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byline: Kate Andrews

Remote learning

For Virginia’s college students and faculty, 2020 was the year of Zoom. For the institutions themselves, though, it was a year that brought economic heartbreak and difficult decisions, although it also had a few brighter spots.

Many universities faced budget crises due to the costs of housing refunds and moving classes online, as well as the revenue losses from declining enrollment and canceled athletic events. Virginia Tech saw a net loss of $60.6 million between July and September 2020. VCU faced a $35 million loss by the end of 2020, from which it’s mostly recovered. And the University of Virginia cut $90 million from its $3.76 billion budget.

At Virginia’s community colleges, the fall 2020 headcount fell 4.6% from 2019, although some saw much larger drops, such as Thomas Nelson Community College in Hampton, where enrollment plummeted 13.2%.

Meanwhile, colleges came up with creative plans to offer students a high-quality educational experience during a time when there were no in-person graduation ceremonies, no basketball games and no crowds allowed in football stadiums. Most institutions brought students back to campuses on a limited basis in fall 2020, while trying to enforce COVID-19 precautions with varying degrees of success.

Lynchburg’s Liberty University — one of the world’s largest Christian universities — saw a 10.5% jump in its online enrollment during the pandemic, cementing its spot as Virginia’s largest university by enrollment, with more than 120,000 students, most of them studying remotely.

Liberty had an eventful 2020, precipitated by a series of embarrassing controversies tied to the school’s former president and chancellor, Jerry Falwell Jr., who was forced to resign in August 2020. With an investigation meant to root out financial improprieties during Falwell’s seven-year tenure underway, the saga is likely to continue into 2021.

Virginia Military Institute also came under scrutiny in 2020. In media reports, alumni described an atmosphere of “relentless racism” at the nation’s oldest public military college, including a 2018 lynching threat reported by a Black former cadet. The controversy led to the resignation of retired U.S. Army Gen. J.H. Binford Peay III as VMI’s superintendent in October 2020, as well as a state investigation into the Lexington school. Under interim superintendent Cedric T. Wins, a retired U.S. Army major and VMI graduate, the school has undergone extensive discussions about its practices and removed its statue of Confederate Gen. Thomas “Stonewall” Jackson, who had been a VMI professor.

Despite the strange times, Virginia’s largest universities moved forward with significant plans, including Virginia Tech’s $1 billion Innovation Campus in Alexandria, where demolition and infrastructure work started in January. VCU, Liberty and U.Va. launched massive fundraising campaigns.

The commonwealth’s historically Black colleges and universities (HBCUs) also benefited this year from a philanthropic windfall following social justice protests — including funding from Dominion Energy Inc. and Virginia Natural Gas. In late 2020, MacKenzie Scott, the ex-wife of Amazon.com Inc. founder Jeff Bezos, made $30 million and $40 million gifts, respectively, to Virginia State University and Norfolk State University, the schools’ largest-ever single-donor donations.

For many HBCUs, the gifts came not a minute too soon, as these institutions typically do not have large endowment funds and were more likely than predominantly white institutions to see enrollment decrease due to the financial downturn from the pandemic. The federal government eliminated $1.3 billion in loan debts for HBCUs in December 2020.

Additionally, Northam announced in September 2020 that the state will refinance bonds taken out by the state’s public colleges and universities under more favorable terms, expecting to save the institutions more than $300 million over the next two years.

There are still plenty of questions about when schools will see a return to normal activities — such as graduation ceremonies, fraternity parties or simply gathering in large classes — but for some, immediate financial difficulties have been eased by this extra private and public sector support.

Charts:

 

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Virginia could get 400K+ COVID vaccine doses for first week of March

Virginia could receive up to 433,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccine doses for the first week of March, depending on the timing of the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s approval of Johnson & Johnson’s one-shot vaccine, according to Dr. Danny Avula, the state’s vaccine coordinator.

During a Friday news conference, Avula said the state expects to receive 69,000 doses of Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine during the week of March 1 if Johnson & Johnson receives FDA approval within a few days, as expected. (On Friday, an FDA panel endorsed Johnson & Johnson’s vaccine and recommended that it receive emergency federal approval.)

Avula cautioned, however, that the number of doses after that will be considerably lower for a couple of weeks into March, until Johnson & Johnson can boost production.

