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VHC Health announces new foundation president

Amy Ellis Hauser will be the next of the Foundation and senior vice president of VHC Health, the County health system announced this week.

VHC Health is a not-for-profit, 537-bed health system serving the Washington, D.C., metropolitan area.

The new role is a return for Hauser, who previously held key positions at the Virginia Hospital Center Foundation (now the VHC Health Foundation), including director of principal giving and director of major gifts and planned giving. Hauser was most recently chief philanthropy officer at Arlington’s Conquer Cancer, the ASCO Foundation. She also was associate vice president at Children’s National Hospital Foundation.

“Philanthropic giving has always been the cornerstone of VHC Health,” Hauser said in a statement. “As VHC Health grows with the community into a comprehensive health system, the generosity from the community remains essential in touching and improving the lives of patients through compassionate, state-of-the-art care. I am excited to return to VHC Health and combine my passion for with my experience connecting donors to philanthropic opportunities that have the power to make a difference.”

“VHC Health is rapidly expanding, introducing state-of-the-art health care projects this year and beyond,” VHC Health President and CEO Chris Lane said in a statement. “The community plays a crucial role in driving these initiatives forward, and Amy is uniquely qualified to connect philanthropic opportunities that empower individuals to make a meaningful impact in the communities VHC Health serves.”

According to a news release, before she left VHC in 2018, Hauser designed and implemented the foundation’s annual giving and major capital campaign of $50 million. And at Conquer Cancer, she led a feasibility study for an endowment campaign to double previous fundraising revenue and expand donor audiences over five years. And at Children’s National, Hauser helped devise a strategic fundraising plan and implement a successful $500 million campaign.

Hauser holds a master’s degree from Southern Illinois University, Carbondale. She was a board member for Doorways for Women in Arlington from 2015 to 2021, and a board member for the Association for Fundraising Professionals DC Chapter in 2018.

Asian markets are mostly higher as Wall Street is stuck in trade war doldrums

BANGKOK (AP) — Asian shares were mostly higher in thin Good Friday trading after a bumpy ride on Wall Street, where the Dow industrials lost 1.3% as UnitedHealth shed more than a fifth of its value due to a weaker-than-expected profit report.

U.S. stock and bond markets will be closed on Friday.

Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 gained 1% to 34,730.28, while the Kospi in South Korea rose 0.5% to 2,483.42.

Taiwan’s Taiex gained 0.3% and regional tech companies advanced after global heavyweight Taiwan Semiconductor Manufacturing Co. reported a profit for the latest quarter that matched analysts’ expectations. Perhaps more importantly, it also said it hasn’t seen a drop-off in activity from its customers because of  Donald ‘s trade war, as some other companies have suggested.

Still, the company known as TSMC was cautious. “While we have not seen any changes in our customers’ behavior so far, uncertainties and risks from the potential impact from tariff policies exist,” Chief Financial Officer Wendell Huang said. TSMC’s stock that trades in the United States added 0.1% on Thursday.

The Shanghai Composite index fell 0.1% to 3,276.73. Bangkok’s SET rose 0.6%.

Many other markets were closed Friday for holidays ahead of Easter.

On Thursday, the S&P 500 edged up by just 0.1%, even though three of every four stocks climbed in the index.

The Nasdaq composite slipped 0.1% in a mostly steadier performance following its sell-off the day before.

Nvidia weighed on the market after sinking a second straight day following its disclosure that new export limits on chips to China could hurt its first-quarter results by $5.5 billion. It sank 2.9% and was the second-heaviest weight on the S&P 500.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 527 points as insurer UnitedHealth Group fell 22.4%, its worst drop since 1998. The company cut its forecast for financial results this year and said its Medicare Advantage customers were getting more care than expected from doctors and outpatient services.

Stocks of companies in the oil-and-gas industry rallied after the price of crude recovered some of its sharp losses taken this month. Diamondback Energy jumped 5.7%, and Halliburton climbed 5.1%.

On Thursday, U.S. benchmark crude oil gained $2.18 to $64.01 per barrel. Brent crude, the international standard, picked up $2.11 to $67.96 per barrel.

Oil trading was paused Friday for the Easter weekend.

U.S. ‘s trade war remains a source of deep uncertainty. Economists worry his use of sharp tariff hikes could cause a recession if fully implemented and left in place for a while.

Trump on Thursday offered some encouraging signals that negotiations with other countries could lead to lower . But that was countered by his criticism of  Chair Jerome , who reiterated Wednesday that the tariffs are larger than what the central bank was expecting and could slow the economy and reignite inflation.

