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Crossing the line
A city famous for birthing country music and straddling the Virginia-Tennessee state line, Bristol, Virginia, has spent the last decade struggling to recover from the Great Recession and the coal industry’s steep decline. However, a new surge of economic life is reenergizing Bristol as it enters the 2020s. More visitors ar[...]
Opportunity Appalachia hopes to match investors, projects
A group of Southwest Virginia community leaders are helping regional entrepreneurs market their ideas to investors as part of Appalachian Community Capital’s multistate Opportunity Appalachia economic development initiative. Through the initiative, Appalachian Community Capital is seeking to match investors to 15 “shovel[...]
Va. Tech student tests positive for COVID-19
A Virginia Tech student living off campus in Blacksburg has tested positive for COVID-19, according to an email sent out Friday by Virginia Tech President Tim Sands. The student is believed to have been exposed to the virus during international travel and is in self quarantine. “The Virginia Department of Health, working with our own […]
1901 Group expanding into Washington County
Reston-based information technology services company 1901 Group will invest $1.15 million in Washington County to establish its third Virginia operations center, creating 150 jobs, Gov. Ralph Northam announced Monday. The new center will be located at the Virginia Highlands Small Business Incubator in Abingdon, where small busin[...]
Moving beyond coal
In 1923, the number of people earning a living mining coal in the United States peaked at 862,536. Now, that number is around 52,000, and many people and companies who relied on coal for income have fallen on hard times. That’s one reason the 2019 expansions of Paul’s Fan Co., which has been tied to […]
A multifaceted strategy
Catching the big one matters, but a lot of little successes can mean a lot, too. In Southwest Virginia, small triumphs have accumulated over the past year, in addition to larger announcements. Last April, Polycap LLC, a Toronto-based manufacturer of specialty caps and closures, announced it would invest $7.7 million in Lebanon[...]
Roanoke office park sells for $3.2M
The Northpark Business Center in Roanoke County sold for $3.2 million on Feb. 17, Roanoke-based Waldvogel Commercial Properties Inc. announced this week. The 34,318-square-foot office park is located at 6701-6711 Peters Creek Road and was sold by Mechanical Development Co. Inc. The property consists of two single-story buildings that were more than 50% occupied at […]
Surgery Center of Lynchburg allocates $1 million to charity clinics
The Surgery Center of Lynchburg has allocated more than $1 million to the Virginia Association of Free & Charitable Clinics, money that will support more than 10 free clinics, the association announced Thursday in a news release. The majority of the funding will go to the Free Clinic of Central Virginia in downtown Lynchburg to […]
Norfolk Southern moving Roanoke distribution center, locomotive shop to Pennsylvania
Norfolk-based Norfolk Southern Corp. (NS) is moving its Roanoke distribution center and locomotive shop operations to Pennsylvania, the company announced Tuesday, affecting a total of 104 employees in the Roanoke Valley area. The Fortune 500 rail transportation company will move those jobs and its associated work to Altoona, Pen[...]
In St. Paul, renaissance is on the agenda
People once called St. Paul the Western Front. “St. Paul was a coal town, so the railroad would run in and drop people off there,” says Kimberly Christner, president and CEO of Williamsburg-based Cornerstone Hospitality. “One side of the railroad was dry and … the other side was wet with alcohol, and that was the [&helli[...]
Blue Ridge Designs LLC invests $2M to expand Southwest Va. operations
Carroll County-based screen-printed apparel manufacturer Blue Ridge Designs LLC will invest $2.28 million to expand its operations, creating 118 jobs, Gov. Ralph Northam announced Wednesday. Blue Ridge Designs was established in January 2019 and manufactures screen-printed apparel with watercolor ink. Since January 2019, the company has purchased six presses and three dryers, hired 80 employees […][...]
Three Va. universities ranked among top 10 in nation for online degrees
Online degrees from three Virginia universities were cited in the U.S. News & World Report’s 2020 Best Online Programs rankings. The University of Virginia’s Curry School of Education and Human Development was ranked third in the nation for online master’s in education programs. Master’s degrees offered through the online program include administration and supervision; curriculum […][...]
