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Judge orders Trump to reinstate probationary workers let go in mass firings across multiple agencies

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — A federal in San Francisco ordered ‘s administration to rehire thousands, if not tens of thousands, of probationary workers let go in mass firings across multiple agencies, blasting their tactics Thursday as he slowed the new president’s dramatic downsizing of the .

U.S. District Judge William Alsup said that the terminations were directed by the Office of Personnel Management and its acting director, Charles Ezell, who lacked the authority to do so.

White House White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt quickly pushed back, casting the ruling as an attempt to encroach on executive power to hire and fire employees. “The will immediately fight back against this absurd and unconstitutional order,” she said in a statement.

Alsup’s order tells the departments of Veterans Affairs, Agriculture, , , the Interior and the Treasury to immediately offer job reinstatement to employees terminated on or about Feb. 13 and 14. He also directed the departments to report back within seven days with a list of probationary employees and an explanation of how the agencies complied with his order as to each person.

The temporary restraining order came in a lawsuit filed by a coalition of labor unions and organizations as the Republican administration moves to dramatically downsize the federal workforce.

“These mass- of federal workers were not just an attack on government agencies and their ability to function, they were also a direct assault on public lands, wildlife, and the rule of ,” said Erik Molvar, executive director of Western Watersheds Project, one of the plaintiffs.

Alsup expressed frustration with what he called the government’s attempt to sidestep laws and regulations governing a reduction in its — which it is allowed to do — by firing probationary workers who lack protections and cannot .

He was appalled that employees were fired for poor performance despite receiving glowing evaluations just months earlier.

“It is sad, a sad day, when our government would fire some good employee and say it was based on performance when they know good and well that’s a lie,” he said. “That should not have been done in our country.”

Lawyers for the government maintain the mass firings were lawful because individual agencies reviewed and determined whether employees on probation were fit for continued employment.

But Alsup, who was appointed by President Bill Clinton, a Democrat, has found that difficult to believe. He planned to hold an evidentiary hearing Thursday, but Ezell, the OPM acting director, did not appear to testify in court or even sit for a deposition, and the government withdrew his declaration.

Alsup encouraged the government to appeal.

The case is among multiple lawsuits challenging the mass firings. Another judge in Maryland also appeared skeptical of the Trump administration in a Wednesday hearing held in a lawsuit brought by nearly two dozen states. A judge in the nation’s capital, on the other hand, ruled against unions last month, finding the fired workers needed to work through a process set out in employment law.

There are an estimated 200,000 probationary workers across federal agencies. They include entry level employees but also workers who recently received a promotion.

About 15,000 are employed in California, providing services ranging from fire prevention to veterans’ care, according to the lawsuit filed by the coalition of labor unions and nonprofit organizations that represent parks, veterans and small businesses.

The plaintiffs said in their complaint that numerous agencies informed workers that the personnel office had ordered the terminations, with an order to use a template email informing workers their firing was for performance reasons.

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Associated Press writer Lindsay Whitehurst contributed to this story.

First Bank names new exec VP and CFO

Former TowneBank President and Chief Operating Officer Brad E. Schwartz will join and as and effective March 31.

-based First National, the bank holding company of First Bank, made the announcement Monday. Schwartz succeeds Shane Bell, who left late last year to become for Potomac Bankshares, parent company of the Bank of Charles Town in West Virginia.

Schwartz brings 40 years of experience in banking in Virginia to the job. He was former CEO, CFO and COO of Monarch Bank prior to its by TowneBank in 2016.

As CFO of First National, Schwartz will oversee all aspects of financial planning, strategy, budgeting, investor relations, accounting operations and regulatory filings. He will join President and CEO Scott Harvard and COO Dennis Dysart as executive officers.

“We are truly excited to have Brad Schwartz joining the First National team at such a critical time for our banking company,” Harvard said in a statement. “Our company has completed three acquisitions in the last 10 years, which has changed the trajectory of our company and demands strong, experienced leadership across the executive team. Brad’s leadership and experience, financial acumen and understanding of community banking make him a perfect fit for First Bank at this time in our 118-year history.”