The tariffs create a dilemma for the Fed. If it cuts interest rates to help encourage more borrowing and spending, that would push prices higher.

Trump criticized that stance Thursday, saying the Fed is “always TOO LATE AND WRONG.” He also said, “Powell’s termination cannot come fast enough!”

An independent Fed able to act without influence from the White House a primary reason the United States has a reputation as a safe place to invest. History suggests central banks with more autonomy tend to have economies with lower and more stable inflation.

In the bond market, the yield on the 10-year Treasury rose to 4.32% from 4.29% late Wednesday. It had been easing for much of this week, following a climb last week that raised concerns that Trump’s trade war may be undermining confidence in U.S. investments as the world’s safest.

Reports on the U.S. economy came in mixed. One said fewer U.S. workers applied for unemployment benefits last week than economists expected, suggesting the job market remains relatively solid. But a second report said manufacturing in the mid-Atlantic region unexpectedly flipped to contraction from growth.

In Europe on Thursday, indexes slipped 0.6% in France and 0.5% in Germany. The European Central Bank cut its main . That usually pushes stock prices higher, but investors had already been expecting the move.

Early Friday, the U.S. dollar bought 142.37 Japanese yen, down from 132.44 yen on Thursday. The euro rose to $1.1375 from $1.1367

HNTB to move Arlington office in 2026

Kansas City, Missouri-based and firm will relocate its County office in 2026 to a more expansive space that will increase its footprint by 13,000 square feet.

The company says the goal of the move from its current location at Shirlington Tower to 1812 North Moore, the tallest building in the county, is to create a better work environment and to align with ongoing efforts. British real estate firm Savills, whose U.S. headquarters is in New York, announced Tuesday it led the efforts to broker this deal on behalf of HNTB.

The new office is a LEED Platinum tower with 35 stories and 537,000 square feet. HNTB’s office in the building will span 48,000 square feet on the 19th and 20th floors.

According to Savills, HNTB plans to relocate from its current location to 1812 North Moore, near the Rosslyn Metro Station, next spring.

HNTB’s clients in the region include the Virginia Department of Transportation, Washington Metropolitan Area Transit Authority, Virginia Passenger Rail Authority and the Army Corps of Engineers, and the firm has been involved with such projects as Interstate-95 Express Lanes Fredericksburg Extension and Capital Beltway/I-495 HOT Lanes.

Lynchburg transformer manufacturer to add 300 jobs, invest $35M

Delta Star, a manufacturer of power transformers and mobile substations for the electrical grid, is investing $35 million to expand its operation and expects to create 300 jobs, announced Thursday.

The Lynchburg facility is set to expand by 80,000 square feet. Most of the jobs created will be in manufacturing, but there will also be engineering and operational support positions, according to a spokesperson.

The news comes less than 24 months after Delta Star announced a $30 million investment to build a metal fabrication facility and corporate headquarters in Lynchburg, pledging 149 more jobs. That project was completed in fall 2024, and the company increased its employment number in Lynchburg from 460 workers to 547 people employed there now, including 113 in the new metal fabrication plant.

“We are excited to expand our Lynchburg facility to help address the global demand for energy solutions that prioritize both reliability and sustainability,” Jason Greene, Delta Star’s and CEO, said in a statement Thursday. “This investment will not only increase our manufacturing capacity but also allow us to continue advancing our technological capabilities to meet the evolving needs of the energy sector.”

Founded in 1908, Delta Star established its Lynchburg facility in 1962 and later moved its corporate headquarters to the plant. The company also operates a facility in California and a plant outside of Montreal, Quebec, which it acquired from Alstom, a French manufacturer, in 2015. Delta Star has 1,227 employees total.

The worked with the City of Lynchburg and the to secure the project for Virginia.

approved a $2.3 million grant from the Commonwealth’s Opportunity Fund to assist Lynchburg with the .

Delta Star will also receive services through VEDP’s Virginia Talent Accelerator Program, which provides services and funding for employee recruitment and training to companies creating jobs.

State report calls Richmond water crisis ‘completely avoidable’

The January Richmond water crisis that left hundreds of thousands of residents without water for close to a week, forcing restaurants and other businesses to temporarily close or limit service, was “completely avoidable,” a final report from Virginia Department of Health has determined.

In his release of the report late Wednesday, issued a statement with more criticism of the City of Richmond: “The disruption of a safe and reliable water supply in Richmond this past January never should have happened. Moving forward, it should never happen again, and I’ve directed the Department of Health to ensure Richmond takes all corrective actions necessary to achieve that objective.