Aside from Johnson & Johnson’s doses, the state’s health districts expect to get 180,000 first doses and 130,000 second doses next week, plus 52,000 doses sent to pharmacies and earmarked for Virginians ages 65 and older. The state has been able to vaccinate many more people this week, since about 106,000 Moderna vaccine doses were delivered following a weather-related delay last week. Avula said more than 71,000 people received shots in one day this week.

In his weekly press call, Avula also shed more light on Walmart’s vaccination program, in which the retailer is  setting up off-site vaccine clinics at four Virginia locations each week, depending on need. This week, vaccines were administered in Norfolk, Chesterfield County, Virginia Beach and Roanoke. Next week’s sites will include Prince William County and a location between Petersburg and Emporia. Walmart is deciding on locations weekly based on which communities have not had as many opportunities for vaccination, Avula said, and its clinics are running only by appointment.

Eight pharmacy groups — CVS, Walgreens, Walmart, Safeway, Food Lion, Food City, Giant and independent pharmacies — moved forward with vaccine administration this week as the number of doses allocated by the federal government to Virginia pharmacies doubled to 52,000 this week. Some doses went to people who had not preregistered with the state vaccine registry site, Avula said, but most pharmacies will be using the Virginia Department of Health’s preregistration lists starting next week. He expects everyone in Virginia’s group 1b — including essential employees, people age 65 and older and younger people with underlying health conditions — that wants a vaccine will be able to get their first dose by April.

This month, VDH launched a statewide vaccine registration website for all Virginia residents who want a vaccine, as well as a phone hotline staffed by 750 employees from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Anyone who previously registered with their local health district can call the hotline if their information does not show up on the website, vaccinate.virginia.gov. The number is (877) VAX-IN-VA, or (877) 829-4682.

People age 65 and older who registered will be receiving calls from pharmacies, local health districts and people employed at the state hotline to set up appointments for shots, Avula said, advising Virginians to “answer a phone call, even if you don’t know where it’s coming from.”

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Newport News Shipbuilding lays off 314 employees

Newport News Shipbuilding has laid off 314 salaried employees and demoted 119 managers in its first workforce reduction since the shipyard laid off 1,218 employees in 2015, according to a letter sent to employees by the company’s president, Jennifer Boykin.

“Today is a tough day as we say goodbye to 314 fellow shipbuilders as part of a layoff impacting our salaried workforce,” Boykin wrote. “This is the first workforce reduction we’ve experienced in five years and comes after a thorough assessment of our business. This decision, along with the demotion of an additional 119 managers, more evenly distributes management spans and reshapes production and support ratios. All impacted employees have been notified.”

She added that the shipbuilding company, the largest industrial employer in the state with more than 25,000 employees, is continuing to hire for some positions. “While these are very difficult decisions, they are necessary cost controls to help ensure the future of our shipyard and the affordability of the ships we build.”

A subsidiary of Huntington Ingalls Industries, Newport News Shipbuilding is the largest military shipbuilding company in the country. It is building nine Virginia-class Block V attack submarines with General Dynamics Electric Boat as part of a $22.2 billion contract awarded in December 2019. Employees laid off will receive severance and benefits, as well as transition assistance, according to Boykin’s letter.

 

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Richmond confirms six eligible bids for casino, seeks public input

Place your bets. Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney’s office confirmed Friday that the six casino proposals made public this week all submitted proposals that are eligible for consideration by Richmond City Council and voters.

The city also revealed the proposed locations for all six plans.

Bally’s Corp. and Golden Nugget Hotels & Casinos are interested in building a casino on property off Chippenham and Powhite parkways south of the James River and near the western edge of the city limits. In a statement, a Bally’s spokesperson said, “Bally’s is flattered that another bidder appreciates the location that we have the exclusive right to purchase. Though Parkway Crossing is Bally’s preferred site, we have multiple options for other sites, and notably maintain flexibility with the exclusive right to purchase a second site located in Richmond pursuant to the same executed letter of intent.  As such, we are confident that we will have an attractive site upon which to build the high-quality product for which Bally’s is known for the benefit of the greater Richmond community.”

Other contenders include Virginia’s Pamunkey Indian Tribe, Baltimore-based Cordish Cos., Wind Creek Hospitality and a partnership between Colonial Downs and Maryland-based media company Urban One Inc.