Schwartz holds a bachelor’s degree in business administration and accounting from Longwood University and an MBA from the University of Richmond and is a graduate of the Stonier Graduate School of Banking at Georgetown University. He is also a board member of the Community Bankers Bank and served on the Virginia Bankers Association board.

“I am looking forward to joining First National and contributing to the company’s continued growth and success,” Schwartz said in a statement. “My entire career has been focused on high-performance community banking, and I am truly excited to be joining this team and board. I was attracted to their culture of customer and community service that has resulted in a track record of success.”

First Bank, which first opened for business in 1907 in Strasburg, has about 325 employees, assets of $2 billion and 33 branches located throughout Virginia and northern North Carolina.

Blackstone completes Jersey Mike’s Subs acquisition

A spokesperson for Manasquan, -based sandwich chain Subs told NJBIZ that completed its of a majority stake in the company Jan. 16. They added the terms of the remain unchanged from the private equity behemoth’s November 2024 announcement.

Blackstone did not immediately respond to a request for more information. Financials have not been disclosed, but the transaction was reportedly valued at $8 billion.

Since its start in 1956 as a small sandwich shop in Point Pleasant, Jersey Mike’s has expanded to more than 3,100 locations in the U.S. and Canada.

The influx of cash will help the fast-growing “accelerate its expansion across and beyond the U.S. market, as well as its continued investment in and digital transformation,” according to Blackstone.

Going forward, Jersey Mike’s founder and CEO Peter Cancro will maintain “a significant equity stake” and continue to lead the business, Blackstone has said. Cancro’s involvement with the brand dates back to when he was 14 and worked at the original shop. He acquired that store in 1975, when he was 17, using a loan from his high school football coach. Jersey Mike’s began 12 years later.

Just getting started

In a statement last fall, Cancro said, “We believe we are still in the early innings of Jersey Mike’s growth story and that Blackstone is the right partner to help us reach even greater heights. Blackstone has helped drive the success of some of the most iconic franchise businesses globally and we look forward to working with them to help make significant new investments going forward.”

During a November 2023 interview with QSR Magazine, Cancro said the chain expected to open 350 more locations in 2024 as well as in 2025. By 2026, he anticipates between 400 to 450 openings. After that, Cancro sees settling into a cadence of about 15% annual unit growth, or roughly 10-15 openings per week.

Ultimately, Cancro believes 10,000 units is an achievable goal due to the brand’s focus on quality, training and its robust franchisee support system.

Other brands in Blackstone’s portfolio include Tropical Smoothie Café, 7Brew, Hilton Hotels and Servpro.

When the planned acquisition was announced, Peter Wallace, a senior managing director at Blackstone, said, “Jersey Mike’s has grown for more than half a century by maintaining an unrelenting focus on quality and delicious sandwiches – consistently building on its loyal customer based as it has scaled nationwide.”

He went on to say, “Blackstone has deep experience helping accelerate the expansion of high-growth franchise businesses and this area is one of our highest-conviction investment themes. We are excited to partner with an entrepreneur of Peter’s caliber and the talented Jersey Mike’s team. Our capital and resources will help support key investments in growth and technology for the benefit of Jersey Mike’s customers and exceptional franchisees.”

A hot sandwich

Reports first surfaced last spring that Jersey Mike’s was exploring a deal with Blackstone valued at around $8 billion but that negotiations cooled off.

Discussions began after Cancro took note of the sky-high valuations Wall Street gave other restaurant brands, like Mediterranean fast casual Cava ($4.7 billion). Private equity firms have also scooped up other big names in the sandwich space. Subway and Jimmy John’s sold in deals worth $9.6 billion and $2.3 billion, respectively.

Even if his business sold, Cancro also told Restaurant Business he would want to remain active in the company, particularly with the brand’s many charitable activities.

Since 2011, Jersey Mike’s has raised more than $113 million for local organizations through its Month of Giving campaign. It also launched the Coach Rod Smith Ownership program. That initiative helps provide store-level managers greater opportunities to become Jersey Mike’s franchise owners.

Whistleblowers in Sentara insurance investigation revealed

UPDATED MARCH 18

The U.S. District Court for the Western District of Virginia has unsealed a whistleblower complaint against Health that accused the system of improperly inflating local rates in 2018 and 2019.

