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Henrico appoints new EDA director

The Henrico announced Thursday that it has appointed the county’s chief of staff, , as its next executive director, effective Jan. 1.

Tretina succeeds , who is stepping down from the role on Jan. 16 after more than six years leading the county’s efforts. Tretina has been Henrico’s chief of staff since 2019 and also became a deputy county manager in 2022.

Tretina joined the county in 2013 and has held roles in Recreation & Parks, the Division of Fire, and the county manager’s office. A lifelong Henrico resident, she is a graduate of J.R. Tucker High School. She holds a bachelor’s degree in political science and public relations from Eastern Kentucky University and and has completed leadership programs through Harvard University, the Metro Richmond Public Safety Leadership Academy and the University of Virginia.

Tretina is currently leading the Best Products Reimagined project, for which the county government is seeking proposals for an arena-anchored development in the county’s West End. During her tenure, she has collaborated with the county on dozens of agreements and initiatives to attract jobs and investment to Henrico.

“Cari brings a wealth of experience and a proven track record of leadership and innovation,” said Edward Whitlock III, chair of the EDA board of directors, in a statement.

In a statement, Manager John A. Vithoulkas described Tretina as “an incredible talent whose energy is contagious,” adding that Tretina has worked on nearly every major redevelopment project and initiative the county has completed over the past six years.

​​Her achievements include helping establish Nourish Henrico during the pandemic, negotiating the county’s purchase of the historic 2,095-acre Varina Farms property, and occasionally serving as acting county manager.

“She has been a trusted copilot for me, and Cari is going to flourish in this role,” Vithoulkas said. “I relish the thought of watching her run laps around localities we compete against nationally. Cari has an incredible heart, but she also has a steel-trap mind that is going to benefit our county for years to come.”

The EDA works to attract business growth and investment in Henrico, which counts more than 353,000 residents, 25,000 businesses and 200,000 jobs. A 10-member board oversees the agency, which has a staff of 11 and a $2.6 million budget for fiscal 2025–26. Although the agency receives operating support from the county, it remains independent of Henrico’s government.

 

Lego holds groundbreaking for $366M Prince George distribution center

The held a ceremonial Thursday for its $366 million and center in .

The 2 million-square-foot building will be the largest regional in ‘s global network. The site is located at 8800 Wells Station Road in the county, about 20 miles from the $1 billion manufacturing facility the Danish toymaker is building in Chesterfield County, which was about 35% complete in early October.

“Virginia is Lego, and increasingly, Lego is Virginia, and that is such an exciting thing to say. The partnership between and the Commonwealth of Virginia is nothing sort of awesome,” Gov. Glenn Youngkin said Thursday at the groundbreaking.

The company and Youngkin announced the facility in May. Lego started construction in the middle of this year, said Cindy Sikora, Lego’s vice president of supply chain operations for the Americas. The toymaker expects to open the distribution center in early 2027 and to open its factory in Chesterfield, expected to create about 1,760 jobs over 10 years, in January 2027.

Together, the facilities will form an integrated supply chain, Sikora said.

“Obviously, we’d have no products to distribute without the manufacturing,” she told reporters at the groundbreaking, “but also, we need to move the products that manufacturing creates, and so having those located together is super for us.”

The Prince George regional distribution center will be its sixth globally and the second in Lego’s Americas network, joining an existing center in Fort Worth, Texas.

“We currently have a distribution center in Texas, and we work with our manufacturing site in Mexico very closely, and we expect to have the same setup here,” Sikora said.

A third-party company will operate the distribution center, which is standard for Lego distribution facilities, Sikora said. Lego expects that the facility will create about 300 jobs, but the logistics company will be doing the hiring. The announcement of which company that will be is “forthcoming,” Sikora said.

Lego has signed a built-to-suit lease for the regional distribution center with Crosspointe Commerce Center, a joint venture between Hillwood Investment Properties and The Silverman Group.

The toymaker aims to power the facility by using only renewable energy sources and hopes to achieve LEED Gold standard, the second-highest LEED certification from the nonprofit U.S. Green Building Council.

