollution,” she said in a statement provided by the MacArthur Foundation. “As we move away from fossil fuels and begin designing buildings to have good air quality, we will shift toward cleaner outdoor and indoor air. We should take advantage of this moment of greater public awareness, rich scientific knowledge and technological advances to kick off a clean air revolution.”
Carter Reid, executive vice president, chief of staff and corporate secretary of Dominion Energy, as well as president of Dominion Energy Services, will retire Jan. 1, 2024, the Richmond-based utility announced Monday.
Carlos Brown, Dominion’s senior vice president, chief legal officer and general counsel, will be promoted to president of Dominion Energy Services and Dominion Energy executive vice president, chief legal officer and corporate secretary.
Reid joined Dominion in 1996 as its assistant general counsel and held roles in its law department and at Dominion Energy Services, one of the utility’s subsidiaries. She was promoted to her current role in 2019. She’s a graduate of James Madison University and the University of Richmond School of Law, and previously was an associate at McGuireWoods and Hunton & Williams (now Hunton Andrews Kurth).
Carlos Brown
“Carter Reid has been a key executive and faithful friend for the company as a whole, for her own team at the Services company, and for our board,” Dominion Chair, President and CEO Robert Blue said in a statement. “She helped the company maintain best-in-class governance, relentlessly focused on recruiting and retaining the best talent, and built an unparalleled security and cybersecurity organization, among her many other accomplishments. The company will miss her as she enjoys her retirement years.
“When Carter retires, Carlos Brown will pick up most of her duties. Carlos has a depth and breadth of experience that will serve him well as he leads Dominion Energy’s law, corporate governance, environmental, IT, supply chain, corporate facilities and corporate safety and security teams.”
Brown, who holds two degrees from the University of Virginia, joined Dominion as senior counsel in 2007 and has served as chief compliance officer and general counsel, among other positions.
Regina J. Elbert, senior vice president of human resources, also will be promoted, becoming vice president and chief human resources officer, effective Jan. 1, 2024. She has been at Dominion since 2011, holding leadership roles in HR and the law department. Elbert has a bachelor’s degree from U.Va. and a law degree from Harvard.
Nasdaq has begun the delisting process for Urban One, the Maryland-based media company behind the proposed casino in Richmond, because it has not filed quarterly finance reports for fiscal year 2023 on time.
The stock exchange’s notification does not affect trading of Urban One or its presence on Nasdaq yet; according to a Friday news release by Urban One, the company will “request a hearing before a Nasdaq Hearings Panel. The hearing request will automatically stay any suspension or delisting action through Oct. 20, 2023.”
A spokesperson for Urban One said Monday there won’t be any impact on the current casino referendum campaign underway in Richmond.
Urban One acknowledged in its news release that it has not yet filed financial reports for the first and second quarters of fiscal 2023 with the Securities and Exchange Commission, due to errors related to its investment in RVA Entertainment Holdings, the limited liability corporation chosen in 2021 and 2023 as the operator for the proposed $562 million casino in Richmond, which is up for a second referendum vote in November.
In its Sept. 29 news release, Urban One says that it “identified certain errors with regard to the timing of expense recognition of non-cash stock based compensation and the accounting for the company’s investment in the operations of its Richmond casino joint venture, RVA Entertainment Holdings LLC, the activities of which primarily related to 2021.” To address the issue, Urban One says it is “currently evaluating the related accounting for the non-cash stock based compensation matter and if the Company’s investment in RVA Entertainment Holdings LLC should have been consolidated during the historical periods due to its then-75% ownership interest.”
In a July board meeting, the media company dismissed BDO as its independent accounting firm and hired Ernst & Young to serve as its public accounting firm for its fiscal year 2023, which ends Dec. 31.
Nasdaq previously notified Urban One of its late SEC filings in three letters this year, starting April 3, and the stock exchange previously gave the company a 180-day extension to file 2022 Form 10-K and the Q1 2023 Form 10-Q by Sept. 27. The 10-K form was filed in June, but the 10-Q form is still outstanding.
Urban One’s news release says that it “is in the process of completing its Q1 2023 Form 10-Q and anticipates filing the delinquent reports as soon as practicable after resolution of the discrete accounting issues” related to RVA Entertainment Holdings.
