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Richmond lifts boil-water advisory after 2 days

SUMMARY:

  • lifts boil-water advisory after two days in parts of city
  • Two consecutive tests of water samples in South Side, West End and North Side neighborhoods came back clean
  • Second boil-water advisory since January, when city had a six-day water outage
  • City says alum sludge was part of the cause of the May water disruption

On Thursday afternoon, Richmond announced that the has lifted the city’s boil-water advisory in place over the past two days in large parts of Richmond.

This was the city’s second boil-water advisory this year, following a much more severe water outage in January that caused most of the city’s 230,000 residents to lose all water for about six days, as well as closing down schools, doctors’ offices, restaurants and other businesses. This time, most residents in the affected areas maintained enough water pressure to flush toilets and run showers, but tap water was not considered safe to consume without boiling.

Just after midnight Tuesday, the city’s water treatment plant experienced an operational hiccup that clogged some of the plant’s filters. Tuesday morning, the water system had been restored to full production, but reclogged roughly an hour later. This led to the city’s boil-water announcement at 11:30 a.m. Tuesday for a wide swath of neighborhoods from the city’s West End to the downtown State Capitol grounds, as well as North Side neighborhoods. Later Tuesday, the city placed some communities on the South Side under the advisory.

In the early hours of Tuesday, the Richmond Department of Public Utilities contacted officials in Henrico, Hanover and Chesterfield counties, which are customers of the city’s water system, and advised them about the clog in the Ginter Park water tank. Chesterfield and Henrico temporarily disconnected from the water system, they announced Tuesday.

Some residents who had signed up for text alerts for emergencies facing the city complained that they did not receive a message Tuesday about the advisory, and the mayor said that he would investigate.

On Thursday at 2:30 p.m., the city announced that had tested two sets of water samples, and both came back negative for contaminants, allowing the health department to lift the boil-water advisory. Residents and businesses can safely resume using tap water, the city’s announcement said.

Thursday evening, the city said that the clogged filters were caused by “maintenance not occurring in a timely fashion” on plate settlers in sedimentation basins, which caused a buildup of alum sludge, which was then released into the city’s water supply. That, along with “poor raw water quality coming into the system,” caused several filters to clog. Officials say that plate settlers in the water system will be cleaned on a “routine, recurring schedule” and will be included in regular status update reports.

“I’m deeply grateful to the residents and businesses for enduring this unexpected boil-water advisory,” Avula said in a statement. “Residents and businesses expect better, and I am as committed as ever to finding the problems and fixing them. Doing this work requires being honest about what’s working and what’s not and I pledge my ongoing commitment to doing just that.”

The situation was familiar to Richmonders who lived through the Jan. 6 water crisis, when a power failure caused an electrical malfunction at the water treatment facility and flooding. In April, a state report called the crisis “completely avoidable.”

Avula, who took office Jan. 1, was faced with the emergency five days into his four-year term, and the VDH report said that the city’s Department of Public Utilities erred when it was operating in a “winter mode” where the plant relies solely on overhead main power during the winter months, as well as not maintaining backup systems and featuring poor communication between DPU leadership, City Hall and the counties affected by the outage.

April Bingham, of public utilities for Richmond during the crisis, first resigned and later retracted her resignation, and she was subsequently fired. Bingham was replaced by Scott Morris, who was formerly the Virginia Department of Environmental Quality’s director of water.

Lynchburg-based BWXT taps new CHRO

BWX Technologies, a -based components and manufacturer, has appointed Gonzalo Cajade as , effective June 1.

He is succeeding Robert L. Duffy in leading human resources, according to ‘s Thursday announcement. Duffy will continue with the company as chief administrative officer and as an executive adviser to the .

Cajade has over 20 years of global human resources leadership experience, most recently being executive vice and chief people officer at Terrepower, where he led efforts focused on company growth and mergers and acquisitions. He has also held roles at Otis Elevator, United Technologies Corp. (UTC) and Sikorsky Aircraft.

BWXT described Cajade as “a proven human resources strategist” and — as a person who has lived and worked across four continents — someone who brings a multicultural perspective to leadership. Cajade will report directly to CEO Rex D. Geveden and be a member of the executive leadership team.

“I am excited to welcome Gonzalo to BWXT,” Geveden said in a statement. “His deep experience, global perspective and commitment to people and culture make him an ideal fit to lead our HR function into the future.”

