Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility

Peraton taps new chief security officer

Peraton last week announced that has appointed Christy Wilder as its .

In the role, Wilder will develop and execute comprehensive strategies, risk management and mitigation initiatives, incident response preparedness and enterprise safety protocols for the -based federal contractor. She succeeds Mike Londregan.

“ is emerging as a leading-edge technology company that continues to do exceptional work for its customers,” Wilder said in a statement. “I am proud to be part of this team and advance its missions of consequence.”

She previously served as an advisor to Peraton’s mission and health solutions sector, where she focused on identifying and implementing strategies to optimize Peraton’s services in securing the nation.

“We are pleased to welcome Christy to our team,” said Rebecca McHale, Peraton’s chief human resources officer in a statement. “Her exceptional track record of in both the public and private sectors, including her strategic contributions as an adviser to our company, makes her the perfect fit for this role. We are confident that her deep expertise in security, combined with her vision for the future, will continue to strengthen Peraton’s commitment to safeguarding our organization, partners, and customers. We look forward to the incredible impact she will have on our team.”

Before joining Peraton, Wilder founded Wilder and Associates, where she served as a strategic consultant for executives in the security field. Other previous roles include chief security officer at Maxar Technologies, vice president at Leidos, a deputy director of the Defense Counterintelligence and Security Agency, deputy director and chief of staff for the National Background Investigations Bureau, and principal adviser to the U.S. director of national intelligence.

“Peraton is emerging as a leading-edge technology company that continues to do exceptional work for its customers,” Wilder said in a statement. “I am proud to be part of this team and advance its missions of consequence.”

Wilder has a bachelor’s degree in psychology and a master’s degree in general and theoretical psychology, both from Appalachian State University in Boone, North Carolina.

Owned by Veritas Capital, Peraton purchased Chantilly-based IT contractor Perspecta and Northrop Grumman’s federal IT and mission support services businesses in 2021 for a total of $10.5 billion. In 2023, Peraton moved its headquarters from Herndon to Reston. The company has more than 18,000 employees,

Europe says that it holds a lot of trade cards on the eve of Trump’s tariff ‘Liberation Day’

BRUSSELS (AP) — A top European Union official warned the U.S. on Tuesday that the world’s biggest bloc “holds a lot of cards” when comes to dealing with the administration’s new and has a good plan to retaliate if forced to.

U.S. has promised to roll out taxes on imports from other countries on Wednesday. He says they will free the U.S. from reliance on foreign goods.

He’s vowed to impose “reciprocal” tariffs to match the duties that other countries charge on U.S. products, dubbing April 2 “Liberation Day.”

“ has not started this confrontation. We do not necessarily want to retaliate, but if it is necessary, we have a strong plan to retaliate and we will use it,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen told EU lawmakers.

The commission, the EU’s executive branch, negotiates trade deals on behalf of the bloc’s 27 member countries and manages trade disputes on their behalf.

“Europe holds a lot of cards, from trade to technology to the size of our market. But this strength is also built on our readiness to take firm counter measures if necessary. All instruments are on the table,” von der Leyen said, at a European Parliament session in Strasbourg, France.

The commission already intends to impose duties on U.S. goods worth some $28 billion in mid-April in response to Trump’s steel and aluminum tariffs. The EU duties will target steel and aluminum products, but also textiles, home appliances and farm goods.

A lot remains unknown about how Trump’s levies will actually be implemented, notably the “reciprocal” tariffs, and the EU wants to assess their impact before taking retaliatory action.

“So many Europeans feel utterly disheartened by the announcement from the United States,” von der Leyen said. “This is the largest and most prosperous trade relationship worldwide. We would all be better off if we could find a constructive solution.”

No batteries? Thinner packaging? US businesses look for ways to offset tariffs

NEW YORK (AP) — Gadgets sold without batteries. Toys sold in slimmed-down boxes or no packaging at all. More household goods that shoppers need to assemble themselves.