In an 8-K form filed by Urban One to the SEC on Sept. 28, the company reports $109.9 million in consolidated revenue during the first quarter of the year, ending March 31.
Urban One was the majority partner in the 2021 proposed casino in Richmond, with Peninsula Pacific Entertainment as minority partner, but the city’s referendum failed by 1,200 votes in November 2021. After much jockeying in the General Assembly, Richmond voters will once again vote this fall on a casino referendum, this time a proposal by Urban One and Churchill Downs, which bought PPE late last year and now owns the state’s Rosie’s Gaming Emporium franchise and Colonial Downs.
The renamed Richmond Grand Resort & Casino, if passed by voters, would include a 250-room hotel, a 3,000-seat concert venue, a $26.5 million upfront payment to the city government, an estimated 1,300 permanent jobs with an average salary of $55,000 and a predicted $30 million in annual tax revenue and $16 million over 10 years in charitable contributions.
According to Virginia Public Access Project’s finance report for political donations made through Aug. 31, Urban One and Churchill Downs contributed $8.14 million to the Richmond Wins, Vote Yes pro-casino PAC in August, more than three times the 2021 pro-casino campaign budget of $2.6 million.
Bon Secours announced Friday it has reached an agreement with Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield in Virginia, which the health system sued in August, alleging the insurer owed Bon Secours $93 million in unpaid claims.
Although details were not released due to confidentiality agreements between the two parties, Bon Secours said it will drop the lawsuit, which was filed in Henrico County Circuit Court, and all Anthem Medicare Advantage and Medicaid health plan members will again have in-network coverage at Bon Secours. The agreement also extends coverage for employer-based Anthem customers and Affordable Care Act plan members until 2028.
“I’m proud that both organizations continued to focus on our shared priority: the communities we serve,” Anthem Virginia President Monica Schmude said in a statement. “We worked together to creatively address affordability for our members and the financial needs of an important care provider. This agreement provides long-term stable access to care at Bon Secours without cost increases for our members and employers.”
Anthem agreed to cover any claims that Medicare patients incurred at Bon Secours facilities since Aug. 1, when the health system was out of network.
“We understand that being out of network/potentially being out of network can be very difficult, and we are pleased that patients with Anthem insurance can now see our physicians and use our hospitals at an in-network cost,” Mike Lutes, president of Bon Secours Richmond, said in a statement. “We sincerely believe that access to quality health care services is vital for our communities. This new agreement protects our patients’ access to compassionate care close to home.”
The agreement also prevented Bon Secours from being out of network for Medicaid patients, which would have occurred Oct. 1 absent a deal.
In April, Winchester-based Valley Health and Anthem settled a $15 million lawsuit filed by Valley Health over unpaid reimbursements. The terms of that settlement also were confidential.
On June 28, Anthem paid $300,000 to settle a finding from the State Corporation Commission’s Bureau of Insurance that it was not paying claims within the 40-day requirement. State regulators found that Anthem did not pay 347 claims of the 67,000 it received from December 2022 to February 2023 within the 40-day timeframe.
Bon Secours has 10 hospitals in the Richmond area and Hampton Roads and has more than 14,000 employees, including 820 physicians, according to the complaint.
Anthem, owned by Elevance Health, is the largest health insurance carrier in Virginia. Elevance reported $156 billion in total revenue for 2022, with net income of $6 billion.
Washington Commanders fans did everything but sing “Ding-Dong! The Witch Is Dead” during the team’s Sept. 10 season opening game.
It felt like a new day as the NFL team came away with a win against the Arizona Cardinals. FedEx Field was sold out, and the stands were packed with local fans instead of supporters of the opposing team, an irritating trend over the past decade-plus.
The reason, of course, was the team’s new ownership as of July. The Commanders’ unpopular former owner, Daniel Snyder, offloaded the team for a record-breaking $6.05 billion to a group led by Chevy Chase, Maryland, native Josh Harris, who assembled 20 investors, including NBA Hall of Famer Magic Johnson. The billionaire investor is now the Ashburn-based NFL team’s primary owner — a relief to many beleaguered fans.
The sale came after a long, ignominious history of mediocre-to-worse win-loss records, a revolving door of quarterbacks and coaches, alleged interference and retaliation by Snyder, and — most seriously — two NFL investigations of alleged sexual harassment against female employees and findings of a “toxic work culture” in a U.S. House of Representatives report in 2022.