Adding to its presence in Central Virginia, Lego opened a retail store in the Short Pump Town Center in on Nov. 7.

“Think through that supply chain of innovation and that supply chain of creativity,” Youngkin said, “all the way from manufacturing right here in Virginia to distributing in Virginia, to buying and playing and innovating and being part of a child’s life right here in Virginia…

“One of the other things that many of you may not know is that when that child opens that Lego box and places his or her small hands on those bricks,” Youngkin continued, “it’s the first human hand to ever touch that brick. That is one of the great quality pledges of The Lego Group.”

Founded in 1932 by Danish carpenter Ole Kirk Christiansen, Lego reported 74.3 billion Danish Krone in 2024 revenue, equivalent to about $11.27 billion. It employs more than 31,000 people worldwide, including more than 3,500 employees in the United States.

Lego has had a presence in the U.S. since the 1960s, when it entered a partnership with Samsonite to manufacture and market its bricks in the country. In 1973, the company established its American subsidiary, Lego Systems, after the license agreement with Samsonite for the U.S. market was cancelled. The toymaker is moving its U.S. headquarters from Enfield, Connecticut, where it has been since 1975, to Boston in 2026.

Amentum wins $995M Air Force contract

Chantilly-based announced Wednesday that it was awarded an contract worth up to $995 million to modernize and provide maintenance for the unmanned MQ-9 Reaper aerial system.

The indefinite-delivery, indefinite-quantity contract, awarded by the Air Force Air Combat Command, requires Amentum to deploy specialized personnel, weapons loading support and aerospace ground equipment services in the United States and globally, reinforcing combat readiness and training capabilities.

The MQ-9 Reaper is an unmanned aerial system that includes aircraft, sensors, armaments, ground control stations and a satellite link.

“Amentum’s unmanned aerial solutions are designed to ensure the MQ-9 Reaper remains a formidable force in complex, dynamic environments,” said Mark Walter, president of Amentum’s Engineering and Technology business, in a statement.

In a statement, Mark Evans, Amentum’s senior vice president of modernization and training, said the company is “uniquely positioned” to enhance the Reaper’s operational capabilities.

The contract has a five-year ordering period.

The company did not immediately return requests for comment.

With $8.4 billion in 2024 revenue, Amentum has more than 53,000 employees in approximately 80 countries across all seven continents. The company was founded as a spinout of AECOM’s Management Services Group in 2020 and moved its headquarters from Germantown, Maryland, to in 2023.

Regent University names law school dean

SUMMARY:

  • named S. Ernie Walton as its new
  • Walton previously served in senior roles and led the Center for Global Justice
  • His background includes clerking, legal practice and religious liberty advocacy

Regent University announced Thursday that it has tapped longtime administrator and faculty member S. Ernie Walton as the dean of the .

Walton, who has been serving as interim dean of the private Christian university’s law school since July, replaces Bradley J. Lingo, who stepped down in March of this year to become president of his alma mater, Grove City College.

“Dean Walton has consistently demonstrated exceptional scholarship, integrity and leadership,” said Chancellor , in a statement. “He embodies the thoughtful, principled leadership essential to equipping the next generation of legal professionals. Under his guidance, Regent Law will continue its remarkable growth in both quality and enrollment. His dedication to advancing Christ-centered legal education will strengthen our mission and impact for years to come.”

Walton was previously senior associate dean and associate professor of law at the university. He has taught sales, business structures and agency, international law, national security law and international business transactions. Additionally, he served as the director of the law school’s Center for Global Justice from 2013 to 2023.

In a statement, Walton said he was “profoundly honored and deeply humbled” to receive the position and expressed his enthusiasm for working with the university’s faculty and staff in his new role.

Before joining Regent, Walton served as a law clerk for Virginia Supreme Court Justice D. Arthur Kelsey. He later practiced law in Southern California with Tyler & Bursch, focusing on civil litigation and business matters, and concurrently worked as an associate attorney with Advocates for Faith & Freedom, a nonprofit legal organization that litigates cases involving religious liberty. In that role, he represented churches in Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act (RLUIPA) land-use disputes as well as pastors who had been arrested while evangelizing in public spaces.