“The people of Richmond and the surrounding counties persevered through this preventable crisis, and now it’s time for city leaders to step up for their citizens.”

Conducted by ‘s Office of Drinking Water and engineering firm Short Elliott Hendrickson, the investigation identified significant operational, procedural and engineering failures that contributed to several days without reliable water service stemming from a power outage at the city’s plant.

A brief power outage at the plant occurred early Jan. 6 during a snowstorm, leading to extensive flooding in the building that kicked filters and pumps offline. According to the VDH report, backup systems, including batteries, were not maintained properly. Compounding the situation was a lack of communication between the city’s Department of Public Utilities leadership and City Hall, led by Mayor Danny , who took office on Jan. 1, less than a week earlier.

About 11 hours after the original power outage, the City of Richmond issued a boil-water advisory at 4:30 p.m. Jan. 6, even as city residents reported low water pressure earlier in the day. As faucets ran dry, local grocery stores and convenience stores were mobbed with people seeking bottled water, and hospitals and doctors’ offices, along with restaurants and other businesses, closed early. The city schools also closed during the outage.

In addition to the impact on the city, Hanover and Henrico counties’ water pressure and sanitation were affected as the two localities typically rely on the city’s water plant. Both counties also issued boil-water advisories.

Numerous errors

There were numerous factors that caused the , according to the health department report. One was that the city’s Department of Public Utilities was operating in a “winter mode” where the plant relies solely on overhead main power during the winter months as a cost-saving measure.

State Health Commissioner Dr. Karen Shelton said in a letter about the report that this eliminated adequate redundancy and that winter — when the threat of a power outage from a snow event is greatest — was exactly the wrong season to take the underground main power feed offline.

She said the crisis would never have happened if the department had operated the plant in “summer mode,” when both the overhead and underground power feeds were supplying power to the plant.

The report also said the department did not maintain critical backup systems to prevent or respond to flooding events and that uninterrupted power supply battery backup systems were past their life. According to Shelton, the DPU has since replaced critical UPS systems.

Another major criticism was the lack of enough trained staff and an overreliance on manual processes instead of using more automated operations.

The VDH says Richmond can expect to receive an additional Notice of Alleged Violation following the report, building on one previously issued Jan. 23. The city will need to develop and implement a corrective action plan to address the deficiencies reported and prevent future outages, the department added.

Avula, who previously worked for the health department as head of the Richmond-Henrico health district, said that VDH’s report overlaps with an independent investigation conducted by engineering firm for Richmond. HNTB, which found “several instances of either miscommunication or misinformation among DPU and city staff members,” issued its final report April 2.

“We’ll of course review it and think through the best ways to integrate its recommendations into our work moving forward,” Avula said of the VDH report in a Thursday statement.

Richmond Mayor Danny Avula hosts a news conference Jan. 9, 2025, to deliver updates on the city's water outage.
Richmond Mayor Danny Avula hosts a news conference Jan. 9, 2025, to deliver updates on the city’s water outage.

According to a release from the city, Richmond’s proposed five-year capital improvement plan allocates over $60 million in improvements to the water treatment plant and related infrastructure. The city says it already has invested $5 million in plant repairs and improvements since January.

One setback Richmond is facing is that it recently lost a $12 million federal grant it received through the Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities program under the Biden administration, funding that was meant to fund improvements to the water treatment facility and make the plant more resilient to 100-year flood events.

On April 4, the Federal Emergency Management Agency — now under ‘s administration — issued a notice saying that it is eliminating the program, which it described as “wasteful” and “politicized.”

“The BRIC program was yet another example of a wasteful and ineffective FEMA program,” a FEMA spokesperson said. “It was more concerned with political agendas than helping Americans affected by natural disasters.”

In an April 11 statement, Avula said he was “disappointed” to learn that FEMA cancelled the grant and urged the agency to reissue the funds. However, he told city residents that “this short-sighted decision by the federal government will not impact immediate operations at the water treatment plant, and it won’t delay the improvements we’re already working on following the water crisis.”

However, by cutting funding for critical infrastructure, “the federal government is shifting significant costs directly onto our residents and ratepayers,” Avula added.

On Monday, four Virginia elected Democrats — U.S. Sens. Mark Warner and Tim Kaine, as well as U.S. Reps. Jennifer McClellan and Bobby Scott — sent a letter to the Department of Homeland Security urging the department to reverse the decision.

“Unfortunately, the necessity of this award was made clear earlier this year when the facility experienced a power failure that resulted in loss of water service for residents across the region,” the letter said. “If this award is revoked, the region will be more susceptible to future water contaminations and disruptions in water delivery.”