Last year, amid congressional scrutiny of Snyder’s team, Northern Virginia state legislators rescinded their offer of economic incentives to bring a future Commanders football stadium to the commonwealth. (See related story.) Another team owner said it may be time for Snyder to sell, breaking the traditional code of silence among NFL owners.
And even those problems didn’t touch the sheer magnitude of local distaste for Snyder, who bought the Super Bowl-winning team in 1999 and saw its attendance decline from perennially sold-out games to the lowest numbers in the NFL, as well as a dearth of post-season wins.
Exorbitant parking fees, 9/11 commemorative Redskins baseball caps sold at a profit, Snyder’s lawsuits against 125 fans who tried to back out of season ticket purchases and much more all added to the sense of insult.
It’s no wonder fans at the Sept. 10 game chanted “Thank you!” to majority owner Harris, who co-founded the private equity firm Apollo Global Management and whose net worth is estimated between $6.9 billion and $8.6 billion.
In addition to the Commanders, Harris is principal owner of the Philadelphia 76ers NBA team and the NHL’s New Jersey Devils, as well as a general partner of the Crystal Palace English football club. His home base is in Miami, where he and his wife, Marjorie, live with the two youngest of their five children. They also spend some of the year in New York City.
Last year, Harris’ investment group put in a bid for the Denver Broncos NFL team and lost out to a group led by Walmart heir Rob Walton. But in an interview with Virginia Business on the Friday preceding the start of the 2023 NFL season, Harris says he considers the failed bid a blessing, because he was able to purchase the Commanders, his favorite pro football team while he was growing up.
Photo by Shannon Ayres
Virginia Business: When did you first seriously consider buying the Commanders?
Josh Harris: Really, it was a sales process. Dan himself hired a banker and there was a process. We got a call, and that was probably in the fall of last year. Certainly, we’re well known in the sports community, obviously, so generally speaking, the intermediaries, the banks — Bank of America in this case — knew we were out there, contacted our people, and then eventually I spoke with the Snyder family.
VB: It sounds like you have pretty solid ideas of what role you’re meant to take as owner, and where to let coaches and players handle things themselves. How did you learn those lessons?
Harris: Obviously, I’ve owned the Philadelphia 76ers since 2011 and a number of other sports franchises — the [New Jersey] Devils since 2013, Crystal Palace since 2015.
It’s been experiential learning, on-the-job training, if you will, but also, it’s just common sense. But in sports, because fans [are] so focused on all the details and because everyone is such a great fan of the sport, sometimes owners who are fans come in and they want to make a lot of decisions. But it’s like every other career.
Ultimately, the years of learning that a coach might have dealing with 53 men, 53 individuals, and how to make a system work — if [owners] don’t defer to that [experience], that would probably not be common sense. Sometimes people don’t.
VB: With sports, people do have strong emotions and yell at the TV screen to change quarterbacks or strategies. Is that a temptation you have to fight?
Harris: Yes. Listen, I’ll go the other way. Just because I’m only a fan that’s recently become an owner of the Washington Commanders, it doesn’t mean that you’re not entitled to have opinions, it doesn’t mean that you might not see something that a coach might not.
I’ve sat on the floor for the last 11 years for NBA basketball. I have an opinion on how we should play, and I have opinions on some things that I see, but generally, I will voice those in a constructive way at the right time quietly.
You’re allowed to be involved, and you should be involved. If you see something you don’t like and you’re the owner of a franchise, it’s almost on you to bring it up and say, “What about this? What about that?” At the same time, I think you have to recognize that other people might have more experience than you do. It’s finding that balance, and everyone is different.
Photo by Shannon Ayres
VB: A congressional report said the Commanders had a “toxic work culture” under Snyder’s leadership. What are your responsibilities for improving and maintaining the team’s culture as its new owner?
Harris: The thing about sports franchises — unlike companies generally — is that they’re public assets; they’re public trusts. I want to create a franchise that my kids are proud of, and the city is proud of and I’m proud of. I think everything, ultimately, is my responsibility. I spend many sleepless nights thinking about making sure that everything is going to go right. I think that extends to how people are treated inside the organization, how employees are treated, how they act with one another, how fans are treated, how all the stakeholders, players and coaches are treated. It’s a village, so what I have to do is set the tone and then hold people accountable.