The other locations include:

  • ONE Resort & Casino at Walmsley Boulevard and Interstate 95, at the Philip Morris Operations Center property owned by The Altria Group
  • Pamunkey and Wind Creek’s proposals on separate properties on Commerce Road, also on Richmond’s South Side near I-95
  • The Cordish Cos., at 1301 N. Arthur Ashe Boulevard, near The Diamond and the Scott’s Addition neighborhood.

The first virtual community meeting to discuss the six proposals will take place March 9, and full details will be available on the city website. An evaluation panel named by the city will make its final recommendations to the Richmond City Council in May or June, with the council choosing a preferred casino operator and project by June.

That will be followed by a citywide campaign to inform community members about the project before the November election, when city residents will decide whether to approve the casino via a ballot referendum.

If approved, the Richmond casino would be the fifth and final approved casino project in Virginia, which legalized commercial casino gaming last year in five cities. Bristol, Danville, Norfolk and Portsmouth voters all voted overwhelmingly in favor of allowing casinos in their cities last November.

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ODU hires executive director of coastal institute

Old Dominion University announced Thursday that Jessica Whitehead has been named the first Joan P. Brock endowed executive director of its Institute for Coastal Adaptation and Resilience (ICAR), launched in 2019. Her first day was Thursday.

Whitehead comes from the North Carolina Office of Recovery and Resiliency, where she served as the office’s first chief resilience officer. In her new position, Whitehead will collaborate with the city of Norfolk to find solutions for sea-level rise and building coastal resilience in the Hampton Roads region.

“Local and state governments all over America are beyond asking if resilience is important — now they want to know what to do and how to do it,” Whitehead said in a statement. “We need innovative and collaborative partnerships between universities and governments to answer this question. I’m so excited to be leading ICAR, because ODU and the city of Norfolk are uniquely positioned to set the national standard for implementing coastal resilience and adaptation solutions.”

She serves on the American Meteorological Society’s Board of Outreach and Pre-College Education, and NC State University’s climate and society master’s program’s advisory board. A Penn State degree holder, Whitehead is an adjunct lecturer for Georgetown University’s emergency and disaster management master’s program, and before joining NCORR, she was the coastal communities hazards adaptation specialist for North Carolina Sea Grant.

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Booz Allen wins $190M contract from Navy

McLean-based Booz Allen Hamilton has been awarded a five-year $190 million task order supporting communications, networking and computing systems for the U.S. Navy, the Department of Defense announced Tuesday.

The Fortune 500 global management consulting company will receive $33.1 million up front for the first year of the contract at the Naval Information Warfare Center, Pacific in San Diego, with four option years running through February 2026. The DoD said Booz Allen will also modernize and support information assurance and certification programs.

Booz Allen employs more than 10,000 people in Virginia and has provided mission technology services to the DoD for decades.

 

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Roanoke College taps alumna for resource development VP

Roanoke College announced this week it has appointed an alumna to become its new vice president of resource development. Kimberly P. Blair, a 1993 graduate, will join the college on May 22 and serve in President Michael C. Maxey’s Cabinet.

Blair is currently Virginia Tech’s assistant vice president of advancement for Roanoke, where she leads teams securing private funding for the Virginia Tech Carilion School of Medicine campus. She also organized fundraising and communications for the Fralin Biomedical Research Institute at VTC, and from 1993 to 2008, Blair held several roles in development and alumni departments at Roanoke College, as well as working for a time at Ferrum College.

She succeeds Aaron Fetrow, who is leaving to join the Heritage Hall School in Oklahoma as president.

Blair received a bachelor’s degree in political science from Roanoke College in 1993 and earned her master’s degree from the University of Lynchburg in educational leadership in 2017. She and her husband, who graduated from the college in 1985, are the parents of four children, two of whom attended Roanoke College.

“Throughout the search Kim showed a tremendous amount of energy and forward thinking. Her leadership will add significant value to the college and our already strong resource development team,” Maxey said in a statement. “Kim’s knowledge of the essence of Roanoke College coupled with her vision and understanding of the inner workings of modern-day advancement and fundraising are a great match. We are so pleased to welcome Kim back to Roanoke College.”

 

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Reston-based ASRC Federal wins $457.5M Air Force contract

ASRC Federal Field Services LLC, which has part of its headquarters based in Reston, has been awarded a $457.5 million contract by the U.S. Air Force for base operation support, the Department of Defense announced Tuesday.

