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Inova Fairfax Hospital ranks No. 1 in Va. for fifth year

SUMMARY:

  • U.S. News & World Report ranked Fairfax Hospital No. 1 in Virginia and the Washington, D.C. metro area for fifth consecutive year
  • ranked No. 2 in Virginia, top in Richmond
  • The , based on performance metrics like mortality rates and patient outcomes, assessed over 4,400

For the fifth year in a row, in Falls Church has taken the top spot for Virginia and the Washington, D.C. metropolitan region on ‘s annual list of the nation’s best hospitals.

U.S. News and World Report’s 2025-2026 Best Hospitals rankings, released Tuesday, evaluated data from more than 4,400 hospitals across 15 adult specialties and 22 procedures and conditions. However, only 13% of hospitals being assessed earned a “best hospitals” designation.

“Earning this recognition for the fifth year in a row reflects the relentless commitment of our physicians, nurses, team members and partners to delivering world-class, patient-centered care every single day,” said Inova Fairfax Hospital President Dr. Steve Narang in a statement “It’s a proud moment for all of us at Inova Fairfax and a reflection of the trust our community places in us.”

Inova Fairfax Hospital also ranked 32nd in the nation for obstetrics and gynecology care, up from 36th place last year.

To determine the Best Hospitals, U.S. News analyzed each hospital’s performance based on objective measures, including risk-adjusted mortality rates, preventable complications and the level of nursing care. The publication states that the Best Hospitals Specialty rankings methodology and measure patient outcomes using data from over 800 million patient care records.

“For more than three decades, U.S. News has been an invaluable guide for patients,” said U.S. News Managing Editor and Chief of Health Analysis Ben Harder in a statement. “With a ‘Best Hospital’ recognition, Americans, in consultation with their medical providers, can confidently choose a hospital known for providing superior care for their specific illness or condition.”

U.S. News and World Report evaluated 120 hospitals in Virginia. The top hospitals in Virginia are as follows:

1. Inova Fairfax Hospital, Falls Church
2. VCU Medical Center, Richmond
3. Sentara Norfolk General Hospital, Norfolk
4. (Virginia Hospital Center), Arlington County
5. (tie) Chippenham and Johnston-Willis Hospitals, Richmond
5. (tie) Medical Center, Charlottesville
5. (tie) Winchester Medical Center, Winchester
8. Carilion Roanoke Memorial Hospital, Roanoke
9. Mary Washington Hospital, Fredericksburg
10. (tie) Bon Secours St. Mary’s Hospital, Richmond
10. (tie) Sentara Virginia Beach General Hospital, Virginia Beach

Virginia Commonwealth University Medical Center ranked second in Virginia for the third consecutive year and first in Richmond for the 15th year in a row. The hospital was also ranked 41st for orthopedics. Sheltering Arms Institute, a joint venture between and Sheltering Arms, was ranked 27th for rehabilitation.

VCU Medical Center also ranked second in Virginia and 14th in the mid-Atlantic for children’s care, ranking nationally in two children’s specialties. U.S. News and World Report’s evaluation of the VCU hospital included data from Children’s Hospital of Richmond at VCU.

“To be recognized time and time again by U.S. News is a great honor and truly a testament to our team members’ undeniable commitment to this community,” Jim Willis, interim president of VCU Medical Center, said in a statement. “From implementing the latest innovations in robotic surgery to improving access to life-saving care, we are dedicated to making sure each person who walks through our halls receives high-quality care.”

Sentara Norfolk General Hospital placed third in the state and No. 1 for the Virginia Beach-Norfolk-Newport News area.

“We are proud to be recognized for excellence in improving the health of the community,” said Sentara Health Senior Vice President Dana Weston Graves, who also serves as acute care president for Sentara’s Southeast Market – Norfolk.

7 Virginia businesses land on Fortune Global 500

Summary

Once again, seven Virginia companies made the Global 500 list of the world’s largest corporations by revenue, which was released Tuesday.

Freddie Mac, the McLean government-sponsored home mortgage company, is still the state’s top-ranked company at No. 80 this year, up eight spaces from 2024’s list. According to Fortune, Freddie Mac reported $122 billion in revenue in fiscal 2024, up 13% from the previous year.

The Trump administration, however, has shaken up the leadership of Freddie Mac and Fannie Mae, another government-sponsored housing finance system. Several board members have been removed from Freddie Mac, and CEO Diana Reid was fired in March, only six months after she was named the corporation’s new permanent head. CEO Michael J. DeVito retired in March 2024. Michael Hutchins, who served as interim CEO following DeVito’s departure, is back as interim chief as of March.

Meanwhile, RTX, the Arlington County aerospace and defense contractor formerly known as Raytheon Technologies, is at No. 153, up 35 spots and passing by Arlington-based aerospace and government contractor Boeing, which fell 47 spots to No. 206 this year.