On Feb. 14, the court revealed the plaintiffs are Sara Stovall, Ian Dixon and Karl Quist — a trio of Charlottesville residents who were galvanized into action after Sentara’s Optima division (now part of Plans) significantly raised rates for 2018 and 2019 health insurance coverage under the federal Affordable Care Act. At the time, Sentara was the only insurer offering health coverage on the ACA exchange in the Charlottesville region.

The previously sealed complaint, filed in 2020, says that Stovall, Dixon and Quist are trying to recover more than $200 million in damages and civil penalties on behalf of the from Sentara Healthcare, Optima Health Plan and Seattle-based independent actuarial and consulting firm Milliman, which certified Optima’s insurance rates.

Stovall, Dixon and Quist have accused Sentara, Optima and Milliman of imposing “knowingly fraudulent surcharges,” falsifying calculations and engaging in intentional cost shifting to generate “massive illicit profits.”

The complaint accuses Sentara of violating the federal , which prohibits knowingly falsifying records or statements to the U.S. government. Those found in violation are liable for treble damages.

In September 2017, when Sentara announced it would expand the availability of its Optima Health plans in Virginia, the health system said that 70% of existing customers statewide would see their premiums go up just $4 a month on average, thanks to federal subsidies. However, the remaining 30% would see a more significant average increase of 81.8%.

In fall 2017, when Optima was selling insurance plans on the exchange for the coming year, Quist and Stovall found alternative insurance plans outside of Optima, and Dixon signed up for a 2018 Optima small group plan, although he said in an interview with Virginia Business last year that he was forced to hire an employee he didn’t need to qualify for the plan. The three plaintiffs aired their concerns in a November 2017 interview with The New York Times, and they met with state and federal officials and filed complaints with the state Bureau of Insurance and the American Academy of Actuaries.

In 2021, the U.S. Department of Justice launched a civil federal False Claims Act investigation into how Sentara set its 2018 and 2019 premiums. The investigation was made public in November 2023, when the Justice Department filed a petition in U.S. District Court in Charlottesville, alleging Sentara withheld relevant documents from government investigators. Sentara has fought back against what it categorizes in court filings as government overreach and a “misunderstanding of the ACA’s framework.”

In court filings and public statements, the health care system denies all allegations and has portrayed itself as a good corporate citizen that stepped up during a politically volatile time to prevent vulnerable Virginians from losing health insurance coverage.

A Dec. 20, 2024, notice by the federal government to the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Virginia revealed that the federal government intends to intervene on the allegations made by Stovall, Dixon and Quist that Sentara, Optima and Milliman violated the False Claims Act by making materially false statements and omissions in Optima’s rate filings for the 2018 and 2019 plan years. However, the government declined to intervene in allegations against Milliman based solely on its marketing and use of its health cost guidelines.

The notice says the federal government intends to file a complaint within 90 days of the order to unseal the whistleblower complaint and reserves the right to name additional defendants. The federal government on Dec. 20 also requested that the trio’s complaint and the notice be unsealed.

Plaintiffs ‘completely thrilled’

“At a very basic level, we are, of course, completely thrilled that the Department of Justice, after years of investigation, is so confident in our allegations that they are taking on the case and prosecuting it themselves,” Stovall said. “We knew we were right. We’ve known that we were right, and this, of course, is the ultimate approval of that.”

She and the other plaintiffs remain undecided on how they will proceed with the allegations of the case that the federal government has not decided to intervene in, she said, adding that the three are discussing the matter.

Stovall said she’s curious to see what is revealed when the federal government files its official complaint, saying it would be the result of years of investigation.

“We’ve been trusting them, we’ve been excited,” she said. “We know they’ve learned things, but we don’t know what, so we’ll be learning along with everybody else what’s inside of that complaint, what exactly they found in their investigation.”

Sentara ‘fully compliant with the ‘

Sentara Health spokesperson Mike Kafka says that in 2017, there were “historic market disruptions” and 350,000 in Virginia were at risk of losing Affordable Care Act coverage. At the request of federal and state officials, Sentara worked with regulators to help fill a potential gap in coverage in a short period of time, he said.

