Proposed $8.8B+ Pittsylvania data center campus hits roadblock
So many Pittsylvania County residents turned out to voice their — predominantly opposed — opinions regarding a proposed $8.8 billion-plus data center campus and natural gas power plant that a county planning commission meeting ran about five hours Tuesday, ending around 11:40 p.m. As the meeting neared its end, Steven Gould,[...]
Something in the Water gets extension from Va. Beach
Pharrell Williams’ Something in the Water festival got a bit of a break Tuesday from Virginia Beach City Council members, who agreed to give the Virginia Beach-born music and fashion maven more time to fulfill an overdue part of the festival’s contract with the city. City Council voted 8-2 Tuesday to indefinitely def[...]
Martinsville doctor found guilty of 460+ counts of opioids distribution
A federal court jury in Abingdon found Dr. Joel Smithers, who previously practiced in Martinsville, guilty of 466 federal counts of illegally prescribing Schedule II controlled substances, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for Western Virginia announced Dec. 31, 2024. He was also found guilty of one count of maintaining a place f[...]
Smithfield Foods files for IPO
Virginia’s Smithfield Foods announced Monday it has filed a registration statement to the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission for its initial public offering. This is the first step toward the pork and packaged meats giant’s plan of selling common stock on the Nasdaq Global Select Market under the ticker symbol S[...]
Micron to invest $2.17B in Manassas expansion
Semiconductor company Micron Technology will invest up to $2.17 billion to expand its Manassas manufacturing facility, creating an expected 340 jobs, Gov. Glenn Youngkin announced Monday. Micron will modernize the plant at 9600 Godwin Drive to produce dynamic random-access memory (DRAM) chips for automotive, aerospace, defense a[...]
Food City to pay $8.4M to settle opioids-related allegations
Abingdon-based K-VA-T Food Stores, operator of the Food City supermarket chain, has agreed to pay more than $8.4 million to the federal government to settle allegations under the False Claims Act (FCA) related to dispensing opioids and other controlled substances. The U.S. Department of Justice announced the agreement with K-VA[...]
Northrop Grumman subsidiary scores $3.4B Navy contract
Northrop Grumman Systems, a subsidiary of Falls Church aerospace and defense giant Northrop Grumman, has been awarded a $3.459 billion contract by the Navy to engineer and manufacture new nuclear aircraft, according to announcements from the Department of Defense and the Navy last week. E-130J jets will take the place of the Nav[...]
GDIT wins $5.57B contract to upgrade military communications system
Falls Church-based General Dynamics Information Technology, a business unit of Reston Fortune 100 defense contractor General Dynamics, has won a $5.57 billion contract from the Air Force Mission Partner Capabilities Office, it announced Friday. Awarded in November, the single-award, indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity contr[...]
Smithfield to form new hog production company ahead of IPO
Smithfield Foods has inked a deal with VisionAg, an affiliate of North Carolina’s HD3 Farms, to start a new hog production business early next year as the meat producer gears up to go public, the company announced Friday. Smithfield, a giant in packaged meats and pork products, will provide 28,000 sows to the new company, [...]
Big tech company to buy power from Va.’s first onshore wind farm
Even as political winds shift in Washington, D.C., a long-delayed onshore wind farm in Botetourt County might finally be sailing to completion. Charlottesville-based Apex Clean Energy announced Wednesday that it has reached a deal for Google to purchase the full capacity of Rocky Forge Wind, a wind farm the Charlottesville compa[...]
World’s first commercial fusion power plant planned for Chesterfield
Commonwealth Fusion Systems, a Massachusetts-based fusion energy company, plans to build the world’s first grid-scale commercial fusion power plant in Chesterfield County, Gov. Glenn Youngkin announced Tuesday. “It’s a nearly $3 billion capital investment, paying taxes, and it’s a bunch of really high-tec[...]
Hundreds pack into Caesars Virginia on opening day
Hundreds of people descended upon Danville’s Main Street Tuesday to celebrate the opening of the $800 million Caesars Virginia, the third permanent casino to open in the state. Caesars didn’t shortchange on spectacle for the first day. A faux Roman legionary struggled to climb out of a Rolls-Royce to join Vegas-style[...]