RTX reported $80.7 billion in revenue for last year, up 17.2% year-over-year, and Boeing was down 14.5% in revenue, reporting $66.5 billion in fiscal 2024. That’s an $11.8 billion decrease from fiscal 2023, a reflection of the some of the fallout the company’s experienced since the January 2024 midair blowout of a Boeing jet’s door plug. In the following months, Boeing CEO Dave Calhoun resigned, and Robert K. “Kelly” Ortberg succeeded him as the company’s chief executive.

In May, Boeing and the U.S. reached a deal that will allow the company to avoid criminal prosecution for allegedly misleading U.S. regulators about the 737 Max jetliner before two of the planes crashed and killed 346 people in 2018 and 2019. Under the agreement, Boeing would pay and invest more than $1.1 billion, including an additional $445 million for the crash victims’ families, the Justice Department said.

The Justice Department and Boeing came to an earlier agreement in 2024 for $2.5 billion, following the Alaska Airlines blowout, but a federal judge rejected the plea deal in December 2024.

The rest of Virginia’s companies on the list of the world’s largest corporations, based on total revenues for fiscal years ending on or before March 31, are , , General Dynamics and .

Once again, Walmart and Amazon.com landed the top two spots, with Walmart reporting $680.9 billion in revenue for 2024, and Amazon bringing in $637.9 billion; both are increases from last year.

Goochland County’s Performance Food Group reported $54.6 billion, up 2.5% from 2023, and Capital One reported $53.9 billion in revenue, up 9% from last year, and a move up 33 spaces. General Dynamics saw its revenue rise 12.9% last year to $47.7 billion, which gave it a boost of 44 spaces in the 2025 list. Northrop Grumman, meanwhile, rose two spaces and reported $41 billion in fiscal 2024 revenue, up 4.4%.

These are the Virginia-based companies that made the 2025 Fortune Global 500 list, in order of ranking:

80) Freddie Mac, McLean

153) RTX, Arlington County

206) Boeing, Arlington County

267) Performance Food Group, Goochland County

271) Capital One Financial, McLean

318) General Dynamics, Reston

380) Northrop Grumman, Falls Church

Judge blocks Youngkin university board appointees

Summary

  • In win for Democratic state senators, Fairfax County Circuit judge stops U.Va., GMU, VMI boards from seating rejected Youngkin appointees
  • Says in ruling for preliminary injunction that state senators proved “irreparable harm”
  • GMU’s board set to meet Friday to discuss university president’s performance
  • Attorney general plans to appeal to state supreme court

In a win for Virginia Senate Democrats, a judge ruled in favor of their motion to stop three Virginia universities from recognizing eight gubernatorial board appointees who were rejected by a state Senate committee in June.

The appointees for the universities’ boards of visitors include former Virginia Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli, former state Secretary of Commerce and Trade Caren Merrick and others with significant conservative political and business connections, and the ruling comes as George Mason’s president is under heavy federal scrutiny by the , which opened four federal probes into GMU in the past month.

On Friday, Judge Jonathan Frieden heard arguments from the plaintiffs’ attorney, Mark Stancil of Willkie Farr & Gallagher, who said the state Senate’s Privileges & Elections Committee has the right to reject gubernatorial appointees on its own during special sessions, and from Christopher Michel, an attorney with Quinn Emanuel representing the state attorney general’s office for three university rectors, who argued that the entire General Assembly has to be called to vote on the matter.

Frieden’s order letter issued a preliminary injunction to prevent the three rectors of , and ‘s boards from seating the rejected appointees. In court, Frieden said he expected the losing side — in this case, the defendants — to send an argument to stay the judgment by Wednesday morning, and that the plaintiffs would be able to send a response by Wednesday evening, allowing the judge to rule on the two arguments by Friday morning, when George Mason’s board is set to meet.

The state attorney general’s office said Tuesday that it plans to appeal the ruling to the Supreme Court of Virginia.

The nine senators, which include eight members of the Senate Privileges & Elections Committee and Senate President Pro Tempore L. Louise Lucas, sued because and Virginia said that the rejected appointees were still valid members of boards, and appeared to be granting the boards’ rectors the go-ahead to seat the new appointees as legitimate board members.

“The nullification of plaintiffs’ votes constitutes irreparable harm whether the disputed appointees’ continued service on the GMU, U.Va. and VMI boards would result in decisions with which the plaintiffs agreed or disagreed,” Frieden wrote in Tuesday’s decision. He concluded that the state Senate has delegated to the committee the responsibility of confirming or rejecting all gubernatorial appointees to boards, so the committee’s action in June to not confirm the eight university board members was on behalf of the 40-seat Senate.

“Accordingly, the Constitution of Virginia required the rejected appointees to immediately cease their participation on their respective boards. They have not done so,” Frieden wrote. “Instead, following the legal advice of the attorney general, the defendant rectors of the George Mason University and University of Virginia boards of visitors and president of the Virginia Military Institute have continued to recognize the rejected appointees as members of their respective governing boards. Moreover, they intend to continue to do so.”

George Mason Rector Charles “Cully” Stimson was ordered to not recognize the votes of the university’s four disputed appointees or include them in closed sessions, special meetings or appoint them to board committees. According to Mason’s board website, one rejected appointee, former Federal Trade Commission chair Maureen Ohlhausen, was named to the powerful executive committee as a member-at-large, and she was made part of the academic programs, diversity and university community committee.

