Leidos receives $1.5B DOD task order
Reston-based Fortune 500 government contractor Leidos has received a task order valued up to $1.5 billion to support the Department of Defense with technology to enhance its Command, Control, Computers, Communications, Cyber, Intelligence, Surveillance and Reconnaissance (C5ISR) missions, the company announced Wednesday. Under the contract, Leidos will focus on the rapid insertion of technologies across […][...]
Virginia 500: The 2022 Power List
Who are Virginia’s most powerful and influential leaders in business, government, politics and education this year? Find out in the third annual edition of the Virginia 500: The 2022-23 Power List. Read more about how we assembled the Virginia 500 from our editor. And see a note from our publisher about the power of leadershi[...]
Lego to build $1B factory in Chesterfield
It’s highly unlikely that it will be built from brightly colored plastic bricks, but the Lego Group will be bringing a $1 billion toy manufacturing plant to Chesterfield County’s Meadowville Technology Park, creating more than 1,760 jobs, the company and Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin announced Wednesday during a press[...]
Medical cannabis companies amass political power in Va.
RICHMOND, Va. — Many small cannabis entrepreneurs say large companies are jockeying to lock them out of the industry and have funding that gives them more access to lawmakers. “Small businesses are the backbone of the country,” said Sarah Grant, general manager of The Dispensary in Richmond. The shop opened last year a[...]
Hotel workers must complete anti-human trafficking training
RICHMOND, Va. — After a few lawmakers missed time during the session due to COVID-19, Del. Shelly A. Simonds, D-Newport News, said she was thrilled to see all 100 members of the House unanimously pass a bill requiring hotels to provide human trafficking training for employees. “It was really exciting for me to watch the [...]
Legislators nipped Va.’s budding cannabis industry, advocates say
RICHMOND, Va. — Jacob Williamson grows, makes and sells hemp-based CBD products through his family’s Hens and Hemp farm. He went through the permitting process to be a hemp farmer when it became legal in 2019, but now he is leaving the industry. “We can’t keep up with the multimillion-dollar cannabis industry com[...]
Median home prices rose 9% in Va. since 2021
The cost of buying a home in Virginia increased nearly 9% in the past year, according to a March 21 report from Virginia Realtors. The statewide median sales price in February was $350,000, or $28,550 higher than it was in February 2021. That’s an 8.9% increase and the sharpest gain since June 2021. Not only […]
Report: Va. data center projects totaled $6.8B in 2021
Data centers are a primary driver of economic growth in Virginia, comprising $6.8 billion or 62% of all major economic investments announced last year by the Virginia Economic Development Partnership, according to a new report released Thursday by the Northern Virginia Technology Council (NVTC). While the total for 2021 represen[...]
Richmond pares down Diamond District developer pool
Story updated, March 24 at 11:45 a.m. The city of Richmond announced Wednesday that six competing development teams have been chosen out of 15 applicants to continue in the competition to redevelop the Diamond District area near the Richmond Flying Squirrels’ stadium. The city requested applications late last year for the [...]
Smithfield Foods donates $2M to Ukraine relief efforts
Virginia-based Smithfield Foods Inc. announced a $2 million donation to relief efforts in Ukraine Monday. The nation’s largest pork processor and hog producer donated $250,000 each to the Global Red Cross Network, Mercy Chefs, Save the Children and World Central Kitchen. “Like the rest of the world, we are humbled an[...]
Rising interest rates not enough to deter homebuyers
Even the Federal Reserve hiking interest rates likely won’t be enough to cool down the hot real estate market in Virginia, experts say. In an attempt to slow the highest inflation rates in 40 years, Fed officials voted on March 16 to raise the benchmark federal funds rate by a quarter percentage point to a […]
College sports wagering bill wasn’t good bet
RICHMOND, Va. — Six Virginia men’s and women’s basketball teams made it into March Madness, but state law prevents fans and bettors from placing wagers on their favorite in-state college teams. Lawmakers attempted to change that law this session. Sen. Monty Mason, D-Williamsburg, introduced Senate Bill 576 that would a[...]