In March, BWXT celebrated the official opening of its new Innovation Campus, set on 11 acres in Campbell County. The campus includes 170,000 square feet of offices and manufacturing space, which will house laboratories where the company’s Advanced Technologies business unit will design, build and test advanced nuclear systems for its clients, which include NASA, the Defense Department and commercial businesses.

The company announced last week that it completed its $525 million acquisition of Kinectrics, which provides nuclear power plant lifecycle support services and lifecycle management services. The acquisition nearly doubled the workforce of BWXT’s commercial group and allows BWXT to expand its products and services. Kinectrics will operate as a BWXT subsidiary.

BWXT has nearly 10,000 employees and 20 major operating sites in the United States, Canada and the United Kingdom.

Appeals court allows Trump to continue collecting tariffs under an emergency powers law for now

SUMMARY:

  • Federal appeals court ruled Trump could continue collecting under law
  • International court previously ruled Trump exceeded authority with “Liberation Day” tariffs
  • Administration plans appeal; Supreme Court may weigh in

WASHINGTON (AP) — A federal appeals court on Thursday allowed Donald Trump to continue collecting tariffs under an emergency powers law for now, as his administration appeals an order striking down the bulk of his signature set of economic policies.

The Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit granted an emergency motion from the Trump administration arguing that a halt is “critical for the country’s national security.”

The appeals court temporarily halted the order from a federal trade court issued a day before.

Trump is facing several lawsuits arguing Trump’s “Liberation Day” tariffs exceeded his authority and left the country’s trade policy dependent on his whims.

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

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Donald Trump has audaciously claimed virtually unlimited power to bypass Congress and impose sweeping taxes on foreign products.

Now a has thrown a roadblock in his path.

A three-judge panel of the U.S. Court of International Trade ruled Wednesday that Trump overstepped his authority when he invoked the 1977 International Emergency Economic Powers Act to declare a national emergency and plaster taxes – tariffs – on imports from almost every country in the world.

The ruling was a big setback for Trump, whose erratic trade policies have rocked financial markets, paralyzed businesses with uncertainty and raised fears of higher prices and slower economic growth.

But economists and trade analysts say Trump’s trade wars are far from over. The administration is appealing the decision and has other ways to pursue the president’s goal of using tariffs to lure factories back to America, raise money for the U.S. Treasury and pressure other countries into bending to his will.

Financial markets, which would welcome an end to Trump’s tariffs, had a muted response to the news on Thursday; stocks rose modestly.

“Investors are not getting too carried away, presumably in the expectation that the White House will find a workaround that allows them to continue to pursue their trade agenda,” said Matthew Ryan, head of market strategy at the financial services firm Ebury.

Trump’s IEEPA tariffs are being challenged in at least seven lawsuits. In the ruling Wednesday, the trade court combined two of the cases — one brought by five small businesses and another by 12 U.S. states.

The U.S. Court of International Trade has jurisdiction over civil cases involving trade. The Trump administration is appealing Wednesday’s ruling to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit in Washington. The challenge to Trump’s tariff is widely expected to end up at the U.S. Supreme Court.

Which tariffs did the court block?

The court’s decision blocks the tariffs Trump slapped last month on almost all U.S. trading partners and levies he imposed before that on China, Mexico and Canada.

Trump on April 2 — Liberation Day, he called it — imposed so-called reciprocal tariffs of up to 50% on countries with which the United States runs a and 10% baseline tariffs on almost everybody else. He later suspended the reciprocal tariffs for 90 days to give countries time to negotiate trade agreements with the United States — and reduce their barriers to American exports. But he kept the baseline tariffs in place.

Claiming extraordinary power to act without congressional approval, he justified the taxes under IEEPA by declaring the United States’ longstanding trade deficits “a national emergency.”

“The reason that he chose IEEPA was he thought he could do this unilaterally without much oversight by Congress,” said Jeffrey Schwab, senior counsel and of litigation at the nonprofit Liberty Justice Center. He represented the five small businesses before the trade court.

In February, he’d invoked the law to impose tariffs on Canada, Mexico and China, saying that the illegal flow of immigrants and drugs across the U.S. border amounted to a national emergency and that the three countries needed to do more to stop it.

The U.S. Constitution gives Congress the power to set taxes, including tariffs. But lawmakers have gradually let presidents assume more power over tariffs — and Trump has made the most of it.

Why did the court rule against the president?

