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White House budget director accuses Fed chair of violating building rules in renovation

Summary

  • WH budget director targets Fed Chair
  • Calls $2B Fed HQ renovation “ostentatious” and misleading to Congress
  • Part of broader Trump admin effort to pressure Powell to resign early
  • Powell has refused to lower amid tariff-driven inflation fears
  • Powell’s term runs through May 2026

 

WASHINGTON (AP) — White House budget director Russell Vought suggested in a Thursday letter that Chair Jerome Powell is in violation of government building rules in the renovation of the Fed’s headquarters.

Vought, in a letter he shared on , called the initial renovation plans featuring rooftop terrace gardens, VIP dining rooms and premium marble an “ostentatious overhaul.” Vought also suggested that Powell misled Congress by saying the headquarters had never had a serious renovation, saying that a 1999-2003 update of its roof and building systems counts as a “comprehensive” renovation.

It appears part of a larger pressure campaign by the to pressure the Fed chair into departing before his term ends in May 2026. Powell has declined to reduce interest rates until the U.S. central bank has a better understanding of the impact that ‘s import tax hikes could have on inflation.

Fed officials did not respond to an email seeking a response to the White House letter. Powell said in Senate testimony last month that some of the elements in the 2021 plan such as the dining rooms and rooftop terraces are no longer part of the project for the 90-year-old Marriner S. Eccles Building.

The Supreme Court said in May that it could block any attempts by the White House to dismiss Powell, noting as part of a separate ruling that the Fed “is a uniquely structured, quasi-private entity.”

Trump said at Tuesday’s Cabinet meeting that Powell “should resign immediately” and be replaced by someone who would lower rates, as the U.S. president believes that high inflation is no longer a risk to the U.S. .

As Trump sees it, a rate cut would reduce the costs of government borrowing in ways that make mortgages, auto loans and other forms of consumer debt cheaper. But a rate cut could also lead to more money flowing into the economy and push up inflation, worsening affordability as the financial markets ultimately determine the interest charged on the national debt.

In Thursday’s letter, Vought sent Powell a series of questions about whether the renovation project complies with federal standards. Vought said that Powell’s testimony about changes to the 2021 plan “appears to reveal” that the renovation is not in compliance with the National Planning Capital Act.

The Fed sees political independence as an essential value for setting , allowing it to act without the interests of elections and focus instead on its dual mandate of stabilizing prices and maximizing employment.

Trump has repeatedly berated Powell on his social media site Truth Social, nicknaming the Fed chair “Too Late.” On June 30, Trump sent Powell a handwritten note saying that his decision to hold rates steady had “cost the USA a fortune” in the form of higher servicing costs on the national debt.

The risk of prematurely lowering rates is that higher inflation could be ignited. The Fed’s preferred measure of inflation, the personal consumption expenditures price index, is at 2.3%, slightly higher than the Fed’s 2% target.

Inflation has fallen after spiking to a four-decade high in June 2022, but the uncertainty on the size and impact of Trump’s and how they flow through the U.S. economy has caused the Fed to pause after multiple rate cuts last year.

Army says TRADOC won’t fully relocate from Fort Eustis to Texas

SUMMARY:

  • and Army Futures Command to merge into new Army command.
  • Full relocation from to Austin is not planned.
  • Army Execution Order expected in August will clarify personnel impacts.
  • Civilian job cuts and relocation figures remain undetermined.

The announced Thursday that there will not be a full-scale relocation of all U.S. Army Training and Doctrine Command (TRADOC) personnel and functions from Fort Eustis in to Austin, Texas.

In May, Army Chief of Staff Gen. Randy George told the House Appropriations Defense Subcommittee that TRADOC would be merged with the Army Futures Command (AFC) in Austin to form a new command — the Army Transformation and Training Command. The planned follows a directive from Secretary of Defense to transform and streamline the military, eliminating “wasteful spending.”

However, the announcement raised questions about how many military and civilian staff would be impacted and which TRADOC operations would relocate to Austin.

In an attempt to provide clarity, the Army announced on Thursday that it’s moving forward with the planned merger of TRADOC and AFC to create a new Army command.

A media advisory released by Maj. Chris Robinson, a TRADOC spokesperson, says that an Army execution order officially directing the merger is anticipated in early August and will provide additional details regarding the transformation.

According to the announcement, the merger process is expected to begin around Oct. 1 and continue “well into” 2026.

Robinson said recent reports suggesting a full-scale relocation of TRADOC personnel or functions from Fort Eustis to Austin are inaccurate. While the new command will have its four-star headquarters in Austin, Robinson says this will not involve relocating all TRADOC personnel or operations.

