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byline: Kate Andrews

Va. General Fund revenue jumped 18.5% in March

Virginia’s General Fund revenue for March 2021 increased by 18.5% compared with March 2020, Gov. Ralph Northam announced Tuesday.

Total revenue collections rose 9% through March on a fiscal year-to-date basis, which was well ahead of the 3% growth forecast. 

“Virginia’s solid revenue picture is yet another sign that we are emerging very strong from the pandemic and continue to address its impacts on our economy,” Northam said in a statement. “Together with the General Assembly, we have worked to ensure these gains will translate into additional relief to families and businesses and the targeted investments we need for a broad-based, equitable recovery.”

Payroll withholding tax collections increased 23.7% during March, while sales and use tax collections (reflecting February 2021 sales) rose 8.1%.

“As always, the fourth quarter collections will be highly dependent on individual estimated and final payments,” Secretary of Finance Aubrey Layne said in a statement. “The last three months of the fiscal year are significant collections months. In addition to estimated and final payments from both corporations and individuals due in April and May, estimated payments are again due in June. I remind individual taxpayers that their final payment for tax year 2020 is due on May 17, in tandem with the federal due date. However, the first individual estimated payment for tax year 2021 remains May 1.”

Corporate income tax collections increased 33.7% during March compared to March 2020, a jump from $69.2 million to $72.3 million.

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J&J vaccine put on pause in Va. due to safety concerns

Updated 6:30 p.m. April 13: Virginia health officials say the CDC has confirmed the Virginia woman’s death is connected to their call earlier Tuesday for a pause on use of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.

Earlier:

On Tuesday, the Virginia Department of Health immediately put a pause on its use of the Johnson & Johnson single-dose COVID-19 vaccine as federal health agencies recommended halting use of the Johnson & Johnson vaccine while they examine safety issues, including rare blood clots. According to federal data, a woman in Virginia died last month after receiving the vaccine, but state health officials emphasized they do not know yet if the fatality was related to the federal pause.

According to The New York Times, nearly seven million people have received J&J shots, which are effective after one dose, and nine million more doses have been shipped nationwide. Six women between the ages of 18 and 48 developed a rare blood clot disorder within about two weeks of vaccination, and one woman died, the Times reported.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s public Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System, a 45-year-old woman in Virginia died from a stroke-like syndrome in March, less than two weeks after receiving a J&J vaccine manufactured by Janssen Biotech Inc., a pharmaceutical company owned by Johnson & Johnson.

State vaccine coordinator Dr. Danny Avula said in a press call Tuesday afternoon that he has contacted the CDC and the FDA for clarification. VDH does not know if this incident is related to the J&J vaccine pause, spokespeople emphasized.

According to the CDC report, the woman in Virginia, who was in her 40s, went to the hospital March 17 complaining of a suddenly worsening headache, dry heaves and left-sided weakness. A CT scan revealed a brain hemorrhage. After being admitted, she was intubated “for worsening mental status.” After further decline, she was diagnosed as “brain dead” on March 18, the day she died. The CDC report does not confirm whether the death was caused by the vaccine, which she received March 6, and then began to feel ill six days later.

Avula’s statement earlier Tuesday did not address how long it would take for J&J vaccine appointments to be rescheduled, but some health districts and departments in Virginia have said they will give Pfizer and Moderna vaccines to people who had appointments this week to receive the Johnson & Johnson vaccine.

“We are closely monitoring the actions by the federal government to pause all Johnson & Johnson vaccinations while it investigates an extremely rare possible side effect,” Avula said in a statement. “In Virginia, we will cease all Johnson & Johnson vaccines until this investigation is complete. If you have an upcoming appointment for the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, you will be contacted to reschedule that appointment.

“This pause is reassuring in that it demonstrates that the systems that are in place to monitor vaccine safety are working. We look forward to a thorough review by federal health officials. Meantime, we will continue Virginia’s vaccine rollout at this time with the other two authorized vaccines, developed by Pfizer and Moderna.”

The Food and Drug Administration and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in a joint statement that the agencies are recommending a pause in the vaccine’s use, and they will not be offering J&J shots at federal clinics. Other states, including Ohio and Virginia, have followed suit in the hours after the announcement, advising health practitioners in their states to stop using the vaccine for now.