The administration had argued that courts had approved then-President Richard Nixon’s emergency use of tariffs in the economic chaos that followed his decision to end a policy that linked the U.S. dollar to the price of gold. The Nixon administration successfully cited its authority under the 1917 Trading With Enemy Act, which preceded and supplied some of the legal language later used in IEEPA.

The court rejected the administration’s argument this time, deciding that Trump’s sweeping tariffs exceeded his authority to regulate imports under IEEPA. It also said the tariffs did nothing to deal with problems they were supposed to address. In their case, the states noted that America’s trade deficits hardly amount to a sudden emergency. The United States has racked them up for 49 straight years in good times and bad.

Another federal judge is blocking Trump’s use of an emergency powers law to impose tariffs. The preliminary injunction Thursday from U.S. District Judge Rudolph Contreras comes after a from two Illinois-based educational toy companies. The ruling was handed down the day after the trade court’s broader finding.

So where does this leave Trump’s trade agenda?

Wendy Cutler, a former U.S. trade official who is now vice president at the Asia Society Policy Institute, says the court’s decision “throws the president’s trade policy into turmoil.”

“Partners negotiating hard during the 90-day day tariff pause period may be tempted to hold off making further concessions to the U.S. until there is more legal clarity,” she said.

Likewise, companies will have to reassess the way they run their supply chains, perhaps speeding up shipments to the United States to offset the risk that the tariffs will be reinstated on appeal.

Still, the ruling leaves in place other Trump tariffs, including those on foreign steel, aluminum and autos. Those levies were invoked under a different legal authority — Section 232 of the Trade Act of 1962 — that requires a Commerce Department investigation and cannot simply be imposed at the president’s own discretion.

Trump still has the authority to raise those Section 232 tariffs. He can also pursue new ones. The Commerce Department, for instance, last month launched a Section 232 investigation into the national security implications of pharmaceutical imports.

The court also left in place tariffs Trump imposed on China in his first term— and President Joe Biden kept — in a dispute over Beijing’s use of hard-nose tactics to give Chinese companies an edge in advanced technology. The U.S. alleged that China unfairly subsidized its own firms, forced companies from the U.S. and other foreign countries to hand over trade secrets and even engaged in cybertheft. Trump has leeway to expand those tariffs if he wants to put more pressure on China.

The trade court also noted Wednesday that Trump retains more limited power to impose tariffs to address trade deficits under another statute, the Trade Act of 1974. But that law restricts tariffs to 15% and to just 150 days on countries with which the United States runs big trade deficits.

What is the likely the economic and financial fallout from the decision?

When the IEEPA tariffs were in place, America’s average tariff rate was 15%, the highest in decades and up from 2.5% before Trump’s tariff onslaught began this year. Without them, the U.S. tariff rate is still a hefty 6.5%, according to economists Stephen Brown and Jennifer McKeown of Capital Economics.

They say the U.S. economy would grow faster in the second half of 2025 — at a 2% annual rate, up from the 1.5% they’d been forecasting — without the weight of the IEEPA tariffs. Prices also wouldn’t rise as fast.

Importers may get relief. Posting on X, formerly known as Twitter, on Thursday, lawyer Peter Harrell, a fellow at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, wrote that if the trade court’s decision “is upheld, importers should eventually be able to get a refund of (IEEPA) tariffs paid to date. But the government will probably seek to avoid paying refunds until appeals are exhausted.″

Virginia Natural Gas breaks ground on $50M Chesapeake HQ

Virginia Beach-based on Tuesday broke ground on its $50 million in .

The operations headquarters will be built on a 30-acre property at 401 Clearfield Ave. and will feature 39,000 square feet of office space and a 30,000-square-foot warehouse. Once the facility is complete, about 150 employees currently working at the company’s corporate headquarters in , near Mount Trashmore, and depot in Chesapeake will move to the new site.

Virginia Natural Gas spokesperson Morgan Chase said the goal of the new facility is to have these employees “under one roof.”

“This will be our main hub for if there’s a service call on the south side … they would muster and leave from this new facility,” Chase said.

Virginia Natural Gas was founded in 1850, under a different name, and today serves more than 310,000 residential, commercial and industrial customers in Southeast Virginia. The company has about 400 employees and 600 contractors. It is one of four natural gas distribution companies under Southern Company Gas.

