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Virginia’s future retail marijuana market likely depends on gubernatorial election

SUMMARY:

  • Gov. Youngkin vetoes retail legislation for second time
  • Retail cannabis policy hinges on outcome of upcoming governor’s race
  • Proposed tax structure could generate $74M in five years
  • Public support for retail marijuana in Virginia reaches 57%

 

, Va. — vetoed legislation to legalize retail marijuana for the second year in a row, reaffirming his opposition as the state heads into a pivotal election season.

 “Anybody who thinks I’m gonna sign that legislation must be smoking something,” Youngkin said in 2024.

lawmakers in both chambers have attempted unsuccessfully to create the retail market since 2021. Different measures have been delayed, blocked or vetoed.

As Youngkin nears the end of his term, Virginia voters will have the opportunity to decide the direction of marijuana policy in the state. The outcome of this year’s gubernatorial race, between Republican Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears and Democratic former Rep. , could determine if marijuana retail sales are implemented.

JM Pedini, executive director of the Virginia chapter of the National Organization for the Reform of Marijuana Laws, or , worked with lawmakers to help move the bills through the General Assembly.

Pedini pointed out the stakes of electing a governor who would sign an adult-use retail measure into law. Essentially, any bill could continue to get vetoed and the next gubernatorial election would be four years away.

“Then the next opportunity to enact such a measure will not be until 2030,” Pedini said.

Earle-Sears echoed Youngkin’s views on recreational marijuana sales when he campaigned in 2021 saying “there’s no hope in that.” She said marijuana is a gateway drug, and also that she had fired a previous employee for their use of it.

Spanberger, meanwhile, has voiced support for a regulated retail market.

“We also need to make sure that [tax] revenues flow into Virginia and are used to strengthen our communities and public schools,” Spanberger told RVA Mag. “We need a formalized, legal, emerging cannabis market.”

Neither Earle-Sears nor Spanberger responded to two email requests for an interview about marijuana policy and financial impact.

The proposed bill placed a 1.125% sales tax and a 8% excise tax on any retail marijuana, marijuana-related products and paraphernalia sold. The bill would have also allowed localities the option to add up to a 2.5% excise tax.

The tax structure would have generated around $1.5 million in in fiscal year 2026, but would have grown to $74 million over five years, according to the state fiscal impact statement.  

Del. Paul Krizek, D-Fairfax, who sponsored House Bill 2485 is running for reelection and has said he plans to reintroduce the bill if Democrats regain power in the House. His counterpart in the Senate, Sen. Aaron Rouse, D-Virginia Beach, carried the companion bill. Rouse is 1 of 6 candidates vying for lieutenant governor  in the Democratic primary.

Despite the failure of multiple attempts to pass legislation, public opinion may be shifting. A Wason Center found last year that 57% of Virginia likely voters support the retail sale of marijuana.

Political expert Stephen Farnsworth, a professor of political science at the University of Mary Washington and the director of its Center for Leadership and Media Studies, is skeptical that cannabis policy alone will drive voter turnout. However, he predicts Democrats will retain their majority in the House.

“Normally, angry voters decide elections in Virginia,” Farnsworth said. “And the people who are usually the angriest the year after a presidential election are the people whose party lost the White House.”

In his recent veto message, Youngkin cited concerns about the illicit market, harm to children and potential increases in crime and psychiatric disorders.

“Attempting to rectify the error of decriminalizing marijuana by establishing a safe and regulated marketplace is an unachievable goal,” Youngkin wrote. “The more prudent approach would be to revisit the issue of discrepancies in enforcement.

Krizek disagreed and said limiting a retail market allows criminals to benefit.

“The Governor doesn’t get it. We’ve worked hard to craft sensible, effective legislation,” Krizek wrote in an email. “They know it’s wrong to allow criminals to reap hundreds of millions of dollars while pushing dangerous unregulated products.”

With all House of Delegate seats on the ballot in addition to the governor’s race, the November election could be pivotal for marijuana policy and more. This year’s contest is also historic because both major-party front runners for governor are female.

