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Glove affair
You can hear the pride in Bill Mosher’s voice when he talks about his dad, Ken Mosher, and his career in the medical glove business. “He was in the glove industry for almost 50 years,” Bill Mosher says incredulously. Ken Mosher’s storied career includes being part of a team that in 1990 invented the nitrile […]
Hard Rock names president of new Bristol hotel and casino
Hard Rock International Inc. has announced a president to lead its hotel and casino operations in Bristol. Allie Evangelista most recently served three years as a vice president and general manager for Penn National Gaming operations, including the past seven months at Hollywood Casino Perryville, in Maryland. Evangelista has &#[...]
SWVA initiative seeks to attract remote workers
Project Fuse, a regional cooperative initiative to make Southwest Virginia the location of choice for remote employment, launched Friday with the release of a playbook to attract businesses. “The global business community seeks options for both attracting the employees they want and managing their operating costs,” Will Payn[...]
$714M Wythe medical glove plant is solo venture now
Developers broke ground in January on the $714 million medical glove manufacturing complex planned for Wythe County’s Progress Park. Only now it may be a solo project, not a joint venture. In October 2021, then-Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam announced that Alexandria-based Blue Star NBR LLC was building manufacturing facilities t[...]
VHCC tech center to expand welding, diesel tech
Demand for welders is so great that some of Eddie Fultz’s Virginia Highlands Community College students are being hired for part-time jobs while they’re still completing their training. “We’re in a manufacturing area where we cannot meet the demand,” says Fultz, coordinator of VHCC’s welding program. “It’s a grea[...]
Appalachian Council for Innovation taps exec director
John Bebber has been hired as executive director of the Appalachian Council for Innovation, its board announced earlier in January. He was previously district director for U.S. Rep. Morgan Griffith, R-Abingdon. ACI is a nonprofit regional economic development organization founded in 1999 as the Southwestern Virginia Technology C[...]
Va. housing market broke records in 2021
Last year Virginia’s housing market was one for the record books, according to a new report released Jan. 21 by Virginia Realtors. In 2021, there were 154,340 home sales statewide, a 10.2% increase over 2020, according to the industry association. The median sales price was $350,000, a $30,000 jump, or 9.4% increase, from the previous […]
State awards $7M in grants to help with site readiness
Eleven commercial projects across the commonwealth will get a boost to help with site readiness, Gov. Ralph Northam announced Thursday. The Virginia Business Ready Site program, administered by the Virginia Economic Development Partnership, awarded $7 million in development grants. Having project-ready sites available has been a[...]
United Way launches child care initiative
The gap between the need for child care and its availability and accessibility is nearly three times higher than the state average in Southwest Virginia, where parents lack child care services for more than 7,000 children under age 5, according to a 2019 report from the Bipartisan Policy Center. Child care is not cost-effective [...]
Va. invests $722M in broadband expansion
Virginia Gov. Ralph Northam this week announced a state investment of $722 million in grants toward expanding high-speed internet service in 70 localities across the commonwealth. The governor says the funding will help Virginia achieve 90% of its universal broadband access goal by 2024. “Broadband access impacts every facet o[...]
Southwest Va. project will help manufacturers enter wind energy supply chain
Public-private campaign InvestSWVA announced Tuesday the launch of an economic development initiative designed to help Southwest Virginia manufacturers find entry points in the supply chain for wind energy equipment components. The initiative, called Project Veer, will connect Southwest Virginia manufacturers with industry exper[...]
Two Va. projects are finalists for $100M U.S. EDA grants
Two Virginia projects — one to make Central Virginia an advanced pharmaceutical manufacturing hub and one to support the transportation and logistics cluster in Southern and Southwest Virginia — are two of 60 finalists for the U.S. Economic Development Administration’s Build Back Better Regional Challenge, which will provide awardees with up to $100 million each. […]
