Low inventory, high interest rates strap Va. housing market
Homebuyers in Virginia are continuing to feel the strain of low inventory and high interest rates. The number of active listings on the market is shrinking, and fewer new listings are coming on the market. Despite a brief uptick in inventory at the beginning the year, about 67% of the state’s counties and cities had [&hell[...]
For the record August 2023
CENTRAL VIRGINIA Buc-ee’s, the Texas-size travel center chain, completed its purchase of 27.686 acres in New Kent County for $6.5 million and will open its first Virginia location in the next two years, with three more slated across the state, S.L. Nusbaum Realty Co. announced June 16. At more than 75,000 square feet, the new Buc-ee’s […]
MBU program makes college more affordable
Entering her senior year at Waynesboro High School last fall, Emma Clark did not know whether higher education was in her future. The youngest of eight children, she was mindful that her father’s mechanic business had to provide for all her siblings. “I don’t have the access to money like other people would,” she says. [[...]
Plans revealed for second Buc-ee’s Va. location
Buc-ee’s appears to be planning its second Virginia location, this time along Interstate 81 in Rockingham County near Mt. Crawford. According to a post on the county’s Facebook page, Buc-ee’s, the Texas-sized travel center chain, has applied for a special use permit for review and approval of a proposed sign pl[...]
Nurse training partnership to help with instructor shortages
Shenandoah University, Valley Health and the Virginia Hospital & Healthcare Association have teamed up to tackle the Shenandoah Valley region’s nursing shortage by creating a program that can be replicated statewide. Called NextGen Nurses, the program will use semi-retired and retiring nurses as preceptors — experienced [...]
Shenandoah Valley Partnership launches capital campaign
Shenandoah Valley Partnership (SVP) is raising $1.7 million through its first capital campaign, Forward2028, to fund a five-year plan aimed at business and workforce attraction and retention. The region’s manufacturing sector alone has 3,100 job openings due to older workers retiring and companies ramping up production, says J[...]
Shenandoah Valley SBDC names new director
Shenandoah Valley’s Small Business Development Center, based in Harrisonburg, has named Allison Dugan its newest director. Dugan started with the regional SBDC as a part-time program manager in 2014 and became a business adviser in 2015, adding the title of assistant director in 2019. She took on the leadership role May [...]
May 2023 For the Record
Central Virginia More than 340 union workers went on strike at the AdvanSix Inc. chemical plant in Hopewell on April 6 over contract wage negotiations. The International Chemical Workers Union Council and the United Food and Commercial Workers Union accused the New Jersey-based chemical company of trying to divide union membership by offering pay raises […]
Farmer Focus hatches $17.8 million expansion
Harrisonburg-based Farmer Focus is undertaking a $17.8 million expansion to boost capacity at its 78,000-square foot processing facility on Acorn Drive. The organic poultry producer, which marked its ninth anniversary in March, announced in February that it was the recipient of a $3.6 million grant from the United States Departm[...]
Mary Baldwin announces next president
Mary Baldwin University’s next president will be Jeffrey P. Stein, vice president for strategic initiatives and partnerships at Elon University in North Carolina, the Staunton private university announced on Friday. Also an assistant professor of English at Elon, Stein will become MBU’s 10th president on July 1, succeedi[...]
Avian flu outbreaks strike Va. farms
For almost a year, Virginia poultry farms managed to avoid the nation’s worst-ever avian flu outbreak, but in January, the virus struck a commercial turkey operation in Rockingham County, prompting the killings of 25,300 birds. Five days later, 10,700 more turkeys were euthanized in Rockingham, and in February, 800 birds at an[...]
April 2023 For The Record
CENTRAL VIRGINIA Henrico County-based Altria Group Inc. has entered into a definitive agreement to acquire e-vapor maker NJOY Holdings Inc. for approximately $2.75 billion in cash, with a potential additional $500 million in payments, Altria announced March 6. Part of the deal’s funding will come from an expected $1.7 billion payment plus interest from Philip […]