“We are recommending a pause in the use of this vaccine out of an abundance of caution. Right now, these adverse events appear to be extremely rare,” read the statement from Dr. Peter Marks, director of the FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research, and CDC Principal Deputy Director Dr. Anne Schuchat.

J&J’s vaccine ran into trouble earlier this year when a batch of 15 million doses had to be thrown out after it was discovered ingredients were incorrectly mixed at the Baltimore-based pharmaceutical plant Emergent BioSolutions.

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Nine newsroom employees to be laid off at Roanoke Times

Nine newsroom employees at The Roanoke Times were notified of their pending layoffs Monday by parent company Lee Enterprises Inc., according to the newspaper’s local newsroom union and multiple staff writers who spoke with Virginia Business. The layoffs, set to take effect April 23, would cut the editorial staff to 37 positions, a nearly 20% decrease in newsroom staffing, the union said in a news release.

Virginia Tech beat reporter Henri Gendreau and Claire Mitzel, who covered local K-12 schools and broke news last year about Black cadets’ complaints about racial incidents at Virginia Military Institute, were told by phone that April 23 will be their last day as Roanoke Times employees, they said in interviews Monday afternoon. They say they were told not to work or to access their Roanoke Times email accounts during the next two weeks.

Michael Niziolek, who covered Virginia Tech football, was told he would be laid off, he said via Twitter, adding that he was “still in shock.” Sam Wall, who reported on Radford University and surrounding localities, said in an interview that he was told Monday to stop working during the call informing him of his imminent layoff.

The Timesland News Guild said in a news release Monday that the newspaper’s digital editor, one copy editor and three editorial assistants who contributed to local sports coverage also are among the layoffs, which took place a month after the union’s employee contract was certified March 10.

The Roanoke Times was purchased by Iowa-based Lee Enterprises in March 2020, part of a $140 million sale by Berkshire Hathaway Inc. of 31 local daily papers in 10 states, including 10 newspapers in Virginia. Roanoke saw seven copy editing jobs eliminated in favor of centralized editing and design hubs in the Midwest last summer, and newsroom positions at other Lee-owned papers in Virginia were eliminated earlier this year.

With the eliminated positions announced Monday, the Timesland union says The Roanoke Times has lost more than 25% of its newsroom employees since early 2020.

Under federal law, a company cannot lay off anyone while negotiating a contract with a union, or in the first 30 days after it has been certified, a period that ended Saturday at The Roanoke Times. Mitzel said “there was a lot of anxiety in the newsroom” in recent days, in part because Lee had laid off workers at other newspapers when The Roanoke Times’ unionized employees were temporarily exempt. The Roanoke Times building, owned by Berkshire Hathaway, also has been put up for sale, and the paper gave up its lease on its former New River Valley bureau office in Christiansburg.

“These layoffs mark another difficult day for The Roanoke Times and its continued survival in Southwest Virginia,” union vice chair Alison Graham, an investigative reporter at the newspaper, said in a statement. “Our corporate owners have once again put shortsighted profit goals over both long-term solutions and the newspaper’s mission to deliver vital local news.”

A Lee Enterprises spokesperson said Monday that the company had no comment on the layoffs.

In what Gendreau characterized as a “weird sort of holding pattern,” some of the Roanoke Times journalists notified Monday of their April 23 layoffs were told they could keep their jobs if other Times employees decide to take buyouts before Friday — but that’s not a sure thing.

“I personally am not sure” if anyone has volunteered, said Gendreau, who joined the newspaper as its crime and public safety reporter in 2018 and moved to its higher education beat in November 2019.

“I don’t know also whether [Lee] is open to that,” added Mitzel, a Roanoke native who started at the newspaper in March 2020. “I’d prefer they don’t take a volunteer for my job.”

Mitzel, Gendreau and Wall, who joined the newspaper in January 2019, said the layoff decisions were based on reverse seniority, or “last in, first out,” Wall said. All three said they’re disappointed about the negative impact on news coverage in the region, beyond their personal situations.

“I’m more worried about the institution that is The Roanoke Times,” Wall said. “That’s what I’m worried about. I’ll be OK.”

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COVID roundup: Most of Va. is now in vaccine phase 2

Update, April 13: Virginia Department of Health pauses use of Johnson & Johnson vaccine as Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Food and Drug Administration advise halt due to rare blood clot issue.