The groundbreaking of the new Virginia Natural Gas operations headquarters in Chesapeake. Photo courtesy Virginia Natural Gas

The company currently runs its administrative functions and operations out of the Virginia Beach corporate headquarters. But Chase says that as the company has grown, it’s been “bursting at the seams” at the Virginia Beach location. The new Chesapeake site will result in the company having separate corporate and operations headquarters.

“We are excited to embark on this new chapter with the groundbreaking of our operations headquarters in Chesapeake,” Virginia Natural Gas and Shannon O. Pierce said in a statement. “This investment underscores our dedication to the community and our role in supporting economic growth and sustainability in the region. As celebrates our 175th anniversary this year, we look forward to continuing to serve the families, schools, hospitals, small businesses, large employers and military installations in Chesapeake and in the region.”

Chase says the company anticipates completion of the Chesapeake facility in the fourth quarter of 2026.

Nightingale ice cream expansion to add 166 jobs

Another scoop? Ice Cream Sandwiches is expanding its ice cream manufacturing in .

The Richmond company is investing $5.8 million to move to a new facility in the city and expects to create 166 , Gov. Glenn Youngkin announced Thursday.

Established in 2016, the small batch ice cream company has doubled in size year-over-year and has outgrown its current production facility, according to a news release. The cold treat maker’s new approximately 29,000-square-foot location will serve as both a production facility and Nightingale’s corporate , with about 24,000 square feet dedicated to production. It was built in 1983 and sits on a 5.01-acre lot.

“The opening of Nightingale’s new ice cream production facility is a tremendous win for our commonwealth,” Youngkin said in a statement. “Not only does it celebrate the spirit of local innovation and entrepreneurship, but it also brings 166 good-paying jobs to hardworking Virginians.”

Husband-and-wife duo Hannah Pollack and Xavier Meers founded Nightingale, which manufactures specialty ice cream sandwiches that include 14% butterfat ice cream but have no artificial ingredients and dyes and are non-GMO. Virginia Business recognized Nightingale as one of 28 majority women-owned businesses in the magazine’s 2025 In the Lead: Best Women-Owned Businesses awards.

Its ice cream sandwiches are sold in more than 5,000 chain and independent grocery stores, including Whole Foods Market, Kroger, The Fresh Market and Harris Teeter.

“What began in the kitchen of a Richmond restaurant has grown into something beyond what we ever imagined,” said Pollack, Nightingale’s co-founder, and , in a statement. “Receiving this support from the commonwealth is an incredible honor and a powerful vote of confidence in our vision. We’re deeply grateful for the support which will help us accelerate our growth while staying true to our Richmond, Virginia, roots.”

The worked with the City of Richmond and the Greater Richmond Partnership to secure the project for Virginia. will support Nightingale’s through the three-year Virginia Jobs Investment Program. VJIP provides cash grant reimbursements for associated human resources costs after a company has had new employees on the payroll for at least 90 days.

MSI opens $61.6M Suffolk distribution center

M S International (), a California-based flooring, countertop, wall tile and hardscaping products , opened its $61.6 million East Coast in last week.

The 548,000-square-foot facility, located at 120 Westport Parkway, is expected to create 80 .

MSI broke ground on the site in December 2022. Local leaders and officials celebrated its completion with a ribbon-cutting ceremony on May 22.

“This facility is a gamechanger for how we serve our customers, but it’s also so much more than that. We’re creating good jobs, investing in the local economy and becoming part of a community that’s welcomed us with open arms,” MSI Zachery Chavis said in a statement. “It’s exciting to know that what we’re building here in Suffolk is going to make a real impact — both for our customers and our neighbors.”

Founded in 1975 and headquartered in Orange, California, MSI maintains 50 showrooms and distribution centers across North America. The company reports having over $2.5 billion in annual revenues and more than 3,000 U.S. employees. It has quartz, LVT, tile, turf, natural stone and porcelain products imported from over 37 countries on six continents.

“We’re thrilled to welcome MSI to Suffolk,” Mayor Michael Duman said in a statement. “This facility not only adds to our economic vitality, but also supports the continued growth of our industrial and logistics corridor.”

Antitrust lawsuit against General Dynamics, HII revived in appeals court

Two former naval engineers who claimed that , and more than a dozen other government contractors and shipbuilders illegally agreed to not poach each other’s employees will receive a rehearing, a federal appeals court panel ruled this month.

A two-judge majority reversed the federal judge’s 2024 dismissal and remanded the case for rehearing in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Virginia.