“We quickly formulated rates based on sound actuarial principles, the best data available, and with the support from one of the nation’s preeminent actuarial firms,” he said. “Our rates complied with all relevant state and federal laws and rules and were repeatedly approved by regulators.”

Kafka says under the law, insurance companies like Sentara Health Plans (formerly Optima Health) do not keep excess profit premiums, which must be rebated back to customers.

“Sentara was fully compliant with the law and issued over $98 million in rebates to Virginia policyholders for the 2018 plan alone, in accordance with ACA regulations,” Kafka said. “The allegations of wrongdoing are without merit.”

For last year alone, Kafka said Sentara’s participation in the ACA market drove substantial losses without government support or assistance. But Sentara stayed in the market, he added, because “providing health coverage to those who need it is central to our mission.” The complaint, he argued, could have “a chilling effect” and drive insurers like Sentara out of the ACA market entirely.

“The facts are on our side, and we will carefully review any complaint that is filed and make clear that we complied with all applicable laws and regulations while we worked to fulfill our not-for-profit mission,” Kafka said.

CORRECTION: An earlier version of this story incorrectly stated that the plaintiffs in the  whistleblower complaint against Sentara Health did not disclose their status as the complaint whistleblowers during 2017 and 2018 in a New York Times interview and in dealings with state officials and others. The whistleblower complaint was not filed until 2020, well after those interactions took place.

Hitt is co-contractor for Boeing’s $1B expansion in Charleston, S.C.

company announced Wednesday it has scored a joint contract on Arlington County-based Boeing’s $1 billion expansion project in North , . 

Hitt will partner with North Carolina’s BE&K Building Group to expand Boeing’s 787 Dreamliner airplane production facilities in North Charleston, announced by South Carolina’s governor in December 2024. Boeing has two manufacturing campuses there, and the Fortune 500 and giant expects the expansion to help it build 10 planes a month by 2026 and create 500 jobs over the next five years. 

Construction on the expansion is expected to begin late this year, with completion planned in 2027, according to Hitt’s news release.

Boeing’s expansion in South Carolina comes as it attempts to recover financially and reputationally after the January 2024 midair blowout of a panel in a Boeing 737 Jet filled with Alaska Airlines passengers. The opened a criminal investigation, Boeing’s airplane sales plummeted, and CEO Dave Calhoun stepped down amid pressure last year.

In August 2024, Robert “Kelly” Ortberg took over as president and CEO of Boeing, which recorded $12 billion in revenue losses last year and dealt with a seven-week strike last fall by 33,000 union machinists on the West Coast. In January, Boeing began laying off about 10% of its workforce, about 17,000 employees nationwide, in response to the financial losses.

Ortberg has since placed focus on the aerospace giant’s work culture and a renewed emphasis on safety standards, and he is based in Seattle, near Boeing’s Puget Sound commercial airplane facilities. He held a company-wide “town hall” meeting in St. Louis that was webcast to Boeing’s other sites last week.

“Hitt is proud to partner with BE&K and Boeing on this transformative expansion in Charleston,” Evan Antonides, Hitt’s co-president, said in its release. “This investment reinforces Boeing’s commitment to growth in South Carolina, and we’re honored to help bring their vision to life. Our Charleston team looks forward to delivering a project that will drive economic impact and job creation in the region.” 

With anticipated 2024 revenues of $8.4 billion, Hitt is a commercial construction company that employs nearly 1,900 nationwide across 14 offices, including in Charleston. 

BE&K Building Group is a design-build and construction management firm that specializes in aviation and aerospace, according to a news release. BRPH will be the architect of record for the expansion in North Charleston.

HII wins contract for Australian submarine supplier pilot program

Newport News-based has been awarded a contract from the Australian government to develop and run the new Australian Supplier Qualification (AUSSQ) pilot program that will build a submarine supply chain between the United States and over the next two years, announced March 11.

The contract’s initial value is about $6 million in U.S. dollars, a small amount for HII, which is the nation’s largest military shipbuilder and runs the state’s biggest industrial employer, Shipbuilding. However, the pilot program is “a significant milestone in building a resilient and globally integrated supply chain for nuclear-powered submarines,” HII President and CEO Chris Kastner said in a statement.

