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Boar’s Head agrees to $3.1M settlement tied to recalled meat products

Boar’s Head Provisions’ recall of 7 million pounds of deli meat due to a deadly outbreak last year, which put 60 people in the hospital and killed 10 others, has resulted in a and a proposed $3.1 million . The July 2024 outbreak originated at meat production facility in , which has closed.

In July 2024, the deli meat company voluntarily recalled 7 million pounds of 71 ready-to-eat products after testing confirmed listeria contamination. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reports that as of November 2024, 61 cases tied to the listeria outbreak were reported in 19 states, with 60 hospitalizations and 10 deaths. Deaths were reported in Illinois, New Jersey, New York, Virginia, Florida, Tennessee, New Mexico and South Carolina.

The class action lawsuit against Boar’s Head was filed in U.S. District Court of the Southern District of New York, accusing the company of “deceptive and misleading business practices” regarding the , marketing and sale of Boar’s Head brand products. It accused the company of improperly, deceptively and misleadingly labeling and marketed its products by omitting and not disclosing to consumers on its packaging that the products are contaminated with listeria monocytogenes, which could lead to serious and life-threatening adverse health consequences.

The lawsuit said the recall was insufficient, and that to be eligible for a refund, the consumer needed to have retained the products.

A court-authorized notice says that Boar’s Head and the plaintiffs had reached a proposed settlement of $3.1 million, which would be paid to plaintiffs and eligible class members. The settlement still needs to be approved by the court.

To be eligible, you must have purchased any of the covered products, in the United States, between May 10, 2024, and August 12, 2024, for personal, family or household use and not for resale. The deadline to submit a claim is May 16.

The settlement allows for class members who provide a proof of purchase of the covered products to be refunded the full purchase price for each unit listed on the proof of purchase, inclusive of all taxes. Those who don’t have a proof of purchase will receive the average retail price for up to two covered products claimed per household.

Claims can be submitted at: www.coldcutrecallsettlement.com/submit-claim

Despite agreeing to the settlement, Boar’s Head has denied any wrongdoing.

In the past year leading up to the outbreak, government inspectors logged 69 instances of “noncompliance” with federal rules at the deli meat plant, according to documents obtained through Associated Press public information requests. The reported instances included mold, insects, liquid dripping from ceilings, and meat and fat residue on walls, floors and equipment.

On July 31, the United States Department of Agriculture’s Food Safety and Inspection Service notified Boar’s Head it was withholding its federal marks of inspection and suspending operations of ready-to-eat products at its meat production facility in Jarratt until Boar’s Head provided adequate written corrective and preventive measures to assure FSIS that it demonstrated a program that meets the regulatory requirements.

But in September 2024, Boar’s Head announced that it was indefinitely shutting down the Jarratt facility, although it had not been operating since late July, after the CDC opened an investigation. About 500 union workers were employed at the plant.

U.Va. hires AstraZeneca exec to lead Manning biotech institute

Mark T. Esser, vice president for vaccines and immune therapies at pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca, will be the inaugural chief scientific officer and leader of the Paul and Diane Manning Institute of at the , U.Va. announced Thursday.

Esser, who will join U.Va. May 1, earned a Ph.D. in microbiology in 1998 from U.Va.’s medical school, and has worked in translational medicine at AstraZeneca, MedImmune (which was acquired by AstraZeneca) and Merck. He was involved with development of Evusheld, a medicine that helped prevent and treat COVID-19; infection and cancer vaccine programs; human papillomavirus vaccines; and a monoclonal antibody that helps prevent RSV in infants.

The $350 million Manning Institute, launched in 2023 with a $100 million donation from Albemarle County investors Paul and Diane Manning, is a hub for biotech research, development and at U.Va., which is building a 350,000-square-foot structure in Fontaine Research Park in that’s expected to open by late 2026 or early 2027, according to Paul Manning. A member of the university’s board of visitors, Manning founded PBM Products, an infant formula and baby food business, which he sold to Perrigo for an estimated $808 million in 2010. He then started PBM Capital, a private equity firm that invests in pharmaceutical and life sciences startups.

The focus of the institute is research like cellular therapy, gene therapy, nanotechnology and drug delivery, as well as expanding U.Va.’s clinical trial offerings. According to Thursday’s announcement, Esser will be tasked with fostering an “ecosystem of innovation” to attract biotech and pharmaceutical companies and jobs to Central Virginia. U.Va. is also developing a statewide clinical trials network to expand availability of new treatments while they’re being tested.

“Job one is going to be to meet and get to know all the world-class scientists and physicians at Virginia. And then job two is going to be really crafting out the shared vision for what this institute can accomplish, and getting the best and the brightest not only at the university, but around the country and around the world, to join the institute to transform cutting-edge science into future medicines,” Esser said in an interview with Virginia Business on Thursday.

He noted that developing cancer immunotherapies would “play to the University of Virginia’s strengths,” as well as allergy and autoimmunity treatments. Developing gene therapies to treat neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Parkinson’s is also a high priority, Esser added.

“We are fortunate to have found an ideal candidate in Dr. to lead the Manning Institute,” U.Va. President James E. Ryan said in a statement. “He brings both great scientific expertise and decades of experience in developing new treatments and medical breakthroughs. He is a bridge-builder who knows how to work collaboratively, how to work efficiently and how to get things done. He will be the lynchpin in realizing the potential of the Manning Institute to shape the future of medicine.”