The start date of the project at Vance Air Force Base in Oklahoma is April 1, and the one-year contract has four one-year option periods and two more one-year incentive option periods. ASRC,  The work is expected to be completed by March 2028, according to the DoD.

The aerospace and defense company also has been awarded contracts by NASA, the Army and the Air Force in recent months. ASRC Federal offers IT modernization, analytics, engineering and infrastructure support.

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Va. GOP to hold May 8 “drive-in” convention, possibly in Lynchburg

After months of discussion and indecision, the Republican Party of Virginia’s State Central Committee elected Tuesday night to hold a May 8 “drive-in” convention — possibly around Liberty University in Lynchburg — to choose its 2021 statewide nominees for governor, attorney general and lieutenant governor.

The state GOP committee conducted a three-hour, occasionally contentious public Zoom meeting Tuesday to decide between holding a convention or a party-run primary known as a “canvass.” If the committee hadn’t been able to reach a decision, its 72 members would have selected this year’s slate of statewide Republican candidates.

The convention method chosen Tuesday will allow Republican voters to submit ballots in person, ranking candidates in order of preference.

Committee members raised the option of holding the event at parking lots in or around the private Christian university in Lynchburg — although in a statement Wednesday, Liberty officials said the school has not yet agreed to rent space for the event.

The decision to hold the convention went against the views of many Republican voters, judging from comments made during the livestreamed meeting. Some party members speaking during the meeting urged the committee to choose a primary in order to spare voters in some corners of the state from making a long drive. Also, three former Republican governors of Virginia wrote a letter Tuesday to the members of the committee urging them to hold a canvass.

“We strongly urge you to put aside differences tonight and select a canvass, which has been successfully used many times previously by our party,” said the letter signed by former Virginia Govs. George Allen, Jim Gilmore and Bob McDonnell. “It would not require an amendment to the party plan, preregistration or mass meetings, nor does it limit the number of Republicans who can participate in the nominating process. It also screens out Democrat participation through signing a pledge, and very importantly, allows for ranked choice voting that is permitted by the party plan.”

Because the state-designated deadline of 5 p.m. Tuesday had passed by the time of the GOP’s committee meeting, the Republican Party of Virginia could no longer decide to hold a state-run primary at taxpayer cost, as the state Democratic Party plans to do on June 8.

There’s often controversy over nomination methods, typically breaking down between conservatives vs. moderates, but this year’s process has been unusually fraught. Gubernatorial candidate state Sen. Amanda Chase, R-Chesterfield, filed a lawsuit against the GOP, attempting to force the party to hold a state-run primary election. Chase’s suit requested that the Richmond Circuit Court declare that the party is allowed only to hold an in-person convention — leading to the inevitable decision that such a gathering would be illegal under Gov. Ralph Northam’s Executive Order 72 limiting gatherings to prevent the spread of the pandemic.

However, a Richmond Circuit Court judge threw out the suit Friday because the party had not yet settled on its method of nominating candidates, so there was no injury to Chase.

In a tweet Wednesday, Chase wrote: “So the RPV’s governing board chose a nomination process that is currently illegal under the Governor’s current executive order. We are headed toward 72 members of the SCC choosing our statewide nominees.”

Chase has contended that the party’s State Central Committee was attempting to lock her out of a nomination by making it more difficult for voters to make their preference known at a primary election. Chase is leading the field of Republican candidates in recent polls by at least seven points, but Chase is not personally popular among party officials, due to a series of controversies.

The self-described “Trump in heels,” far-right candidate was censured by the Virginia State Senate in January with votes from three Republican senators, and she left the Senate Republican caucus in 2019 over a conflict with Senate Minority Leader Thomas Norment, R-Virginia Beach. Chase also was kicked out of the Chesterfield County Republican Party after making disparaging remarks about the former Republican sheriff.

Her opponents — among them Del. Kirk Cox, former Carlyle Group CEO Glenn A. Youngkin and retired Army Col. Sergio de la Peña — said last week they had no preference about which nomination method would be used, but Cox and Youngkin expressed concern that the matter had not yet been settled with less than four months before the June 8 deadline for candidates to be chosen for this November’s ballot. Venture capitalist Pete Snyder, another GOP gubernatorial hopeful, did not respond to a request for comment.