He has also written critically about how schools and state agencies handle issues related to gender identity, arguing that some policies conflict with parental rights and constitutional limits on government authority.

An alumnus of Regent Law, Walton graduated first in his class in 2011, served as notes and comments Editor for the Regent University Law Review and clerked for the American Center for Law and Justice.

Regent Law has risen significantly in the U.S. News & World Report rankings in recent years, now ranked 94th, a 53-place climb in four years.

Founded in 1977 by the late televangelist Pat Robertson, Regent University today has more than 13,000 students studying on its 100-acre campus in Virginia Beach and online worldwide.

There are 769 students enrolled in Regent’s law school across all programs, with 341 in the law degree program. More than 3,800 law school alumni practice in all 50 states and over 20 countries, including 38 currently serving as judges.

Wall Street has its worst day in a month on worries about AI stocks and interest rates

Summary

  • drops 1.7%, its worst day in a month
  • and lead market losses
  • Dow falls nearly 800 points from record high
  • Traders question whether Fed will keep cutting rates

NEW YORK (AP) — The U.S. stock market sank to its worst day in a month and its second-worst since April. The S&P 500 fell 1.7% Thursday and pulled further from its all-time high set late last month. The Industrial Average fell nearly 800 points from its own record set the day before, while the composite lost 2.3%. Nvidia and other AI superstar stocks dragged the market lower amid continued worries that their prices had shot too high. Most other stocks on also fell as traders questioned whether the coming cuts to that they’ve been banking on will actually happen.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. AP’s earlier story follows below.

NEW YORK (AP) — The U.S. stock market is tumbling Thursday toward one of its worst days since its springtime sell-off, as Nvidia and other AI superstar stocks keep dropping on worries their prices shot too high. Wall Street is also questioning whether the coming cuts to interest rates that it’s been banking on will actually happen.

The S&P 500 sank 1.7% and pulled further from its all-time high set late last month. It’s on track for its worst day in a month and its second-worst since plunging in April after President shocked the world with his “Liberation Day” tariffs.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average lost 748 points, or 1.6%, from its own record set the day before, while the Nasdaq composite was down 2.4%, with an hour remaining in trading.

Nvidia was the heaviest weight on the market after the chip company lost 4.2%. Other stocks that have been swept up in the artificial-intelligence frenzy also struggled, including drops of 7.3% for Super Micro Computer, 6.7% for Palantir Technologies and 5% for Broadcom.

Questions have been rising about how much further such AI darlings can go following their already spectacular gains. At the start of this month, Palantir was sporting a stunning rise of nearly 174% for the year so far, for example.

Such sensational performances have been one of the top reasons the U.S. market has hit records despite a slowing job market and high inflation. AI stock prices have shot so high, though, that they’re also drawing comparisons to the 2000 dot-com bubble which ultimately burst and dragged the S&P 500 down by nearly half.

In the meantime, stocks outside of AI also fell across Wall Street as traders worried that the  may not deliver another cut to interest rates in December, as they had been assuming.

Wall Street loves cuts to rates because they can goose the and prices for investments, even though they can also worsen inflation. A halt in cuts could undercut U.S. stock prices after they already ran to records in part on expectations for more reductions.

Expectations have sunk sharply in recent days that the Fed will cut its main interest rate for a third time this year. Traders now see only a coin flip’s chance of it, 49.6%, down from nearly 70% a week ago, according to data from CME Group.

Recent comments from Fed officials have helped drive the doubt.

Susan Collins, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Boston, said late Wednesday that it’s likely appropriate to leave interest rates steady “for some time.” That was a turnaround from her speech last month, when she supported another cut.

The Fed’s job became more difficult recently because of the U.S. government’s six-week shutdown, which delayed many updates on the job market and other signals about the economy. That left it less certain about whether the slowing job market or high inflation is the bigger threat.

The stock market mostly rose through the U.S. government’s shutdown, as it has often done historically, but Wall Street is bracing for potential swings as the government gets back to releasing those updates. The fear is that the data could persuade the Fed to halt its cuts to rates.