VB: How did the process of buying the Commanders differ from bidding for the Denver Broncos?
Harris: It was different personally for me. I think I was blessed in some sense to not buy the Broncos.
Obviously, this is where I grew up, and it was emotional for me, and I’ll never forget when I walked into FedEx Field and I saw the pictures. I have an investment team that I’ve been involved with [for] a lot of this stuff. You have a whole team that shows up with you [when] we were given a couple days to do due diligence.
We came into the stadium and my team saw me marveling at the pictures of the legends and Super Bowl trophies, and they were like, “This is different. You’re acting differently.” I’m not an emotional person as an investor. I try to be quite clinical about it, but clearly, I was emotional about it, and that was very different for me personally.
VB: Speaking of stadiums, what do you consider important attributes for a new stadium?
Harris: I start with football and I branch out. When an opposing team walks into our stadium, I want them to not want to be there. When I was talking to [former Dallas Cowboys quarterback] Troy Aikman on “Monday Night Football,” he’s a guy who didn’t like to play [at] RFK. On the other hand, I want our team to feel excited. The noise level, how you set it up, the crowd engagement and focus, all that’s good.
Then you get to fan experience, which is a really broad concept, but accessibility really matters, whether it’s being on … Metro, whether it’s a close drive, ingress and egress parking, all that stuff. We want people to get in, get out, have a great time. The Washington DMV fan base does extend deep into Virginia; it extends into Maryland.
Not everyone is going to have the same accessibility, but certainly having it on a rail system would be a massive plus. Having it close to most of the fans, [being] able to get in and out [of] major highway systems, all that actually really matters, all those logistics.
Then it’s about economic development, and how you help a community economically. I mean, we built a practice facility [for the 76ers] in Camden, [New Jersey], which is a tough city. We run Prudential Center in Newark. We’re building a center in Philly in an area that needs help, and … we’re using trade. If we are allowed to go forward in Philly [with a new arena], we’re going to use contractors from diverse backgrounds, which is probably slightly different than what’s happened in the past.
All that stuff plays into it.
Photo by Shannon Ayres
VB: Under the team’s previous ownership, two possible stadium locations were designated in Loudoun and Prince William counties. What’s the status on those?
Harris: We’re literally just starting at the beginning. We’re at the very beginning of thinking about what we want, versus the sites.
VB: You grew up in the area. What was your relationship to the team?
Harris:My relationship with the team was really deep. There’s a picture of me that someone dredged up wearing a [1970s Washington quarterback] Billy Kilmer uniform when I was like 10 years old. I was a huge fan, and I never in my wildest dreams thought I might own the Commanders. I went to RFK once or twice a season. It was a 25-year waiting list to get [season] tickets.
I have two really early memories as a child. One is walking down East Capitol Street and then walking into RFK and hearing … all the noise and looking up at Jack Kent Cooke’s owner’s box, and my dad saying, “That’s the owner,” and me saying, “Wow.”
VB: The team’s name has changed twice in the last few years. What’s your timeline for thinking about the name?
Harris: We’re really focused right now, honestly, on limiting distraction. We’re focused on getting the stadium ready, and I’m doing tons of meetings everywhere in the city to engage with everyone. I’m not really thinking about [the name] right now.
VB: You have 20 people in your investment group, including Magic Johnson. What do they bring to the table?
Harris: Look, the reality of an NFL franchise is that it’s expensive, and so it’s hard to participate unless you’ve had tremendous success. We have people that have D.C. backgrounds that are super-engaged charitably in the community. We have a lot of diversity in the group. Then we have amazing business builders, real estate people. Honestly, Eric Schmidt is in our group. Can you imagine I [brought in] one of the founders of Google? Obviously, Mitch [Rales] built Danaher, a storied business. When I left Apollo and I was considering what to do, I was trying to find people that I could talk to, and I sought out Mitch because I said, “Wow, this guy built Danaher, [a] $200 billion company,” and by the way, D.C.’s biggest company. As far as professional athletes, [there’s] Magic Johnson.
VB:Is Magic on your text chain? What’s he like?