In addition to Ohlhausen and Merrick, Florida attorney Charles J. Cooper and former U.S. deputy secretary of education William D. Hansen are among the rejected appointees to Mason’s board. VMI appointees John Hartsock, deputy chief of staff for U.S. Rep. Ben Cline; Stephen Reardon, an attorney with Spotts Fain; and Jose Suarez, a Florida businessman, are also blocked from participating in its board, as is Cuccinelli’s participation on U.Va.’s board.

“Although we are disappointed in the ruling, we were prepared for this possibility,” Miyares spokesman Shaun Kenney said in a statement. “This case is straightforward. The constitution is clear that it is the General Assembly, not a fraction of a Senate committee, that is authorized to act. We will quickly file an appeal with the Supreme Court of Virginia and are confident in our position.”

U.Va. issued a statement: “The university will comply with today’s ruling and move forward with important university business. As we prepare for the new academic year, the board of visitors and U.Va. leaders remain focused on serving our community and our commonwealth through our education, research and patient care missions.”

Cuccinelli’s photo and bio page were no longer on U.Va.’s BOV webpage as of Tuesday afternoon, and VMI had removed its disputed board members’ online presence as well. George Mason’s board webpage still included the rejected appointees several hours after the ruling.

The hearing was fast-tracked because George Mason’s board is set to meet this week. The agenda calls for a closed session at 11 a.m. Friday to discuss ‘s job performance. Washington’s diversity, equity and inclusion efforts have been specifically targeted in the U.S. Department of Education and Department of Justice investigations, according to letters issued by both departments.

The federal investigations into Mason are centered on alleged race- and sex-based discrimination in hiring and promotion in favor of women and people of color, as well as alleged failure to protect Jewish students and staff from antisemitic attacks.

But critics, including state and federal legislators and faculty members, say that the investigations are politically motivated and targeted to try to drive out Washington, and many have said that the George Mason board, made up entirely of Youngkin appointees, has failed to support the university president.

Democratic state Sen. Aaron Rouse, chair of the Senate Privileges and Elections Committee, said in a statement that the ruling “is a victory for the rule of law, for the Senate’s constitutional role, and for the people of Virginia. It also sends a clear message that attempts to impose political control over our public universities, whether from Richmond or Washington, will not go unchecked.” 

In her own statement, Lucas said, “The Trump-Youngkin administration launched another blatant partisan power grab, this time targeting some of the top universities in the country, right here in Virginia. Once again, they tried to break the law in their attempt to force our progressive university leaders to bow to their will, but today they failed.”

VMI and George Mason did not immediately respond to requests for comment Tuesday.

Union Pacific, Norfolk Southern seek 1st transcontinental railroad through massive merger

Summary

  • announces $85B bid to acquire
  • Merger would create first U.S. coast-to-coast railroad network
  • Deal could spark final wave of national railroad consolidation
  • No single rail company has ever spanned both U.S. coasts

OMAHA, Neb. (AP) — Union Pacific is seeking to buy Norfolk Southern in a $85 billion deal that would create the first in the U.S, and potentially trigger a final wave of rail mergers across the country.

The proposed merger, announced Tuesday, would marry Union Pacific’s rail network in the West with Norfolk’s rails that snake across Eastern states.

The nation was first linked by rail in 1869, when a golden railroad spike was driven in Utah to symbolize the connection of East and West Coasts. Yet no single entity has controlled that coast-to-coast passage that so many businesses rely on.

The railroads said the tie-up would streamline deliveries of raw materials and goods across the country by eliminating several days of delays when shipments are handed off between railroads. The AP first reported the merger talks earlier this month a week before the railroads confirmed the discussions last week.

Any deal would be closely scrutinized by antitrust regulators that have set a very high bar for railroad deals after previous consolidation in the industry led to massive backups and snarled traffic.

But if the deal is approved, the two remaining major American railroads — BNSF and CSX — will face tremendous pressure to merge so they can compete. The continent’s two other major railroads — Canadian National and CPKC — may also get involved.

Some big shippers like chemical plants may be wary of the merger because of fears about the monopoly power the combined railroad would wield over rates, but other major rail customers, like and UPS, may back the deal if it means their packages will arrive more quickly and reliably. Those big companies, along with unions and communities across the country that the railroads cross, will have a chance to weigh in on the deal before the U.S. Surface Board.

Consumers would benefit if the deal does reduce shipping rates and delivery times as the railroads predict.

There’s speculation that this deal might win approval under the pro-business , but the STB is currently evenly split between two Republicans and two Democrats. The board is led by a Republican, and Trump will appoint a fifth member before this deal will be considered.

Union Pacific is offering $20 billion cash and one share of its stock to complete the deal. Norfolk Southern shareholders would receive one UP share and $88.82 in cash for each one of their shares as part of the deal that values NS at roughly $320 per share. Norfolk Southern closed at just over $260 a share earlier this month before the first reports speculating about a deal.