These are some of the ways consumer product companies are retooling their wares to reduce costs and avoid raising prices as President Donald Trump levies new import on key trading partners as well as some materials used by American manufacturers.

The economic environment in which the president has imposed, threatened and occasionally postponed repeated rounds of is more precarious than during his first term. U.S. consumers are feeling tapped out after several years of inflation. Businesses say tariffs add to their expenses and eat into their profits, but they are wary of losing sales if they try to pass all of the increase on to customers.

Instead, some companies are exploring cost-cutting options, both ones that consumers likely would notice in time — remember “shrinkflation?” — and ones that exist too far down the supply for them to see. The changes may help minimize price increases yet won’t be enough in every case to offset them completely.

These are some of the strategies retailers and brands have in mind:

A kink in the supply chain:

After putting an extra 20% tariff on all goods from , as well as a 25% tariff on imported steel, aluminum and automobiles, said he would announce on Wednesday the targets of “reciprocal tariffs” that mirror the taxes all other nations apply to certain U.S. .

He argues the tariffs will spur domestic manufacturing, among other goals.

Also on the horizon: twice-delayed tariffs on most goods from Canada and Mexico, and duties on copper, lumber and pharmaceutical drugs.

Kimberly Kirkendall, president of supply-chain consulting firm International Resource Development, has told clients — U.S. makers of shelving, home goods and food products — that given all the uncertainty, this is not the time for long-term moves like seeking factories outside of China.

She encouraged them to focus on the short term, particularly the need to scrutinize product lines from every angle for possible savings.

“You’ve got to collaborate and work together with your suppliers in this situation to be able to bring costs down,” Kirkendall said.

Sourcing concerns are not only a worry for big companies that rely on Chinese manufacturers. Sasha Iglehart, founder of a small online clothing company called Shirt Story, has a collection of upcycled men’s shirts that sell for around $235. She said she typically gets her vintage buttons from an Austrian supplier and knows Trump has talked about taxing goods from the European Union.

“I will continue to look for local vendors and collectors here in the States as back up,” said Iglehart, whose company is based in Connecticut.

Reworking a product

For many companies, evaluating which components or details they can remove from their products or replace with less expensive ones is the go-to move for absorbing the potential financial hit from tariffs.

Los Angeles-based toy company Abacus Brands Inc., which designs science kits and other educational toys, has most of its products made in China. By using slightly thinner paper in an 80-page project book that comes with two of its kits, the company expects to avert a $10 price increase, President Steve Rad said.

“Three or 4 cents here,” Rad said. “Seven or 6 cents there. Two more pennies over there. All of a sudden, you’ve made up the difference.”

Aurora World Inc., known for its plush pets and toy vehicles, is looking at using fewer paint colors as a way to counteract tariff costs, according to Gabe Higa, managing director of the California company’s toy division. All of Aurora World’s toys come from factories in China.

“This is something that makes a little bit simpler so that there’s less manual labor involved or less material cost,” Higa said. “(It) doesn’t have a lot of incremental value so it’s easy to take away.”

The company still may have to raise prices as long as the new tariffs are in effect, he said.

Economy packaging:

Tweaking or reducing product packaging is another area where importers may cut back and carries the advantage of possibly appealing to eco-conscious customers.

Basic Fun Jay Foreman, whose company markets classic toys like Tonka trucks, Lincoln Logs and Care Bears, said he is presenting retailers with three different packaging options and asking them to decide which ones they prefer for the trucks and some other products that will be in stores next spring.

The first is the current packaging, which consists of a box with a big open window that lets customers see what’s inside. The second option: no box, just a tray attached to the bottom of toys to hold them in place on shelves. The third: unwrapped but affixed with a simple paper price tag that features brand information.

The second-tier packaging would reduce the toy company’s cost per item by $1.25, and the package-free version would yield savings of $1.75, Foreman said. Both would diminish the appeal of the products and would not come close to canceling out the tariff on goods made in China, Foreman said.

He said he would make pricing decisions later this week after Trump provides details about his planned reciprocal tariffs.