Earlier:

The majority of the state has entered the second phase of COVID-19 vaccination as of Monday, opening eligibility to anyone age 16 and older who wants a shot. Still in phase 1c are Northern Virginia and parts of Hampton Roads, among other regions, but the entire state is expected to be in phase 2 by Sunday, the governor has announced.

Meanwhile, the state recorded 10,691 new COVID-19 cases last week and 126 deaths related to the coronavirus, reflecting rising numbers seen elsewhere in the nation. Two weeks ago, Centers for Disease Control and Prevention Director Rochelle Walensky issued a warning of another deadly surge of the virus, following a similar surge in European cases. Although Virginia has not, some states have dropped masking mandates and loosened other restrictions. As of Monday, the state has reported 636,862 total cases and 10,486 total deaths, and the current seven-day positivity rate is 6.1%, down 0.3% from last week.

Vaccination continues apace, although the number of Johnson & Johnson vaccine doses received this week by the state is down significantly due to the mix-up at the Baltimore-based pharmaceutical plant Emergent BioSolutions. Fifteen million doses had to be tossed out, and Dr. Danny Avula, Virginia’s vaccine coordinator, said the incident might delay efforts to vaccinate college students. As of Monday, 4.7 million doses have been administered statewide, and 36.6% of the population has gotten at least one dose, while 21.3% is fully vaccinated. The state is administering an average of 74,909 shots per day, the Virginia Department of Health reports.

The following counties are in phase 1c, which prioritizes vaccinations for people working in energy, higher education, finance, legal and housing and construction sectors, as well as water, waste removal, food service, transportation and logistics, information technology and communication, media and public safety, and public health workers not included in earlier vaccination phases: Amelia, Arlington, Buckingham, Charlotte, Cumberland, Dinwiddie, Fairfax, Greensville, James City, Lunenburg, Nottoway, Prince Edward, Prince George, Prince William, Surry, Sussex and York.

The following cities are in phase 1c: Emporia, Fairfax, Falls Church, Hampton, Hopewell, Manassas and Williamsburg.

Full information on health districts’ phases is available here.

Although there are exceptions in which communities are allowing walk-in vaccination, appointments are still required at most places, even for localities in phase 2. All adult residents of Virginia can now register to get vaccinated at vaccinate.virginia.gov or call (877) VAX-IN-VA, or (877) 829-4682.

The state now ranks 12th in the nation for percentage of vaccine doses administered, according to CDC data analyzed by Becker’s Hospital Review.

As of Sunday, Virginia has seen 349 cases of the U.K. variant, an increase of 159 over the past week. Public health officials, including scientists tracking COVID-19 at the University of Virginia, have warned about the B.1.1.7 variant, which is highly contagious and likely the dominant strain in Virginia. In last week’s report, U.Va. researchers said that the Mount Rogers Health District in Southwest Virginia is experiencing a surge in cases. In addition to the variants, “vaccine hesitancy is the largest long-term risk to containing the impact of the pandemic,” the U.Va. report says.

With race and ethnicity information available for only 60.5% of people who have received shots in the state, the majority of shots have been received by white, non-Hispanic people — 65.2% as of Monday, according to VDH. Black Virginians have received 14.2% of shots, although they make up 19.9% of the state’s population, according to 2019 estimates by the U.S. Census; 9.1% of vaccines were given to Latino residents, who comprise about 9.8% of Virginians.

State health officials have focused attention on equitable administration of vaccinations, especially as Latino and Black residents are heavily represented among people who have been infected, hospitalized and died from the coronavirus. Among Virginia’s COVID deaths for which ethnicity and race were recorded, 24.8% were Black, and 6.4% were Latino.

As of April 8, the following health districts have positivity rates of 10% or higher:

  • Mount Rogers — 14.2%, up from 11.4%
  • Hampton — 10.9%, down from 13.4% on April 1

Globally, there are 136.2 million reported COVID-19 cases and 2,940,670 confirmed deaths, as of April 12. The United States, which has the most confirmed cases and deaths worldwide, has seen 31.2 million confirmed cases so far, with 562,360 deaths attributed to the coronavirus since February 2020. According to the CDC, 120 million U.S. residents have received at least one vaccine dose, or 36.4% of the nation’s population, and 74 million people, or 22.3% of the U.S. population, are fully vaccinated.