Esser was previously a senior research fellow and senior research immunologist at Merck Research Laboratories, and after receiving his doctorate, he did his postdoctoral fellowship with the National Institutes of Health’s AIDS vaccine program.

Paul Manning. Photo courtesy the University of Virginia
Paul Manning. Photo courtesy the University of Virginia

Paul Manning, speaking with Virginia Business on Thursday, said that Esser’s commercial and academic background were important reasons for his hiring. “It’s our goal to get medicine into patients,” Manning said. “That’s the goal, to work with the researchers and work with the regulatory agencies in order to move products through the continuum from basic research through clinical development and into the patients. Part of that continuum is understanding where the biotech companies and Big Pharma [are] in order to find a home for these medications.”

Asked about the Trump administration’s proposed 15% cap on National Institutes for Health funding for overhead expenses, which is causing widespread concern at research universities nationwide, Manning said that “the University of Virginia will be able to figure this out, and we will keep an eye on what Washington’s doing. Right now, it’s steady as it goes.” Last week, a federal judge permanently barred the administration from limiting funding from the NIH that supports university and medical center research, but the White House is likely to appeal the ruling.

Esser said that with the possibility of NIH cuts, the Manning Institute and other research institutions are looking to private industry for funding, including biotech and pharmaceutical companies, venture capital investors and nongovernmental organizations like the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation.

“Even in a big pharmaceutical company, there’s never enough money,” he said. “There’s always more things to do than dollars to do that. … I think if we come up with good ideas, I’m 100% confident we’ll find people to fund them.”

Manning added that funding for the institute’s new building and hiring more researchers is safe, as $150 million in state funding has already been approved by Virginia legislators, and U.Va. is adding $100 million to the $350 million project.

“You’ll see great progress over the next six, eight months,” Manning said, especially with Esser on board.

US stocks dive as euphoria on Wall Street reverts to fear about US-China trade war

NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks dove Thursday and surrendered a chunk of their historic gains from the day before as ‘s  war continues to threaten the economy.

The S&P 500 tumbled 3.5%, slicing into Wednesday’s surge of 9.5% following Trump’s decision to pause many of his . Industrial Average dropped 1,014 points, or 2.5%, and the Nasdaq composite tumbled 4.3%.

“Trump blinks,” UBS strategist Bhanu Baweja wrote in a report about the president’s decision on tariffs, “but the damage isn’t all undone.”

Trump has focused more on China, raising tariffs on its products to well above 100%. Even if that were to get negotiated down to something like 50%, and even if only 10% tariffs remained on other countries, Baweja said the hit to the U.S. economy could still be large enough to hurt expected growth for upcoming U.S. corporate profits.

The losses for U.S. stocks accelerated Thursday after the White House clarified that the United States will tax Chinese imports at 145%, not the 125% rate that Trump had written about in his posting on Truth Social Wednesday, once other previously announced tariffs were included. The drop for the S&P 500 exceeded 6% at one point.

“Everything is still very volatile, because with Donald Trump, you don’t know what to expect,” said Francis Lun, chief executive of Geo Securities. “This is really big uncertainty in the market. The threat of recession has not faded.”

China, meanwhile, has reached out to other countries around the world in apparent hopes of forming a united front against Trump. The world’s second-largest economy is also ramping up its own countermeasures to Trump’s tariffs.

The price of Warner Bros. Discovery, the company behind “A Minecraft Movie,” dropped 12.5% for one of ‘s sharpest losses after China said Thursday it will “appropriately reduce the number of imported U.S. films.” The Walt Disney Co.’s stock sank 6.8%

A spokesperson for the China Film Administration said it is “inevitable” that Chinese audiences would find American films less palatable given the “wrong move by the U.S. to wantonly implement tariffs on China.”

That was after Trump and his Treasury secretary, Scott Bessent, sent a clear message to other countries Wednesday after announcing their pause on tariffs for most countries: “Do not retaliate, and you will be rewarded.”

The European Union said Thursday it will put its trade retaliation measures on hold for 90 days and leave room for a negotiated solution.

Thursday’s swings also hit the bond market, which had been showing encouraging signals earlier in the day that stress may be easing.

The bond market has historically played the role of enforcer against politicians and economic policies it deemed imprudent. It helped topple the United Kingdom’s Liz Truss in 2022, for example, whose 49 days made her Britain’s shortest-serving prime minister. James Carville, adviser to former U.S. President Bill Clinton, also famously said he’d like to be reincarnated as the bond market because of how much power it wields.

Earlier this week, big jumps for U.S. Treasury yields had rattled the market, so much that Trump said Wednesday he had been watching how investors were “getting a little queasy.”

Several reasons could have been behind the sharp, sudden rise in yields. Hedge funds may have sold Treasurys in order to raise cash, and investors outside the United States may be dumping their U.S. government bonds because of the . Regardless of the reasons behind it, higher Treasury yields crank up pressure on the and push rates higher for mortgages and other loans for U.S. households and businesses.

The 10-year Treasury yield had calmed following Trump’s U-turn on tariffs, dropping all the way back to 4.30% shortly after the release of a better-than-expected report on inflation Thursday morning. That’s after it had shot up to nearly 4.50% Wednesday morning from just 4.01% at the end of last week.