AUSSQ is part of AUKUS, a 2021 agreement between the United Kingdom, the United States and Australia, in which the U.S. and the U.K. will share nuclear propulsion with Australia, and the Royal Australian Navy will acquire at least eight nuclear-powered submarines, including three to five Virginia-class subs, in the 2030s.

Meanwhile, Australian shipbuilders are making plans to come to Virginia for training to become HII suppliers. HII’s Canberra, Australia, location will host the AUSSQ pilot program, preparing Australian suppliers to eventually qualify for contracts in the U.S. submarine industrial base.

Announced by the Australian government’s submarine agency on March 5, AUSSQ “will use a B2B model, enabling to work directly with Australian businesses to qualify both the businesses and their products, and subsequently assist them to tender for supply into the US programs,” according to the submarine industry strategy.

Until recently, Australia had basically no nuclear industry, as a signatory to the international Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, and its aging submarine fleet is in need of replacement with nuclear-powered submarines. The U.S. and the U.K. have shared nuclear propulsion technology for more than 60 years now, and AUKUS includes Australia in that relationship.

“An Australian submarine industrial base capable of building and sustaining a persistent, potent and sovereign multiclass submarine capability is vital to the defense of Australia, and this pilot initiative with HII Australia is another important step to this being achieved,” Richard Marles, deputy prime minister of Australia and also the nation’s defense minister, said in a statement.

According to this week’s announcement, HII will provide technical guidance and implement best practices to provide Australian suppliers with precise specifications required to produce components, similar to its efforts in the United States, where the company spends approximately $1 billion with more than 2,000 contractors annually, including about $500 million going to small businesses.

“HII has a long history of working with suppliers to ensure they meet the highest standards in safety, security and performance,” Kastner said. “We welcome Australian partners to help build out this critical nuclear shipbuilding capability and ensure the long-term success of AUKUS.”

In January, HII closed on its purchase of a metal fabrication manufacturing facility in , which is operating as part of NNS.

Feds to consider ‘compelling offers’ for real estate

The ‘s push to sell federal office buildings across the nation appears to be far from dead.

A revised version of the “non-core” federal properties list is being prepared, a spokesperson for the General Services Administration, the federal property management agency, stated on Monday.

“We anticipate the list will be republished in the near future after we evaluate this initial input and determine how we can make it easier for stakeholders to understand the nuances of the assets listed,” stated the GSA spokesperson, who declined to be named.

Last week, the GSA posted and then took down a list of “non-core” federal properties to be sold. It’s unclear if the buildings will be added to the market, although the agency is listening to offers, according to the spokesperson.

A glut of office space

The Trump administration’s threat to unload large-scale federal office buildings now risks selling into a weak market.

Substantial economic data suggests the office market, particularly in ‘s urban core, where the federal buildings are located, is in a fragile recovery that could be washed away by a flash flood of unneeded inventory.

Greg Goodman, co-president of -based real estate management company Downtown Group, noted that in his market, Portland has approximately 10.5 million square feet of vacant office space. In a good year, the market absorbs about 400,000 square feet — meaning Portland has about a 25-year supply of vacant office space.

Given that reality, if the wants to dispose of office space, waiting may not make sense, Goodman said. “The market is where the market is, and if you want to wait, you’re going to be waiting a while.”

Net absorption in Portland was negative 964,776 square feet in 2024, according to JLL, meaning tenants put nearly 1 million square feet back into the market. Urban office vacancy hit 29.9 percent and may not have reached its peak, according to analysts.

“Near-term negative absorption is expected to persist as two sizable occupancy losses remain on the horizon,” JLL stated in its fourth-quarter report, citing moves by U.S. Bank and Standard .

“However, Portland office vacancy is approaching its peak and positive absorption is expected after the market works through these announced give-backs,” JLL reported.

Pain in Portland’s office market appears to be spreading. Last week, lender Ready Capital indicated on a call with investors that it was considering taking possession of the Block 216 tower, which includes 134,000 square feet of office space on five floors in addition to a Ritz-Carlton hotel, condominiums and retail space.

