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Petersburg sues to demolish old Ramada
The city of Petersburg filed a lawsuit Friday against the company owned by developer and former NFL player Chris Harrison, who promised in 2015 to replace the city’s shuttered and dilapidated Ramada Inn with a brand-new hotel, 100 apartment units and retail space. Six years later, redevelopment has not taken place. In Frid[...]
Va. unemployment claims continue to decline
Virginia’s number of new and continued unemployment claims dropped again last week, with 8,090 initial claims filed during the week ending May 29, a decrease of 1,753 claims from the previous week, the Virginia Employment Commission reported Thursday. Continued claims totaled 52,228 last week, down 1,935 claims from the pr[...]
Youngkin leads Va. campaign fundraising, but most is from his own wallet
Republican gubernatorial nominee Glenn Youngkin raised $8.3 million over April and May, the highest amount in Virginia’s gubernatorial field, according to campaign finance reports issued Wednesday. However, $6.5 million was from his own bank account, in personal loans made to his campaign over the past six weeks. Former Go[...]
VMI report released; calls school ‘traditionally run by white men, for white men’
A long-awaited state report on an alleged culture of racism at Virginia Military Institute was released Tuesday afternoon, concluding that “VMI has … traditionally been run by white men, for white men,” although the state-funded military institution in Lexington has made “incremental steps towards a more [...]
Virginians bet $236M on sports for April
Virginians bet $236 million on sports during April, the third full month for legal sports wagers in the commonwealth, according to data released Friday by the Virginia Lottery. Bettors made about $217 million between April 1-30. Virginians bet 22% less in April than in March when they wagered heavily on the NCAA Division I men&#[...]
Va. new jobless claims dip below 10,000
Virginia saw another decrease in initial unemployment claims last week, with 9,843 new claims in the filing week ending May 22, down 799 from the previous week, according to the Virginia Employment Commission’s Thursday report. Continued claims decreased by 6,250 last week, with 54,163 filed by May 22. This time a year ago[...]
U.S. Sen. John Warner dies at age 94
Former U.S. Sen. John W. Warner III, who died Tuesday at the age of 94 in Alexandria, was remembered Wednesday as a principled, patriotic and bipartisan politician who was one of Virginia’s longest-serving senators and the former chairman of the Senate Armed Services Committee. The last Republican to hold one of Virginia&#[...]
Va. Finance Secretary Aubrey Layne to join Sentara
Virginia Secretary of Finance Aubrey Layne will join Norfolk-based Sentara Healthcare as the health system’s senior vice president and chief of staff, effective July 1. Layne’s responsibilities will include overseeing Sentara’s legislative affairs and corporate social responsibility teams, as well as the Sentar[...]
Va. April unemployment rate at 4.7%, drops nearly half point
Virginia’s seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was at 4.7% in April, dropping 0.4 percentage points below March’s jobless rate. April’s statewide unemployment rate was 5.9 percentage points below April 2020’s rate of 10.6%, the first full month of pandemic-related job losses. Virginia contends to trend lower than the nation, however. The U.S. unemployment rate for April […][...]
Suffolk names new city manager
Suffolk City Council unanimously agreed to hire Albert Moor as city manager during its regularly scheduled meeting on Wednesday. Council members appointed Moor to serve as interim city manager in September, following the resignation of Patrick Roberts, who held the post since 2015. Roberts had previously served as deputy city ma[...]
Va. sees second week of slightly lower initial jobless claims
Virginia saw another week of little change in initial unemployment claims, with 10,642 new claims filed during the week ending May 15, the Virginia Employment Commission reported Thursday. This was a decrease of 628 claimants from the previous week. Continued claims last week rose by 2,569 from the previous week, reaching 60,413[...]
Northam orders VEC to hire 300 more claim processors
Gov. Ralph Northam on Tuesday ordered the Virginia Employment Commission to invest $20 million in upgrading its claims system and hire 300 more staffers to process complicated unemployment insurance claims, which have dogged the agency during the COVID-19 pandemic and led to a civil lawsuit. In an executive directive signed Tues[...]