Union Pacific’s stock rose slightly to $229.35 in premarket trading, while Norfolk Southern’s stock dipped more than 2% to $279.95.

Union Pacific CEO Jim Vena, who has been championing a merger, said the deal could make it possible for lumber from the Pacific Northwest and plastics produced on the Gulf Coast and steel made in Pittsburgh to all reach their destinations more seamlessly.

“Railroads have been an integral part of building America since the Industrial Revolution, and this transaction is the next step in advancing the industry,” Vena said.

A combined Union Pacific and Norfolk would have an advantage because they won’t have to hand off shipments in the middle of the country anymore, enabling them to make deliveries more quickly and likely at a lower rate.

U.S. railroads have already gone through extensive consolidation. There were more than 30 major freight railroads in the early 1980s. Today, six major railroads that handle the majority of shipments nationwide.

Rival BNSF, owned by Berkshire Hathaway, has the war chest to pursue an acquisition of it chooses. CEO Warren Buffett is sitting on more than $348 billion cash and he may be interested in completing one last major deal before he gives up his role as chief exeucutive at the end of the year.

Last week Buffett threw cold water on reports that he had enlisted Goldman Sachs to advise him on a potential rail deal in an interview with CNBC, but given that he rarely uses investment bankers that doesn’t mean that he and his successor, Greg Abel, aren’t considering their options. After all, Buffett reached the agreement to buy the rest of BNSF for $26.3 billion in a private meeting with the CEO in 2009.

Yet there’s widespread debate over whether a major rail merger would be approved by the Surface Transportation Board, which has established a high bar for consolidation in the crucial industry.

That’s largely because of the aftermath of an industry consolidation nearly 30 years ago that involved Union Pacific. Union Pacific merged with Southern Pacific in 1996 and the tie-up led to an extended period of snarled traffic on U.S. rails. Three years later, Conrail was divvied up by Norfolk Southern and CSX, which led to more backups on rails in the East.

However, just two years ago, the STB approved the first major rail merger in more than two decades. In that deal, which was supported by big shippers, Canadian Pacific acquired Kansas City Southern for $31 billion to create the CPKC railroad.

There were some unique factors in that deal that combined the two smallest major freight railroads. The combined railroad, regulators reasoned, would benefit trade across North America.

Union Pacific and Norfolk Southern said they expect to submit their application for approval within the next six months and hope the deal would get approved by early 2027.

On Tuesday, Norfolk Southern reported a $768 million second-quarter profit, or $3.41 per share, as volume grew 3%. That’s up from $737 million, or $3.25 per share, a year ago, but the results were affected by insurance payments from its 2023 East Palestine derailment and restructuring costs.

Without the one-time factors, Norfolk Southern made $3.29 per share, which was just below the $3.31 per share that analysts surveyed by FactSet Research predicted.

Amazon cancels data center in Louisa County


SUMMARY:

  • withdrew plans for a third data center campus after strong community opposition
  • Residents cited concerns about noise, traffic, and quality of life
  • Two other Amazon in the county are still under construction

has withdrawn its application to build a third data center in Louisa County, following backlash from county residents against the project.

Attorney Charles W. Payne, representing Amazon, sent a letter to the county’s senior planner, Tom Egeland, informing the county that the tech giant is withdrawing its applications for a conditional use permit and other actions that would allow Amazon to build a 7.2 million-square-foot data center campus on 1,370 acres in the county.

The site would have been located in the Mineral area, south of Davis Highway (Route 22) and north of Jefferson Highway (Route 33), surrounding Northeast Creek. Wooded land, vacant land and scattered residential areas surround the site.

Amazon decided to withdraw its proposal due to feedback received at a June 11 county community meeting, Payne said. At that meeting, roughly 100 residents gathered to raise concerns about the proposed campus, fearing that the center would bring noise, traffic, strain the electrical grid and lower property values.

County resident Jennifer Davis said she lives on a farm near the site and enjoys gazing at the stars and appreciating the peace and quiet. She said she wouldn’t be able to do that with the data center.

A site plan for Amazon Web Service’s proposed third data center campus in Louisa County, as it appeared in the land use amendment application. Image Courtesy Louisa County

“I’m telling you, I don’t want you here,” she told Amazon representatives at the June meeting. “I haven’t heard anybody in this room … that wants you here. Does anybody here want them here? I haven’t heard of it. So please go back and take it somewhere else, because you’re not welcome in Louisa.”

Given the feedback, Payne said Amazon believed it was best to “reevaluate the proposed project” and withdraw the zoning applications.

“We have heard the community and appreciate the desire for more robust input in any future projects that may be brought forward in the county, and we are confident that this is a goal that can be accomplished,” Payne wrote.

At the June 11 meeting, Amazon representatives said the now-canceled project could have generated $115 million annually for the county.

Had the project gotten county approval, it would have been the third AWS data center in the county. Two AWS data center campuses are already under construction, with one being built at the Lake Anna Technology Campus and the other at North Creek Technology Campus, both of which are in the county’s Technology Overlay District.