He added that both TRADOC and AFC will soon be inactivated to create the new command. TRADOC in its current form will not be moving to Austin.

It is still unclear what percentage of Army and civilian personnel will relocate. TRADOC, established on July 1, 1973, trains over 750,000 soldiers and service members annually. Its headquarters have been based at Fort Eustis since 2011. Robinson previously said the command has more than 35,000 military and civilians worldwide. Of this, approximately 2,000 are based at Fort Eustis, and of those, about 800 personnel are tied to the headquarters component of TRADOC.

“When units inactivate or change mission, a move for military personnel is not automatic,” Robinson’s email stated. “Several factors — such as rank, current position, and stabilization, among other factors — determine whether a soldier will relocate. There may even be opportunities for soldiers to transfer to a different unit on Fort Eustis. Each soldier can work with the Army to explore assignment options that support their career goals and family needs. In most cases, Army personnel will stay at one assignment for two or three years.”

The Army has also not publicly revealed if any civilian could be expected from the merger.

Last month, a bipartisan delegation that wrote a letter seeking more information on the merger stated that it had heard that TRADOC’s G-2 section at Fort Eustis, comprising approximately 250 positions, may be eliminated as part of the consolidation. Delegation members were also told that the Center for Initial Military Training at Fort Eustis may be folded under a staff directorate and that the headquarters staff of the three-star general at Fort Eustis may be reduced to 20 to 25 soldiers, with ongoing general staff reductions projected to be between 20 and 80 personnel.

In his advisory, Robinson wrote, “Should any civilian positions be impacted by the TRADOC/AFC merger, leadership is committed to working closely with supervisors and affected personnel to identify and pursue open opportunities across Fort Eustis.”

He was unable to confirm the delegation’s previously stated number of layoffs, saying, “That level of detail has not been determined yet and falls outside the scope of what has been officially released.” He also could not say how many personnel would be likely to remain in Newport News and how many would be relocated to Texas, saying, “We don’t have a precise number for any potential personnel changes right now.”

“The Army Execution Order, expected in early August, will provide the detailed guidance our planning teams need to design the new command,” Robinson said in an email. “We will have more fidelity on personnel decisions after that and will share updates as they become available.”

The Army, he added, will release comprehensive details on the merger once more information becomes available.

Trump administration investigating GMU for racial discrimination

Summary

  • is under by Trump’s Department of Education
  • DOE says professors complained that of color are given advantage in hiring, promotions
  • President Gregory Washington specifically mentioned in complaint for “directives” that emphasize diversity

The ‘s Office for is investigating George Mason University for racial discrimination, it announced Thursday. According to the DOE, several George Mason professors alleged in a complaint that the university has favored employees of underrepresented races in hiring and promotions, thus creating “a racially hostile environment.”

Mason President Gregory Washington, who became the university’s first Black president in 2020, is specifically mentioned in the professors’ complaint, according to the DOE announcement, saying that he has directed the university to “develop specific mechanisms in the promotion and tenure process” in part based on whether an employee is a person of color, and that the university would base some hires “on the basis of a candidate’s ‘diversity … even if that candidate may not have better credentials than the other candidate.'”

This announcement comes on the heels of federal scrutiny of the and its president, Jim Ryan, who announced his resignation last week under pressure from a similar investigation by the U.S. Department of Justice. ‘s administration has stated its aim to purge diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives from universities, including the threat of pulling federal funding for research and student financial aid.

The complaint accuses George Mason leadership of promoting and adopting “unlawful policies” from 2020 through the present in efforts to advance antiracism.

“This kind of pernicious and widespread discrimination — packaged as ‘antiracism’ — was allowed to flourish under the Biden administration, but it will not be tolerated by this one,” said acting Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights Craig Trainor in a statement.

The complaint also criticizes a task force on antiracism and inclusive excellence, and said that the university’s DEI office was renamed the Office of Access, Compliance and Community in March, after the university’s board of visitors voted to dissolve George Mason’s DEI functions. Other Virginia public universities, including U.Va., did the same following Trump’s executive orders and comments regarding universities who accept federal funding.

George Mason was already under investigation by the DOE’s civil rights office, which accused the university administration of failing “to respond effectively to a pervasively hostile environment for Jewish students and faculty from October 2023 through the 2024-25 academic year.” A similar complaint was made against U.Va.’s Ryan, whose last day as president is Friday.