The “looming data deluge may spur additional volatility in the coming weeks,” according to Doug Beath, global equity strategist at Wells Fargo Investment Institute.

On Wall Street, The Walt Disney Co. helped lead the market lower after falling 8.1%. The entertainment giant reported profit for the latest quarter that topped analysts’ expectations, but its revenue fell short.

That helped offset a jump of 4.2% for Cisco Systems after the tech giant delivered profit and revenue that were bigger than analysts estimated.

Another one of the relatively few stocks to rise was Berkshire Hathaway, the company run by famed investor Warren Buffett. He is known for loving bargains and won’t buy stocks when they look too expensive. Berkshire Hathaway rose 1.9%.

In the bond market, Treasury yields pushed higher, which put downward pressure on prices for stocks and other investments.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 4.11% from 4.08% late Wednesday.

In stock markets abroad, indexes sagged in Europe following modest gains in Asia.

Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 index rose 0.4%, even as Japanese tech giant SoftBank Group lost another 3.4%. It’s been struggling since it said earlier this week that it had sold all of its $5.8 billion stake in Nvidia.

Metsera shareholders vote for up to $10 billion acquisition by Pfizer

(Reuters) -Metsera shareholders on Thursday approved Pfizer’s takeover offer worth up to $10 billion, according to a preliminary vote count, securing a critical re-entry into the lucrative obesity treatment market for the U.S. drug giant after a fierce bidding war with Wegovy-maker Novo Nordisk.

The approval paves the way for Pfizer to diversify beyond its shrinking COVID-19 portfolio, navigate looming patent expirations, and tap into the fast-growing weight-loss drug market that analysts estimate could be worth $150 billion annually by the end of the decade.

Shares of Pfizer were up 1.3%, while U.S.-listed shares of Novo slipped nearly 1%.

Pfizer had discontinued two oral GLP-1 candidates – lotiglipron in 2023 and danuglipron in 2025 – due to liver safety concerns, leaving it without a viable in-house obesity drug.

Metsera’s board had unanimously backed Pfizer’s amended offer, which valued the biotech at up to $86.25 per share, including $65.60 in cash and up to $20.65 tied to success of its drug pipeline.

Metsera’s lead candidate, MET-097i, a once-monthly GLP-1 injection, has drawn attention for its potential to rival Novo’s Wegovy and Eli Lilly’s Zepbound, which require weekly injections.

MET-097i had helped patients lose up to 14.1% of their body weight in two mid-stage studies. The company is advancing it into late-stage trials.

Pfizer said in September it expects Metsera’s drugs to launch in the 2028, 2029 time frame and potentially help offset upcoming patent losses.

Earlier this year, Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla said the company expects a $17 billion to $18 billion revenue hit annually from drugs losing patent protection between 2026 and 2028, including blood thinner Eliquis and cancer drugs Ibrance and Xtandi.

Metsera shareholders ARCH Venture Fund XII and XIII, Validae Health and Population Health Partners GP had agreed to vote for the deal, according to a proxy filing.

As of September 29, the firms collectively held about 37.6% of Metsera’s outstanding stock.

(Reporting by Kamal Choudhury and Mariam Sunny in Bengaluru; Editing by Maju Samuel)

 

Starbucks workers kick off 65-store US strike on company’s busy Red Cup Day

Summary

  • Over 1,000 workers strike at 65 U.S. stores
  • Walkout timed with Starbucks’ busy
  • cites stalled contract talks, low pay, short hours
  • Starbucks says most stores will remain open as usual

More than 1,000 unionized Starbucks workers plan to strike at 65 U.S. stores Thursday to protest a lack of progress in with the company.

The strike was intended to disrupt Starbucks’ Red Cup Day, which is typically one of the company’s busiest days of the year. Since 2018, Starbucks has given out free, reusable cups on that day to customers who buy a holiday drink.