Capital News Service is a program of Virginia Commonwealth University’s Robertson School of Media and Culture. 

Average US rate on a 30-year mortgage eases to 6.81%, hovering near highest level in over two months

The average rate on a 30-year mortgage in the U.S. eased this week, though it remains close to its highest level in more than two months.

The rate fell to 6.81% from 6.83% last week, mortgage buyer said Thursday. A year ago, the rate averaged 7.17%.

costs on 15-year fixed-rate mortgages, popular with homeowners refinancing their home loans, also fell. The average rate dropped to 5.94% from 6.03% last week. It’s down from 6.44% a year ago, Freddie Mac said.

are influenced by several factors, including global demand for U.S. Treasurys, the Federal Reserve’s interest rate policy decisions and bond market investors’ expectations for future .

After climbing to a just above 7% in mid-January, the average rate on a 30-year mortgage has remained above 6.62%, where it was just two weeks ago. It has risen sharply since then, reflecting volatility in the 10-year Treasury yield, which lenders use as a guide to pricing home loans.

The yield, which had mostly fallen this year after climbing to around 4.8% in mid-January, spiked earlier this month to 4.5% amid a sell-off in government bonds triggered by investor anxiety over the potential fallout from the ‘s ongoing trade war.

The 10-year Treasury yield was at 4.34% in midday trading Thursday, down from 4.40% late Wednesday.

March home sales slowed in a lethargic opening to the spring buying season

Sales of previously occupied U.S. slowed in March, a lackluster start to the spring season as elevated and rising discouraged home shoppers.

Existing fell 5.9% last month from February to a seasonally adjusted annual rate of 4.02 million units, the National Association of Realtors said Thursday. The March sales decline is the largest monthly drop since November 2022, when sales fell 6.7% from the previous month, and marks the slowest sales pace for the month of March going back to 2009.

Sales also fell 2.4% compared with March last year. The latest home sales fell short of the 4.12 million pace economists were expecting, according to FactSet.

The average cost of a U.S. mortgage, which climbed to its highest level in two months last week, is a significant barrier for would-be homebuyers, said Lawrence Yun, NAR’s chief economist.

“Residential housing mobility, currently at historical lows, signals the troublesome possibility of less economic mobility for society,” Yun said.

increased on an annual basis for the 21st consecutive month, although at a slower rate. The national median sales price rose 2.7% in March from a year earlier to $403,700, an all-time high for March, but the smallest annual increase since August.

The U.S. housing market has been in a sales slump since 2022, when mortgage rates began to climb from pandemic-era lows. Sales of previously occupied U.S. homes fell last year to their lowest level in nearly 30 years.

Higher mortgage rates also dampened the start of the spring homebuying season in 2024. This year, after climbing to a just above 7% in mid-January, the average rate on a 30-year mortgage has remained mostly elevated, climbing last week to 6.83%, its highest level in eight weeks, according to mortgage buyer . The average rate eased this week to 6.81%.

Homes purchased last month likely went under contract in February and early March, when the average rate on a 30-year mortgage ranged from 6.89% to 6.63%, according to Freddie Mac.

While sales of existing home fell last month, sales of newly built homes surged in March. They jumped 7.4% from February and 6% from March last year, the Commerce Department reported Wednesday.

To drum up sales, homebuilders have ramped up sales incentives, such as paying to lower the initial rate on a homebuyer’s mortgage. Many builders have also shifted to their focus to smaller, less expensive homes. That helped lower the median sale price on a newly built home last month to $403,600.

In contrast, existing home sales tend to be driven by properties on the upper-end of the market, where more affluent homebuyers can afford to finance a home at current mortgage rates or perhaps pay cash. Consider, sales of homes priced at $1 million or higher jumped 14% last month from a year earlier, while those priced between $100,000 and $250,000 fell 4%, NAR said. The trend helps push up the median sales price for existing homes.

“Usually, the median home price for newly constructed homes would carry about a 15%-20% premium over existing homes,” Yun noted.