To further reduce its production costs, Abacus Brands is thinking of switching from plastic to cardboard for the package inserts that keep toy parts in place. Cardboard trays cost 7 cents per unit compared to 30 cents for the plastic version, according to Rad.

The change requires finding a new factory to make the inserts, a move that did not make financial sense before now, he said. The various tariff-related modifications should be effective for fall and holiday deliveries to stores, Rad said.

“The compromises we’re making are things that do not matter to the consumer,” he said.

Forget the extras

Shoppers will likely have to assemble more of their products at home as companies look to reduce costs, according to Kirkendall of International Resource Development.

One of her clients manufactures self-watering planters that are made in China. The product is undergoing a redesign so it can be shipped as separate nesting components instead of fully assembled.

Companies also are reevaluating the pieces of their products that are essential or extra. Chris Bajda, managing partner at online wedding gift retailer Groomsday, said accessories like batteries and decorative gift boxes may end up in the latter category.

“We now carefully assess what’s truly necessary and avoid including items that don’t serve a functional purpose for the customer,” Bajda said.

The return of shrinkflation?

Reducing the size or weight of products without lowering prices proliferated as a business practice from 2021 through 2024 as companies grappled with rising costs for ingredients, packaging, labor and transportation.

Edgar Dworsky, a consumer advocate and former assistant attorney general in Massachusetts, suspects the makers of consumer goods will embrace shrinkflation again to hide costs given the blast of new tariffs. The additional import tax on Canadian soft lumber, for example, might show up in smaller toilet paper rolls, he said.

“Shrinkflation has been a little quiet” in the last few months, Dworksy said. “But I would expect to see both price increases and product shrinkage.”

Restaurant chain Hooters goes bust and files for bankruptcy protection

Hooters is going bust.

The U.S. , known for chicken wings and its skimpy “Hooters Girls” wait-staff outfits, has filed for protection. HOA Restaurant Group filed the motion for Chapter 11 protection Monday in the North Texas Bankruptcy Court in Dallas.

‘s the latest legacy restaurant to run into financial trouble amid high food and labor prices, changing customer tastes and growing competition from newer casual chains like Shake Shack.

Red Lobster, TGI Fridays and Buca di Beppo all filed for bankruptcy protection last year, while the Tex-Mex chain On the Border filed for bankruptcy protection last month.

Under the bankruptcy plan, 100 company-owned U.S. would get sold to a group of Hooters franchisees. The franchisees, who include Hooters’ founders, currently operate 14 of the 30 highest-volume Hooters restaurants in the U.S., the company said.

“For many years now, the Hooters brand has been owned by private equity firms and other groups with no history or experience with the Hooters brand,” Neil Kiefer, of the group Hooters Inc., said in a statement. “As a result of these transactions, the Hooters brand will once again be in the hands of highly experienced Hooters franchisees and we will be well-positioned to return this iconic brand to its historic success.”

Hooters said franchisees or licensing partners would continue to operate all existing locations, including those outside the U.S. There are more than 420 Hooters restaurants in 29 countries.

Hooters, based in Atlanta, Georgia, was founded in Clearwater, Florida, in 1983 by six businessmen with no food service experience who claimed they wanted to run a restaurant they couldn’t get kicked out of.

But its business strategy has faced challenges over the years, including lawsuits over hiring only “Hooters Girls” to serve customers. In 2017, the company tried opening a restaurant that didn’t feature servers in tight tops as a test of a different approach to its original concept.

Last year, Hooters agreed to pay $250,000 to settle a race and color discrimination lawsuit brought by the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission. According to the lawsuit, a Hooters in North Carolina laid off 43 employees during the COVID pandemic, but recalled primarily white employees and Black employees with lighter skin tones once it began rehiring workers.

The company has also been forced to scale back as its financial woes mounted. In 2019, the Hooters hotel-casino off the Las Vegas Strip was sold to an Indian hotel company and rebranded as the OYO Hotel and Casino. Last year, the company closed around 40 underperforming U.S. locations.