, the union organizing Starbucks baristas, said stores in 45 cities would be impacted, including New York, Philadelphia, Minneapolis, San Diego, St. Louis, Dallas, Columbus, Ohio, and Starbucks’ home city of Seattle. There is no date set for the strike to end, and more stores are prepared to join if Starbucks doesn’t reach a contract agreement with the union, organizers said.

Starbucks emphasized that the vast majority of its U.S. stores would be open and operating as usual Thursday. The coffee giant has 10,000 company-owned stores in the U.S., as well as 7,000 licensed locations in places like grocery stores and airports.

Around 550 company-owned U.S. Starbucks stores are currently unionized. More have voted to unionize, but Starbucks closed 59 unionized stores in September as part of a larger reorganization campaign.

Here’s what’s behind the strike.

A stalled contract agreement

Striking workers say they’re protesting because Starbucks has yet to reach a contract agreement with the union. Starbucks workers first voted to unionize at a store in Buffalo in 2021. In December 2023, Starbucks vowed to finalize an agreement by the end of 2024. But in August of last year, the company ousted Laxman Narasimhan, the CEO who made that promise. The union said progress has stalled under Brian Niccol, the company’s current chairman and CEO.

Workers want higher pay, better hours

Workers say they’re seeking better hours and improved staffing in stores, where they say long customer wait times are routine. They say too many workers aren’t getting the required 20 hours per week they need before Starbucks’ benefits kick in. They also want higher pay, pointing out that executives like Niccol are making millions.

The union also wants the company to resolve hundreds of unfair labor practice charges filed by workers, who say the company has fired baristas in retaliation for unionizing and has failed to bargain over changes in policy that workers must enforce, like its decision earlier this year to limit restroom use to paying customers.

Starbucks stands by its wages and benefits

Starbucks says it offers the best wage and benefit package in retail, worth an average of $30 per hour. Among the company’s benefits are up to 18 weeks of paid family leave and 100% tuition coverage for a four-year college degree. In a letter to employees last week, Starbucks’ Chief Partner Officer Sara Kelly said the union walked away from the bargaining table in the spring.

Kelly said Starbucks remained ready to talk and “believes we can move quickly to a reasonable deal.” Kelly also said surveys showed that most employees like working for the company, and its barista turnover rates are half the industry average.

Limited locations with high visibility

Unionized workers have gone on strike at Starbucks before. In 2022 and 2023, workers walked off the job on Red Cup Day. Last year, a five-day strike ahead of Christmas closed 59 U.S. stores. Each time, Starbucks said the disruption to its operations was minimal. Starbucks United said the new strike is open-ended and could spread to many more unionized locations.

The number of non-union Starbucks locations dwarfs the number of unionized ones. But Todd Vachon, a union expert at the Rutgers School of Management and Labor Relations, said any strike could be highly visible and educate the public on baristas’ concerns.

Unlike manufacturers, Vachon said, retail industries depend on the connection between their employees and their customers. That makes shaming a potentially powerful weapon in the union’s arsenal, he said.

Improving sales

Starbucks’ same-store sales, or sales at locations open at least a year, rose 1% in the July-September period. It was the first time in nearly two years that the company had posted an increase. In his first year at the company, Niccol set new hospitality standards, redesigned stores to be cozier and more welcoming, and adjusted staffing levels to better handle peak hours.

Starbucks also is trying to prioritize in-store orders over mobile ones. Last week, the company’s holiday drink rollout in the U.S. was so successful that it almost immediately sold out of its glass Bearista cup. Starbucks said demand for the cup exceeded its expectations, but it wouldn’t say if the Bearista will return before the holidays are over.

Federal workers question whether the longest government shutdown was worth their sacrifice

Summary

  • relieved but frustrated as shutdown ends
  • Over 1 million employees went weeks without pay
  • Deal ensures and reverses some dismissals
  • Workers fear another shutdown could happen again

WASHINGTON (AP) — Jessica Sweet spent the federal  cutting back. To make ends meet, the Social Security claims specialist drank only one coffee a day, skipped meals, cut down on groceries and deferred paying some household bills. She racked up spending on her credit card buying gas to get to work.