Sales fell in March even as more homes hit the market for the spring homebuying season.

There were 1.33 million unsold homes at the end of last month, an 8.1% increase from February, and a 19.8% jump from March last year, NAR said.

That translates to a 4-month supply at the current sales pace, up from a 3.2-month pace at the end of March last year. Traditionally, a 5- to 6-month supply is considered a balanced market between buyers and sellers.

“I felt that more inventory would lead to more sales, but that’s not the case,” Yun said.

One reason the inventory of homes for sale has been rising is that properties are taking longer to sell. Homes typically remained on the market for 36 days last month before selling, up from 33 days in March last year, NAR said.

More homes for sale and lower asking prices in many metro areas from Miami to San Diego, translate to a more buyer-friendly market for home shoppers who can afford to buy.

Sellers gave buyers money toward repairs, closing costs and other concessions in 44.4% of U.S. home sales that occurred in the first quarter, according to data from Redfin. That was up from 39.3% a year earlier.

Many sellers are also lowering asking prices. More than 23% of home listings on Zillow had their price lowered in March, the highest share for any March since at least 2018.

Despite these buyer-friendly trends, the housing market remains largely out of reach for many Americans, especially first-time buyers who don’t have home equity gains to put toward a new home. While home price growth has been slowing, the decline is negligible against the nearly 50% gain in prices over the last five years.

“Uncertainty and anxiety are going to cloud the spring housing market this year,” said Lisa Sturtevant, chief economist at Bright MLS. “Lower mortgage rates and more inventory were expected to bring more home shoppers out this spring, but while some buyers will take advantage of more listings and more room for negotiation, others will hold back, unwilling to make a big decision in these current uneasy times.”

Atlantic Union: Q1 Earnings Snapshot

GLEN ALLEN, Va. (AP) — Corp. (AUB) on Thursday reported first-quarter profit of $49.8 million.

The bank, based in , Virginia, said it had of 52 cents per share. Earnings, adjusted for costs related to mergers and acquisitions and non-recurring costs, were 57 cents per share.

The results missed expectations. The average estimate of three analysts surveyed by Zacks Investment was for earnings of 69 cents per share.

The holding company for posted of $335 million in the period. Its revenue net of interest expense was $217.1 million, also missing Street forecasts. Three analysts surveyed by Zacks expected $220.7 million.

Atlantic Union have dropped 30% since the beginning of the year. The stock has decreased 20% in the last 12 months.

Wall Street rallies as companies keep piling up profits, for now at least

NEW YORK (AP) — ‘s rally kept rolling Thursday as better-than-expected profits for U.S. companies piled up, though CEOs said they’re unsure whether it will last because of uncertainty created by President Donald Trump’s .

The S&P 500 charged 2% higher and pulled within 11% of its record set earlier this year. The Dow Jones Industrial Average rose 486 points, or 1.2%, while the Nasdaq composite jumped 2.7%.

Tech helped lead the way, including ServiceNow after the platform company delivered a stronger profit for the start of 2025 than analysts expected. The company, whose AI agents help clients manage their customers, saw its stock jump 15.5% after it also gave a forecasted range for upcoming subscription that beat some analysts’ expectations.

Southwest Airlines likewise reported stronger results than expected for the first three months of the year. But its stock flipped between gains and losses through the morning after it also became the latest U.S. carrier to say the outlook for the economy looks so cloudy that it’s pulling some of its financial forecasts for the year.

CEO Bob Jordan said the company is “controlling what we can control,” and it’s cutting how much flying it will do in the second half of the year. Southwest’s stock eventually pulled higher in afternoon trading and finished up 3.7%.

Rival American Airlines, meanwhile, pulled its financial forecasts for the full year and said it plans to provide an update when “the becomes clearer.” Its stock rose 3.1% after it also topped profit expectations for the latest quarter.

Companies across industries have been talking about how difficult it is to give financial forecasts for the upcoming year, as Wall Street typically expects them to do, because of the on-again-off-again rollout of Trump’s .