Hooters had sponsored the No. 9 NASCAR car driven by Chase Elliott since 2017, but last year, Hendrick Motorsports ended its ties to the longtime sponsor because it was not meeting its financial commitments.

___

Elaine Kurtenbach reported from Bangkok. Dee-Ann Durbin reported from Detroit.

Federal prosecutors to seek death penalty for Luigi Mangione in UnitedHealthcare CEO’s killing

NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi said Tuesday that she has directed prosecutors to seek the death penalty against Luigi Mangione, the man accused of gunning down UnitedHealthcare CEO Brian Thompson, following through on the president’s campaign promise to vigorously pursue capital punishment.

is the first time the Justice Department has sought to bring the death penalty since President Donald returned to office in January with a vow to resume federal executions. Bondi’s decision to do so in the high-profile case against Mangione, who has drawn a following of supporters upset with the health care industry, underscores the attorney general’s commitment to carrying out the president’s push for new death penalty cases.

Trump oversaw an unprecedented run of executions at the end of his first term and has been an outspoken proponent of expanding capital punishment. Bondi’s order comes weeks after she lifted a moratorium on the federal death penalty that that had been imposed under former President Joe Biden’s administration.

“‘s of Brian Thompson — an innocent man and father of two young children — was a premeditated, cold-blooded assassination that shocked America,” Bondi said in a statement that described Thompson’s as “an act of political violence.”

Mangione, a 26-year-old Ivy League graduate, is accused of gunning down Thompson in December outside a Manhattan hotel where was about to hold an investor conference. Thompson, who was 50 and had two children in high school, worked for decades within UnitedHealthcare and its parent company.

Mangione, faces separate federal and state murder charges for the killing, which rattled the business community while galvanizing health critics. The federal charges include murder through use of a firearm, which carries the possibility of the death penalty. The state charges carry a maximum punishment of life in prison. Mangione has pleaded not guilty to a state indictment and has not entered a plea to the federal charges.

Prosecutors have said the two cases will proceed on parallel tracks, with the state case expected to go to trial first. It wasn’t immediately clear if Bondi’s announcement will change the order.

A message seeking comment was left for a spokesperson for Mangione’s .

Thompson’s killing alarmed the corporate world, where some health insurers hastily switched to remote work or online shareholder meetings. The case also channeled some Americans’ frustrations with health insurance companies. Mangione’s writings and words on bullets recovered from the scene reflected animus toward health insurers and corporate America, authorities have said.

Surveillance video showed a masked gunman shooting Thompson from behind. Police say the words “delay,” “deny” and “depose” were scrawled on the ammunition, mimicking a phrase commonly used to describe insurer tactics to avoid paying claims.

Mangione was arrested in Altoona, Pennsylvania, about 230 miles (about 370 kilometers) west of New York City, after a five-day manhunt.

Police said Mangione had with him a 9mm handgun that matched the one used in the shooting and other items including a fake ID and a notebook described by authorities as a “manifesto” in which they say he expressed hostility toward the health insurance industry and wealthy executives.

Among the entries in the notebook, prosecutors said, was one from August 2024 that said “the target is insurance” because “it checks every box” and one from October that describes an intent to “wack” an insurance company .

UnitedHealthcare is the largest health insurer in the U.S., though the company said Mangione was never a client.

Mangione’s lawyer, Karen Friedman-Agnifilo, has said she would seek to suppress some of the evidence seized during his arrest. She has also taken issue with the parallel prosecutions, accusing “warring jurisdictions” of turning Mangione into a “human ping-pong ball.”

After his arrest, Mangione was whisked by plane and helicopter back to New York and walked slowly up a Manhattan pier in a highly choreographed spectacle by a throng of officers with assault rifles and a contingent that included New York City Mayor Eric Adams.

