AeroVironment to acquire BlueHalo for $4.1B
AeroVironment, an Arlington County defense contractor, announced this week it will purchase aerospace and defense tech firm BlueHalo for approximately $4.1 billion in an all-stock transaction. Also based in Arlington, BlueHalo is owned by private equity firm Arlington Capital Partners and works in space technologies, counter-unc[...]
Volkswagen’s U.S. subsidiary names new president and CEO
Rivian Automotive’s Kjell Gruner will become the new president and CEO of Volkswagen Group of America on Dec. 12, the Reston-headquartered subsidiary of the German automaker announced Tuesday. Gruner succeeds Pablo Di Si, who “has stepped down … on his own request,” according to a news release. Di Si assumed the role in [...]
Inova pays $2.37M to settle False Claims Act allegations
Three Inova Health entities have agreed to pay more than $2.37 million to settle claims that Inova submitted Medicaid claims containing falsified information. The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia announced on Friday the agreement with Inova Health System Foundation, Inova Health Care Services and Ino[...]
Smithfield Foods to pay $2M to settle child labor claims
A subsidiary of Virginia-based Smithfield Foods has agreed to pay $2 million to settle allegations it hired children to work at a meat packaging plant in Minnesota. According to the Minnesota Department of Labor and Industry, Smithfield’s operation in Minnesota allegedly employed at least 11 children between the ages of 14[...]
Permanent Hard Rock Bristol casino opens
The bright lights of Bristol shine considerably brighter now following the opening of Virginia’s second full-fledged casino. Thursday heralded the grand opening of the $515 million-plus Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Bristol, Virginia’s first hotel/casino combo. Symphonies of sounds, from music to slot machines, indicated the [...]
Pittsylvania megasite wins $1.3B battery separator project
Tennessee-based Microporous will invest $1.3 billion to build its battery separator manufacturing facility at the Southern Virginia Megasite at Berry Hill in Pittsylvania County, Gov. Glenn Youngkin announced Wednesday. The company expects the project to create 2,015 jobs. The megasite’s first tenant, Microporous will develop [...]
American Diabetes Assoc. chair tackles disease’s workforce impact
More than 780,000 adults in Virginia have diabetes. The indirect cost from lost productivity due to the disease in 2017 in this state alone was a whopping $2.3 billion, according to the American Diabetes Association. That’s why Rhodes Ritenour, national chairman of the ADA’s board and vice president for external and [...]
After two years, VCU Health makes Levy permanent CEO
Two years after he first became interim CEO, Dr. Marlon F. Levy has been named VCU Health System’s permanent head. Virginia Commonwealth University announced Monday that Levy’s interim roles as the Richmond-based health system’s CEO and senior vice president for VCU Health Sciences were made permanent in appoin[...]
MicroStrategy holdings surge in value as bitcoin breaches $87,000
Bitcoin whale Michael Saylor, the executive chairman of Tysons-based tech company MicroStrategy, has reason to gloat today. Under Saylor’s laser-eyed guidance, MicroStrategy has pursued bitcoin as an investment strategy since 2020. The company announced its first bitcoin purchase in August 2020, making it one of the first pu[...]
Va. will hold 2 special elections to fill empty state Senate seats
Updated Nov. 10 Two Virginia State Senate seats are now open, with the election of state Sens. John McGuire, R-Goochland, and Suhas Subramanyam, D-Loudoun, to the U.S. House of Representatives this week, so the state will hold special elections to fill those seats in districts 10 and 32 ahead of the Virginia General AssemblyR[...]
If Trump cuts federal workforce, Warner predicts ‘disaster’ for Va.
U.S. Sen. Mark Warner said Thursday he hopes President-elect Donald Trump won’t pursue massive cuts and relocations in the federal workforce — because if he does, it would be a “disaster for Virginia’s economy,” particularly in Northern Virginia and Hampton Roads. “We would get hit worse than any [...]
Navy Federal ordered to refund customers $80M, pay $15M civil penalty
The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is ordering Navy Federal Credit Union to refund more than $80 million to customers and pay a $15 million civil penalty for allegedly charging illegal overdraft fees. CFPB announced the actions against the nation’s largest credit union on Thursday. CFPB alleges that from 2017 to 2022, Vi[...]