As Thursday progressed, though, the 10-year Treasury yield climbed once again and reached 4.40%.

It all demonstrates why many on Wall Street are preparing for more swings in markets, after the S&P 500 at one point nearly dropped into a “” by almost closing 20% below its record.

Often, the market’s whipsaw moves have come not just day to day but also hour to hour. The S&P 500 still remains below where it was when Trump announced his sweeping set of tariffs last week on “Liberation Day.”

All told, the S&P 500 fell 188.85 points Thursday to 5,268.05. The Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 1,014.79 to 39,593.66, and the Nasdaq composite sank 737.66 to 16,387.31.

In stock markets abroad, indexes rallied across Europe and Asia in their first chances to trade following Trump’s pause on many of his tariffs. Japan’s Nikkei 225 surged 9.1%, South Korea’s Kospi leaped 6.6% and Germany’s DAX returned 4.5%.

___

AP writers Yuri Kageyama, Matt Ott and Huizhong Wu contributed.

Notes: Eds: UPDATES: with close of US trading.

The Latest: S&P 500 falls 2% at the open despite Trump’s tariff pause

U.S. stocks are giving back some of their historic gains from the day before as weighs a global war that has cooled in temperature but is still threatening the economy.

The S&P 500 was down 2.3% early Thursday, a day after surging 9.5% following President Donald Trump ‘s decision to pause many of his . Industrial Average was down 685 points, and the Nasdaq composite was down 2.9%.

Here’s the latest:

Deputy ATF chief is forced out, AP source says

The second highest-ranking official at the federal Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives has been pushed out by the Trump administration, a person familiar with the matter told The Associated Press.

Marvin Richardson, who has served since 2019 as deputy director of the agency responsible for enforcing U.S. gun laws, has decided to retire after being told Wednesday evening to either leave or be fired, the person said. They spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss a personnel matter.

Richardson didn’t immediately respond to an email on Thursday. A Justice Department official declined to comment.

It comes amid intense upheaval at the agency that’s long been a target of conservatives.

On Wednesday, ATF senior leaders were informed that Kash Patel, the FBI director who also had been serving as acting ATF chief, had been replaced by Army Secretary Daniel Driscoll.

Johnson meeting with GOP holdouts before key vote to get to Trump priorities

Speaker Mike Johnson is meeting with holdouts before a key vote that’s necessary for Republicans to extend tax cuts and boost border security spending later this year without any help from Democrats.

The holdouts are seeking greater assurances that Republicans will deliver significant spending cuts to go along with extending the individual and estate tax cuts that expire at the end of this year.

Rep. Tim Burchett, R-Tenn., said the only commitments so far are verbal. “I’d like to see something in writing,” Burchett said.

Rep. Eric Burlison, R-Mo., said he’s still uncommitted going into the meeting, and was looking for “a little bit more solid assurance” on spending cuts.

Rep. Andy Harris, chairman of the ultraconservative House Freedom Caucus, struck an optimistic tone going into the meeting. “I think there is progress being made,” Harris said.

Man accused of trying to assassinate Trump on golf course to be charged

Ryan Routh will be charged with first-degree murder and terrorism, Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier said on Thursday.

Prosecutors say Routh methodically plotted to kill Trump at Trump’s West Palm Beach golf course last September. Routh allegedly aimed his rifle at a Secret Service agent, who opened and prompted him to drop his weapon and flee without firing.

The Secret Service had spotted Routh before Trump came into view at the golf course.

“Attempting to take the life of a former president and a leading presidential candidate isn’t just an attack on one man — this was a political attack against our Republican form of government and our shared American values,” Uthmeier said.

Democrats seek ethics investigation into possible insider trading by Trump associates

Senate Democrats are asking for the U.S. Office of Government Ethics to look into whether anyone benefited financially from advanced knowledge of Trump’s decision to back down on tariffs to most countries on Wednesday.

The Republican president said on social media on Wednesday morning that it was a “great time to buy,” then announced less than four hours later that nearly all tariffs would be paused for 90 days. It caused the market to soar.

Democratic Sens. Adam Schiff of California and Ruben Gallego of Arizona released a letter this morning to White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles and Jamieson Greer, the acting director of the ethics office, asking for “an urgent inquiry into whether President Trump, his family, or other members of the administration engaged in insider trading or other illegal financial transactions.”

While Democrats don’t have power to force the investigation, they are hoping the demands direct scrutiny at the issue.

to distribute fewer American movies

China on Thursday said it will “appropriately reduce the number of imported U.S. films,” as the tariff war has escalated between the world’s two largest economies.

A spokesperson for the China Film Administration said it is “inevitable” that Chinese audiences would find American films less palatable given the “wrong move by the U.S. to wantonly implement tariffs on China.”

The spokesperson said China would follow market rules and respect the preferences of China’s moviegoers to reduce the import of American films. Chinese authorities have long controlled the distribution of foreign films, limiting them to a set quota each year.

China and the U.S. are the world’s two largest film markets by box office revenue.

Official White House Christmas ornament honors 150 years of culinary diplomacy

Unveiled Thursday by the White House Historical Association, the ornament features the red china plate of former President Ronald Reagan’s administration on one side and the gold-rimmed china plate of former President Bill Clinton’s on the other.

First issued in 1981, the ornament usually honors presidents in their order of service; last year’s was a tribute to former President Jimmy Carter.