Hope for businesses

One way Richmond is atoning for the water crisis is by providing relief to businesses impacted.

The city announced that last week, the Metropolitan Business League selected 117 Richmond-based businesses to receive either $2,500 or $5,000 grants, out of 199 that applied for a recovery grant. The city says restaurants and food service businesses represent the majority of awardees at 61%, followed by personal service businesses — like hair and nail salons — at 14%.

MBL administers the fund, which is backed with $500,000 from Richmond’s economic development authority, Dominion Energy and Altria.

“We are grateful to be able to offer some measure of respite for small businesses in the city who are feeling the financial strain caused by January’s water crisis,” Avula said in a statement.

Richmond says funds will be distributed to recipients later this month after MBL has received all required documentation from selected applicants.

Youngkin also announced Wednesday that the U.S. Small Business Administration has made Economic Injury Disaster Loans available for businesses and nonprofits affected by power and water outages in Richmond, as well as the counties of Goochland, Hanover, Henrico, Caroline, Charles City, Chesterfield, Cumberland, Fluvanna, King William, Louisa, New Kent, Powhatan and Spotsylvania counties. 

According to the announcement, applications can be submitted online using the MySBA Loan Portal.

Trump administration issues order to stop construction on New York offshore wind project

The administration has issued an order to stop construction on a major project to power more than 500,000 New York homes, the latest in a series of moves targeting the industry. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum on Wednesday directed the to halt construction on , a fully-permitted project.

He said it needs further review because it appears as though the Biden administration rushed the approval. The Norwegian company Equinor is building Empire Wind. It finalized the federal lease in March 2017, early in Donald Trump’s first term. Trump has been hostile to , particularly offshore wind.

The Trump administration issued an order Wednesday to stop construction on a major offshore wind project to power more than 500,000 New York homes, the latest in a series of moves targeting the industry. According to -based Fortune 500 utility , though, its $10.7 billion offshore wind farm 27 miles off the coast is still going full speed ahead.

“ (CVOW) is more than 50% complete and remains on track to be completed at the end of 2026,” a Dominion Energy spokesperson said Thursday. 

According to public information from Dominion and Empire Wind’s developer Equinor, the New York project’s first ocean lease received full federal approval and permitting in March 2024, a month before Dominion’s CVOW project was fully approved.

However, Dominion got off to a faster start on offshore construction, installing its first six monopiles in May 2024. By the end of October 2024, it had installed 78 monopile foundations, out of 176 total planned. The 2.6-gigawatt project is expected to provide enough energy to power 660,000 homes.

In New York, offshore construction was set to begin in May on Equinor’s 54 turbines in the Empire Wind 1 lease. A second ocean lease known as Empire Wind 2 was in early-stage development.

CVOW is set to resume work installing monopiles in May, according to Dominion’s plans, and installing three of four new offshore substations, as well as “transition pieces” — yellow poles that will connect the underwater foundations to the above-water turbines.

Dominion said earlier this year it expects the offshore wind farm to be completed in 2026.

The Norwegian company Equinor is building Empire Wind to start providing power in 2026. Equinor finalized the federal lease for Empire Wind in March 2017, early in Trump’s first term. BOEM approved the construction and operations plan in February 2024 and onshore construction began that year.

Trump has been hostile to renewable energy, particularly offshore wind. His first day in office, Trump signed an executive order temporarily halting offshore wind lease sales in federal waters and pausing the issuance of approvals, permits and loans for all wind projects. Last month, the administration revoked the Clean Air Permit for an offshore wind project off the coast of New Jersey, Atlantic Shores. Construction on that wind farm had not yet begun.

Equinor said Wednesday it had just received a notification from BOEM and it will engage directly with the agency and the Interior Department to understand the questions raised about the permits. A spokesperson declined to comment on the fate of the project, which is located southeast of Long Island, New York.

The energy company has over $60 billion in investments across the U.S., including substantial oil, gas and renewable projects.

While Trump is focused on energy abundance, the American Clean Power industry association said halting construction of fully-permitted energy projects is the “literal opposite” of that agenda, and it sends a “chilling signal” to all energy companies. Climate Jobs New York, a coalition of labor unions, said New York needs offshore wind and other clean energy projects to help address rising energy costs and create jobs.

“It is out of touch to suggest that killing good jobs and energy sources is a good idea when working New Yorkers are struggling with rising costs of living and our grid needs stability,” the coalition said in a statement. The United States can’t be energy independent without offshore wind, it added.