Harris: Yes. Magic, I would say, he’s incredibly charismatic, an amazing motivator. I’m motivated when I speak to him. He’s won five NBA titles with the Lakers, and then five other titles with other sports, and he’s built an incredible business. He’s an amazing speaker. He can relate to a businessman, and then he can relate to the players, and he can relate to a 10-year-old at a boys’ club.
He has an amazing way of connecting with people, and he’s a humble person. I think for him to be humble, he’s a great example for me because he’s achieved so much in his life and he’s someone that I want to emulate. … By the way, the other thing I like about Magic, and we share this, is that he’s a religious person. He believes that there’s a greater force. For all of us who’ve achieved some luck and been blessed in our life, I think personally it really helps me, and it’s something I really relate to.
VB:Let’s look ahead five years. What will need to be in place for you to consider this purchase a success?
Photo by Shannon Ayres
Harris: I think that we’re going to need to have improved the fan experience to a great extent. That would mean improving the existing FedEx Field and [making] substantial progress towards a new stadium. In five years, I would hope that we would be a perennial playoff team. I’d say in five years I would want to see the arena selling out on a consistent basis and the team being supported, and I want us to be more deeply engaged in the community.
VB: The Sixers had a big rebuilding period under your ownership. Do you think the Commanders could benefit from a similar rebuilding that was high-risk, high-reward?
Harris: I think they’re totally different. Obviously, when you engage in a rebuild as we did in Philly, we wanted to be a championship-contending team. We rebuilt the team, and it worked. We haven’t won an NBA championship, obviously, but we’re perennial contenders every year right now.
I think the Commanders’ situation is totally different than that. Look, I think that we have a great young team. We don’t have an aged team. I’d say that so far I really like what I see in the coaching staff. I think [Head Coach] Ron [Rivera] is a good man. We have real areas of strength on the team. I think the answers to what we do and what we think will become apparent as this season plays out.
VB: I saw a picture recently of you and Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin at the Commanders’ Ashburn facility. He was previously co-CEO of the Carlyle Group, so how long have you known each other?
Harris: I’ve known him for many years. We were in the same business. We competed, but … I always had great respect for Glenn. He was always just a really nice person and a decent human being. Even though we were competitors, we were kind of friendly competitors.
VB:Does that have any bearing on where you would decide to put the stadium?
Harris: Look, I have to actually think about the city. Having a relationship of trust always matters in every situation, but, obviously, we’re going to do what’s right for the DMV. There is a “V” in DMV.
RELATED STORY: Virginia’s back in game to score Commanders stadium
On Aug. 31, a new name was unveiled for the proposed $562 million resort casino that Richmond voters will be reconsidering in a November referendum: the Richmond Grand Resort & Casino.
But not much else appears new about the project.
The Richmond Grand Resort & Casino seems virtually identical to the proposed ONE Casino + Resort that voters shot down in a 2021 referendum. Maryland-based Urban One once again is pitching the casino, joined by Kentucky-based Churchill Downs, which last year purchased the assets of Urban One’s previous casino partner, Peninsula Pacific Entertainment.
Just like the earlier pitch, the Richmond Grand proposal includes a 250-room hotel, a 3,000-seat concert venue and a soundstage where Urban One pledges to invest $50 million over 10 years in TV, movie and audio productions. Also like before, the casino promises to make a $26.5 million upfront payment to the city government and forecasts that it will create an estimated 1,300 permanent jobs and generate $30 million in annual tax revenue. If passed, it would be built on the same 100-acre South Side site proposed in 2021.
Urban One and Churchill Downs say the new pitch reflects an extensive survey of Richmond voters who supported and opposed the casino referendum two years ago.
Urban One CEO Alfred Liggins acknowledged at the plan’s rollout that although his media conglomerate knows plenty about advertising, it is new to amassing political support. According to state campaign finance records, Urban One gave $3.9 million and Churchill Downs donated $3.1 million to a pro-casino PAC in August — more than three times what was spent in 2021.
Churchill Downs, which owns the Kentucky Derby and is an investor in casinos in 13 states, is an equal partner in the project with Urban One. If the referendum passes, it will become a significant part of the company’s holdings in Virginia, which also include Colonial Downs in New Kent County and six Rosie’s Gaming Emporiums across the state.
Churchill Downs CEO William Carstanjen didn’t specify what his company plans to do if the Richmond casino referendum fails a second time.