U.S. stocks rallied the prior two days on hopes that Trump was softening his approach on tariffs and his criticism of the Federal Reserve, which had earlier shaken markets. But , the world’s second-largest economy, on Thursday denied it’s involved in active negotiations with the United States over tariffs, saying that any suggestion of progress was as groundless as “trying to catch the wind.”

Calling Trump’s policy announcements “headline turbulence,” Tan Jing Yi of the Asia & Oceania Treasury Department at Mizuho Bank warned that global economies could be hurt in the long run, adding: “Sentiments swing from hopes of intense relief to inflicted economic gloom.”

This week began with a steep loss for U.S. stocks on fears about the trade war, and it’s been a microcosm of the market’s severe swings in recent weeks as investors struggle with how to react to conditions that sometimes change by the hour. The only certainty is that the market will likely keep swinging until more clarity arrives on tariffs, which many investors expect would cause a recession unless they’re rolled back.

“It’s an unhealthy market backdrop right now, and we’re trying not to react too much,” said John Belton, a portfolio manager at Gabelli Funds.

Households across the United States are preparing for the higher prices that economists say tariffs would bring, while the head of the International Monetary fund urged countries to move “swiftly” to resolve their trade disputes that threaten global economic growth.

In the meantime, many U.S. companies are continuing to report stronger profit than analysts expected for the start of 2025, while offering caution and uncertainty about the year ahead.

Toy company Hasbro was a winner and jumped 14.6% after reporting better profit and revenue for the latest quarter than analysts expected. It cited strong growth for its Magic: The Gathering game, among other products.

Texas Instruments rallied 6.6% after the semiconductor company likewise reported a stronger profit than expected.

They helped offset a 3.7% drop for Procter & Gamble, which fell even though the company behind Olay, Tide and Pampers reported stronger results for the latest quarter than expected. Its revenue came in below expectations, and it also cut its forecast for profit growth this fiscal year.

Procter & Gamble said it’s expecting a $200 million hit to its this fiscal year because of higher costs for commodities.

At PepsiCo, CEO Ramon Laguarta said his company expects “more volatility and uncertainty” and that “consumer conditions in many markets remain subdued and similarly have an uncertain outlook.”

His company’s stock fell 4.9% after the beverage and snack maker cuts its forecast for an underlying measure of profit over 2025, citing increased costs from tariffs and subdued conditions for customers. A 25% tariff on imported aluminum for cans is among those hitting PepsiCo and other beverage makers.

All told, the S&P 500 rose 108.91 points to 5,484.77. The Dow Jones Industrial Average added 486.83 to 40,093.40, and the Nasdaq composite jumped 457.99 to 17,166.04.

In the bond market, Treasury yields continued to ease following their disconcerting run higher earlier this month. Yields usually fall when fear is dominating markets, but their surprising earlier rise stirred fears that Trump’s trade war was degrading the U.S. bond market’s status as one of the world’s safest places to keep cash.

The yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 4.30% from 4.40% late Wednesday, in part on expectations that the Federal Reserve could cut interest rates later this year to soften the economic blow that may come from tariffs.

Yields sank after a report showed slightly more U.S. workers applied for unemployment benefits last week than economists expected. A separate report said sales of previously occupied  weakened by more than expected in March.

In stock markets abroad, indexes were mixed amid modest moves across much of Europe and Asia.

___

AP Business Writers Yuri Kageyama and Mat Ott contributed.

Terracon opens Richmond office

The announced Wednesday that Kansas-based and scientific firm has opened an in that is expected to create 25 within the next year.

The office location at 3711 Saunders Ave. is meant to provide the company with access to key industrial and manufacturing clients in the area.

“This new location allows us to expand our reach, provide localized services and connect with clients more effectively,” said Jay Wheeler, office manager and principal, in a statement. “As a company dedicated to innovation and sustainability, we are excited to deepen our impact here in Richmond through collaboration with local businesses and organizations.”