The Biden administration sought to ramp up offshore wind as a climate change solution, setting national goals to deploy offshore wind energy, holding lease sales and approving nearly a dozen commercial-scale offshore wind energy projects. The nation’s first commercial-scale offshore wind farm opened a year ago, a 12-turbine wind farm called South Fork Wind 35 miles (56 kilometers) east of Montauk Point, New York.

Trump began reversing the country’s energy policies his first day in office with a spate of executive orders aimed at boosting oil, gas and coal. The administration is reviewing all existing and pending offshore wind permits.

Virginia Business Deputy Editor Kate Andrews contributed to this article.

Federal ‘uncertainty’ delays start of $1.3B Microporous project in Pittsylvania

Construction on ‘ $1.3 billion lithium-ion battery separator plant at the Southern Virginia Megasite at Berry Hill will be delayed from April until June or July, following uncertainty regarding its federal funding, according to a official.

Matt Rowe, Pittsylvania’s economic development director, said Thursday he feels that the Tennessee company’s $1.3 billion investment, which comes with the promise of more than 2,000 jobs for the region, has not been derailed, just postponed.

“The uncertainty that was created at the federal level …  just pushed things back probably two to three months,” Rowe said

Microporous has told Pittsylvania County officials to expect to see work crews mobilizing on the Berry Hill site in June or July, according to Rowe. “It was originally supposed to be in the April time frame,” he said.

Construction on the core and shell of the facility should begin by the end of the year, Rowe added. “That’s fully financed from what’s been stated to us.”

Microporous received the U.S. Department of Energy’s formal approval for a $100 million grant in mid-January.

On his first day back at the White House, Donald signed an executive order freezing federal grants approved under the 2021 Investment and Jobs Act of 2021 and the 2022 Inflation Reduction Act, including Microporous’ grant.

Numerous lawsuits have been filed over Trump’s pause in funding. On Tuesday, a federal judge issued an injunction blocking the freeze.

There’s also a threat, however, that the pause could turn into something more. In March, E&E News reported that the DOE was working on a “hit list” of federal grants for projects that the Trump administration could claw back. Projects that had spent less than 45% of federal awards had to be reviewed, according to the story. Microporous could fall into that category.

Under the terms of Microporous’ grant, which was part of a $275 million group of federal funds awarded under the DOE’s Advanced Energy Manufacturing and Recycling Grant Program under the federal Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, Microporous would submit expenses for reimbursement and receive payments between April 1 and running through March 31, 2028.

, Virginia’s senior Democratic senator, said during an April 9 call with journalists that he was concerned about the status of the grant and that he’d spoken that week to Chris Wright, the Secretary for the , about getting the Microporous grant funding released.

“I got assurances from the secretary of energy that this will get resolved shortly,” he said. “I’m going to stay on it. I know the governor is going to stay on it. We’ve got to get these dollars released because, again, the local community has literally invested millions in getting these sites ready. To have the rug tripped out from under them is wrong. It’s unfair and it’s, frankly, disrespectful to a community that voted over 70% for Donald Trump.”

In a statement on LinkedIn, Microporous said that the grant “began its period of performance on April 1 with regularly scheduled meetings with the grant deployment manager” and the DOE’s Office of Manufacturing and Energy Supply Chains (MESC) team. The company said it had no further comment and did not specify whether it has received any reimbursements or payouts yet from the federal government.

In March, E&E News reported that the federal Department of Energy was working on a “hit list” of federal grants for renewable energy projects that the Trump administration could claw back. That story said that projects that had spent less than 45% of their federal awards had to be reviewed by the federal agency. Warner said April 4 that the Trump administration was “stonewalling” his office while it attempted to find out which projects were on the list.

Warner’s office said Thursday in an email that it was looking into the current status of the Microporous grant.

Meanwhile, Warner has spoken publicly in recent weeks about his concerns that the federal funding freeze could impact financing for projects like Microporous’ Berry Hill facility and the $208 million in federal grants the DOE awarded to Volvo Group for upgrades at its Pulaski County manufacturing plant, as well as its facilities in Maryland and Pennsylvania.

If a company were to lose a large federal grant after already setting up financing, Warner warned during an April 4 interview with Virginia Business, the outcome could be disastrous. “The whole project can fall apart,” he said.

However, Rowe said Thursday that the DOE  is actively working with Microporous on “moving that grant process forward.” He stressed the Pittsylvania project isn’t dependent on the company receiving the $100 million in federal funds. “It just allowed things to move a little bit faster.”

A Florida private equity firm, Trent Capital Partners, purchased full control of Microporous in 2024, which gave the company greater liquidity. “That restructuring occurred really to support this project,” Rowe said.