“This is a project that needs to get done in Richmond … and we put together the team that can do it,” Carstanjen says. “Now we just have to take our message to the citizens of Richmond and convince them, and we think we can do that.”
Starting in 1966, the team formerly known as the Redskins began its RFK Stadium sellout streak. For decades, tickets for home games were harder to snag than Taylor Swift tickets today. Divorcing couples battled over custody of season tickets, and the team reportedly had a 100-year-plus season ticket waitlist.
That changed in the Dan Snyder era — to put it mildly. During the 21st century, former fans dropped season tickets like a dog sheds its fur. The team kept losing games under an ever-changing series of coaches and general managers whom Snyder micromanaged and then fired after lackluster seasons.
Perhaps the nadir for fan relations was 2009, when the team actually sued a 72-year-old season-ticket holder — a grandmother — who requested that the team waive her season tickets after the Great Recession hurt her real estate business.
Meanwhile, in the front office, according to an NFL investigation released in July, Snyder and his executives created a workplace in which sexual harassment and hostile treatment of employees thrived. Snyder has vehemently denied these allegations, but after 24 years as owner, he sold the team for a record-setting $6 billion in July to a group of 20 investors.
Josh Harris, a Maryland native and private equity billionaire, is now the principal owner of the Washington Commanders, as well as the NBA’s Philadelphia 76ers and the NHL’s New Jersey Devils.
I sat down with Harris in September at the Planet Word language-arts museum in Washington, D.C., where the team hosted a VIP-only season kickoff party before its first regular season home game. The 58-year-old Harris, who made his money as a co-founder of private equity firm Apollo Global Management, is getting used to the brighter spotlight that comes with being an NFL team owner.
He says the question of where a new stadium will go is in very early stages — although Harris’ group has more options than Snyder did, with renewed interest among Virginia, Maryland and Washington, D.C., officials to host the stadium following the change in ownership. (See related story.) Included among Virginia’s state budget amendments passed in September was a $250,000 stadium study, a promising gesture.
Looking between the lines, there’s a fair argument that FedEx Field’s replacement could land in the old RFK Stadium space. In our interview (see October 2023 cover story), Harris says that transportation — including Metro access — and the economic boost of a stadium to the community are factors under consideration. His Sixers have built team facilities in underserved, disadvantaged neighborhoods around Philadelphia and its surroundings. It’s not a huge leap to imagine a similar decision benefiting RFK’s neighborhood on the banks of the Anacostia River, instead of a far-flung NoVa suburb.
Of course, nostalgia doesn’t drive such decisions, and with 20 investors in his group, Harris will likely listen carefully to what they say about a new stadium location. Economic incentives could still lure the stadium to Loudoun or Prince William counties, as have been previously suggested, or another Northern Virginia site.
Like many stances, Virginia’s attitude toward inviting the Commanders to place their stadium here — and even keeping their headquarters in Ashburn — could be affected by the November elections, which will see all 140 state Senate and House of Delegates seats up for grabs.
In this issue (see related story), freelance writer Mason Adams delves into the most competitive races that will determine which party will control the state Senate and the House, perhaps for decades to come. Of course, the elections will also play a significant role in Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s latent presidential hopes and his ability to get more tax cuts and other legislation passed in the final two years of his term.
Talk with researchers a few minutes, and they’ll explain how many stages it takes for an idea to become a medical treatment, and for the treatment method to be tested, approved and brought to market. In many cases, it can take several years.
Founded in June 2020, the Hampton Roads Biomedical Research Consortium is a state-sponsored partnership among Eastern Virginia Medical School, Norfolk State University, Old Dominion University and Sentara Health that helps accelerate biomedical research from the idea stage through testing and ultimately to commercial sales. The focus is on resolving health disparities, including among Hampton Roads residents.
It’s a bit like a startup accelerator for biomedical researchers. One of the first teams to receive a grant from HRBRC’s Collaboration Accelerator Fund is run by
Dr. Carolina Casellini, an assistant professor of internal medicine at EVMS and a rheumatologist. She received $107,859 from the collaboration fund in 2021 and focused on producing an artificial intelligence-powered nutrition platform to improve the metabolic health of primarily Black residents of Hampton Roads who are at risk of diabetes.