Trump signed an executive order on his first day back in office on Jan. 20 that compels the Justice Department to seek the death penalty in federal cases where applicable. Trump’s administration carried out 13 federal executions during his first term, more than under any president in modern history.

Biden campaigned on a pledge to work toward abolishing federal capital punishment but took no major steps to that end. While Attorney General Merrick Garland halted federal executions in 2021, Biden’s Justice Department at the same time fought vigorously to maintain the sentences of death row inmates in many cases.

In his final weeks in office, Biden commuted the sentences of 37 of the 40 on federal death row, converting their punishments to life in prison. The three inmates that remain are Dylann Roof, who carried out the 2015 racist slayings of nine Black members of Mother Emanuel AME Church in Charleston, South Carolina; 2013 Boston Marathon bomber Dzhokhar Tsarnaev; and Robert Bowers, who fatally shot 11 congregants at Pittsburgh’s Tree of Life synagogue in 2018, the deadliest antisemitic attack in U.S history.

If Trump tariffs linger, Va. maritime industry will feel pain, experts say

With ‘s self-branded “Liberation Day” anticipated to bring a rollout of new April 2 that Trump says will free the United States of dependence on foreign-made goods, many businesses and citizens are wondering what will happen next, with skyrocketing consumer prices and supply costs among their worries.

On Monday, the president said he had settled on a plan for his latest group of tariffs but did not offer specifics. As of April 1, Trump has imposed 25% levies on imported steel and aluminum, and increased tariffs on Chinese-made goods by 10%. He placed 25% tariffs on goods from Mexico and but quickly suspended those actions, and on March 26, Trump said he would impose 25% tariffs on imported automobiles and parts, set to go into effect April 3.

In Virginia, concerns about tariffs extend to the state’s significant industry. According to the Port of Virginia’s 2024 annual financial report, port-related business directly and indirectly contributes to Virginia’s economy with more than 565,000 jobs, $124.1 billion in total spending and $5.8 billion in state and local tax revenues.

‘s Brett Massimino, associate professor of supply chain and analytics in VCU’s business school, and Suffolk-based President and General Manager Donald Mills recently shared their thoughts on Trump’s war and the potential impact of U.S. and retaliatory tariffs on Virginia’s maritime, and supply chain industries.

For more from Massimino, Mills and other Virginia maritime leaders, look for Virginia Business’ annual Virginia Maritime Guide coming out in May.

Virginia Business: There’s been a lot of talk about tariffs since January, but ‘s not clear what their impact could be. Do you expect tariffs from the Trump administration, as well as retaliatory tariffs from other countries, to affect Virginia’s supply chain and logistics businesses?

Brett Massimino: If the tariffs and retaliatory measures in place as of this writing remain permanent (which is a big if), then yes, I believe Virginia’s supply chain and logistics businesses will experience significant impacts. Importing costs would likely increase, and the complexity of cost accounting and tracking would also rise, leading to higher indirect costs for imports.

However, the losses in the maritime industry due to reduced imports and exports could be partially offset by growth in domestic transportation modes, such as rail and trucking, as demand for these services increases. Overall, however, I would expect an increase in costs throughout the supply chain as a result of the tariffs, regardless of whether production is ultimately relocated.

VB: Would long-term tariffs impact jobs in the maritime industry?

Massimino: Recent tariffs could also affect the maritime logistics industry by reducing import activity. If the tariffs successfully shift manufacturing to the U.S., demand for imports may decline, leading to fewer jobs for port workers, route planners and sailors. Although the long-term effects of tariffs remain uncertain, they could significantly impact the maritime job market.

VB: How would tariffs affect your company if they are long-term?

Donald Mills: Long-term tariffs and retaliatory tariffs present substantial risks to Mills Marine & Ship Repair by significantly impacting material costs, supply chain reliability, and overall competitiveness. Our operations depend heavily on imported steel, aluminum, and specialty marine components, making us particularly vulnerable to tariff-driven price increases. Sustained tariffs would force us to absorb increased material expenses, compromising profitability, or alternatively, pass these costs onto customers, potentially reducing our market competitiveness.