Wheeler noted Terracon already has offices in Washington, D.C., Virginia Beach and , and considered Richmond “a clear next step in serving our clients across the state with more accessibility and localized resources.”

Some of the new jobs tied to the office include field technicians and positions related to engineering, project management and administrative support opportunities. According to a news release, Terracon also has plans to partner with local schools and colleges to offer internship programs and mentorship opportunities, supporting STEM education and career pathways in the area through the company’s foundation arm.

The GRP helped Richmond’s department of economic development with attracting the company to the area. According to Greater Richmond Partnership President and CEO Jennifer Wakefield, the partnership first pitched a local Terracon office in early 2024 during a conference.

“I’m thrilled to welcome Terracon to Richmond as a member of our diverse, thriving business community,” Richmond said in a statement. “Attracting new businesses and supporting those already here is central to our vision of building a strong, resilient city with opportunity for all.”

Headquartered in Olathe, Kansas, Terracon was founded in 1965 and has more than 180 offices nationwide and over 7,000 employees.

Trump science cuts roil university labs, targeting bird feeder research, AI literacy work and more

Ashley Dayer’s dream of winning a National Science Foundation grant to pursue discoveries in bird conservation started when she was an early-career professor with an infant in her arms and a shoestring laboratory budget.

Competition is intense for NSF grants, a key source of funding for science at U.S. . It took three failed applications and years of preliminary research before the agency awarded her one.

Then came a Monday email informing Dayer that ‘s administration was cutting off funding, apparently because the project investigating the role of bird feeders touched on themes of diversity, equity and inclusion.

“I was shocked and saddened,” said Dayer, a professor at Virginia Tech’s department of fish and wildlife conservation. “We were just at the peak of being able to get our findings together and do all of our analysis. There’s a lot of feelings of grief.”

Hundreds of other university researchers had their National Science Foundation funding abruptly canceled Friday to comply with Trump’s directives to end support of research on diversity, equity and inclusion, as well as the study of . It’s the latest front in Trump’s anti-DEI campaign that has also gone after university administrations, medical research and the private sector.

More than 380 grant projects have been cut so far, including work to combat internet censorship in and Iran and a project with Indigenous communities to understand environmental changes in Alaska’s Arctic region. One computer scientist was studying how tools could mitigate bias in medical information, and others were trying to help people detect -generated deepfakes. A number of terminated grants sought to broaden the diversity of people studying science, technology and .

NSF, founded in 1950, has a $9 billion budget that can be a lifeline for resource-strapped professors and the younger researchers they recruit to their teams. It has shifted priorities over time but it is highly unusual to terminate so many midstream grants.

Some scientists saw the cuts coming, after Republican U.S. Sen. Ted Cruz last year flagged thousands of NSF-funded projects he says reflected a “woke ” or Marxist agenda, including some but not all of the projects cut Friday.

Still, Dayer said she was “incredibly surprised” that her bird project was axed. A collaboration with other institutions, including the Cornell Lab of Ornithology, it tapped into Project Feedwatch, a website and app for sharing bird observations.

Dayer’s team had collected data from more 20,000 Americans on their birdwatching habits, fielding insights on how outdoor feeders were affecting wildlife, but also people’s mental well-being.

The only mention of the word “diversity” in the grant award is about bird populations, not people. But the project explicitly sought to engage more disabled people and people of color. That fit with NSF’s longtime requirement that funded projects must have a broad impact.

“We thought, if anything, maybe we’d be told not to do that broader impacts work and to remove that from our project,” Dayer said. “We had no expectation that the entire grant would be unfunded.”

NSF and DOGE say they were “wasteful DEI grants”

On the day the grants were terminated, Sethuraman Panchanathan, the NSF’s director since 2020, said on the agency’s website that it still supported “research on broadening participation” but those efforts “should not preference some groups at the expense of others, or directly/indirectly exclude individuals or groups.”

The NSF declined to share the total number of canceled grants, but Trump’s Department of Government Efficiency, run by billionaire Elon Musk, posted on X that NSF had canceled “402 wasteful DEI grants” amounting to $233 million. It didn’t say how much of that had already been spent. Grants typically last for several years.