But Stewart McLaurin, the association’s president, says it sometimes is used to highlight important White House anniversaries or occasions.

President Ulysses Grant held the first state dinner in December 1874 for King David Kalakaua, one of the last monarchs of the Hawaiian Kingdom.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent to travel to Argentina

Bessent will travel to Buenos Aires on Monday to meet with President Javier Milei and Minister of Economy Luis Caputo to show support for Argentina’s “bold economic reforms,” the Treasury Department said in a statement.

Trump’s recent sweeping tariff package included 10% on Argentina, though on Wednesday he announced a 90-day pause on the tariffs for most countries except China — whose tariffs he raised to 125%.

A Treasury news release states that during his meetings in Argentina, Bessent will “reiterate the United States’ firm backing for the continued implementation of President Milei’s robust economic agenda and encourage the international community to fully support President Milei’s economic reform efforts.”

“I look forward to our positive discussions about Argentina’s economy, and to exploring the ways our nations can further deepen our vital economic relationship,” Bessent said.

S&P 500 opens 2.3% lower despite encouraging inflation update

U.S. stocks are giving back some of their historic gains from the day before as Wall Street weighs a global trade war that has cooled in temperature but is still threatening the economy.

The S&P 500 was down 2.3% early Thursday, a day after surging 9.5% following Trump’s decision to pause many of his tariffs worldwide. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 685 points, and the Nasdaq composite was down 2.9%.

Even a better-than-expected report on inflation wasn’t enough to get stocks to add to their gains from the day before, including the S&P 500’s third-best since 1940.

Top US envoy to WTO defends Trump’s tariff policies

David Bisbee, the interim head of the U.S. mission to the World Trade Organization, insisted the United States was “taking action it considers necessary for the protection of its essential security interests” — a move he said was allowed under the trade body’s rules.

Bisbee on Thursday told a WTO gathering that Trump had taken steps to address an “emergency” caused by persistent annual U.S. goods trade deficits, which the envoy said topped $1 trillion each of the past two years.

The U.S. diplomatic mission in Geneva provided The Associated Press with a copy of Bisbee’s comments during a closed-door WTO session.

On Wednesday — before Trump announced a suspension of nearly all of the tariffs against trading partners, except for China — a Chinese government representative accused the United States of setting the global trading system “ablaze” with the tariffs.

Countries in so

uthern Africa relieved by tariff pause, but still fearful

“This will give us the opportunity to negotiate the reduction of tariffs so that the playing field is leveled,” said Lesotho Minister of Trade and Industry Mokhethi Shelile.

Lesotho, which relies on making and exporting clothes to the U.S. for brands like Levi’s, had feared almost half its clothing sector could be put out of business.

In Madagascar, which provides 80% of the world’s vanilla, exporters said there was now more time for government and industry officials to meet and plot a way forward.

And South Africa Trade and Industry Minister Parks Tau said on Radio 702 that while his country received confirmation that proposed export tariffs by the U.S. were paused, the 10% baseline tariff meant “it is not completely off.”

South Africa is one of more than 30 countries eligible for tariff-free access to the American market under the African Growth and Opportunity Act agreement that has been in place for 25 years. Many of them fear that Trump’s tariff tactics will mean the agreement will not be renewed.

White House aides to strategize on way forward for Trump tariffs

Trump’s top economic advisers will gather a day after the president announced he was suspending for 90 days import taxes on dozens of countries while escalating his trade war with China to discuss the president’s options moving forward.

“The chief of staff’s office has called all the principals who have, you know, skin in the game and discuss their views about how this should go,” Kevin Hassett, director of the White House National Economic Council, told reporters on Thursday.

Hassett added that 15 countries have already presented offers to the administration aimed at getting Trump to drop his reciprocal tariffs. He did not detail which countries have presented offers.

Trump’s Thursday schedule

This morning, at 10 a.m. ET, Trump will receive his intelligence briefing in the Oval Office.

At 11 a.m., he will participate in a cabinet meeting.

At 12:30 p.m., he will attend the swearing-in ceremony for the solicitor general.

Later, at 4 p.m., he will participate in a bill signing in the Oval Office, according to the White House.

Global shares jump following historic gains on Wall St. after Trump paused most of his tariffs

World markets soared on Thursday, with Japan’s benchmark jumping more than 9% as investors welcomed Trump’s decision to put his latest tariff hikes on hold for 90 days.

In early trading, Germany’s DAX initially gained more than 8%. By midmorning, they were up 5.3% at 20,720.86, while France’s CAC 40 in Paris gained 5% to 7,204.23. Britain’s FTSE 100 surged 4.0% to 7,983.37.

Chinese shares saw more moderate gains, given yet another jump in the tariffs each side is imposing on each other’s exports.

The future for the S&P 500 was down 2.1%, while the contract for the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped 1.6%.

Analysts had expected the global comeback, given that U.S. stocks had one of their best days in history on Wednesday as investors registered their relief over Trump’s decision.

China reaches out to others as Trump layers on tariffs

China is reaching out to other nations as the U.S. layers on more tariffs in what appears to be an attempt to form a united front to compel Washington to retreat. Days into the effort, it’s meeting only partial success with many countries unwilling to ally with the main target of Trump’s trade war.

China has thus far focused on Europe, with a phone call between Premier Li Qiang and European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen “sending a positive message to the outside world.”