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Kings Dominion sets minimum wage at $13 for seasonal workers

Kings Dominion, the Doswell amusement park, has set its minimum wage for seasonal employees at $13 per hour, it announced Thursday. Previously, the base wage was $9.25.

The park, owned by Cedar Fair Entertainment Co., expects to hire 2,100 seasonal workers before reopening May 22, and it also is hiring 80 new full-time positions with benefits and wages starting at $16 an hour in culinary and operations roles.

Last year, Kings Dominion did not open for its regular season for the first time in its 45-year history, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. It began hosting small, physically distanced events late last year, though. The park plans to host an in-person, distanced hiring event on April 17 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m., but applicants can apply online as well.

This will be Bridgette Bywater’s first season as vice president and general manager of Kings Dominion. In a statement, Bywater said, “A seasonal job at our park can offer so much more. You can gain valuable experience in a safe environment, develop marketable skills for the future, and make new friends while being part of something truly special. And, just as I started out in a seasonal role, our seasonal associates have the opportunity to be rehired for jobs all the way through college and beyond.”

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New, continued jobless claims in Va. stay steady a second week

The number of initial unemployment claims filed during the week ending April 3 was 81% lower than the same period a year ago, when the burgeoning COVID-19 pandemic saw unemployment filings near peak levels. The number of new filers last week increased slightly from the previous week.

The Virginia Employment Commission reported Thursday that 28,526 people filed initial claims last week, an increase of 282 from the previous week. Continued claims totaled 57,344, a 0.5% decrease from the previous week and 75,840 lower than the 133,184 continued claims a year ago. People receiving unemployment benefits through the VEC must file weekly unemployment claims in order to continue receiving benefits.

More than half of the claimants who filed for benefits last week (and the prior four weeks) reported being in the accommodation/food service, administrative and waste services, retail trade and health care and social assistance industries, according to the VEC.

The regions of the state that have been most impacted continue to be Northern Virginia, Richmond and Hampton Roads. 

This week, the VEC announced it would begin contacting unemployment recipients across the state in May to inform them that they must start applying for two jobs a week to continue receiving state and federal assistance. This is the typical policy, but the requirement was suspended last year due to the pandemic.

Below are the top 10 localities, listed by number of initial unemployment claims, for the week ending April 3:

  • Alexandria, 1,806
  • Norfolk, 1,578
  • Richmond, 1,241
  • Virginia Beach, 1,255
  • Fairfax County, 1,165
  • Prince William County, 904
  • Portsmouth, 790
  • Fredericksburg, 784
  • Portsmouth, 729
  • Fredericksburg, 710
  • Hampton, 636

Nationwide, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims last week was 744,000, an increase of 16,000 from the previous week’s revised level, according to the U.S. Department of Labor. There were 6,161,308 initial claims during the same week last year.

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Metro committee approves $4.7B budget for FY2022

With an injection of federal funding, Metro will be able to maintain current service and accelerate repairs on the public transportation system. On Thursday, the Metro Board of Directors’ Finance and Capital Committee approved a $4.7 billion operating and capital budget for fiscal year 2022, which begins July 1.

The full board is expected to approve the budget on April 22, the Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority announced in a news release. Under the $2.07 billion operating budget, Metro will keep service at 80% to 85% of pre-pandemic levels, supported by $722.9 million in federal relief funding, which includes $193.4 million allocated last month through the American Rescue Plan Act. Before the $1.9 trillion act was passed, Metro anticipated cuts to bus and rail service, station closures and layoffs.

“The impact of the pandemic on ridership and revenue forced us to consider drastic cuts that would have been necessary absent federal relief funding. Thankfully, the American Rescue Plan Act has provided a lifeline for Metro to serve customers and support the region’s economic recovery,” Metro Board Chair Paul C. Smedberg said in a statement. “We heard from more than 25,000 people how important affordable and frequent transit is to them, and we will consider those comments carefully as we determine how to allocate the remaining federal support to meet the region’s mobility needs in the coming year and beyond.”