The plaintiffs said in the , filed in October 2023, that executives at 20 defendant corporations had an “unwritten gentleman’s agreement” to not actively recruit other companies’ employees, and that this led to lower wages for naval engineers. Although the lawsuit covered the period beginning in 2000, the complaint said the “no-poach conspiracy” likely dated back to the 1980s.

Among the defendants are Virginia-based , General Dynamics Information Technology, Serco and CACI International, as well as parent companies and General Dynamics.

The class action lawsuit was dismissed by a federal judge last year, but it was revived by a split appeals court panel May 9, according to court documents.

In the ruling, the two-judge majority wrote that the defendants “allegedly covered up their no-poach conspiracy by, among other things, ‘carefully avoiding putting anything in writing’ and using coded language to refer to it. That meets the affirmative-acts standard.”

However, the chief judge wrote in a dissenting opinion that the plaintiffs, Susan Scharpf and Anthony D’Armiento, did not meet the statute of limitations on their claims.

In his dissent, Judge Albert Diaz, chief circuit judge of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit, noted that Scharpf and D’Armiento worked in the naval shipbuilding industry “from 2007 to 2013 and 2002 to 2004, respectively. In 2023, they sued 17 defendants on behalf of themselves and a putative class consisting of ‘all persons employed as naval architects and/or marine engineers.”

He adds, “The majority doesn’t simply accept the plaintiffs’ allegations as true; it does the plaintiffs’ work for them… Plaintiffs alleging a conspiracy don’t get a free pass on time-barred claims.”

General Dynamics said Thursday it had no comment on the decision, and HII issued the following statement: “As set forth in our filing last week, we continue to believe the district court’s decision to dismiss was legally accurate, and we will continue to vigorously defend this position. HII is committed to compliance in all aspects of its business — its robust compliance program and maintaining an ethical culture at all levels of the company is critical to the long-term success of our company.”

According to the 2023 lawsuit, five consulting firms named as defendants were purchased by larger businesses with Virginia ties: Gibbs & Cox, now owned by Leidos; John J. McMullin Associates, owned by Serco; CSC’s naval engineering unit, now owned by CACI; and AMSEC, now owned by HII.

Charlottesville Chamber announces new president and CEO

The Regional of Commerce has found its new and — ending a search process that began in August 2024.

The chamber announced Tuesday that it has promoted Charlottesville native Andrea Copeland, who has been the chamber’s interim CEO for about a year, to president and permanent CEO, effective immediately.

“Andrea has deep connectivity with our membership,” Jonathan Chasen, chair of the chamber’s board of directors, said in a statement. “As interim CEO, she has demonstrated a unique blend of strategic insight, collaborative spirit and a profound understanding of our region’s needs.”

Copeland joined the chamber in 2012 and has since taken on numerous leadership roles, including of leadership for Charlottesville, director of member education services and .

Former President and CEO Natalie Masri departed from the role on Jan. 16, 2024, and Rebecca Ivins — who was previously chairwoman of the board — succeeded her in an interim capacity. Copeland stepped in as interim CEO last spring, Chasen said.

On Aug. 20, 2024, the chamber announced it had launched the search process for its next president and CEO.

Mariane Asad Doyle, vice chair of the chamber’s board of directors, said in a statement that Copeland is highly respected in the Charlottesville business community and that throughout the search process, “members consistently expressed strong support for her promotion.”

Copeland is on boards and committees for several organizations, including the Community Investment Collaborative, Charlottesville Albemarle Convention & Visitors Bureau, Central Virginia Partnership for and the Center for Nonprofit Excellence.

According to her LinkedIn profile, Copeland has a bachelor’s degree in human services counseling from Old Dominion University. She also received an Institute for Organization Management designation from the U.S. Chamber of Commerce in 2023. She completed the Certificate in Chamber Management program offered by the Association of Chamber of Commerce Executives in 2024.

“I am honored and excited to serve as the next president and CEO of our chamber,” Copeland said in a statement. “The Charlottesville community is special to me. It’s a region full of resilience, innovation and opportunity. I’m looking forward to working in partnership with our board, staff, members and community stakeholders to expand our chamber’s impact through membership, advocacy and economic growth.”

The Charlottesville Regional Chamber of Commerce advocates for businesses in the greater Charlottesville region. It has about 680 members, primarily located in Charlottesville and .