County spokesperson Cindy King noted that when the projects were initiated, the facilities were permitted by right. However, she said the board of supervisors has since changed the district so that new data center applications require a conditional use permit, which in turn requires public input. For that reason, Amazon’s proposed third data center project in the county faced more scrutiny.

Amazon has announced plans to invest a total of $35 billion in Virginia by 2040, with $11 billion of that total allocated to the two data centers in Louisa County that are currently under construction. In Payne’s letter, he thanked the county for its ongoing support for the Lake Anna and Northeast Creek Technology Campuses.

“Your recognition that these planned investments will expand the tax base to support schools, first responders, parks and infrastructure reflects a shared commitment to strengthening core public services while protecting the natural beauty and community values that define Louisa County,” he wrote.

Stocks dip after record highs amid trade deal, Fed watch

  

SUMMARY:  

  • slips 0.2% after five-day record streak 
  • Dow drops 136 points; posts slight gain 
  • Markets steady following U.S.-EU framework 
  • Big Tech earnings and Fed rate decision loom this week 

 

NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stock indexes are drifting on Monday after the United States agreed to tax cars and other products coming from the European Union at a 15% rate, lower than President had earlier threatened. Many details are still to be worked out, though, and Wall Street is heading into a week full of potential flashpoints that could shake markets.

The S&P 500 slipped 0.2% in late trading after setting an all-time high every day last week. The Industrial Average was down 136 points, or 0.3%, with a little less than an hour remaining in trading, and the Nasdaq composite was 0.1% higher, coming off its own record.

Tesla added 3.7% after its CEO, Elon Musk, said it signed a deal with Samsung Electronics that could be worth more than $16.5 billion to provide chips for the electric-vehicle company. Samsung’s stock in South Korea jumped 6.8%.

Other companies in the chip and artificial-intelligence industries were strong, continuing their run from last week after Alphabet said it was increasing its spending on AI chips and other investments to $85 billion this year. Chip company Advanced Micro Devices rose 3.7%, and server-maker Super Micro Computer climbed 8.6%.

They helped offset a 9% drop for Revvity. The company in the life sciences and diagnostics businesses reported a stronger profit for the latest quarter than Wall Street expected, but its forecast for full year profit disappointed analysts.

Companies are broadly under pressure to deliver solid growth in profits following big jumps in their stock prices the last few months. Much of the gain was due to hopes that Trump would walk back some of his stiff proposed , and critics say the broad U.S. looks expensive unless companies produce bigger profits.

More fireworks may be ahead this week. “This is about as busy as a week can get in the markets,” according to Chris Larkin, managing director, trading and investing, at E-Trade from Morgan Stanley.

Hundreds of U.S. companies are lined up to report how much profit they made during the spring, with nearly a third of all the businesses in the S&P 500 index scheduled to deliver updates. That includes market heavyweights Apple, , Meta Platforms and Microsoft. Those companies have grown so huge that their stock movements can almost dictate what the overall S&P 500 index does. Microsoft alone is worth roughly $3.8 trillion.

On Wednesday, the will announce its latest decision on .

Trump has been angrily calling for the Fed to cut interest rates, a move that could give the economy a boost. But Fed Chair Jerome Powell insists that he wants more data about how Trump’s tariffs are affecting the economy and inflation before the Fed makes its next move. Lower interest rates can fuel inflation, and the economy only recently came out of its scarring run where inflation briefly topped 9%.

The widespread expectation on Wall Street is that Fed officials will wait until September to resume cutting interest rates, though a couple of Trump’s appointees could dissent in the vote. The Fed has been on hold with interest rates this year since cutting them several times at the end of 2024.

This week will also feature several potentially market-moving updates about the economy. On Tuesday will come reports on how confident U.S. consumers are feeling and how many jobs openings U.S. employers were advertising. Wednesday will show the first estimate of how quickly the U.S. economy grew during the spring, and economists expect to see a slowdown from the first three months of the year.

On Thursday, the latest measure of inflation that the Federal Reserve prefers to use will arrive. A modest reading could give the Fed more leeway to cut interest rates in the short term, while a hotter-than-expected figure could make it more cautious.

And Friday will bring an update on how many more workers U.S. employers hired during June than they fired.

Treasury yields held relatively steady in the bond market ahead of all that action. The yield on the 10-year Treasury edged up to 4.41% from 4.40% late Friday. The two-year Treasury yield, which more closely tracks expectations for Fed action, rose to 3.93% from 3.91%.

In stock markets abroad, indexes dipped in Europe following the announcement of the trade deal’s framework.

Chinese stocks rose as officials from the world’s second-largest economy prepared to meet with a U.S. delegation in Sweden for trade talks. Stocks climbed 0.7% in Hong Kong and 0.1% in Shanghai.

Indexes were mixed across the rest of Asia, where Japan’s Nikkei 225 fell 1.1% for one of the world’s bigger losses.

GMU Faculty Senate targeted in DOJ letter

SUMMARY:

The head of the U.S. Department of Justice’s division sent a letter Friday requesting that George Mason University’s rector provide “all written communications” regarding a resolution its faculty senate passed last week in support of President Gregory Washington.