With the longest shutdown ever coming to a close, Sweet and hundreds of thousands of other federal workers who missed paychecks will soon get some relief. But many are left feeling that their livelihoods served as political pawns in the fight between recalcitrant lawmakers in Washington and are asking themselves whether the battle was worth their sacrifices.

“It’s very frustrating to go through something like this,” said Sweet, who is a steward of AFGE Local 3343 in New York. “It shakes the foundation of trust that we all place in our agencies and in the federal government to do the right thing.”

The shutdown began on Oct. 1 after Democrats rejected a short-term funding fix and demanded that the bill include an extension of federal subsidies for health insurance under the . Its end emerged when eight Democratic-aligned senators agreed to a deal to fund the government with no extension of the expiring subsidies.

Federal workers deeply felt the impacts of the shutdown

The shutdown created a cascade of troubles for many Americans. Throughout the shutdown, at least 670,000 federal employees were furloughed, while about 730,000 others were working without pay, according to the Bipartisan Policy Center.

The plight of the federal workers was among several pressure points, along with flight disruptions and cuts to food aid, that in the end ratcheted up the pressure on lawmakers to come to an agreement to fund the government.

Throughout the six-week shutdown, officials in President ‘s administration repeatedly used the federal workers as leverage to try to push Democrats to relent on their demands. The Republican president signaled that workers going unpaid wouldn’t get back pay. He threatened and then followed through on firings in a federal workforce already reeling from layoffs earlier this year. A court then blocked the shutdown firings, adding to the uncertainty.

The deal that is bringing an end to the shutdown will reverse the dismissals that occurred since Oct. 1, while also ensuring back pay for furloughed federal workers the Trump administration had left in doubt. The bipartisan deal provides funding to reopen the government, including for SNAP food aid and other programs.

Frustration over the shutdown and how it was brought to an end

But the whiplash of the past six weeks, coupled with the concern that the longest shutdown ever may not be the last they face, has shaken many in the workforce.

“Stress and hunger are great tactics for traumatizing people,” Sweet said.

For Sweet, the feelings of frustration are only compounded by a feeling that she was betrayed by the Democratic-aligned senators who broke with the party on the health care subsidies.

She said that she understands that many workers were desperate for a paycheck. But she thought standing firm on the issue of the health care subsidies was worth her sacrifice.

“There are other federal workers who understood what we were holding the line for and are extremely unhappy that line was crossed and that trust was breached,” she said.

Ready to get back to work

Adam Pelletier, a National Labor Relations Board field examiner who was furloughed Oct. 1, said he is glad the compromise includes rehiring laid-off workers, but “the agreement that was reached almost feels like the Charlie Brown cartoon where Lucy holds the football and pulls it out from them.”

Pelletier, a union leader for NLRBU local 3, had financially prepared for the shutdown back in March when it became clear that a funding agreement between Democrats and Republicans likely would not be reached. He says the shutdown has made him feel “like a pawn” because federal workers had no say over their own fate.

The federal workers who spoke to The Associated Press had one common message: that they were reeling but ready to get back to work.

“This has been the worst time in my 20 years to be a federal employee,” said Elizabeth McPeak, a furloughed IRS employee in Pittsburgh who is National Treasury Employees Union Chapter 34 first vice president. She said colleagues had to beg their landlords to hold off on collecting rent payments and relied on food banks during the shutdown.

“A month without pay,” McPeak said, “is a long time to go.”

FAA keeps flight cuts at 6% as shutdown ends

Summary

Flight reductions at 40 major will remain at 6% instead of rising to 10% by the end of the week because more air traffic controllers are coming to work, officials said Wednesday.

The announcement was made as took steps to end the longest  in history. Not long after, President  signed a  bill to end the closure.

The flight cuts were implemented last week as more air traffic controllers were calling out of work, citing stress and the need to take on second jobs — leaving more control towers and facilities short-staffed. Air traffic controllers missed two paychecks during the impasse.

The said the flight reduction decision was made on recommendations from the Federal Aviation Administration’s safety team, after a “rapid decline” in controller callouts.

The 6% limit will stay in place while officials assess whether the air traffic system can safely return to normal operations, Transportation Secretary Sean Duffy said, although he did not provide a timeline Wednesday.