With the HRBRC funding, Casellini ran a pilot that began in December 2022 and concluded last spring. Early on, she connected with WelFore Health, a nutrition app startup founded by Norfolk husband-and-wife team Ed and Ann-Marie Stephens. The app, available for desktop computers and smartphones, uses AI tools to create specialized nutrition plans for people who need to change their diets to address diabetes and other health issues. What’s different is that the Stephenses’ app takes cultural backgrounds and food preferences into consideration.
In the pilot, half of the 49 participants received recipes designed by nutritionists, and the other half — the control group — ate as usual.
“The end goal is to address obesity and teach them how to eat healthily,” Casellini explains, “and they develop this intervention with targeted questions about what they like eating.” Participants also have access to short videos on cooking methods, shopping for groceries on a tight budget and using food diaries.
Although the pilot ended in May, Casellini and WelFore will continue working together for the next three years, conducting further research. Earlier this year, Casellini received a $600,000 award from the American Diabetes Association to continue the project.
Later this year, they plan to work with 160 more participants — Black men and women at risk of diabetes between the ages of 25 and 65. That’s an adjustment from the pilot, which included older adults, but Casellini said participants above age 65 tended to struggle more with the technology than younger participants did. She’s also considering recruiting members from the same families, because it’s easier to follow new recipes and eat healthy if more than one person in a household is doing it.
The HRBRC startups — research teams led by a clinician or tenured or tenure-track faculty member from ODU, EVMS, NSU or Sentara — have multiple sources of funding. They can win grants from the Collaboration Accelerator Fund that provide enough money to partner with an outside business, another academic institution or government agency. In 2021 and 2022, the CAF funded nine projects, including Casellini’s team, for a collective $857,000, and in May, nine more research teams received $1.05 million. There’s $15 million in federal funding as well, awarded to researchers at the partnering institutions for their research projects.
In a sense, the federal money and the Collaboration Accelerator Fund provide the projects with seed funding, explains Heather Richter, the consortium’s interim executive director.
With the funding, researchers can connect with business and public-sector partners, launch pilot studies and produce research — and ultimately either reach the marketplace or get more funding to grow their research findings. Often, area residents benefit from the studies too, Richter says.
“Metro ministers have been educated, and a community advisory board, including independent social workers, have taken up the cause for helping to reach out to the communities,” Richter says.
During the 2019 General Assembly session, a bipartisan group of legislators established the HRBRC and allocated it $4 million in general funds and $20 million in capital funds for fiscal year 2020, chiefly to support collaboration among EVMS, ODU and Sentara and address health needs and disparities in Hampton Roads, as well as helping to commercialize research.
“This coming year is pretty exciting,” Richter says, since EVMS is about to merge with ODU in January and create the Eastern Virginia Health Sciences Center at ODU. Also underway is the ONE School of Public Health, a partnership among the medical school, ODU and NSU forged in 2021. “The faculty will drive research into health and well-being.”
In April, the consortium took another step toward community outreach by opening its own space in Portsmouth at the ODU Tri-Cities Center, which houses four 3-D printers, computers and other equipment for creating medical prototypes.
Patrick Ball, the center’s core facilities manager, holds up a plastic spinal bone model as an example of what a printer can produce.
“Our printers are a little bit different. They can print things that are hard like bone or soft like flesh,” he explains, and although the printed items won’t actually be implanted into a person’s body, medical schools could use the prototypes to train future doctors.
The research teams — or startups, as Richter calls them — generally conduct their work while funded by the CAF for
6 to 12 months, depending on researchers’ goals. Sometimes it’s as simple as outreach for clinical projects that meet community needs, or maybe the goal is to bring a treatment to the commercial market.
“I think the common thread of our projects is to improve health equities,” Richter says. “Education, workforce development, understanding the environment — that’s all within our wheelhouse. How are we building access to health care? Everything to build a healthy ecosystem is here.”
Travis Hill, CEO of the Virginia Alcoholic Beverage Control Authority, announced Thursday he plans to step down from his post at the ABC, where he’s worked since 2014.
Hired nine years ago as the Virginia ABC’s chief operating officer, Hill became CEO in 2018 after managing the former state department’s transition to a semi-independent authority with more autonomy, Over the past nine years, the ABC has brought in more than $4 billion in profits and tax revenue to the state, according to Thursday’s announcement, and it moved its headquarters from Richmond to Mechanicsville in Hanover County.