To mitigate these potential impacts, we actively pursue diversified sourcing strategies, domestic supply chain enhancements and increased operational efficiencies. Advocacy for trade policies favorable to small businesses remains essential. Ultimately, prolonged tariffs necessitate strategic adaptability, underscoring our commitment to innovative operational management and proactive engagement with policymakers to safeguard our business and broader maritime economic contributions.

Stock market today: More swerves hit Wall Street as Trump’s “Liberation Day” nears

NEW YORK (AP) — U.S. stocks are swerving through another shaky day of trading Tuesday, with uncertainty still high about just what President Donald Trump will announce about on his “Liberation Day” coming Wednesday.

The S&P 500 was down by 0.2% in afternoon trading after trimming an early drop of 1%. The Dow Jones Industrial Average was down 200 points, or 0.5%, as of 2:04 p.m. Eastern time, paring some of a morning loss of 480 points. The Nasdaq composite was 0.1% higher.

has been particularly shaky recently, and momentum has been swinging not just day to day but also hour to hour because of uncertainty about what Trump will do with tariffs — and by how much they will worsen inflation and grind down growth for economies. On Monday, for example, the S&P 500 careened from an early loss of 1.7% to a gain of 0.6%.

Tesla helped cushion the market’s stumble after climbing 5.2%. That, though, clawed back just a small portion of the -vehicle maker’s steep losses this year, and ‘s still down by nearly a third for 2025 so far.

Elon Musk’s company is expected to report on Wednesday how many vehicles it delivered during the first three months of the year, and worries have grown about a potential backlash from customers. Protestors have been swarming Tesla showrooms due to anger about Musk’s leading the U.S. government’s efforts to cut spending.

PVH jumped 17.7% after the company behind the Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger brands reported a stronger profit for the latest quarter than analysts expected. It also said it plans to send $500 million to shareholders this year through purchases of its own .

In the bond market, Treasury yields sank immediately after a report said U.S. manufacturing activity contracted last month, breaking a two-month streak of growth. A separate report said U.S. employers were advertising slightly fewer job openings at the end of February than economists expected.

Companies are saying they’re already feeling effects from Trump’s , even with the main event potentially coming on Wednesday, when the president will announce a sweeping set of tariffs.

“Customers are pulling in orders due to anxiety about continued tariffs and pricing pressures,” one computer and electronic products company told the Institute for Supply Management in its monthly manufacturers’ survey.

“Starting to see slower-than-normal sales in , and concerns of Canadians boycotting U.S. products could become a reality,” a manufacturer in the food, beverage and tobacco products industry said in the ISM’s survey.

The economy is still growing, to be sure, and the job market has remained relatively solid even with February’s slightly weaker-than-expected job openings.

But one of the fears hitting the market is that even if Trump announces less-punishing tariffs than feared, the stop-and-start rollout of his strategy may by itself cause U.S. households and businesses to freeze their spending, which would damage the economy. Trump has pushed for tariffs in part to bring manufacturing jobs back to the United States from other countries.

All the nervousness in the market has helped push the price of gold to records, and it briefly topped $3,175 per ounce before turning slightly lower. That’s up from less than $2,700 at the start of the year.

On Wall Street, Johnson & Johnson dropped 6.2% after a U.S. bankruptcy court judge denied the company’s settlement plan related to baby powder containing talc. It’s the third time the company’s attempt to resolve the baby powder settlement through has been rejected by courts.

Airline stocks continued their descent on worries that customers feeling nervous about the economy and global trade won’t fly as much. Delta Air Lines lost 3.8%, and United Airlines gave up 3.2%.

In stock markets abroad, indexes rose across much of and Asia to recover some of their sharp drops from the day before.

In Europe, Germany’s DAX returned 1.7%, and France’s CAC 40 rose 1.1% after European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said the world’s biggest trade bloc would not cower in the face of U.S. trade demands.