Caren Cooper, a North Carolina State University professor of forestry and natural resources, said she expected her work would be targeted after it made Cruz’s list. Her grant project also sought to include people of color and people with disabilities in participatory science projects, in collaboration with the Audubon Society and with the aim of engaging those who have historically been excluded from natural spaces and birdwatching groups.

One doctoral student had left her job and moved her family to North Carolina to work with Cooper on a stipend the grant helped to fund.

“We’ve been trying to make contingency plans,” Cooper said. “Nonetheless, it’s an illegal thing. It’s violating the terms and conditions of the award. And it really harms our students.”

Cutting misinformation work

Along with eliminating DEI research, NSF said it will no longer “support research with the goal of combating ‘misinformation,’ ‘disinformation,’ and ‘malinformation’ that could be used to infringe on the constitutionally protected speech rights of American citizens across the United States in a manner that advances a preferred narrative about significant matters of public debate.”

Several researchers said they weren’t sure why their funding was terminated, other than that their abstracts included terms like “censorship” or “misinformation.”

“The lack of transparency around this process is deeply concerning,” said Eric Wustrow, an engineering professor at the University of Colorado Boulder whose grant aims to study and combat internet censorship in countries like China and Iran. “Did they just Ctrl+f for certain words, ignoring context?”

NSF said on its website that “there is not a list of words” to avoid, but that misinformation research is no longer aligned with NSF’s priorities.

Wustrow said his research supports free speech and access to information around the world, and he plans to appeal the decision to terminate the funding. Meanwhile, he’s looking at potentially working for free this summer without a grant to fund his salary.

Even for those who did intend to address misinformation, the cuts seemed to miss the point.

Casey Fiesler, of the University of Colorado Boulder, had a project focused on dispelling AI misconceptions and improving AI literacy — also a priority of Trump’s education department. Cornell University’s Drew Margolin said his work set out to help people find ways to combat social media harassment, hate speech and misinformation without the help of content moderators or government regulators.

“The irony is it’s like a free speech way of addressing speech,” Margolin said.

Are more cuts coming?

The NSF declined to say if more cuts are coming. The terminated funding mirrors earlier cuts to medical research funding from the National Institutes of Health.

A group of scientists and health groups sued the NIH earlier this month, arguing that those cuts were illegal and threatened medical cures.

The cuts at NSF so far are a tiny portion of all of the agency’s grants, amounting to 387 projects, said Scott Delaney, a research scientist at Harvard University’s school of public health who is helping to track the cuts to help researchers advocate for themselves. Some received termination letters even though their projects had already ended.

“It is very chaotic, which is very consistent with what is happening at NIH,” Delaney said. “And it’s really unclear if this is everything that’s going to get terminated or if it’s just the opening salvo.”

Dayer is still figuring out what to do about the loss of funding for the bird feeder project, which cuts off part of summer funding for four professors at three universities and their respective student teams. She’s particularly worried about what it means for the next generation of American scientists, including those still deciding their career path.

“It’s just this outright attack on science right now,” Dayer said. “It’s going to have lasting impacts for American people and for science and knowledge in our country. I’m also just afraid that people aren’t going to go into the field of science.”

Most Americans expect higher prices as a result of Trump’s tariffs, a new AP-NORC poll finds

WASHINGTON (AP) — Americans’ trust in to bolster the U.S. appears to be faltering, with a new poll showing that many people fear the country is being steered into a recession and that the president’s broad and haphazardly enforced will cause to rise.

Roughly half of U.S. adults say that Trump’s trade policies will increase prices “a lot” and another 3 in 10 think prices could go up “somewhat,” according to the by The Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research.

About half of Americans are “extremely” or “very” concerned about the possibility of the going into a recession in the next few months.

While skepticism about tariffs is increasing modestly, that doesn’t mean the public is automatically rejecting Trump or his approach to trade. However, the wariness could cause problems for a president who promised voters he could quickly fix inflation.