Investors have seen a “flight to quality,” where new, Class-A office buildings are performing better than their older peers. Some firms and other professional services firms have committed to downtown office space, signing lengthy leases. Still, the office market remains far from its pre-pandemic peak.

“It’s definitely weak,” Goodman said.

Investors see opportunities

Yet some investors are skeptical that a major federal office sell-off will come to pass.

Menashe Properties doubled down on urban office space when it purchased the Montgomery Park building for $33 million in August 2024. Jordan Menashe, the firm’s CEO, said he doesn’t expect to purge government office space.

“It would inflict too much pain,” he said. “It doesn’t make sense.”

Menashe said some federal agencies could choose to execute -leasebacks.

“Remember,” Menashe said of Trump, “he’s a real estate guy.”

The Trump administration’s “noise first and think later strategy is backfiring,” Buzz Ellis, managing director for JLL in Portland, stated in an email.

“Many of those federal buildings have significant infrastructure in them,” he added.

But Goodman said it makes sense for the federal government to consider selling real estate.

“If they’re signing a lease in the building and then selling it, that’s great,” he said.

Institutional investors will line up to purchase the buildings, Goodman said.

“Institutions will buy these as financial instruments,” he said. “There is no better credit than the federal government. If you have a 20-year lease, that’s better than a 20-year bond.”

Oregon’s state government should also consider sale-leasebacks of some of its real estate, Goodman said.

Menashe said he’s noticed signs of life in the office market. Competition has increased among institutional investors such as Life, which has snapped up distressed office properties in San Francisco.

“The institutions are back,” he said.

Return to what office?

The GSA’s website states the government is “identifying buildings and facilities that are not core to government operations, or non-core properties, for disposal. Selling ensures that taxpayer dollars are no longer spent on vacant or underutilized federal spaces. Disposing of these assets helps eliminate costly maintenance and allows us to reinvest in high-quality work environments that support agency missions.”

The initial “non-core” property list also included the Washington headquarters of numerous federal agencies, including the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Department of Labor and the Department of Housing and Urban Development, The Associated Press reported.

“To be clear, just because an asset is on the list doesn’t mean it’s immediately for sale,” the GSA spokesperson stated. “However, we will consider compelling offers (in accordance with applicable laws and regulations) and do what’s best for the needs of the federal government and taxpayer.”

The GSA spokesperson stated that the goal of publishing a list of “non-core” real estate assets was two-fold: to “align with the president’s direction to bring federal employees back to high-performing office spaces throughout the country” and to “drive maximum value for the federal real estate footprint for the benefit of the American taxpayer.”

The move to sell off federal offices is in addition to lease cancellations that DOGE (the Department of Government Efficiency) is also considering, according to reports.

Some commentators have noted that the Trump administration’s push to sell federal buildings comes at the same time as the administration has ordered workers back to the office. The Office of Personnel Management, in a Jan. 28 email, told federal workers, “The substantial majority of federal employees who have been working remotely since Covid will be required to return to their physical offices five days a week,” The Associated Press reported.

That matches comments from Trump, who said publicly, “You have to go to your office and work. Otherwise, you’re not going to have a job.”

Hitt acquires Central Consulting & Contracting

National commercial announced Tuesday that it has acquired firm .

Headquartered in , provides commercial construction services throughout the country, including complex core and shell buildings, renovations, interior fit-outs and routine service work.  The company has 14 office locations and job sites nationwide and says the strengthens the company’s presence in the tri-state area of , and Connecticut.

A company spokesperson declined to reveal how much Hitt spent in the acquisition.

Founded in 1986, Central has collectively managed nearly $1 billion in construction projects and has offices in Newark, New Jersey and New York City. Hitt says that combining its national resources with Central’s “deep industry experience” will help better position the company to meet the growing demand for complex medical facilities in one of the country’s largest and fastest-growing health care markets.

“For more than 30 years, Central has been a trusted leader in health care construction, earning a strong reputation across the New York region,” said Hitt Vice President and New York Office Leader Andre Grebenstein in a statement. “We’re proud to welcome their team of experts to Hitt. Their specialized industry knowledge, commitment to quality, and strong relationships will be invaluable as we continue to expand in this key market.”