“Europe holds a lot of cards, from trade to technology to the size of our market. But this strength is also built on our readiness to take firm counter measures if necessary,” von der Leyen said. “All instruments are on the table.”

In Japan, the Nikkei 225 held steady as Prime Minister Shigeru Ishiba said he was imploring Trump not to impose higher auto tariffs on Japan, a longtime U.S. ally. A central bank survey found a worsening in business sentiment among big manufacturers.

In the bond market, the yield on the 10-year Treasury fell to 4.15% from 4.23% late Monday and from roughly 4.80% in January. That’s a significant move for the bond market, and yields have been falling with worries about a potentially slowing U.S. economy.

___

AP Business Writers Matt Ott and Elaine Kurtenbach contributed.

Dominion Energy proposes hefty rate hikes

Fortune 500 utility is proposing a fuel rate increase and additional base rate increases which, if approved, could raise monthly power bills for average residential customers by as much as $21.43 by 2027.

The -based utility proposed new base and fuel in separate filings with the Virginia on Monday. If approved, the proposed $10.92 monthly fuel rate increase for a typical residential customer would take effect on July 1. Meanwhile, the company is proposing a base rate increase of $8.51 per month starting Jan. 1, 2026, and an additional $2.00 per month starting Jan. 1, 2027, for a typical residential customer.

The current monthly bill for a typical residential customer is $140. In 2027, if the new rates are approved, the typical monthly bill would rise to $161.43 — a 15.3% increase from the current bill.

The rate hikes would mark the company’s first increase in base rates since 1992.

Dominion says that the proposed rates reflect the increased cost of labor, materials and equipment, power capacity and fuel, as well as grid upgrades to reliably serve customer growth.

“We’re focused on providing exceptional value for our customers every single day,” said Ed Baine, president of utility operations and Dominion Virginia, in a statement. “Outside of major storms, we deliver uninterrupted power 99.9% of the time, and we’re significantly reducing storm-related outages as well. This proposal allows us to continue investing in reliability and to serve our customers’ growing needs.”

According to Dominion, the request reflects “significant inflationary pressures since 2023.” In the past decade, the utility’s residential rates have increased at a rate approximately 40% lower than the rate of inflation.

“We know our customers are feeling the impact of inflation in other areas of their lives, and some of our customers may need assistance with their power bills,” Baine said in a statement, citing Dominion’s EnergyShare bill assistance program, which includes free home energy efficiency upgrades for eligible participants.

Part of the fuel cost increase Dominion cited is due to a scheduled expiration of a $3.99 fuel credit. Other factors include extended cold weather in January and higher forecasted fuel commodity prices.

The company is proposing to move power capacity costs from the base rate to the annual fuel rate to promote rate stability. These power capacity costs are set by regional electric grid operator PJM and assigned to Dominion.

Dominion is also proposing a new rate class for high energy users, including , which are projected to quadruple their energy demand in Virginia by 2040. The company also proposes new consumer protections to ensure these customers continue to pay the full cost of their service and other customers are protected from stranded costs.

Under the proposal, Dominion says high energy users would be required to make a 14-year commitment to pay for their requested power – even if they end up using less.

Dominion provides regulated electricity service to 3.6 million homes and businesses in Virginia, North Carolina and South Carolina, and regulated natural gas service to 500,000 customers in South Carolina.

Atlantic Union completes $1.3B Sandy Spring purchase

Atlantic Union Bankshares has completed its $1.3 billion of Sandy Spring Bancorp, according to a Tuesday announcement by the parent company of .

Each share of Sandy Spring common was converted into the right to receive 0.9 shares of Atlantic Union common stock, with cash paid in lieu of fractional shares. The closing price of Atlantic Union common stock on Monday was $31.14, so the aggregate transaction value was about $1.3 billion.

“By bringing together the No. 1 regional bank in Virginia and the No. 1 regional bank in Maryland, we’ve created something that’s never existed before and establishes Atlantic Union as the preeminent regional bank, with Virginia as its linchpin, that spans the lower mid-Atlantic into the Southeast,” Atlantic Union President and John C. Asbury said in a statement.