Mason released the following statement Thursday: “George Mason University () received a new Dept of Education letter of investigation this morning as it was simultaneously released to news outlets, which is unprecedented in our experience. As always, we will work in good faith to give a full and prompt response. 

“George Mason University again affirms its commitment to comply with all federal and state mandates. The university consistently reviews its policies and practices to ensure compliance with federal laws, updated executive orders, and on-going agency directives.

“George Mason does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, religion, ethnic national origin (including shared ancestry and/or ethnic characteristics), sex, disability, military status (including veteran status), sexual orientation, gender identity, gender expression, age, marital status, pregnancy status, genetic information or any other characteristic protected by law.”

George Mason’s board is made up entirely of appointees by Republican , who named multiple members with high-profile conservative positions, including Rector Charles “Cully” Stimson, a former deputy assistant secretary of defense for detainee affairs under President George W. Bush, and now a senior legal fellow and manager of the National Security Law Program at the Heritage Foundation.

Stimson is one of three rectors being sued by nine state Senate Democrats to prevent the seating of eight rejected appointees to their boards. George Mason’s appointees who were not confirmed by a Senate committee in a party-line vote were former Virginia Secretary of Commerce and Trade Caren Merrick, Florida attorney Charles J. Cooper, former U.S. deputy secretary of education William D. Hansen and former Federal Trade Commission chair Maureen Ohlhausen.

Sen. Adam Ebbin, D-Alexandria, said that there has been a “disturbing pattern of conduct” on George Mason’s board since spring 2024 during the committee hearing, including a moment in a March meeting when board member Robert Pence, a former U.S. ambassador to Finland during Trump’s first term, made a comment some viewed as offensive.

Ebbin said that Pence asked Washington “how it would feel to hear, ‘Get a rope and hang them all’ invoked as free speech. Sadly, it appears that some of the visitors do not seem to be there for academic or even university governance purposes. They seem to be there … to disrupt and, if they can, to destroy.” A video of the meeting showed the statement made by Pence.

Stimson did not respond immediately to a request for comment Thursday.

James H. Finkelstein, professor emeritus of public policy at George Mason, said that university presidents “with moderate to liberal values” face pushback even if they lead schools in blue states. “Even if you have an extraordinarily supportive governor and you think you’ll be safe there, you’re not,” because of the federal government’s power to withdraw funding and student visas.

Finkelstein, who has specialized in studying university presidents’ contracts, notes that Washington — while “charismatic, smart, well-informed” — was hired by a board dominated by Democratic gubernatorial appointees at the height of COVID and racial justice protests.

“The values that he was hired to advance — this board has a different set of values,” Finkelstein said.

Former Gov. Doug Wilder issued a statement saying that Washington “is being assailed and publicly maligned for promoting antisemitism … without a scintilla of evidence from his accusers to substantiate the claims.

“He is not the only person of color heading our colleges and universities being subjected to specious and questionable charges. Cedric Wins, [former superintendent] of VMI, was also subjected to undue criticism.”

Wins was ousted earlier this year by Virginia Military Institute’s board of visitors, which did not renew his contract. Like Washington, Wins was his institution’s first Black leader.

Virginia Business Deputy Editor Kate Andrews contributed to this story.
 

CV International taps new CFO

Norfolk-based international logistics company and its subsidiary, Capes Agencies, announced Tuesday that it has appointed finance executive Jeff Underwood as .

Underwood succeeds Michael King, who retired at the end of June after serving as of CVI and Capes for more than 17 years.

Underwood has more than 30 years of finance experience and was most recently the ‘s vice president of finance and analytics. He began his career in public accounting with PricewaterhouseCoopers before joining Maersk in 2002.

Underwood has expertise in marine terminal operations, U.S. flag vessel management and federal contracting, according to CVI, and has led initiatives in financial reporting, budgeting, compliance, mergers and acquisitions integration, strategic planning and implementing financial systems.

“What drew me to CVI and Capes was the entrepreneurial culture — grounded in expertise, focused on creating value, and driven by a clear appetite for growth,” said Underwood in a statement. “I’ve spent much of my career helping organizations expand operations, and I look forward to bringing that experience to this role. My goal is to help guide the company’s financial strategy as it continues to scale and build the infrastructure to support long-term, sustainable growth. In today’s turbulent market, there are opportunities for organizations with the expertise and agility to help customers navigate complexity and deliver meaningful solutions.”

King, the outgoing CFO, will remain serving on CVI’s board of directors. CVI praised King for maintaining financial stability and guiding both companies through periods of growth and market disruption, especially in the years following the COVID-19 pandemic.