“If the FAA safety team determines the trend lines are moving in the right direction, we’ll put forward a path to resume normal operations,” Duffy said in a statement.

Duffy and FAA Administrator Bryan Bedford said Wednesday that safety remains their top priority and that all decisions will be guided by data.

Delta struck an optimistic note about how much longer flight reductions would continue, saying in a statement the airline looked forward to bringing its “operation back to full capacity over the next few days.”

Since the restrictions took effect last Friday, more than 10,100 flights have been canceled, according to the flight tracking site FlightAware. The FAA originally planned to ramp up flight cuts from 4% to 10% at the 40 airports.

The FAA said that worrisome safety data showed flight reductions were needed to ease pressure on the aviation system and help manage worsening staffing shortages at its air traffic control facilities as flight disruptions began to pile up.

Duffy has declined to share the specific safety data that prompted the flight cuts. But at a news conference Tuesday at Chicago’s O’Hare International Airport, he cited reports of planes getting too close in the air, more runway incursions and pilot concerns about controllers’ responses.

The FAA’s list of 40 airports spans more than two dozen states and includes large hubs such as New York, Atlanta, Los Angeles and Chicago. The order requires all commercial airlines to make cuts at those airports.

Airlines for America, the trade group of U.S. airlines, posted on social media that it was grateful for the funding bill. It said reopening the government would allow U.S. airlines to restore operations ahead of the Thanksgiving holiday which is in about two weeks.

How long it will take for the aviation system to stabilize is unclear. The flight restrictions upended airline operations in just a matter of days. Many planes were rerouted and aren’t where they’re supposed to be. Airlines for America said earlier Wednesday that there would be residual effects for days.

Eric Chaffee, a Case Western Reserve professor who studies risk management, says airlines face complex hurdles, including rebuilding flight schedules that were planned months in advance.

Airline and hotel trade groups had earlier Wednesday urged the House to act quickly to end the shutdown, warning of potential holiday travel chaos.

Flight cuts disrupted other flights and crews, leading to more cancelations than the FAA required at first. The impact was worsened by unexpected controller shortages over the weekend and severe weather.

The CEO of the U.S. Travel Association said essential like air traffic controllers and Transportation Security Administration workers must be paid if “Congress ever goes down this foolish path again” and there is a shutdown.

“America cannot afford another self-inflicted crisis that threatens the systems millions rely on every day,” Geoff Freeman said in a statement.

Shenandoah Valley medical marijuana permit likely stalled

SUMMARY:

UPDATED: Thursday, Nov. 13,  10:30 a.m.

Patients in a region of the state that includes the , and may have to wait longer to purchase medical marijuana locally.

That’s because the parent company of AYR Virginia, the entity that the Virginia Control Authority selected last year to cultivate, manufacture and sell medical marijuana in the northwest part of the state, entered a restructuring agreement over the summer due to overwhelming debt. (Because marijuana remains illegal under federal law, companies in the industry generally cannot file for bankruptcy.)

As part of the agreement, AYR Wellness, the Miami-based parent company of AYR Virginia and another multistate marijuana company, agreed to sell its assets in several states including Virginia. That sale was held Monday, and a group of AYR Wellness’ senior noteholders made the successful bid.

“While AYR is now under new ownership, its core business, footprint and team are all remaining intact,” Robert Vanisko, senior vice president of public affairs for AYR Wellness, wrote in an email Tuesday.

A spokesperson for the CCA declined to comment Tuesday on how the sale will affect medical marijuana sales in Virginia’s Health Service Area 1, which is made up of 32 counties and cities located around the Shenandoah region, or what the process will be for the new owners of AYR Virginia to take over the CCA’s conditional permit to grow and sell medical marijuana in that region.

In a September 2024 press release, the state authority explained that “AYR Virginia will have one year to meet all requirements necessary to obtain a full pharmaceutical processor permit. ”

Gregory D. Habeeb, chair of the regulatory affairs practice group and the president of consulting for Gentry Locke, a Roanoke-headquartered law firm, said the CCA can transfer a permit to another entity, but that process will take time.