That was followed by a video conference between Chinese Commerce Minister Wang Wentao and Commissioner for Trade and Economic Security Šefčović on Tuesday to discuss the U.S. “reciprocal tariffs.”

Wang has also spoken with the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations, while Li, the premier, has met with business leaders. China has “already made a full evaluation and is prepared to deal with all kinds of uncertainties, and will introduce incremental policies according to the needs of the situation,” Xinhua News Agency quoted Li as saying.

Trump reverses tariffs that caused market meltdown, but companies remain bewildered

Trump delivered another jarring reversal in American trade policy Wednesday, suspending for 90 days import taxes he’d imposed barely 13 hours earlier on dozens of countries while escalating his trade war with China. The moves triggered a powerful rally on Wall Street but left businesses, investors and America’s trading partners bewildered about what the president is attempting to achieve.

The U-turn came after the sweeping global tariffs Trump announced last week set off a four-day rout in global financial markets, paralyzed businesses and raised fears the U.S. and world economies would tumble into recession.

White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt tried to characterize the sudden change in policy as part of a grand negotiating strategy. But to those outside the Trump administration, it looked like a cave-in to market pressure and to growing fears that the president’s impetuous use of import taxes — tariffs — would cause massive collateral economic damage.

The EU will put tariff retaliation on hold for 90 days to match Trump’s pause

The European Union’s executive commission said Thursday it will put its retaliatory measures against new U.S. tariffs on hold for 90 days to match President Donald Trump’s pause on his sweeping new tariffs and leave room for a negotiated solution.

European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said that the commission, which handles trade for the 27 member countries, “took note of the announcement by President Trump.”

New tariffs on 20.9 billion euros ($23 billion) of US goods will be put on hold for 90 days because “we want to give negotiations a chance,” she said in a statement.

But she warned: “If negotiations are not satisfactory, our countermeasures will kick in.”

Trump imposed a 20% levy on goods from the EU as part of his onslaught of tariffs against global trading partners but has said he will pause them for 90 days to give countries a chance to negotiate solutions to U.S. trade concerns.

Notes: Eds: UPDATES:  With new items.

Fire causes $4.25M in damages to custom van biz

A three-alarm at ‘s campus on Saturday started accidentally from an electrical cause, Roanoke Fire-EMS Chief David Hoback said Wednesday.

Damages from the fire that reduced , a custom camper van business, to rubble are estimated at $4.25 million.

“Once you have a structural collapse and a roof collapse, sometimes we can’t get to the fire that’s underneath all that debris,” Hoback said. “That’s why we brought in an excavator to come in and move that debris so that we could put the fire out.”

Justin vanBlaricom, the company’s co-founder and CEO, checked his security camera after getting a call from a friend who’d heard there was a fire in Southeast Roanoke. It was his building.

“By the time I got there, the fire department was already there, and it was fully engulfed, and there was nothing that could be saved,” he said.

The building was one of several structures located at the former campus of American Viscose, a rayon plant that closed in the 1950s. A $50 million-plus effort, spearheaded by developer Ed Walker, to redevelop the 126-acre property into a community filled with apartments, shops, eateries and businesses has been in the works since 2023.

Walker called the fire “a setback” and said it was “deeply heartbreaking” for Noke Van to go through this and to lose one of the campus’s great buildings. He does not expect it to lead to cost overruns or to delay any projects at Riverdale.

“We’re just turning all of our energy toward supporting Noke Vans,” he said.

Chris’s Custard and Coffee Shop,  an eatery near the campus that’s also connected to a workforce training program for individuals with intellectual, developmental and physical disabilities, lost a food truck in the fire. Johnson Orthodontics made a matching gift of up to $20,000 to buy a new truck, according to a Monday Facebook post.

On Wednesday afternoon, Noke Van Co. announced plans to relocate to 1009 Riverdale Ave. on the Riverdale campus.

“It’s a great flexible space, and we are grateful to work together with Riverdale, our customers and our partners to build something beautiful out of the ashes,” Josh Yerton, the company’s chief design officer and product engineer, wrote in a text.

The Noke Van Co. lost 22 vehicles along with specialty equipment and tools in the fire, according to Yerton.

“There’s nothing left,” vanBlaricom said. “It’s just bricks.”

Of the company’s 20 employees, about half are fulltime. A GoFundMe campaign had raised $33,267 by Wednesday afternoon. The entirety of that money will go to covering employee paychecks, according to vanBlaricom.

“We want to take care of our employees above anything else,” he said.

The owners of Noke Van Co. aren’t calling it a day on the business either, vanBlaricom and Yerton stressed. “My 12-year-old, when he found out this whole thing had happened, he said, ‘Well, Dad, now you can do it again because you’ve already done it once,’” Yerton said.

Founded in 2022, Noke Van Co., moved to the Riverdale property about a year and a half ago.

Since purchasing the Riverdale campus, workers have carted away at least 4 million pounds of debris, including multiple abandoned vehicles that were left behind by numerous tenants who inhabited the complex in the decades after the plant closed, according to Walker.

“If this had happened two years ago, the fire trucks couldn’t have gotten to the fire,” Walker said.

Developers will break ground on a 267-unit apartment building on the Riverdale campus in the fall. That project is led by Walker and developers Joe Thompson and Tommy Spellman.

SAIC appoints new CHRO

Reston-based Science Applications International Corp. announced Wednesday that it has appointed Kathleen McCarthy as its new and , effective May 12.