Dated July 25, the letter signed by Assistant Attorney General Harmeet K. Dhillon says that the department was informed of the resolution commending “Washington’s efforts to ensure ‘faculty and staff demographics … mirror student demographics’ at GMU,” according to her letter. George Mason is Virginia’s largest public university and its most racially and ethnically diverse, with 39,763 students enrolled in fall 2024, and 66.3% of all students are listed as nonwhite.

“This statement is concerning as it indicates the GMU Faculty Senate is praising President Washington for engaging in race- or sex-motivated hiring decisions to achieve specific demographic outcomes among faculty and staff,” Dhillon writes. “According to Justice [Ketanji Brown] Jackson and all eight of her colleagues on the United States Supreme Court, such hiring practices violate Title VII of the Civil Rights Act.”

Dhillon cites multiple legal cases in the letter, including the 2023 Harvard case that eventually led to the U.S. Supreme Court’s ruling to overturn affirmative action in college admissions.

Dhillon writes that although her division intends to submit a “detailed information request” this week, the DOJ would like to review the faculty senate resolution, as well as any drafts and “all written communications,” including emails, texts, voice mails and other forms of electronic communications, between members of the faculty senate, or between the president and his office staff and faculty senate members.

“Please immediately take the necessary steps to preserve all such documents and to notify both the members of the faculty senate and President Washington’s office of the obligation to preserve these documents and electronic communications,” Dhillon concludes. A Department of Justice spokesperson said it had no comment beyond the letter Monday.

Dhillon opened two investigations into the university in July, in addition to two probes launched by the U.S. Department of Education since July 1. The letter, which has not yet been made public by the DOJ, is the first apparent federal inquiry about GMU faculty members’ resolution to support Washington, whose actions to enhance diversity, equity and inclusion at the university have been criticized by the and conservative members of George Mason’s board of visitors.

Multiple groups, including federal and state Democratic lawmakers, George Mason’s American Association of University Professors chapter and regional business organizations, have taken measures to support Washington, the university’s first Black president and its leader since July 2020. Some say that the Trump administration is using the DOJ and the DOE to drive out Washington, and that George Mason’s board of visitors, which has firing power over the university’s president, has not done enough to support him.

The DOJ’s July 25 letter, like others regarding the university, was addressed to Rector Charles “Cully” Stimson and Mike Fragoso, a Torridon Law attorney hired to represent the university in the DOJ matters. Stimson and Fragoso did not immediately respond to a request for comment on the letter Monday.

Professor Solon Simmons, president of the George Mason Faculty Senate, said Monday that he has seen the letter and has been advised by multiple people that he should hire an attorney. He said in a written statement that Dhillon’s letter is “inaccurate.”

The faculty senate “did not commend President Gregory Washington’s efforts to ensure ‘faculty and staff demographics . . . mirror student demographics’ at GMU. The language we used is simply a direct quote from page 31 of a five-year strategic document adopted by the board of visitors,” Simmons wrote. “An outcome the board committed to was to, ‘faculty and staff demographics that mirror student demographics.’ It is not our language; it is theirs.”

The five-year strategic document was released in 2023 after the board approved it in December 2022. It lists goals for the university that include expanding opportunities for students, integrating “inclusive principles and practices,” and expanding research at George Mason. In a section titled, “Exemplify a university culture of access and inclusion,” the university includes “faculty and staff demographics that mirror student demographics” under outcomes it aims to achieve.

The faculty senate resolution, which was approved July 24, refers to the four federal investigations launched since July 1, declares its confidence in Washington’s leadership and calls for the board of visitors to “affirm its commitment to a fair, independent, transparent and comprehensive annual review” of Washington’s job performance.

The resolution also calls for the board to “provide the strongest defense possible of President Washington and the university’s leadership during these investigations” and to “not give in to political pressures to issue penalties before due process and proper investigations have been completed.”

On Aug. 1, the board is set to discuss in closed session Washington’s work performance, according to its agenda released last Friday. Meanwhile, this week a Fairfax County judge is set to rule on a requested injunction motion filed by nine state Senate Democrats that would prevent the boards of George Mason, the and from seating eight gubernatorial appointees who were rejected by a Senate committee in June.

U.S., China begin new trade talks in Sweden

Summary:

  • U.S. and China hold in Sweden to ease tariff tensions
  • Officials aim to extend a 90-day pause on new
  • Talks could pave way for Trump-Xi summit later this year
  • U.S. seeks to reduce $300B trade deficit with China

STOCKHOLM, Sweden (AP) — Top trade officials from China and the United States launched a new round of talks on Monday in a bid to ease tensions over tariffs between the world’s two biggest national economies.

U.S. Treasury Secretary and Chinese Vice Premier were meeting at the offices of Sweden’s prime minister for two days of talks that Bessent has said will likely lead to an extension of current tariff levels. But other possible outcomes will be scrutinized.

Analysts say the talks could set the stage for a possible meeting between U.S. President  and Chinese President Xi Jinping later this year.