Another Trump administration policy — the ever-changing tariff war  — could even end up being a boon for Microporous, Rowe speculated.

“The vast majority [of] better battery separators today are coming from China,” he said, and with China’s retaliatory raising prices, original equipment manufacturers and large battery manufacturers will be looking elsewhere for components — possibly toward Southern Virginia.

“We feel really confident that we’ve tied our our wagon to the winning horse when it comes to battery separators,” Rowe said.

Google’s digital ad network declared an illegal monopoly, joining its search engine in penalty box

SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — has been branded an abusive by a federal judge for the second time in less than a year, this time for illegally exploiting some of its online marketing technology to boost the profits fueling an internet empire currently worth $1.8 trillion.

The ruling issued Thursday by U.S. District Judge Leonie Brinkema in Virginia comes on the heels of a separate decision in August that concluded Google’s namesake search engine has been illegally leveraging its dominance to stifle competition and innovation.

After the U.S. Justice Department targeted Google’s ubiquitous search engine during Donald ‘s first administration, the same agency went after the company’s lucrative digital advertising network in 2023 during President Joe Biden’s ensuing administration in an attempt to undercut the power that Google has amassed since its inception in a Silicon Valley garage in 1998.

Although antitrust regulators prevailed both times, the battle is likely to continue for several more years as Google tries to overturn the two monopoly decisions in appeals while forging ahead in the new and highly lucrative technological frontier of artificial intelligence.

The next step in the latest case is a penalty phase that will likely begin late this year or early next year. The same so-called “remedy” hearings in the search monopoly case are scheduled to begin Monday in Washington D.C., where Justice Department lawyers will try to convince U.S. District Judge Amit Mehta to impose a sweeping punishment that includes a proposed requirement for Google to sell its Chrome web browser.

Brinkema’s 115-page decision centers on the marketing machine that Google has spent the past 17 years building around its search engine and other widely used products and services, including its Chrome browser, YouTube video site and digital maps.

The system was largely built around a series of acquisitions that started with Google’s $3.2 billion purchase of online ad specialist DoubleClick in 2008. U.S. regulators approved the deals at the time they were made before realizing that they had given the Mountain View, California, company a platform to manipulate the prices in an ecosystem that a wide range of websites depend on for revenue and provides a vital marketing connection to consumers.

The Justice Department lawyers argued that Google built and maintained dominant market positions in a technology trifecta used by website publishers to sell ad space on their webpages, as well as the technology that advertisers use to get their ads in front of consumers, and the ad exchanges that conduct automated auctions in fractions of a second to match buyer and seller.

Although Brinkema didn’t rule entirely in favor of the Justice Department, the judge concluded Google has been abusing its power to stifle competition to the detriment of online publishers forced to rely on its ad network and pricing for revenue. Brinkema reached the decision after evaluating the evidence presented during a lengthy trial that concluded just before Thanksgiving last year,

“For over a decade, Google has tied its publisher ad server and ad exchange together through contractual policies and technological integration, which enabled the company to establish and protect its monopoly power in these two markets.” Brinkema wrote. “Google further entrenched its monopoly power by imposing anticompetitive policies on its customers and eliminating desirable product features.”

The Justice Department didn’t immediately comment on the decision.

In a statement, Google said it will appeal the ruling.

“We disagree with the Court’s decision regarding our publisher tools,” said Lee-Anne Mulholland, Google’s vice president of regulatory affairs. “Publishers have many options and they choose Google because our ad tech tools are simple, affordable and effective.”

As it did in the search monopoly case, Google and its corporate parent Alphabet vehemently denied the Justice Department’s allegations. Their lawyers argued the government largely based its case on an antiquated concept of a market that existed a decade ago while underestimating a highly competitive market for advertising spending that includes the likes of Facebook parent Meta Platforms, Amazon, Microsoft and Comcast.

The market as drawn in the Justice Department’s case didn’t include ads that appear on mobile apps, streaming television services, or other platforms to which internet users have increasingly migrated, prompting Google lawyer Karen Dunn to compare the government’s definition a “time capsule with a BlackBerry, an iPod and a Blockbuster video card” during her opening statement when the trial began last September.

At trial, the Justice Department’s lawyers emphasized the harm to news publishers that has arisen from Google’s alleged dominance of the marketplace. Witnesses from Gannett, the publisher of USA Today and other newspapers, and News Corp., the publisher of the Wall Street Journal, testified about the difficulties they have faced and what they said was a lack of alternatives to Google’s ad tech. Those companies rely on online advertising to fund their news operations and make their articles free to consumers on the internet, government lawyers have argued.

Now, government is in position to try to dismantle that byzantine ad system. When the case was filed more than two years ago during the Biden administration, the Justice Department asserted Google should be forced to sell, at a minimum, its Ad Manager product, which includes the technology used by website publishers and the ad exchange.

China dominates solar. Trump tariffs target China. For US solar industry, that means higher costs

Mike Summers was eager to install solar at his home in Ohio for years, and after he finally replaced his aging roof this year, his solar contractor swung into action. His system — including 19 panels and a battery backup — went up this week, and Summers considers himself lucky.

“I’m glad to have done it when I did,” said Summers, a former mayor in his city of Lakewood just west of Cleveland. He’ll get about $10,000 in tax credits on his $39,000 investment, but nearly as important is that all the equipment was readily available.

Other hopeful solar buyers may have a much harder time in coming months. ‘s escalating trade war with China threatens to crimp a massive source of solar panels and parts, with experts saying the cost of projects will certainly rise as China retaliates.

China accounted for at least 80% of the components of solar panels as recently as 2022, according to an International Energy Agency report, especially polysilicon, glass and solar cells. Solar also demands increasing critical mineral supplies, of which China is a key player across the globe, and electronics.

In the U.S., private industry has poured $18.2 billion into developing a domestic supply chain in recent years, according to Atlas Public Policy, that includes everything from the ingots and wafers that make up panels to electrical and structural components to assembly of the panels themselves. Most of that came from the Inflation Reduction Act passed during former Joe Biden’s administration, with massive funding for clean energy investment.

But that won’t come close to replacing what China produces.

“Really everybody’s losing when you think about it, because the systems are costing more for the customers and it’s also just making it more difficult, in some ways, for us to do business,” said Brian DiPaolo, assistant sales manager at Cleveland-based solar installer YellowLite, which is doing Summers’ project. DiPaolo said some customers are holding off on plans until there is more clarity. The company still stocked up on solar panels, made in North America, a month ago to stay competitive in coming months.

“We’re seeing both international as well as domestic manufacturers of the equipment increasing their costs to prepare for the ,” DiPaolo said. “You think that the domestic manufacturers would keep their prices down because they don’t get hit by the tariffs, but they’re seeing this added demand for their equipment.”

It’s supply and demand, said Martin Pochtaruk, CEO of Heliene, which focuses on large-scale solar projects. He described the price of a necessary glass component from China going up in February due to a tariff hike. Suppliers in other countries matched the higher price, meaning higher costs no matter the source.

Alexis Abramson, dean of Columbia University’s Climate School, said there’s no doubt that residential solar is going to be more expensive. That will cut solar adoption, and small and mid-size installers will go under, she said.

It’s just “extremely difficult to offer current and future customers pricing certainty” when trade policy is changing so much, said James Hasselbeck, chief operating officer at New England-based solar company ReVision Energy.

Solar has gotten significantly more affordable in recent years as the technology scales up, improves and gets cheaper to install. Systems can still cost thousands of dollars on average, but the average cost for a residential system is down more than 70% from 2010, according to the National Laboratory. American consumers have also had a shot at credits that bring the cost down still further, although the future of those is uncertain under the administration.

Commercial and utility-scale project costs have also dropped dramatically.

That’s fed rapid growth across the U.S. over the past two decades. In 2024, the commercial segment grew 8% and utility grew 33%, according to an annual report from the association and consultancy Wood Mackenzie. The residential segment fell 32% last year, but experts attribute that to high interest rates and election uncertainty, and said they had expected continued growth before the tariffs hit.

Solar is an important source of clean energy because it doesn’t emit the harmful greenhouse gases that coal, natural gas and oil do. Those are massive contributors to Earth’s warming.

Trump imposed tariffs during his first term on imported solar cells and modules in 2018 in hopes of slashing reliance on China.

But China subsidized its own domestic overproduction and some U.S. manufacturers accused it of essentially moving operations to four Southeast Asian countries that had a temporary exemption from tariffs.

Abigail Ross Hopper, president and CEO of the Solar Energy Industries Association, said the U.S. is “quickly taking back control of the supply chain from China to build the strongest solar manufacturing base in the world.” The group reported that in 2024, module manufacturing capacity, largely concentrated in the South, grew 190%, and said cell manufacturing “was reshored for the first time in five years” with company Suniva restarting production.

But Hopper also said sudden changes in policy risk chilling investment and slowing job creation, especially for manufacturers. The group said during the first Trump administration that tariffs issued then were harmful to the industry.