Hitt cites Central’s long-standing relationships with major health care institutions — including Englewood Health, Montefiore Health System and St. Barnabas Health System Bronx — as a positive feature in the acquisition. Central’s Founder and CEO Richard Simone joined Hitt’s New York team as vice president, which HITT says will be helpful due to his decades of experience.

Simone will work closely with Hitt’s New York leadership to provide a seamless transition. Central’s team members have also joined Hitt, expanding the firm’s presence in the area to more than 70 New York-based team members.

“Joining forces with Hitt marks an exciting new chapter for Central and our clients,” said Simone in a statement. “Our shared values, dedication to quality, and passion for health care construction make this a perfect partnership.”

Hitt was founded in 1937 and today employs nearly 1,900 team members nationwide. The company says its 2024 projected revenues are $8.4 billion. In January, the company announced it broke ground on a new 270,000-square-foot headquarters building at 7125 West Falls Station Boulevard near the West Falls Church Metro station in Falls Church. Hitt expects the new headquarters to be ready in early 2027.

Why let Big Tech destroy our climate?

As the globe struggles to meet current climate goals, a new threat is emerging.

The threat is coming from Big Tech companies like Apple, Microsoft, Amazon, Alphabet (Google) and Meta (Facebook). Together, these companies represent a sector that dominates the market. At $3.6 trillion, Apple is now seven times the size of ExxonMobil, the nation’s leading oil company.

And Big Tech is demanding big resources: Tech companies are already major electricity consumers and are now calling for a major expansion of to meet the demands of increased cloud computing and artificial intelligence utilization. The electricity demand from data centers is forecasted to double or even triple by 2030. are using this forecast to justify a major buildout of new gas-fired electricity generation — a move that could undo much of the progress we were making on climate change.

The U.S. utility industry is planning for a level of growth that is unprecedented in the last two decades, thanks largely to these data centers. Two years ago, the utility predicted 23 gigawatts (GW) of demand growth over the next five years; last year, the prediction exploded to 128 GW, more than five times higher. The main driver? More than 90 GW of projected new data centers, which would cause nationwide electricity demand to increase almost 16% by 2029.

Before explosive data center growth took off within the past two years, serious system modeling emphasized that maintaining current lifestyles implied the need for an unprecedented buildout of renewable energy from now through 2050 and unprecedented levels of capital deployment into the clean energy transition in the United States. We are already dangerously far behind.

Forecasts of massive data center demand would make those already “unprecedented” numbers even larger and more difficult to achieve, even if the proposed data centers were all powered by renewable energy (hardly the current plan). Utilities in just four states — Virginia, North Carolina, and Georgia — are planning a buildout of natural gas infrastructure equivalent to the energy demand of about 12 million households.

Virginia is the largest hotspot for data centers, which account for more than a quarter of the state’s entire electricity consumption. Virginia’s electricity consumption is projected to more than double by 2040, with more than 85% of growth coming from data centers. In 2040, data centers are projected to comprise fully two-thirds of Virginia’s electricity demand — double the consumption of residents and all other businesses and industry combined.

The (IEEFA) recently published an analysis arguing that utilities may be poised to overbuild natural gas infrastructure for demand that may not fully materialize. The recent revelation of the apparently far more energy-efficient Chinese AI model DeepSeek has further called into question Big Tech’s forecasts.

To add insult to grave injury, Big Tech is also insisting that we subsidize their profligate electricity usage. In the absence of much stronger action from regulators, all transmission lines and power plants that get added to the grid solely because of data center energy demand will be paid for by all electricity consumers. In Virginia, the average residential electric bill will increase by $170 to $440 a year — between $14 and $37 every month. In other words, without a moment to pause and evaluate realistic needs and renewable energy sources, we will subsidize the largest companies in the world for the privilege of locking us in to future fossil fuel use.

Cathy Kunkel ([email protected]) is an IEEFA energy consultant. She also served as an IEEFA energy finance analyst for 7 years, researching Appalachian natural gas pipelines and drilling; electric utility mergers, rates and resource planning; energy efficiency; and Puerto Rico’s electrical system. Kunkel has degrees in physics from Princeton and Cambridge.