The talks are the third this year, nearly four months after Trump upended global trade with his sweeping tariff proposals, including an import tax that shot up to 145% on Chinese goods. China retaliated with tariffs reaching 125% against U.S. goods, sending global financial markets into a temporary tailspin.

Extending a 90-day pause

The Stockholm meeting, following similar talks in Geneva and London, is set to extend a 90-day pause on those tariffs. During the pause, U.S. tariffs have been lowered to 30% on Chinese goods, and China set a 10% tariff on U.S. products.

The , fresh off a deal on tariffs with the European Union, wants to reduce a trade deficit of $904 billion overall last year, including a nearly $300 billion trade deficit with China.

China’s Commerce Ministry said last week that the “consultations” would raise shared concerns through the principles of “mutual respect, peaceful coexistence and win-win cooperation.”

The talks with the Chinese are part of a flurry of U.S. trade negotiations set off by Trump’s arm-twisting “Liberation Day” tariffs against dozens of countries. Since then, some talks have borne fruit in reaching deals. Others have not.

Without an extension by Aug. 12, the tit-for-tat U.S.-China tariffs could snap back to the triple-digit levels seen before the 90-day pause reached in Geneva. Many other countries — including some developing ones that depend on exports to the U.S. — face a Friday deadline, as the Trump administration has said letters will go out beforehand with set rates.

Critics say Trump’s tariffs penalize Americans by forcing U.S. importers to shoulder the costs or pass them to consumers through higher prices.

A suggestion of stability

On Friday, Trump told reporters “we have the confines of a deal with China” — just two days after Bessent told MSNBC that a “status quo” had been reached between the two sides.

While the Chinese side has offered little guidance about the specifics of its aims in Stockholm, Bessent has suggested that the situation has stabilized to the point that China and the U.S. can start looking toward longer-term balance between their economies.

For years, since China vaulted into the global trading system about two decades ago, the United States has sought to press leaders in Beijing to encourage more consumption in China and wrest greater market access to foreign-made — including American — goods.

Other sticking points in the relationship include overcapacity in China — by far the world’s largest manufacturer — and concerns about whether Beijing is doing enough to control chemicals used to make fentanyl, analysts say.

In Stockholm, the Chinese will likely demand the removal of a 20% fentanyl-related tariff that Trump imposed earlier this year, said Sun Yun, director of the China program at the Washington-based Stimson Center.

Looking long-term

Experts say long-term progress in the U.S.-China trade relationship will hinge on structural changes. Those include increased manufacturing in the United States, which is part of Trump’s ambition. On the Chinese side, that could involve a reduction of excess Chinese production in many industries, including electric vehicles and steel, and increased Chinese consumer spending to ease imbalances in China’s export-driven economy.

Sean Stein, president of the U.S.-China Business Council, said Stockholm could be the first real opportunity for the two governments to address structural reform issues, including market access in China for U.S. companies.

Businesses will read how the two sides characterize the outcome in Stockholm and look for clues about a possible Trump-Xi summit, because any real deal will depend on the two presidents meeting, Stein said.

Bessent has also said the Stockholm talks could address Chinese purchases of Russian and Iranian oil.

Hampton logistics company closes, laying off 63

Hampton-based delivery company Rochambeau went out of business last week with the intention to file for , laying off 63 employees in the process.

Rochambeau, which had been in operation for little more than a year, provided delivery services for and served the areas of Newport News, Yorktown and parts of Williamsburg and Gloucester County, according to General Manager Jeff Aldridge, who added that all of its laid-off employees have been able to find new jobs.

Rochambeau notified the state of the on July 22, in compliance with the Worker Adjustment and Retraining Notification (WARN) Act. A letter written by the company president, Alex Chang, stated that, due to “unforeseeable business circumstances,” the company had decided to cease operations as of July 25. The letter states that the company does not plan to reopen but intends to file for bankruptcy proceedings.

The company’s work was performed at a FedEx site at 61 Floyd Thompson Drive in . Due to the closure, all employees were notified on July 21 that their jobs would end on July 25. With the exception of the general manager, assistant managers and administrators, all other persons were delivery drivers.

“Anything anybody is ordering from companies that’s getting shipped through FedEx, FedEx would load our trucks, and then our drivers would go out and make the deliveries,” Aldridge said.

According to Aldridge, Chang informed him on the night of July 21 that he was filing bankruptcy for all three of his contracts with FedEx and that all employees would be laid off after the close of business on Friday of last week. He said he wasn’t provided with many more details.

“I don’t believe FedEx canceled his contract,” Aldridge said. “They can do that if you’re failing service or … not meeting contractual requirements, but I don’t believe that was the case here. I believe what was happening was one of his other companies that he owned in Georgia was failing. … His financial advisers advised him that the only way to … come out unscathed … would be to file bankruptcy.”

Fortunately, Aldridge says that every employee who was laid off was able to secure a job with other logistics contractors working at the FedEx building.

“They’ve picked up every single driver as an employee starting Saturday,” he said last week.