“We are grateful for Michael’s service to the company and are excited to welcome Jeff to the team,” said Mike Coleman, CEO and president of CVI and Capes, in a statement. “Jeff, and the expertise he brings, will be instrumental to our continued growth.”

Headquartered in , CVI provides forwarding, customs brokerage, supply chain visibility and compliance consulting services. In addition to its headquarters, the company has 11 branch locations throughout the United States. Capes provides vessel agency and cargo forwarding services across along the U.S. East and Gulf Coasts. Capes specializes in the dry bulk, liquid bulk, breakbulk and renewables sectors. CVI and Capes collectively employ 117 .

Ferrero to Acquire WK Kellogg in $3.1B Cereal Deal

Summary

  • buying for $3.1B in cash deal
  • Deal includes major cereal brands like Special K and Rice Krispies
  • WK Kellogg shares surged 30% in premarket trading
  • Acquisition expands Ferrero’s North American presence

Italian confectioner Ferrero, known for brands like and Kinder, is buying the century-old U.S. cereal company WK Kellogg in a deal valued at approximately $3.1 billion.

The Ferrero Group said Thursday it will pay $23 for each Kellogg share. The transaction includes the manufacturing, marketing and distribution of WK Kellogg Co.’s portfolio of breakfast cereals across the United States, Canada and the Caribbean.

WK Kellogg’s shares were up 30% in premarket trading Thursday.

Kellogg, which was founded in Battle Creek, Michigan, in 1906, makes Fruit Loops, Special K, and Rice Krispies.

The current company was formed in 2023, when Kellogg’s snack brands like Cheez-Its and Pringles were spun into a separate company called Kellanova. M&M’s maker Mars Inc. announced last year that it planned to buy Kellanova in a deal worth nearly $30 billion.

Ferrero Group, which was founded in Italy in 1946, has been trying to expand its U.S. footprint. In 2018 it bought Nestle’s U.S. candy brands, including Butterfinger, Nerds and SweeTarts. And in 2022 it bought Wells Enterprises, the maker of ice cream brands like Blue Bunny and Halo Top.

The deal, which still needs approval from Kellogg shareholders, is expected to close in the second half of the year. Once the transaction is complete, Kellogg’s stock will no longer trade on the New York Stock Exchange and the company will become a Ferrero subsidiary.

Virginia falls to No. 4 among CNBC’s top states for business

Summary

  • Virginia, ranked first in ‘s annual Top States for Business report in 2024, has dropped to fourth place
  • CNBC weighted as primary factor this year
  • Due to federal job cuts and funding slashes, Virginia’s economy ranking fell to No. 14

Virginia lost its spot at the top of CNBC’s annual Top States for Business report, the cable business network announced Thursday. The commonwealth, which has been ranked No. 1 six times, an all-time record, fell to No. 4 this year.

North Carolina, which has won three times out of the past four years, took the coveted No. 1 ranking for 2025, with Texas coming in a close second. Florida ranked third in CNBC’s 19th annual business study.

The last time Virginia ranked this low on the study was 2018, when it also was No. 4.

Acknowledging that Virginia remained “a business powerhouse,” CNBC ranked the commonwealth first in the nation for education and it rose to second for infrastructure. But, the network said Thursday, “all that business might is no match for the mighty budget cuts coming from across the Potomac, not to mention the .” As a result, Virginia fell to 14th for overall economy, down from No. 11 in 2024.

CNBC continued to cite the disproportionate impact of the second ‘s deep budget cuts and dismantling of federal agencies in explaining why Virginia lost its No. 1 ranking this year. As of last year, Virginia had about 144,000 federal workers and more than 150,000 more working for federal contractors, the business news network noted.

The state’s unemployment rate of 3.4% remains below the national average, but the ‘s Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service forecast that the state could lose up to 32,000 jobs this year and see an unemployment rate of about 3.9% later in the year. In 2026, that average could be 4.6%, the center said in May.

Gov. Glenn Youngkin, however, has touted the state’s continued job creation, and in February, he announced the creation of “Virginia Has Jobs,” an online portal to assist federal workers and other Virginians in finding new jobs. He said that he had “extraordinary empathy” for federal employees who found themselves suddenly out of work, but praised the Trump administration for “rooting out waste, fraud and abuse.”

Youngkin added at the time that the state had 250,000 open jobs across various industries, including manufacturing, health care, space, education and law enforcement, although some critics have said that these jobs come with lower pay than federal workforce positions. In the state’s budget amendments, Youngkin cut $900 million in spending to maintain a financial cushion in case of repercussions related to federal spending cuts and tariffs.

In a statement Thursday, Youngkin said that “CNBC’s new methodology this year is thrown off by a new subjective metric that mistakenly ascribes substantial risk to Virginia from the federal government’s presence in the Commonwealth. CNBC fails to recognize that our private sector growth has been at record levels, with $121 billion in business investment committed and record job growth, with 270,000 more Virginians working and roughly 200,000 open and unfilled jobs.”

The governor also pointed out that the state’s AAA bond rating was reaffirmed this year, and more federal funding has gone toward defense and national security projects, which are well represented in Virginia. “By the objective metrics, Virginia is still the best state to start or grow your business,” Youngkin said. “The facts are clear: Nearly 350,000 jobs created or in the pipeline, more than $121 billion in capital investment from companies expanding in Virginia or moving to the commonwealth, 15,000 high-growth startups, and more moving to Virginia than away from the other 49 states for the first time in a decade.”

For the Top States study, CNBC ranks states on 10 categories, ranging from education to infrastructure to economy, with 135 metrics, worth a total of 2,500 points. North Carolina received 1,614 points this year, and Virginia received 1,578, while No. 2 Texas had 1,600 points and No. 3 Florida had 1,588.

Virginia’s category in the 2025 CNBC Top States for Business were as follows:

    • First place — Education

 

    • Second — Infrastructure

 

    • Seventh — Business friendliness

 

    • Eighth — Quality of life; Technology and innovation

 

    • 10th — Access to capital

 

    • 14th — Workforce; Economy

 

    • 21st — Cost of living

 

    • 31st — Cost of doing business

 

Each year, CNBC weighs categories differently based on the focuses of states’ marketing pitches.

“In 2025, amid recession fears, more states than ever are touting their economic strengths,” CNBC said. “That makes economy this year’s most important category.”

Under the economy category, CNBC assessed GDP growth and job growth over the past year, as well as the residential real estate market, and new in 2025 was a measure of states’ tariff risks and survival rates of new businesses.

Last year, infrastructure was a major factor in Virginia’s win, with the state receiving kudos for the number of shovel-ready sites for industrial growth.

North Carolina has often sparred with Virginia for the top spot, having won CNBC’s rankings in 2022 and 2023, and No. 2 in 2021 and 2024, when Virginia landed on top.

The Virginia Economic Development Partnership released a statement Thursday noting the change in weighting of categories this year.

“It’s important to remember that Virginia is in a tight race each year with competitor states for economic development in general and for this ranking in particular,” the state economic development organization said. “In 2024, Virginia bested No. 2 North Carolina by only three points out of 2,500, so subtle changes in CNBC’s methodology or in Virginia’s relative performance can materially impact this ranking.” Virginia maintained its top ranking in education and improved from No. 3 to No. 2 in infrastructure, VEDP noted. 

U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine, who was governor when Virginia won its first CNBC ranking in 2007, released a statement that was critical of “the chaos and uncertainty caused by President Trump’s tariffs, the slashing of federal funding, and the politicizing and hollowing out of the federal workforce [that] are gut punches to Virginia’s economy. While I’m glad to see Virginia ranked first in the education category, I worry we won’t hang on to it for long if Trump keeps meddling in our universities. I will continue to do everything I can to protect Virginia’s economy and schools from this disastrous administration.”

Abigail Spanberger, the Democratic nominee for Virginia governor, said that the rankings “make clear that Virginia needs a governor who will build a more resilient economy, leverage our commonwealth’s strengths to attract new investment, prepare our workforce for 21st-century jobs, and stand up for our workers and small businesses in the face of ongoing threats.”

She attributed the drop in ranking to federal job cuts under , and zinged Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears, her Republican opponent: “Unlike my opponent in this race, I won’t dismiss threats to our workforce, our economy and Virginia’s reputation.”

Earle-Sears did not immediately release a statement about the CNBC rankings. She has received criticism from Democrats over a recording released in late March in which Earle-Sears is heard downplaying federal job losses, saying that are common and that “the media is making it out to be this huge, huge thing.”

 

Bon Secours breaks ground on new medical office building at St. Francis

Bon Secours on Wednesday broke ground on a three-story, 87,790 square-foot medical office building on the campus of in .

The health system says the new facility, located at the corner of Charter Colony and Bon Secours Drive across from the main hospital, will allow it to expand access to outpatient services and enhance specialty care offerings. The new building will also feature an ambulatory surgery center, developed in partnership with Compass Surgical Partners, which will offer two operating rooms and one procedure room.

A rendering of Bon Secours’ planned medical office building on the campus of Bon Secours St. Francis Medical Center. Image Courtesy Bon Secours

“Bon Secours has been providing quality, compassionate care to the Chesterfield County community for the past 20 years,” said Joe Wilkins, president of Bon Secours St. Francis Medical Center, in a statement. “We are proud to continue investing in the St. Francis campus and enhancing the care we offer patients across the region. This project reflects our ongoing commitment to expanding access to the right level of care close to home.”

Services to be provided in the building will include neurology, cardiology, general surgery and family medicine services.

Bon Secours has partnered with Remedy Medical Properties and Kayne Anderson Real Estate in developing the project. The facility was designed by PSH Plus, with Kjellstrom & Lee serving as the general contractor and Timmons Group providing civil engineering support.

“Our ministry’s mission is to bring good help to those in need, and that includes making sure our facilities grow and evolve alongside the communities we serve,” Wilkins said in a statement. “With this new medical office building and [ambulatory surgery center], we’re ensuring that we’ll be ready to care for our aging and growing population for years to come.”

Bon Secours expects to be completed in late 2026.

The Bon Secours Health System offers a network of seven acute hospitals, primary and specialty care practices, ambulatory care sites and continuing care facilities across a 24-locality region. Bon Secours also operates four hospitals and one outpatient facility in .

Richmond EDA seeks developer for Intermediate Terminal Building

SUMMARY:

  • ‘s has issued a new RFP to redevelop the long-vacant , but has prohibited demolition
  • Proposals will be evaluated based on economic impact, community benefit and the experience of the developer
  • City officials now see the project as a key opportunity to enhance Richmond’s riverfront and recreational appeal

For at least a decade, Richmond’s has sought to redevelop the city-owned Intermediate Terminal Building, but plans to repurpose the nearly 90-year-old former warehouse have yet to materialize. That may soon change, however.

The EDA on Monday issued a request for proposals for the reuse, or rehabilitation of the 32,000-square-foot building located at 3101 E. Main St. in Richmond, situated along the James River adjacent to the Rocketts Landing neighborhood, the Riverfront Pulse BRT and Capital Trail. ​​In a statement, the city’s interim chief administrative officer, Sharon Ebert, described the RFP as “a rare opportunity to shape the future of Richmond’s riverfront.”

The building was originally built in 1938 as a warehouse for the storage of raw sugar, sand, gravel, gas, and oil, among other items. EDA senior development manager DJ Mulkey said the property has been largely vacant for at least two decades, although it has been used to store voting machines between elections.

The city wants the building to remain standing, as stated in the RFP, which specifies, “Demolition is not an option for this project.” However, the RFP says the city will consider plans involving additional new if contextually appropriate.

The EDA will evaluate proposals on their proposed use, fiscal impact, community benefits and the experience of the developer or business. Mulkey told Virginia Business in an email the EDA is open “to any and all adaptive reuse ideas that are financially viable, activate the riverfront and provide a positive economic impact for the community.”

In 2015, Stone Brewing Co. announced plans to build a bistro within the Intermediate Terminal building, modeled after the company’s existing Stone World Bistro & Gardens locations. But the bistro never came to fruition. To the best of his recollection, Mulkey said, a federal grant that would have made the project viable fell through, and Stone Brewing scrapped it.

The RFP notes that the building is immediately bordered by Gillies Creek, which poses challenges and flood risks and complicates redevelopment efforts. FEMA flood maps place the base flood elevation in the area more than four feet above the structure’s first floor.

The request also asks respondents to include in their proposals plans to provide sufficient parking for proposed uses.

The EDA plans to have a site tour on July 24. All submissions are due by Aug. 28.

“It is a chance to create something that connects to their environment, to enhance our outdoor recreational assets and to fuel Richmond’s economic momentum,” said acting EDA Director Matt Welch in a statement. “So we are looking for proposals that are fit for that purpose, and which keep the community and the natural landscape front of mind.”

X CEO Linda Yaccarino steps down after two years

Summary

  • X CEO announces resignation after two years
  • Yaccarino led business ops following Musk’s 2022 Twitter buy
  • Departure comes as Musk’s AI firm gains influence at X
  • Yaccarino says “the best is yet to come” for the platform

X CEO Linda Yaccarino said she’s stepping down after two bumpy years running ‘s platform.