Fed minutes: Uncertainty ‘elevated’ as risks of higher inflation and unemployment rise

SUMMARY:

  • Fed leaves interest rates unchanged at May 6-7 meeting.
  • Officials more concerned about inflation than unemployment.
  • Cited Trump as a factor influencing inflation risk.
  • Fed minutes show officials believe inflation could persist.

WASHINGTON (AP) — Federal Reserve officials agreed earlier this month to hold off on any interest-rate moves while they evaluated the impact of Donald Trump’s tariffs on inflation, unemployment, and the broader economy.

According to minutes from their May 6-7 meeting, released Wednesday, “almost all” of the 19 officials that participate in the Fed’s meetings on policy saw a risk that “inflation could prove to be more persistent than expected.” The policymakers showed greater concerns about higher inflation than rising unemployment, the minutes showed, a key reason they left rates unchanged.

Their decision flew in the face of Trump’s repeated calls to reduce borrowing costs because, in his view, there is “NO INFLATION.” The central bank, led by Chair Jerome Powell, cut its key rate three times last year to about 4.3%. Federal Reserve staff economists said during the meeting that inflation “remained elevated,” the minutes showed.

Trump’s tariffs have created a dilemma for the Fed because the duties could both raise inflation — which the Fed would typically fight with higher interest rates — and slow the economy and push up unemployment, which the central bank usually tries to counter with lower rates.

Officials “judged that downside risks to employment and … upside risks to inflation had risen, primarily reflecting the potential effects of tariff increases,” the minutes said.

Since the meeting, many officials have underscored that the Fed may have to wait for some time before making any further moves with interest rates.

Policymakers said there was “considerable uncertainty surrounding the evolution of policy” and its impacts on the economy, the minutes said.

“Taken together, (officials) saw the uncertainty about their economic outlooks as unusually elevated,” the minutes said.

At the same time, at least some Fed officials expressed a range of concerns that tariffs would likely raise prices in the months ahead. Many policymakers said that their surveys and discussions with business leaders suggested that companies were likely to pass at least some or all of the cost of the extra duties on to consumers. Several of the officials said that companies not affected by the tariffs could seek to raise their prices if other companies did so.

And the fact that the economy recently experienced the highest inflation in 40 years in 2022 suggested that companies might be more willing to raise prices than previously, when consumers had little experience of inflation, several officials said.

Newport News’ Jefferson Lab appoints new director

The U.S. ‘s in , commonly known as , will soon have new leadership.

The Newport News-based lab announced Wednesday that has been appointed as its next , effective June 30. He is succeeding Kimberly Sawyer, who has held the role since August 2024 and recently announced she is stepping down.

“I’m honored to join Jefferson Lab at such an exciting time,” Dilling said in a statement. “The lab has an extraordinary legacy in physics and accelerator science, and I look forward to working with its exceptional staff to advance discovery, innovation and excellence in in service of the nation’s scientific mission.

Dilling most recently was the associate laboratory director for neutron sciences at Tennessee’s Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL), leading research at the High Flux Isotope Reactor and the Spallation Neutron Source. At ORNL, he led efforts to improve the lab’s capabilities in quantum information science and material sciences. He also developed the science drivers for the SNS Second Target Station, a new $2 billion DOE project.

Before ORNL, Dilling spent more than 20 years at TRIUMF, Canada’s national particle accelerator center, overseeing molecular and material sciences as well as the science and user programs in nuclear and particle physics.

Dilling holds a doctorate in physics from the University of Heidelberg in Germany and is a fellow of the American Physical Society, as well as a DOE Oppenheimer Leadership Fellow. He has also been involved with numerous international advisory boards and scientific committees.

“Jens is an outstanding scientist and leader whose vision and experience make him the ideal person to guide Jefferson Lab into the future,” Sean J. Hearne, and of the Southeastern Universities Research Association, said in a statement. SURA operates Jefferson Lab through a limited liability company, Jefferson Science Associates.

In March, the DOE announced that Secretary of Energy Chris Wright approved a 12-month extension of the contract for Jefferson Science Associates to continue managing and operating the Jefferson Lab in Newport News after its contract was initially set to expire May 31. The department said in March it anticipates initiating a competition for a new contract during the third quarter of fiscal 2025.

Jefferson Lab is one of 17 DOE national laboratories and is home to the Continuous Electron Beam Accelerator Facility, which supports the research of more than 1,650 scientists worldwide.