Trump shows vulnerability on the economy

Three months into his second term, Trump’s handling of the economy and tariffs is showing up as a potential weakness. About 4 in 10 Americans approve of the way the Republican president is handling the economy and trade negotiations. That’s roughly in line with an AP-NORC poll conducted in March.

Matthew Wood, 41, said he’s waiting to see how the tariffs play out, but he’s feeling anxious.

“I’m not a huge fan of it, especially considering and going back and forth with adjustments on both ends,” said Wood, who lives in West Liberty, Kentucky, and is unemployed. “Personally, it hasn’t affected me as of yet. But, generally, I don’t know how this is going to come to an end, especially with the big countries involved.”

Still, Wood said he changed his registration from Republican to independent, having been turned off by Trump’s attitude and deference to billionaire adviser Elon Musk. Wood voted for Trump last year and said he’s willing to give the president until the end of the year to deliver positive results on tariffs.

About half of U.S. adults, 52%, are against imposing tariffs on all goods brought into the U.S. from other countries. That’s up slightly from January, when a poll found that 46% were against tariffs. Driving that small shift largely appears to be adults under age 30 who didn’t previously have an opinion on tariffs.

Trump supporter Janice Manis, 63, said her only criticism of Trump on tariffs is that he put in a partial 90-day pause for trade negotiations with other countries.

“Actually, I think he shouldn’t have suspended it,” said Manis, a retired sheriff’s deputy from Del Rio, Texas. “Because now China is trying to manipulate all of these other countries to go against us, whereas if he would have left all the tariffs in play then these countries would be hit hard. But, oh, well, things happen.”

Skepticism remains about Trump’s tariff approach

Not quite 100 days into Trump’s second term in the White House, people around the country are bracing for possible disruptions in how they spend, work and live. The U.S. economy remains solid for the moment with moderating inflation and a healthy 4.2% unemployment rate, yet measures such as consumer confidence have dropped sharply.

Trump has used executive actions to remold the global economy. He’s imposed hundreds of billions of dollars a year in new import taxes — albeit partially suspending some of them — launching a full-scale trade war against China and pledging to wrap up deals with dozen of other countries that are temporarily facing tariffs of 10%. Financial markets are swinging with every twist and turn from Trump’s tariff pronouncements.

Many Americans are not convinced this is the right approach. About 6 in 10 say Trump has “gone too far” when it comes to imposing new tariffs, according to the poll.

are down this year, while interest charges on U.S. government bonds have climbed in ways that could make it more costly to repay mortgages, auto loans and student debt. CEOs are scrapping their guidance for investors and seeking exemptions from Trump’s tariffs, which hit allies such as Canada and even penguin-inhabited islands.

Trump seemed to recognize the drag from tariffs as he highlighted this week the possibility of a deal with China. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent had also said in a closed-door speech that the situation with China is not “sustainable.”

Widespread concern about rising grocery prices

About 6 in 10 U.S. adults are “extremely” or “very” concerned about the cost of groceries in the next few months, while about half are highly concerned about the cost of big purchases, such as a car, cellphone or appliance. Less than half are highly concerned about their ability to the goods they want — a sign of the economy’s resilience so far.

Retirement savings are a source of anxiety — about 4 in 10 Americans say their retirement savings are a “major source” of stress in their lives. But fewer — only about 2 in 10 — identify the stock market as a major source of anxiety.

“This whole tariff war is just a losing situation not only for the American people but everybody worldwide,” said Nicole Jones, 32. “It’s revenge — and everybody’s losing on it.”

The Englewood, Florida, resident voted last year for then-Vice President Kamala Harris, who replaced the incumbent president, Joe Biden, as the Democratic nominee. Jones hadn’t given much thought to tariffs until recently, and now, as an occupational therapy student, she also worries about losing her financial aid and facing high amounts of educational debt.

“Things are more expensive for us,” she said.

And most Americans still think the national economy is in a weak state.