She will report directly to CEO Toni Townes-Whitley and will spearhead all human resources initiatives, employee engagement strategies and talent acquisition operations at .

“Kathleen brings a great depth of experience in cultivating and inspiring exceptional talent which is pivotal in driving both substantial business value and innovation,” Townes-Whitley said in a statement. “Her proven track record of leadership and strategic foresight position her well to further enhance our employee engagement initiatives and lead our efforts in upskilling and developing critical skills within our workforce.”

McCarthy is joining SAIC from GE Aerospace, where was chief human resources officer for the & Systems business. Before that, she was chief human resources officer for GE Aviation and chief human resources officer of GE Digital. She has also had executive roles at American Express as senior vice president and chief talent officer, where she led global workforce strategy, and at Thomson Reuters, where she led talent management and acquisition.

She is a member of World 50, G100 and The Learning Forum’s Executive Council Network and is a frequent speaker on talent development and HR best practices.

Headquartered in , SAIC has about 24,000 employees and reported annual revenues of $7.48 billion for fiscal 2025.

Intelligent Waves pays $1.95M to settle False Claims Act allegations

Reston-based Intelligent Waves agreed to pay $1.95 million to settle allegations involving two U.S. Air Force contracts. And in a separate case, -based government contractor General Dynamics Mission Systems agreed to pay $600,000 to settle allegations that a company that it acquired made false statements in federal government contract proposals.

The U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia announced Intelligent Waves’ last week. The settlement stems from a filed in December 2022 by two former employees, Nora Taylor and Marthe Lattinville-Pace of Fredericksburg, under the whistleblower provision of the False Claims Act. In their suit, they claimed Intelligent Waves tried to defraud the U.S. government. Taylor was vice president of contracting and compliance at the contractor, while Lattinville-Pace was senior vice president of human resources.

Federal prosecutors said Intelligent Waves entered into a contract with the Air Force in September 2019 where the company provided crowd-sourced flight data collection support and data analytics to the 59th Test and Evaluation Squadron at Nellis Air Force Base.

However, the federal government alleged that Intelligent Waves knowingly sold equipment to the Air Force that was not authorized under the contract and submitted invoices to the Air Force that wrongly characterized the equipment as authorized. Intelligent Waves was also accused of billing the Air Force products and labor that it did not deliver in the specific quantities stated in its invoices and that the company didn’t provide a credit to the Air Force for undelivered products and services.

The lawsuit also alleges that Intelligent Waves made false statements in order to win a contract to build special access program facilities at Edwards Air Force Base.

In a news release from Intelligence Waves, the contractor said it “acted lawfully, transparently, and in good faith” throughout the inquiry and that the company’s decision to settle “does not reflect any admission of wrongdoing but rather a practical and strategic business determination made to avoid the time, expense and disruption of protracted litigation.”

“We take immense pride in our longstanding commitment to integrity, accountability, and client service, especially in support of our nation’s most vital missions,” Intelligent Waves CEO Tony Crescenzo said in a statement. “While we believe our actions were always responsible and aligned with applicable guidance, we opted to resolve this civil matter to move forward without the uncertainty and distraction of extended proceedings.”

Whistleblower suits brought through the False Claims Act are initiated by individuals filing a complaint under seal in the U.S. District Court and providing a copy of the complaint and evidence to the U.S. Attorney’s Office. The federal government then has an opportunity to investigate the claims.

A judge ordered a redacted complaint against Intelligent Waves to be unsealed on April 2. The lawsuit says Taylor and Lattinville-Pace were terminated after raising concerns about the contracts. Both Taylor and Lattinville-Pace will receive a share of the government’s recovery in the lawsuit as part of the False Claims Act.

On Monday, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Eastern District of Virginia announced in a separate case that General Dynamics Mission Systems agreed to pay $600,000 to settle allegations that a company that it acquired made false statements in federal government contract proposals.

In July 2022, General Dynamics Mission Systems acquired Manassas-based defense contractor Progeny Systems. Before the acquisition, Progeny entered into teaming agreements with Quality Support and Minimum Entropy to help with drafting and submitting proposals for Small Business Innovation Research contracts, which are awarded to small businesses to develop and commercialize new technology. The U.S. attorney’s office said the contracts are reserved for businesses that have fewer than 500 employees, including employees of any affiliated companies.

Federal government said that Progeny provided Quality Support with personnel and that a Progeny employee formed, owned and operated Minimum Entropy. In return, the office said both companies selected Progeny as their sole subcontractor on all of their SBIR proposals, including six SBIR contracts from four federal agencies.

The U.S. attorney’s office noted that the civil claims settled by the False Claims Act agreement for both the Intelligent Waves case and General Dynamics case are allegations and that there has been no determination of civil liability in either situation.

Microsoft says it’s ‘slowing or pausing’ some AI data center projects, including $1B plan for Ohio

Microsoft said it is “slowing or pausing” some of its construction, including a $1 billion project in Ohio, the latest sign that the demand for artificial intelligence technology that drove a massive infrastructure expansion might not need quite as many powerful computers as expected.

The tech giant confirmed this week that it is halting early-stage projects on rural land it owns in central Ohio’s Licking County, outside of Columbus, and will reserve two of the three sites for farmland.

“In recent years, demand for our cloud and AI services grew more than we could have ever anticipated and to meet this opportunity, we began executing the largest and most ambitious infrastructure scaling project in our history,” said Noelle Walsh, the president of ‘s cloud operations, in a post on LinkedIn.

Walsh said “any significant new endeavor at this size and scale requires agility and refinement as we learn and grow with our customers. What this means is that we are slowing or pausing some early-stage projects.”

Microsoft didn’t say Wednesday what other projects it has slowed outside of Ohio, but in late December it revealed it was pausing the later phases of a large data center project in Wisconsin.

Analysts with TD Cowen reported earlier this year that Microsoft was also scaling back some of its international data center expansion and canceling some leases in the U.S. for use of data centers operated by other companies.

Other analysts for months have tied some of the changes to a shift in Microsoft’s close relationship with its business partner OpenAI, maker of ChatGPT.

“OpenAI was moving in one direction” by prioritizing the development of ever-more advanced AI systems, which require vast computing resources to train on troves of data, while “Microsoft may not have been moving that same direction,” said Craig Ellis, director of research at B. Riley Securities.

The two companies announced on Jan. 21 that they were altering the agreement that had made Microsoft the exclusive provider of OpenAI’s computing power, enabling the smaller company to build its own capacity, “primarily for research and training of models.” It was the same day that newly inaugurated touted OpenAI’s partnership with Oracle and SoftBank to pledge $500 billion in new AI infrastructure in the U.S., starting with a data center in Texas.

Microsoft has long built data centers around the world to run its cloud computing services. The generative AI boom accelerated the demand for such facilities, both to train new AI systems and to keep them running as millions of people start using chatbots and other AI tools at work and home.

The computing it takes to run AI tools is expensive and requires a large amount of electricity — so much so that Trump this week cited AI needs as part of the justification for using his emergency authorities to boost the U.S. coal industry, a reliable but polluting energy source. Tech companies have also sought to tap into nuclear power, including a proposed Microsoft-backed revival of the shuttered Three Mile Island plant in Pennsylvania, which would feed an electricity grid supplying data centers in Ohio as well as Virginia, the nation’s biggest data center hub.

Microsoft said it still plans to spend more than $80 billion globally to expand its AI infrastructure this fiscal year, which ends in June, and has already doubled its data center capacity over the past three years.

“While we may strategically pace our plans, we will continue to grow strongly and allocate investments that stay aligned with business priorities and customer demand,” Walsh said.

The Ohio pause nevertheless came as a disappointment to local officials.

Licking County has also attracted data center investments from Microsoft rivals Google and Meta Platforms and a highly anticipated semiconductor factory from Intel, though the struggling chipmaker in February pushed back the expected completion date for the project’s first stage to 2030.

S&P 500 soars 9.5% to one of its biggest gains since WWII after Trump pauses most tariffs

NEW YORK (AP) — Stocks surged to one of their biggest gains since World War II after paused his against most other nations, as investors had desperately hoped he would. The S&P 500 soared 9.5% Wednesday. The index is still below where it was when Trump announced his sweeping set of tariffs last week. Industrial Average flew nearly 3,000 points higher, and the Nasdaq composite jumped 12.2%. Trump, though, did raise tariffs further on . Treasury yields gave back some of their big market-rattling gains following Trump’s pause on most tariffs.

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

NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks are soaring on a euphoric Wednesday after President Donald Trump said he would back off on most of his tariffs temporarily, as investors had so desperately hoped he would.

The S&P 500 was up 8.3% with less than an hour remaining in trading, heading toward one of its best days in decades. It had been sinking earlier in the day amid worries about whether Trump’s  would drag the global economy into a recession. But then came the posting on social media that investors had been waiting and wishing for.

“I have authorized a 90 day PAUSE,” Trump said, after recognizing the more than 75 countries that he said have been negotiating on and had not retaliated against his latest increases in tariffs.

Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent later told reporters that Trump was pausing his so-called ‘reciprocal’ tariffs on most of the country’s biggest trading partners, but maintaining his 10% tariff on nearly all global imports. China was a huge exception, with tariffs going up to 125% against its products.

The Dow Jones Industrial Average shot up to a gain of 2,640 points, or 7%, after erasing an earlier loss of nearly 370 points. The Nasdaq composite was 10.3% higher after earlier climbing as much as 11%, a gain that would count as a good year for the broad .

The relief came for Wall Street after doubts had crept in about whether Trump cared about the financial pain the U.S. stock market was taking because of his tariffs. The S&P 500, the index that sits at the center of many 401(k) accounts, came into the day nearly 19% below its record set less than two months ago.

That came as a surprise to many professional investors, who had long thought that a president who used to crow about records for the Dow under his watch would pull back on policies if they sent markets reeling.

Wednesday’s rally pulled the S&P 500 index away from the edge of what’s called a “.” That’s what professionals call it when a run-of-the-mill drop of 10% for U.S. stocks, which happens every year or so, graduates into a more vicious fall of 20%. The index is now down less than 13% from its record.

Wall Street also got a boost from a relatively smooth auction of U.S. Treasurys in the bond market Wednesday. Earlier jumps in Treasury yields had rattled the market sharply, indicating increasing levels of stress.

Analysts say several reasons could be behind the rise, including hedge funds and other investors having to sell their Treasury bonds to raise cash in order to make up for losses in the stock market. Investors outside the United States may also be selling their U.S. Treasurys because of the trade war. Such actions would push down prices for Treasurys, which in turn would push up their yields.

Regardless of the reasons behind it, higher yields on Treasurys add pressure on the stock market and push upward on rates for mortgages and other loans for U.S. households and businesses.

The moves are particularly notable because U.S. Treasury yields have historically dropped — not risen — during scary times for the market because the bonds are usually seen as some of the safest possible investments. This week’s sharp rise had brought the yield on the 10-year Treasury back to where it was in late February.

After approaching 4.50% in the morning, the 10-year yield pulled back to 4.37% following Trump’s pause and the Treasury’s auction. That’s still up from 4.26% late Tuesday and from just 4.01% at the end of last week.

Of course, the trade war is not over. Bessent and Trump clearly showed their anger at China, the world’s second-largest economy, which has been ratcheting up its own tariffs on U.S. goods and announcing other countermeasures with each move Trump has made.

China earlier said it would raise tariffs on U.S. goods to 84% on Thursday. “If the U.S. insists on further escalating its economic and trade restrictions, China has the firm will and abundant means to take necessary countermeasures and fight to the end” the Ministry of Commerce said.

Later the U.S. Treasury secretary said in a message to countries worldwide, but perhaps most directly aimed at China, “Do not retaliate, and you will be rewarded.”

On Wall Street, the gains were widespread across the U.S. stock market, and 98% of the stocks in the S&P 500 index rallied.

Leading the way were airlines and other stocks that need customers feeling confident enough to travel for work or for vacation.

Delta Air Lines soared 20.2%. Earlier in the day, it had pulled financial forecasts for 2025 as the trade war scrambles expectations for business and household spending and depresses bookings across the travel sector.

In stock markets abroad, indexes tumbled across most of Europe and much of Asia after they closed before Trump’s announcement.

London’s FTSE 100 dropped 2.9%, Tokyo’s Nikkei 225 sank 3.9% and the CAC 40 fell 3.3% in Paris. Chinese stocks were an outlier, and indexes rose 0.7% in Hong Kong and 1.3% in Shanghai.

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AP Business Writers Matt Ott and Elaine Kurtenbach contributed.

Notes: Eds: UPDATES: with close of US trading and headline change.

North Carolina furniture manufacturer: Business is great; Trump’s tariffs are one reason

HIGH POINT — Last fall, Chris Morris saw an opportunity in residential upholstery and decided to revise his business strategy to accommodate it.

With an eye on upholstery manufacturers seeking out a domestic, private-label partner, Morris created a plan to increase production for residential upholstery at his Vision Contract Manufacturing factory in . Less than a year since implementing the change, the North Carolina entrepreneur says he’s seen a significant increase in business.

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“We have experienced a spike with companies wanting to onshore,” said Morris. “If I had to put a percentage, I would say 25% increase since October 2024. But we will not see that business until after the spring market. A lot of recent customers are launching their new collections during the 2025 spring market.”

Morris said that the residential customers he is working with “tend to cater to the mid/upper market.” As a private-label manufacturer, he does not identify many of the companies he serves but does note a successful partnership with Eichholtz and four new collections planned for launch during the spring High Point Market.

“We also do a lot of motion , and our recliner and sleeper business are rapidly growing,” Morris said. “We work very closely with Ultra-Mek, who is a domestic mechanism manufacturer.”

Many of the companies interested in partnering with Morris are looking for a domestic manufacturer that is “scalable and affordable,” he said. The 200,000-square-foot facility has 12 dock doors and room for expansion, according to Morris.

Vision offers domestic, private label upholstery production.

“Depending on the product mix, we do between 100 and 125 units per day. With that stated, we are only using a third of our production capacity, and I feel we could double in a short time frame. In addition to our upholstery factory, we have a sister company that produces our framers and that factory is 100,000 square feet with 75 employees. We have four 3-axis and five 5-axis CNCs on site, including four finishing booths.”

Currently, Vision employs 50 people in production at the High Point facility. Morris said he could rapidly add 15 to 20 upholsterers and five to 10 more sewers as needed. The company is also expanding its product development department and currently has three full-time pattern makers and two frame designers.

“Made-to-order has also been a big part of my business,” Morris said. “Both Valdese and Crypton have great domestic stocking programs that allow our customers to utilize their fabric offerings without having to invest in heavy fabric inventory.”

As the countdown for the next High Point Market continues against a backdrop of uncertainty over reciprocal and the impact on the furniture industry, Morris said he is expecting his business to continue to grow, both in hospitality and residential.

“Hospitality is going great,” he said. “I tend to play in the mid/upper part of the hospitality industry. As of today, we are producing a 1,500-room property for Hilton in Orlando. With our largest customer, Great Wolf Lodge, we have four 500-room properties in the pipeline for 2025.”

Morris expects the residential category of his business to grow to two-thirds of the company’s sales volume by the end of 2025.

Vision’s CEO said there is room for expansion at the High Point factory.

“We have always done residential; it was just a smaller part of my overall business,” said Morris. “Before the tariffs, our biggest challenge was U.S. cost vs Asia/Mexico.

“I know people are not happy about the tariffs,” he concluded. “But the tariffs are helping my company grow and are responsible for creating jobs in our community. In short, my company is an example of what tariffs can do for domestic manufacturing. I have been getting inquiries from import companies that would have never given me the time of day a year ago.”