Yaccarino posted a positive message Wednesday about her tenure at the company formerly known as Twitter and said “the best is yet to come as X enters a new chapter with” Musk’s artificial intelligence company xAI, maker of the chatbot Grok. She did not say why she is leaving.

Musk responded to Yaccarino’s announcement with his own 5-word statement on X: “Thank you for your contributions.”

“The only thing that’s surprising about Linda Yaccarino’s resignation is that it didn’t come sooner,” said Forrester research director Mike Proulx. “It was clear from the start that she was being set up to fail by a limited scope as the company’s chief executive.”

In reality, Proulx added, Musk “is and always has been at the helm of X. And that made Linda X’s CEO in title only, which is a very tough position to be in, especially for someone of Linda’s talents.”

Musk hired Yaccarino, a veteran ad executive, in May 2023 after buying Twitter for $44 billion in late 2022 and cutting most of its staff. He said at the time that Yaccarino’s role would be focused mainly on running the company’s business operations, leaving him to focus on product design and new technology. Before announcing her hiring, Musk said whoever took over as the company’s CEO “ must like pain a lot.”

In accepting the job, Yaccarino was taking on the challenge of getting big brands back to advertising on the social media platform after months of upheaval following Musk’s takeover. She also had to work in a supporting role to Musk’s outsized persona on and off of X as he loosened content moderation rules in the name of free speech and restored accounts previously banned by the social media platform.

“Being the CEO of X was always going to be a tough job, and Yaccarino lasted in the role longer than many expected. Faced with a mercurial owner who never fully stepped away from the helm and continued to use the platform as his personal megaphone, Yaccarino had to try to run the business while also regularly putting out fires,” said Emarketer analyst Jasmine Enberg.

Yaccarino’s future at X became unclear earlier this year after Musk merged the social media platform with his artificial intelligence company, xAI. And the advertising issues have not subsided. Since Musk’s takeover, a number of companies had pulled back on ad spending — the platform’s chief source of revenue — over concerns that Musk’s thinning of content restrictions was enabling hateful and toxic speech to flourish.

Most recently, an update to Grok led to a flood of antisemitic commentary from the chatbot this week that included praise of Adolf Hitler.

“We are aware of recent posts made by Grok and are actively working to remove the inappropriate posts,” the Grok account posted on X early Wednesday, without being more specific.

Some experts have tied Grok’s behavior to Musk’s deliberate efforts to mold Grok as an alternative to chatbots he considers too “woke,” such as OpenAI’s ChatGPT and Google’s Gemini. In late June, he invited X users to help train the chatbot on their commentary in a way that invited a flood of racist responses and conspiracy theories.

“Please reply to this post with divisive facts for @Grok training,” Musk said in the June 21 post. “By this I mean things that are politically incorrect, but nonetheless factually true.”

A similar instruction was later baked into Grok’s “prompts” that instruct it on how to respond, which told the chatbot to “not shy away from making claims which are politically incorrect, as long as they are well substantiated.” That part of the instructions was later deleted.

“To me, this has all the fingerprints of Elon’s involvement,” said Talia Ringer, a professor of computer science at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign.

Yaccarino has not publicly commented on the latest hate speech controversy. She has, at times, ardently defended Musk’s approach, including in a lawsuit against liberal advocacy group Media Matters for America over a report that claimed leading advertisers’ posts on X were appearing alongside neo-Nazi and white nationalist content. The report led some advertisers to pause their activity on X.

A federal judge last year dismissed X’s lawsuit against another nonprofit, the Center for Countering Digital Hate, which has documented the increase in hate speech on the site since it was acquired by Musk.

X is also in an ongoing legal dispute with major advertisers — including CVS, Mars, Lego, Nestle, Shell and Tyson Foods — over what it has alleged was a “massive advertiser boycott” that deprived the company of billions of dollars in revenue and violated antitrust laws.

Enberg said that, “to a degree, Yaccarino accomplished what she was hired to do.” Emarketer expects X’s ad business to return to growth in 2025 after more than halving between 2022 and 2023 following Musk’s takeover.

But, she added, “the reasons for X’s ad recovery are complicated, and Yaccarino was unable to restore the platform’s reputation among advertisers.”

Wall Street ends mixed amid Trump’s new tariff deadlines

Summary

  • up 0.7%, rises 1.1% in early trading
  • Trump pushes new trade deals; copper announced
  • Dow gains 224 points; Treasury yields slightly lower
  • Oil and copper prices retreat after recent volatility

A choppy day in the markets left major U.S. stock indexes little changed Tuesday as the pressed its campaign to win more favorable trade deals with nations around the globe by leaning into tariffs on goods coming into the U.S.