The difference is that Republicans — who largely thought the economy was in bad shape when Biden was president — now feel more optimistic. But Democrats have become much more bleak about the country’s financial future.

“It wasn’t all sunshine and rainbows, but we were doing fine,” Jones, a Democratic voter, said about the economy before Trump’s policies went into effect.

___

The AP-NORC poll of 1,260 adults was conducted April 17-21, using a sample drawn from NORC’s probability-based AmeriSpeak Panel, which is designed to be representative of the U.S. population. The margin of sampling error for adults overall is plus or minus 3.9 percentage points.

Estes family donates $15M for William & Mary accounting center

SUMMARY:

  • Estes family donates $15M to to launch center
  • Gift supports W&M’s 2026 Strategic Plan Career Initiative
  • Center will expand faculty and student interest in accounting
  • , W&M alum and Estes Express CEO, credits W&M for success

The family that owns giant has made a $15 million to William & Mary to set up the Estes Center for Excellence in Accounting, the university announced Thursday.

Rob W. Estes and , who graduated from W&M in 1974 and 1975 respectively, and their family made the gift as part of the university’s 2026 Strategic Plan’s Career Initiative, which aims to prepare students for the workforce, according to the announcement. The family has made other donations in the past, and the couple have both served on the university’s foundation board.

“We want to bring accounting out of the back room and into the boardroom,” said Rob Estes, a W&M Board of Visitors member. “The accountant should be guiding the conversation.”

Rob Estes’ grandfather founded the Estes trucking business, which is one of the nation’s largest privately owned carriers, and he serves as its chairman and CEO. According to the announcement, he learned the principles of accounting at W&M, and that education has influenced his leadership to this day.

Jean Estes, who became a teacher after majoring in elementary education at W&M, said the point of their gift is to spark more student interest in accounting. “We want them to experience the excitement that Rob did when he first saw how his accounting studies could be put to work in a business situation,” she said in a statement.

The Estes Center will be part of W&M’s Mason School of Business, and the funding will be used to hire more faculty and attract more students to the field of accounting.

“Rob and Jean live out the Mason School value of principled achievement. Their giving has touched every part of our campus,” W&M President Katherine Rowe said in a statement. “We are grateful for their latest gift to raise William & Mary’s global profile. Their message to aspiring leaders is clear: If you aim to sow prosperity in your organizations and communities, then William & Mary is the place for you.”

Rob Estes served on the business school’s foundation board for 16 years, and Estes Express Lines hosts a group of master’s students and faculty in business analytics each year for hands-on courses. Jean Estes serves on the alumni association board, and the Esteses’ son Webb, a 2006 graduate and the company’s president and chief operating officer, has also taken part in fundraising initiatives for W&M.

Previously, the Estes family has donated to W&M’s athletics programs and the Muscarelle Museum of Art, as well as the Estes Challenge, a fundraising matching campaign through the business school.

Richmond warehouse complex with Amazon fulfillment center sells for $97.5M

The greater region seems to have caught the eye of Dallas-based .

An entity sharing an address with the Texas company purchased 4701 and 4949 Commerce Road in Richmond for $97.5 million on April 9, according to city property records. A different entity sharing the Stream Realty Partners address, records show, purchased roughly 135 acres at 15601 Route 1 in Chesterfield for $3 million on March 28.

In 2017, Panattoni Development Co., a commercial developer headquartered in California, began work developing the Richmond campus, which offered 1 million square feet of space on Richmond’s Commerce Road near Richmond Marine Terminal. and , a New Jersey provider of home and equipment, began leasing spaces at the campus a couple of years later.

An Amazon spokesperson said Wednesday the company has no plans to vacate the 460,000-plus-square-foot fulfillment and delivery center.

The City of Richmond recently assessed the combined properties at about $87.25 million.

In October, the Chesterfield Board of Supervisors approved the $1.2 million of about 52.8 acres at 15601 Route 1 in Chesterfield from Stream Realty to move the county’s Appomattox police precinct from leased space to a county-owned facility.

Stream Realty and Brother International did not immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday.