More than $1.9M in grants going to Va.’s tourism industry
While COVID-19 continues to slam the tourism and hospitality industries, Gov. Ralph Northam announced Monday that more than $1.9 million in matching grants will be disbursed among 161 local tourism initiatives as part of Virginia Tourism Corp.’s Recovery Marketing Leverage Program (RMLP). Although Virginia’s tourism industry had another record year in 2019, posting $27 billion […]
Va. COVID-19 rate shoots past 7%
Virginia’s COVID-19 cases continue to rise, with 11,160 new cases and 93 deaths recorded over the past week, according to the Virginia Department of Health’s Nov. 16 report. The total number of fatalities in Virginia stands at 3,806 and the total number of cases statewide is now 204,637. The seven-day positivity rate rose to 7.3% […]
Va. hotel revenues likely to remain low through holidays
With the holiday season looming, Virginia hotel revenues continue to decline when compared to last year, according to data from STR Inc., a CoStar Group division that provides weekly market data on the U.S. hospitality industry. For the week of Nov. 1 through Nov. 7, hotel revenues in Virginia decreased by 53% and rooms sold […]
Three Va. labs selected for OneLab Network
The state Department of General Services and Virginia Department of Health awarded three Virginia laboratories contracts to participate in the state’s new OneLab Network, aimed to expand the commonwealth’s COVID-19 testing capacity, the departments announced Tuesday. The OneLab Network, established by DGS’ Division of Cons[...]
Va. LISC, Chesterfield County announce small business relief fund
LISC Virginia and Chesterfield County announced Tuesday the launch of the $250,000 Chesterfield County Microenterprise Relief Fund, which will provide small businesses with five or fewer employees grants of up to $10,000 for COVID-19 relief. Funding can be used to pay for payroll, rent, utilities, vendor bills and other COVID-19-related expenses. Applications opened Monday at […]
Tazewell County directs $363K in CARES funding to Carilion Clinic
As Southwest Virginia continues to see a spike in COVID-19 cases, the Tazewell County Board of Supervisors announced Tuesday it is allocating $363,000 in federal CARES Act funding to Roanoke-based Carilion Clinic to be used to expand telemedicine and COVID-19 testing, as well as to improve access to primary care and specialty care services. “The […]
Kings Dominion to make holiday season comeback
Making a brief comeback before the end of 2020, Kings Dominion will reopen in December for a limited-time, limited-capacity holiday event after being closed for an entire summer season for the first time in its 45-year history, due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Owned and operated by Cedar Fair Entertainment Co., the amusement park i[...]
$60M directed to municipal utility relief
While some Virginians fear power and water shutoffs during the pandemic, Gov. Ralph Northam announced Monday that an additional $60 million in federal CARES Act funding will go toward municipal utility relief efforts. “These are challenging times for Virginia families and businesses, and we remain committed to helping them keep the electricity on and the […]
$22M in CARES Act funding directed to Va. private colleges
Virginia’s private higher education institutions will receive $22 million in federal CARES Act funding for COVID-19 preparedness and response, Gov. Ralph Northam announced Monday. In late October, $116 million was allocated to Virginia’s public higher education institutions — with today’s allocation proportionate to the public school funding, according to Northam’s office. “Like public colleges and […][...]
Driven by SW Va., state’s COVID-19 rate rises to 6.1%
Virginia’s number of COVID-19 cases jumped by more than 10,000 last week, bringing the state’s positivity rate to 6.1%, up from 5.8% on Nov. 2, according to the Virginia Department of Health’s report Monday, Nov. 9. The sharpest increases have been seen in the Roanoke region and Southwest Virginia, where neighboring states also have seen […]
Construction industry recovered 84K jobs in October
While the pandemic surges on, the construction industry added 84,000 net new jobs in October, the Associated Builders and Contractors (ABC) announced Friday. During the past six months, the industry has added 789,000 jobs, recovering 73% of jobs lost during the pandemic. “It’s hard not to stand up and applaud the U.S. economy’s ability to […]
Initial jobless claims dropped 16.2% last week
The number of initial jobless claims in Virginia dropped by 16.2% last week, the Virginia Employment Commission reported Thursday, and the number of continued claims was three-quarters lower than its May 16 filing week peak. For the week ending Oct. 31, 10,350 Virginians filed initial claims for unemployment, a decrease of 2,002 from the previous […]