Meanwhile, the system expects to start service for the second phase of the Silver Line and the new Potomac Yard Station in Alexandria, as well as five Metrobus routes transferred to Fairfax Connector, which will start in July. Metro’s $12.3 billion, six-year capital rebuilding campaign will continue in the next fiscal year, including rehab work on platforms and the purchase of new 8000-series railcars. Many of the updates address safety recommendations by the National Transportation Safety Board and the Washington Metrorail Safety Commission. For fiscal year 2022, $2.6 billion is allocated to capital work.

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Mary Baldwin receives $1M gift to endow building

Mary Baldwin University has received a $1 million gift from the Robert Haywood Morrison Foundation to endow the building that houses the university’s Program for the Exceptionally Gifted for girls age 13 and older seeking college degrees, MBU announced Wednesday.

The building will be named in honor of President Emerita Cynthia Haldenby Tyson at a ceremony Thursday, as the Staunton women’s university celebrates PEG’s 35th anniversary and the 25th anniversary of the Virginia Women’s Institute for Leadership (VWIL), the only all-women corps of cadets in the United States. Tyson was instrumental in supporting both programs during her tenure as president from 1985 to 2003.

Tyson serves as president of the Morrison Foundation, a nonprofit charitable organization based in Charlotte, North Carolina, that supports higher education, arts and culture, and the natural environment.

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VEC to reinstate weekly work search requirement soon

All Virginia recipients of unemployment insurance will have to apply for two jobs a week soon to continue receiving benefits, Virginia Employment Commission announced Tuesday. Although the exact timeline was not provided, the VEC will begin notifying residents in May, it said.

According to the news release, VEC has received more than 1.5 million claims over the past year, a more than 1,000% increase from the previous year, and it has paid more than $12.2 billion in state and federal benefits, which is now entering a third round of stimulus payments.

Under normal circumstances, unemployment insurance recipients must apply for at least two jobs a week to continue receiving benefits under state and federal law, but that requirement was suspended during the pandemic, when jobs in some fields were scarce, particularly restaurants and hospitality sectors. After May, recipients will have to report details of their job search activity each week to the VEC, and the requirement extends to recipients of federally funded Pandemic Unemployment Assistance (PUA).

The VEC will work with Virginia Career Works centers across the state to help job seekers with their searches, as well as accessing child care when they return to work.

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The Brink’s Co. purchases largest private ATM services provider for $213M

Henrico County-based The Brink’s Co. has purchased PAI Inc., the largest privately held ATM services provider in the nation, for $213 million, the company announced Tuesday. The closing date was April 1, and the acquisition was financed using available cash and Brink’s existing credit facility, according to a news release.

Brink’s, which offers secure cash transit mainly via armored trucks and other cash management services to companies in the financial, retail and jewelry industries, operates in 53 countries and serves customers in 100 countries, employing more than 62,000 people. In February, the company purchased the United Kingdom-based security and cash management company G4S plc for $860 million.

According to Tuesday’s statement, Brink’s expects to add about $240 million in revenue and $22 million of adjusted Earnings Before Interest, Taxes, Depreciation and Amortization (EBITDA) from PAI to its 2021 results. On a full-year basis, PAI is anticipated to generate revenue of about $320 million and adjusted EBITDA of approximately $30 million.

PAI is based in Dallas and employs 225 people, and it offers services for ATMs it owns and those held by owner-operators, including an SaaS-based technology platform. PAI maintains a software development and services team in Billings, Montana.

According to Brink’s President and CEO Doug Pertz, the acquisition is part of the company’s Strategy 2.3 to expand Brink’s cash management offerings to ATMs. With the purchase, the company now has more than 100,000 ATMs in the U.S., and in Europe, the company has entered agreements to take full ownership and provide services for more than 11,000 ATMs.

“With PAI, Brink’s now offers total cash management solutions across the cash ecosystem. In addition, the acquisition provides cross-selling opportunities for PAI and Brink’s. The acquisition of PAI demonstrates our strong commitment to transforming Brink’s by offering comprehensive and innovative solutions that connect cash management to the digital economy,” Pertz said in a statement. He added that PAI offers bitcoin purchasing at some ATMs. “We expect significant revenue synergies and some operational cost synergies from the acquisition over the next several years, and look forward to further discussing PAI’s business and strategy when we release first-quarter earnings.”

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