After her court case was tossed, Chase said in a statement, “Primaries are best for Virginians as they are more inclusive and don’t create extra hoops for the people who want to vote to jump through. I’ve at least raised awareness as to what they are doing and taken the smoke out of a smoke-filled room. The people are watching. They see what they’re doing and they’re not happy about it. It’s up to the [State Central Committee] to do the right thing.”

In an email to her supporters last week, Chase suggested they make plans to travel to vote in a convention.

According to Liberty’s statement, the school has been contacted by Virginia GOP officials about the possibility of leasing portions of retail parking lots owned by the university but had not agreed to a contract as of Wednesday.

“Liberty University tries to be a good neighbor and promote civic engagement,” the statement reads, noting that it told the state GOP it would consider renting off-campus parking areas at full market rates. “Liberty would do likewise on comparable terms if another political party or candidate asked. Excess parking in retail centers controlled by Liberty University have been leased on a temporary basis for years to carnivals, circuses, car dealerships, and the like.”

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COVID restrictions to be loosened Monday; more vaccine sites coming soon

As more pharmacies across the state receive vaccine doses from the federal government and the number of COVID-19 cases declines, Gov. Ralph Northam said Wednesday he will roll back certain restrictions beginning Monday.

Starting March 1, alcohol sales will be allowed in restaurants up to midnight instead of 10 p.m. Curfews will end, and outdoor social gatherings — previously limited to 10 people — will go up to 25 people, Northam said during his COVID update. Public venues, now limited to no more than 250 people outside, will also see restrictions loosened. At outdoor venues, 1,000 people or 30% capacity can gather; indoor venues cap attendance at 250 people or 30% capacity.

Meanwhile, the Virginia Department of Health has been working furiously to figure out logistics of delivering shots at pharmacies through the federal government’s partnership. This week, the number of doses Virginia pharmacies receive has doubled to 52,000 weekly, and more locations and retail chains will be involved soon, Northam said. About 220 vaccination events are scheduled across the state this week, and 1.1 million people in Virginia have gotten at least their first doses.

In Virginia, Walgreens, Walmart, Safeway, Food City, Food Lion, Giant and community-based pharmacies will all start offering shots for people aged 65 and older in coming days, in addition to 36 CVS locations, which have been administering shots for the past two weeks. Most of the partners, with the exception of CVS, are using the state’s waiting list, which has about 1.7 million people registered, to set up appointments.

The 52,000 doses received weekly will go to approximately 140 locations across Virginia, with a focus on geographical need, as well as communities at higher risk of getting sick. These doses are in addition to about 160,000 doses received weekly by local health districts.

People who are younger than 65 but are still in high priority populations, including essential employees and people with underlying health conditions, are not on the pharmacies’ priority lists currently, as the state is earmarking those doses for older people. They are eligible to receive vaccinations through health districts.

Employees at the state’s vaccine registration hotline will be calling some people on VDH’s waiting lists, as will local health district employees and some pharmacies, to set up appointments for vaccination at pharmacies. Also, Northam said, Walmart will hold vaccination clinics off-site in rotating locations through the state and will not be administering any shots at stores. Everyone must have an appointment to receive a vaccination, he added.

The Federal Emergency Management Administration (FEMA) has allocated $179 million to the state to cover costs of setting up mass vaccination sites in Virginia as more doses are received. Northam said that Johnson & Johnson’s one-shot vaccine appears to be nearing approval by the U.S. Food & Drug Administration, and doses could be coming to states as soon as next week. “That is great news,” he said, noting that the approval would make three vaccines available in the United States.

Northam anticipates that about half of Virginia’s 8.5 million population will be vaccinated by April, and he expects to be able to roll back other restrictions in coming weeks. On Wednesday, 1,708 new cases were recorded, the lowest daily number since Thanksgiving, Northam said. Combined with more vaccine doses and the prospect of a third vaccine soon, Virginia is seeing brighter days ahead, he added.

Last week, VDH launched a statewide vaccine registration website for all Virginia residents who want a vaccine, as well as a phone hotline staffed by 750 employees from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Anyone who previously registered with their local health district can call the hotline if their information does not show up on the website, vaccinate.virginia.gov. The number is (877) VAX-IN-VA, or (877) 829-4682. So far, the state has received more than 100,000 phone calls on the line, Northam said.

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