Ultimately, Abramson said she “would encourage anybody who has been really thinking about putting solar on their roof to really look into locking that in sooner rather than later.”

Trump gripes about interest rates and says Fed Chair Powell’s ‘termination cannot come fast enough’

WASHINGTON (AP) — Donald slammed  Chair Jerome on Thursday, reiterating his frustration that the Fed has not aggressively cut interest rates and saying that the central bank leader’s “termination cannot come fast enough.”

Trump hinted at moving to fire Powell, whose term does not expire until May 2026. The Republican president’s broadside comes a day after Powell signaled that the Fed will keep its key unchanged while it seeks “greater clarity” on the impact of policy changes in areas such as immigration, taxation, regulation and .

Powell also reiterated that Trump’s tariffs would likely raise inflation and slow the economy, which could make it harder for the Fed to cut rates anytime soon. The Fed chair also suggested that the central bank will focus on fighting inflation in the wake of the tariffs, even if the duties did weaken the economy. Powell’s comments contributed to a drop in stock prices Wednesday.

“Oil prices are down, groceries (even eggs!) are down, and the USA is getting RICH ON TARIFFS,” Trump said in a social media post.

Referring to the European Central Bank, he added that Powell “should have lowered Interest Rates, like the ECB, long ago, but he should certainly lower them now. Powell’s termination cannot come fast enough!”

The European Central Bank on Thursday lowered its key interest rate from 2.5% to 2.25%.

Powell was initially nominated by Trump in 2017, and he was appointed to another four-year term by President Joe Biden in 2022. At a November news conference, Powell indicated he would not step down if Trump asked him to resign.

He has also said that the removal or demotion of top Fed officials was “not permitted under the law.”

Trump’s comments come with the backdrop of a legal case at the Supreme Court that could determine whether presidents can fire the heads of independent agencies such as the Fed.

The case stems from Trump’s firings of officials from two independent agencies. The Supreme Court last week let the firings stand while it considers the case. It could issue a broader ruling this summer that would enable the president to fire Fed officials, including the chair.

Powell said the Fed is watching the case closely, adding that it might not apply to the Fed. Lawyers for the Trump administration have also argued that allowing the president to fire the two officials wouldn’t erode the Fed’s independence.

“It is difficult to overstate the consequences at this stressed moment of a Court ruling that found that President Trump … does have the authority to dismiss the heads of independent agencies and did not establish a clear carve-out for the Fed,” Krishna Guha, an analyst at investment bank Evercore ISI, wrote on Thursday. “If you liked the tariff debacle in markets, you’d love the loss-of-Fed-independence trade.”

Powell started Trump’s second term in a relatively secure spot with a low unemployment rate and inflation progressing closer to the Fed’s 2% target, conditions that could have spared the U.S. central banker from the president’s vitriol.

But Trump’s aggressive and haphazard tariffs have increased the threat of a recession with both higher inflationary pressures and slower growth, a tough spot for Powell, whose mandate is to stabilize prices and maximize employment. With the economy weakening because of Trump’s choices, the president appears to be looking to pin the blame on Powell.

Powell, in his remarks at the Economic Club of Chicago on Wednesday, said the Fed will base its decisions solely on what is best for all Americans.

“That’s the only thing we’re ever going to do,” Powell said. “We’re never going to be influenced by any political pressure. People can say whatever they want. That’s fine, that’s not a problem. But we will do what we do strictly without consideration of political or any other extraneous factors.”

“Our independence is a matter of law,” Powell continued. “We’re not removable except for cause. We serve very long terms, seemingly endless terms.”

Trump has unleashed a rash of tariffs that have put the U.S. economy and the Fed in an increasingly perilous spot. On April 2, the president rolled out aggressive tariff hikes based off U.S. trade deficits with other nations, causing a financial market backlash that almost immediately led him to announce a 90-day pause in which most countries would be charged a baseline 10% tariff while negotiations go forward. But Trump increased his tariff hikes on China to a rate of 145%, in addition to his existing tariffs on Canada, Mexico, autos and steel and aluminum.

Wall Street banks such as Goldman Sachs have raised their odds that a recession could start. Consumers are increasingly pessimistic in surveys about their job prospects and fearful that inflation will shoot up as the cost of the import taxes get passed along to them. The risk of stagflation — stagnant growth and high inflation — would make it harder for the Fed to respond with the same playbook as recent downturns.

The Budget Lab at Yale University estimated that the increased inflationary pressures from the tariffs would be equal to the loss of $4,900 in an average U.S. household.

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AP journalists Sagar Meghani and Christopher Rugaber contributed reporting.