“It won’t make it quicker,” Habeeb said.

Vanisko on Thursday maintained that the operation being built to serve HSA 1 won’t necessarily be delayed.

“So essentially, now that the public auction process is complete, we are initiating the process of transferring the licenses and subsidiaries of AYR Wellness to the New AYR,” Vanisko said, referring to the company that will be created by the senior noteholders of AYR Wellness. “That process varies in timeline, state by state, but does not prevent us from operating our businesses in the meantime. … It doesn’t necessarily mean that it’s gonna slow down the build-out. We’re still building it.”

Vanisko declined to provide a timeline for those efforts.

Why has Shenandoah lagged?  

In other parts of the state, medicinal marijuana is a thriving industry, but the Shenandoah region’s medical marijuana program has long been delayed.

The first company awarded the permit lost it in 2020 after failing to meet construction deadlines.

After the matter was resolved in court, the CCA announced in February 2024 that it would accept applications from entities who wanted to be considered for the CCA’s approval to grow and sell medical marijuana in HSA 1. Forty applicants, who each paid $18,000 in fees, threw their hats in the ring.

A CCA review committee scored the applicants and had a 33-way tie for the highest score. The CCA held a lottery to determine the winning entity in September 2024, using a number randomization website. The authority then awarded its conditional approval to AYR Virginia.

Dozens of unsuccessful applicants sued the CCA over its selection process, but a Richmond judge dismissed the case in August. Some have appealed to the Virginia Supreme Court.

Tanner Johnson, CEO of Pure Virginia, a Harrisonburg company that applied to win the permit to grow, manufacture and sell medical marijuana in HSA 1, said he and the other leaders of the company wish CCA had done a better job with the selection.

“The worst part of all this is that our community in HSA 1 continues to suffer without access to medical cannabis,” Johnson said in a statement.

AYR Wellness restructuring

AYR Wellness reported having more than $385 million in long-term debt at the end of January. “We started with an overburdened balance sheet. Too much debt,” Scott Davido, interim CEO of AYR Wellness, said during an August livestream with Cultivated Media, which caters to cannabis professionals.

Winning the assets of AYR Wellness allows the group of senior noteholders to move forward. “This restructuring will wipe out a significant portion, hundreds of millions of dollars, of that debt,” Davido said on the livestream. “It will be converted to equity that will be owned by our prior creditors.”

In recent months, AYR Wellness has closed several cultivation sites and cut hundreds of jobs as part of the restructuring, according to news reports.

The company’s leaders remain bullish on the commonwealth, however. “We’re going to open up Virginia and completely roll out our footprint there,” Davido said on the August livestream.

Habeeb believes it’s likely the new company created by AYR Wellness’ senior noteholders will become the entity that ends up serving the HSA 1 medical marijuana market.

“Unless the commission is going to suspend the award of the license because of their financial conditions or background checks or something else,” Habeeb said. “These licenses have always been deemed to be transferable.”

To be clear, that’s not necessarily what Habeeb thinks should happen. Gentry Locke represented two entities, Blue Ridge Medical and Pure Virginia, in the case against the CCA and AYR in Richmond Circuit Court this summer.

“We never thought that was a properly run process,” Habeeb said of the method the state cannabis authority used in choosing the company to serve the medical marijuana market in HSA 1. “Using Random.org for a random number generator to draw out of a hat a company to award a license worth tens or hundreds of millions of dollars, … the fact that they awarded it to a licensee who apparently didn’t have the financial capacity to go through with the deal, … is just another example of where they dropped the ball in this procurement.”

As for Johnson, he’s not giving up on his cannabis dreams. After Gov.-elect is sworn in in January, many expect Virginia to quickly launch a retail marijuana market, long delayed under the administration of her Republican predecessor, Gov. Glenn Youngkin.

“Our sights are now set on the opening of the adult-use market in Virginia, which seems to be the best and fastest pathway to ensuring all Virginians have access to safe and regulated cannabis products,” Tanner said in a statement.

Editor’s note: This story has been updated