The S&P 500 slipped 0.1% a day after posting its biggest loss since mid-June. The benchmark index remains near its all-time high set last week.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average gave back 0.4%. The Nasdaq composite eked out a gain of less than 0.1%, staying near its own record high.

The sluggish trading came as the market was coming off a broad sell-off following the Trump administration’s decision to impose new import tariffs set to go into effect next month on more than a dozen nations.

Still, the modest pullback in the markets is a sign that Wall Street may be betting that the U.S. and its trading partners may eventually negotiate deals that will reduce or eliminate the need for punishing tariffs, said Ross Mayfield, investment strategist at Baird.

“I think today you’re basically seeing a market that doesn’t quite believe the worst of this is going to come to bear and is just kind of waiting for any sort of clarity because we seem back in that in that kind of phase where things change every couple of hours,” Mayfield said.

On Monday, President Donald Trump set a 25% tax on goods imported from Japan and South Korea and new tariff rates on a dozen other nations scheduled to go into effect on Aug. 1.

Trump provided notice by posting letters on Truth Social that were addressed to the leaders of the various countries. The letters warned them to not retaliate by increasing their own import taxes, or else the Trump administration would further increase tariffs.

Just before hefty U.S. tariffs on goods imported from nearly every country around the globe were to take effect in April, Trump postponed the levies for 90 days in hopes that foreign governments would be more willing to strike new trade deals. That 90-day negotiating period was set to expire before Wednesday.

With the tariffs set to kick in now on Aug. 1, the latest move by the White House amounts to essentially a four-week extension of its previous 90-day pause, wrote Tobin Marcus, an analyst at Wolfe Research.

“At a very basic level, nothing actually happened based on Trump sending these letters, so there’s no reason to panic over headlines,” he wrote. “But we think these moves do contain some signal about where the trade war is heading, and that signal is mostly hawkish.”

During a cabinet meeting Tuesday, Trump said he would be announcing tariffs on pharmaceutical drugs at a “very, very high rate, like 200%.” He also said he would sign an executive order placing a 50% tariff on copper imports, matching the rates charged on steel and aluminum.

Shares in mining company Freeport-McMoRan rose 2.5% following Trump’s remarks. The price of copper for September delivery jumped 13.1% to $5.69 per pound.

This latest phase in the trade war heightens the threat of potentially more severe tariffs that’s been hanging over the global . Higher taxes on imported goods could hinder economic growth, if not increase recession risks.

Gains in technology, energy and stocks helped outweigh a pullback in banks and other sectors.

Intel jumped 7.2%, Exxon Mobil rose 2.8% and AbbVie rose 1.1%. JPMorgan and Bank of America each fell 3.1%.

Amazon shares fell 1.8% as the online retail giant kicked off Prime Day, which, beginning this year, lasts four days. Amazon launched the membership sales event in 2015 and expanded it to two days in 2019.

Elsewhere in the market, First Solar slid 6.5% after Trump issued an executive order ending subsidies for foreign-controlled energy companies.

Hershey Co. lost 3.2% after the chocolate maker announced that Wendy’s CEO Kirk Tanner will succeed current CEO Michele Buck, who is retiring.

Shares in WeightWatchers parent WW International gave up an early gain and dropped 1.1% after the company announced that it has completed its reorganization and relisting on Nasdaq. The company filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection in May to eliminate $1.15 billion in debt and focus on its transition into a telehealth services provider.

Bond yields mostly rose. The yield on the 10-year Treasury edged up to 4.40% from 4.39% late Monday.

All told, the S&P 500 fell 4.46 points to 6,225.52. The Dow lost 165.60 points to 44,240.76, and the Nasdaq added 5.95 points to 20,418.46.

The market’s downbeat start to the week follows a strong run for stocks, which pushed further into record heights last week after a better-than-expected U.S. jobs report.

In stock markets overseas, indexes rose across much of Europe and Asia. In two of the bigger moves, South Korea’s Kospi surged 1.8%, and Hong Kong’s Hang Seng index climbed 1.1%.

The National Federation of Independent Business reported Tuesday that its small business optimism index fell slightly last month, in line with analysts’ expectations. The index tracks how small firms view the U.S. economy and their business prospects.

On Wednesday the will release minutes from its policymaking committee’s meeting last month. The Fed’s chair, , has said the central bank wants to wait and see how Trump’s tariffs affect the economy and before making its next move on .