The Institute for Energy Economics and Financial Analysis (IEEFA) examines issues related to energy markets, trends and policies. The institute’s mission is to accelerate the transition to a diverse, sustainable and profitable energy economy. IEEFA receives its funding from global philanthropic organizations and individuals, and is funded by ClimateWorks Foundation, the U.S. Energy Foundation, The Heinz Endowments and other funders.

Virginia Supreme Court to hear appeal of reversal of $2B judgment for Appian

The Supreme Court of Virginia has agreed to hear a petition from software company , asking to reinstate a 2022 judgment worth about $2.04 billion in a against a competitor.

It’s the latest turn in the battle between Appian, which is based in ‘s McLean area, and rival Pegasystems. In 2022, Appian won what was estimated to be the largest award in Virginia state court history after it sued Massachusetts-based Pega and an individual, Youyong Zou, in 2020, alleging that Zou, an employee of a government contractor using Appian software, illegally provided Pega with copies of Appian’s software and documentation. Pega disputed that claim, stating that anything viewed was available to the public. 

Then, a panel of three judges in July 2024 reversed the verdict and ordered a new trial, saying that Appian was improperly relieved of the burden of proving that Pega financially benefited from misappropriating Appian’s secrets.

Now, Appian’s appeal will be heard by the state Supreme Court, the court decided March 7. The court has not yet set a date for a hearing.

In its petition to the Supreme Court, Appian raised four different errors it believes the Court of Appeals made, and the petition was granted on each of the four issues, according to a company news release.

“This was what we consider a pretty serious violation of our trade secrets,” Appian’s general counsel, Christopher Winters, said Tuesday. “This is serious conduct that we … felt strongly that we needed to get addressed by the .”

Pega issued a statement maintaining that the appeals court’s decision last year to overturn the jury verdict “was a result of a flawed trial on many fronts, including that we were prevented from showing that our software never adopted any of Appian’s supposed trade secrets.”

“The appellate court’s 60-page decision was unanimous, and we believe Appian will have to overcome numerous, thorough and well-reasoned grounds to overturn the appeals court decision,” Pega added in the statement.

The also agreed to hear Pega’s cross-appeal issues, which asks the court to review whether the trial court and court of appeals made an error by finding that there was sufficient evidence that Appian “took reasonable efforts to maintain the secrecy of its alleged trade secrets when Appian disclosed that information to others who were under no obligation to keep it secret in holding” and whether Appian failed to sufficiently identify some of its trade secrets.

In its original complaint filed in 2020 with the Fairfax County Circuit Court, Appian claimed that it lost 201 customers and alleged $479 million in “unjust enrichment of Pega” between 2012 and 2020, but Pega’s attorneys argued that the information gained by the company was not actually “trade secrets” because some of it was sourced to publicly available materials, according to the trial transcript.

Appian included Zou, a software architect, in the original lawsuit, and he was ordered to pay Appian $5,000.

Pegasystems was also found liable for computer fraud in violation of the Virginia Computer Crimes Act, but the jury awarded Appian only $1 on that count.

The 2024 appeals court authored by Judge Frank K. Friedman rejected Pega’s claim that “Appian failed to establish misappropriation of any trade secret as a matter of law. However, we agree with Pega that the trial court erred in granting [a jury instruction], which relieved Appian of its proper burden to prove causation between the alleged misappropriation and any damages.”

Moreover, the opinion reads, Appian was allowed to use Pega’s total sales during the eight-year period to prove unjust enrichment — but the trial court improperly blocked Pega “from showing that many of Pega’s total sales were in areas in which Appian did not even compete with Pega.”

The trial court also “abused its discretion” by not permitting Pega to attempt to authenticate software evidence during the trial. Instead, the circuit court judge excluded software because it was on “a different laptop than provided in discovery.” Finally, the appeals decision says that the trial court “should refrain from instructing the jury that the number of with access to Appian’s platform is ‘not relevant.’”

Appian, which CEO and Chairman Matt Calkins co-founded in 1999, employs 2,033 employees, 1,339 of whom were based in the United States at the end of 2024. For fiscal 2024, Appian reported revenue of $617 million, an increase of 13% over the previous year.

Editor’s note: This story has been corrected to clarify Appian’s allegations in the 2020 lawsuit.