U.S., EU agree to 15% tariff in new trade framework

 

Summary

  • U.S. and EU agree to 15% tariff on most traded goods
  • Deal avoids steeper import taxes, easing global trade fears
  • Strategic products will see zero under the pact
  • EU to boost U.S. energy purchases and investment flows

EDINBURGH, Scotland (AP) — The United States and the European Union agreed on Sunday to a trade framework setting a 15% tariff on most goods, staving off — at least for now — far higher import duties on both sides that might have sent shock waves through economies around the globe.

The sweeping announcement came after President  and European Commission chief met briefly at Trump’s Turnberry golf course in Scotland. Their private sit-down culminated months of bargaining, with the White House deadline Friday nearing for imposing punishing tariffs on the EU’s 27 member countries.

“It was a very interesting negotiation. I think it’s going to be great for both parties,” Trump said. The agreement, he said, was “a good deal for everybody” and “a giant deal with lots of countries.”

Von der Leyen said the deal “will bring stability, it will bring predictability, that’s very important for our businesses on both sides of the Atlantic.”

Many facets will require more work

As with other, recent tariff agreements that Trump announced with countries including Japan and the United Kingdom, some major details remain pending in this one.

Trump said the EU had agreed to buy some $750 billion worth of U.S. energy and invest $600 billion more than it already is in America — as well as make a major military equipment purchase. He said tariffs “for automobiles and everything else will be a straight across tariff of 15%” and meant that U.S. exporters ”have the opening up of all of the European countries.”

Von der Leyen said the 15% tariffs were “across the board, all inclusive” and that “indeed, basically the European market is open.”

At a later news conference away from Turnberry, she said the $750 billion in additional U.S. energy purchases was actually over the next three years — and would help ease the dependence on natural gas from Russia among the bloc’s countries.

“When the European Union and the United States work together as partners, the benefits are tangible,” Von der Leyen said, noting that the agreement “stabilized on a single, 15% tariff rate for the vast majority of EU exports” including cars, semiconductors and pharmaceuticals.

“15% is a clear ceiling,” she said.

But von der Leyen also clarified that such a rate wouldn’t apply to everything, saying that both sides agreed on “zero for zero tariffs on a number of strategic products,” like all aircraft and component parts, certain chemicals, certain generic drugs, semiconductor equipment, some agricultural products, natural resources and critical raw materials.

It is unclear if alcohol will be included in that list.

“And we will keep working to add more products to this list,” she said, while also stressing that the “framework means the figures we have just explained to the public, but, of course, details have to be sorted out. And that will happen over the next weeks.”

Further EU approval needed

In the meantime, there will be work to do on other fronts. Von der Leyen had a mandate to negotiate because the European Commission handles trade for member countries. But the Commission must now present the deal to member states and EU lawmakers, who will ultimately decide whether or not to approve it.

Before their meeting began, Trump pledged to change what he characterized as “a very one-sided transaction, very unfair to the United States.”

“I think both sides want to see fairness,” the Republican president told reporters.

Von der Leyen said the U.S. and EU combined have the world’s largest trade volume, encompassing hundreds of millions of people and trillions of dollars and added that Trump was “known as a tough negotiator and dealmaker.”

“But fair,” Trump said.

Trump has spent months threatening most of the world with large tariffs in hopes of shrinking major U.S. trade deficits with many key trading partners. More recently, he had hinted that any deal with the EU would have to “buy down” a tariff rate of 30% that had been set to take effect.

But during his comments before the agreement was announced, the president was asked if he’d be willing to accept tariff rates lower than 15%, and he said “no.”

First golf, then trade talk

Their meeting came after Trump played golf for the second straight day at Turnberry, this time with a group that included sons Eric and Donald Jr. In addition to negotiating deals, Trump’s five-day visit to Scotland is built around golf and promoting properties bearing his name.

A small group of demonstrators at the course waved American flags and raised a sign criticizing British Prime Minister Keir Starmer, who plans his own Turnberry meeting with Trump on Monday.

Other voices could be heard cheering and chanting “Trump! Trump!” as he played nearby.

On Tuesday, Trump will be in Aberdeen, in northeastern Scotland, where his family has another golf course and is opening a third next month. The president and his sons plan to help cut the ribbon on the new course.

The U.S. and EU seemed close to a deal earlier this month, but Trump instead threatened the 30% tariff rate. The deadline for the to begin imposing tariffs has shifted in recent weeks but is now firm and coming Friday, the administration insists.

“No extensions, no more grace periods. Aug. 1, the tariffs are set, they’ll go into place, Customs will start collecting the money and off we go,” U.S. Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick told “Fox News Sunday” before the EU deal was announced. He added, however, that even after that “people can still talk to President Trump. I mean, he’s always willing to listen.”

Without an agreement, the EU said it was prepared to retaliate with tariffs on hundreds of American products, ranging from beef and auto parts to beer and  airplanes.

If Trump eventually followed through on his threat of tariffs against Europe, meanwhile, it could have made everything from French cheese and Italian leather goods to German electronics and Spanish pharmaceuticals more expensive in the United States.

“I think it’s great that we made a deal today, instead of playing games and maybe not making a deal at all,” Trump said. “I think it’s the biggest deal ever made.”