Starting in 2018, the Virginia ABC surpassed $1 billion in liquor sales each year and broke sales records each year of Hill’s tenure as CEO. In fiscal year 2023, the authority exceeded its gross revenue from the previous year by $54 million, with $1.4 billion in sales.
However, Hill also presided over the authority during a period of recent controversy. In June, reports emerged that employees embezzled money from seven ABC stores last year, taking advantage of a cash register system vulnerability. A September 2022 audit uncovered the thefts, but ABC leaders said they didn’t learn about it until February 2023. Four higher-up employees were later placed on leave, but it’s unclear if that was connected to the thefts. Still, ABC’s board chair, former state Del. Tim Hugo, expressed perplexity over how agency leaders could be unaware of the problem for six months.
During a town hall meeting Thursday, Hill said, “Joining Virginia ABC in its prior form as a department and then leading its transformation to an authority was an honor as I learned about our unique place in Virginia’s government as a source of revenue and regulation. We held commitments to generating profits through the responsible sale of spirits while ensuring public safety by enforcing regulatory standards that afforded a fair marketplace.
“Our unique organization had many partners, thousands of employees and responsibility for an industry that has not one, but two, constitutional amendments dedicated to its operations. Together, we transformed into a modern governmental authority, building a distribution center that supports creative retail offerings through the promotion of products that come from every corner of the world and this commonwealth.”
Hill did not disclose what his plans are going forward, saying only, “I look forward to new challenges ahead where I can apply the lessons I’ve learned while working with you.”
Under Hill, Virginia ABC managed changes in the sale of alcohol during the COVID-19 pandemic, when state policies allowed the sale of mixed drinks off-site by restaurants, a move that kept some Virginia eateries afloat during the shutdown, when they were limited to carryout and delivery options. Also, Gov. Glenn Youngkin’s administration was displeased with a decline in revenue the authority was bringing to the state, according to a Virginia Mercury report in July. In an ABC board meeting, the state’s chief transformation officer reportedly noted that the ABC’s operating costs grew since 2017 — as did sales, but not to the same degree, and the authority’s contributions to the state declined from 2021 to 2023.
According to an ABC spokesperson, Hill’s last day will be Nov. 10, and Chief Law Enforcement Officer Thomas Kirby will serve as interim CEO. Kirby, according to his bio, joined the ABC as a special agent in the bureau’s Hampton and Richmond regional offices in 2001, and previously served as a police officer in Newport News and Hampton.
Hill previously served as state deputy secretary of agriculture and forestry before joining the Virginia ABC. He is currently president of the National Conference of State Liquor Administrators and is a graduate of the University of North Carolina, from which he received his bachelor’s and law degrees.
We use cookies on our website to give you the most relevant experience by remembering your preferences and repeat visits. By clicking “Accept All”, you consent to the use of ALL the cookies. However, you may visit "Cookie Settings" to provide a controlled consent.
This website uses cookies to improve your experience while you navigate through the website. Out of these, the cookies that are categorized as necessary are stored on your browser as they are essential for the working of basic functionalities of the website. We also use third-party cookies that help us analyze and understand how you use this website. These cookies will be stored in your browser only with your consent. You also have the option to opt-out of these cookies. But opting out of some of these cookies may affect your browsing experience.
Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly. These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously.
Cookie
Duration
Description
cookielawinfo-checkbox-analytics
11 months
This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-functional
11 months
The cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-necessary
11 months
This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary".
cookielawinfo-checkbox-others
11 months
This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other.
cookielawinfo-checkbox-performance
11 months
This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance".
viewed_cookie_policy
11 months
The cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. It does not store any personal data.
viewed_cookie_policy
11 months
The cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. It does not store any personal data.
Functional cookies help to perform certain functionalities like sharing the content of the website on social media platforms, collect feedbacks, and other third-party features.
Performance cookies are used to understand and analyze the key performance indexes of the website which helps in delivering a better user experience for the visitors.
Analytical cookies are used to understand how visitors interact with the website. These cookies help provide information on metrics the number of visitors, bounce rate, traffic source, etc.
Advertisement cookies are used to provide visitors with relevant ads and marketing campaigns. These cookies track visitors across websites and collect information to provide customized ads.
Sign In
Free Newsletter
