A session to remember
In the six weeks between the Virginia General Assembly’s March 12 adjournment and its April 22 veto session, the world changed. The dramatic societal shifts brought on by the coronavirus pandemic were on display during the historic, surreal April meeting, in which the lawmakers gathered at unusual locations — the Senate at t[...]
Firing up Fairfax
By the numbers, Fairfax County should be the envy of every locality. As the headquarters for 11 Fortune 500 companies, the county is home to a large concentration of educated, high-income earners and boasts one of the biggest suburban office markets in the country, second only to Los Angeles. Two years ago, data from the [&helli[...]
Making a difference
As health care systems raced to locate new sources of personal protective equipment during the first months of the COVID-19 pandemic, Virginia’s engineering schools stepped up with innovative plans for manufacturing in-demand PPE. In Roanoke, where the number of COVID-19 cases has remained much lower than Northern, Eastern and[...]
The mentor
Gregory Washington, the new president of George Mason, “embodies our university,” says Thomas M. Davis, rector of the school’s governing Board of Visitors. How? In just about every way possible, both personally and professionally, say Davis and others. Mason’s stated mission is to provide “equal opportunity and an educ[...]
A new line of work
As a single mother, Megan Yeager began working as a pizza delivery driver. Over the years, she rose to regional manager of a small pizza chain in the Richmond area. But the pizza chain couldn’t offer her what she wanted in a career: vision and dental care, retirement benefits, career advancement opportunities and, most importa[...]
Viral load
Like a canary in a coal mine, the Port of Virginia felt the impact of COVID-19 well before others in Virginia started to feel it. In February, the port saw a 9% drop in cargo compared with February 2019, a decrease attributed in part to the outbreak’s origins in China. In 2018, China was the […]
A catalyst for change
An unhappy customer was the engine for change at Alpha Omega Integration LLC — and is a major factor the Vienna-based information technology solutions company attributes to its success. Alpha Omega won an IT contract from the U.S. Department of State’s Bureau of Information Resource Management in 2018. But three weeks later,[...]
Cash crop?
Petunias, plants, strawberries, meat, tomatoes and more have been the primary revenue sources for Rolling Meadows Farms during the past 31 years. Tim Belcher took over the 400-acre Martinsville family farm in 1989 after his father retired. Now, the farm has a new product line and Belcher has high hopes that it could run neck [&h[...]
Inland empire
The Port of Virginia is investing in its two inland ports to boost capacity and maintain efficiency while handling greater volume from its Hampton Roads terminals. A record 2.93 million 20-foot equivalent units, or TEUs, passed through the Port of Virginia system in 2019, a 3% increase over 2018. “As we expand our primary term[...]
Ice age
As the Port of Virginia expands its terminals, it’s prompted warehousing and logistics firms to also create space for more imported and exported goods. One of the largest areas of recent growth has been in the refrigerated storage industry. Here are some of the highlights: Preferred Freezer Services In April 2019, Preferred Fr[...]
High-rise horizon
The numbers are mind-boggling. During the next decade, Amazon.com Inc. plans to develop about 6 million square feet of office space in Arlington County’s Crystal City, Pentagon City and Potomac Yard areas to accommodate the mammoth e-tailer’s new HQ2 East Coast headquarters. That’s almost as large as the biggest office bui[...]
Tech support
Cybersecurity may not be the first idea that springs to mind when thinking about the maritime industry, but it is an increasingly important field. And the new Coastal Virginia Center for Cyber Innovation (COVA CCI) at Old Dominion University is proof enough. The center’s $2.5 million, two-year budget supports its mission to [...]