Before merger-related adjustments, the new combined Atlantic Union has $38.7 billion in total assets, $32.1 billion in total deposits and $30 billion in total loans held for investment.

As of Dec. 31, 2024, had more than 50 locations across Virginia, Maryland and Washington, D.C., and Atlantic Union Bank had 129 branches across Virginia and parts of Maryland and North Carolina.

Shareholders of and stockholders of Sandy Spring Bancorp approved the merger, which was announced in October 2024, in separate special meetings in February.

Mona Abutaleb Stephenson and Mark C. Micklem, members of the Sandy Spring board,  and Daniel J. Schrider, president and CEO of Sandy Spring, have been appointed to the boards of Atlantic Union and Atlanta Union Bank.

Hunton Andrews Kurth announces new leaders

A new generation of leadership is emerging at .

The firm on Tuesday announced several leadership appointments, all of which became effective April 1. Hunton has about 850 attorneys firmwide and 18 offices around the globe, with its largest office in . It is the third largest law firm headquartered in Virginia.

Hunton’s structured partner, Rudene Haynes, has become the Richmond office’s managing partner. Haynes said the new appointments reward the hard work of who have been at the firm for most, if not all, their careers.

Haynes has worked at the firm since 1999, when it was known as Hunton & Williams. Hunton & Williams merged in 2018 with Andrews Kurth Kenyon, a Texas-based practice focused on the oil and gas industry, creating Hunton Andrews Kurth.

“I could have never imagined when I first walked in Hunton many years ago that I would even be asked to serve in this role,” Haynes said. “So, for me, this is like a dream because I care so much about this place.”

Haynes has been heavily involved in numerous boards and community affiliations during her time with the firm. She’s a founding member and secretary of Richmond & Henrico Public Health Foundation’s board of directors, a member of Hunton’s executive committee, a member of the Advisory Board of ‘s Massey Cancer Center, inaugural chair of the VCU Massey Cancer Center Coalition and trustee of the Richmond Memorial Health Foundation. She is also a member of the firm’s executive committee and a firmwide co-hiring partner.

She said she always wanted to be the Richmond office’s managing partner. Some of her goals in the role are to improve staff connectivity, foster a welcoming environment for new attorneys, build the firm’s brand and raise the visibility of the firm’s partners and associates. When discussing her vision for the office, Haynes said she’s “all about community engagement” and wants to encourage employees to be more active in the community outside of the firm, getting involved in charitable organizations, community organizations and bar organizations.

“I know some people think it’s a thankless job, but for me, I feel like being in that role sort of makes you sort of the ambassador for the firm — you’re the face of the firm,” Haynes said. “When they think of Hunton, they think of you, and that’s something I’ve always wanted to do. I feel like I also have the ability to inspire people, to get them excited about coming to work, and remembering why it is they said that they wanted to join Hunton in the first place.”

Haynes replaces Doug Granger as the managing partner, a position he had served in since 2017. Granger will be with the firm for her entire first year to ensure a seamless transition and to provide support, she said.

Mergers and Acquisitions partner Steve Haas, has become a co-head of Hunton’s corporate team. Photo Courtesy Hunton Andrews Kurth

Mergers and Acquisitions partner Steve Haas has become a co-head of the firm’s corporate team. Haas has been with Hunton for about two decades. He joined the firm’s Richmond office right out of law school in 2004 and worked there a year before briefly leaving for two years to practice corporate law in Delaware. He rejoined Hunton in 2007 and has stayed with the firm ever since. Since 2017, Haas has served as co-head of the firm’s practice.

He said the new role as co-head of the corporate team is an “umbrella” overseeing numerous of the firm’s practices, including the mergers and acquisitions group, the private equity practice, the capital markets and securities practice and its privacy practice and outsourcing practice.

“It’s very much an honor to be selected for firm leadership positions,” Haas said. “It’s also a significant responsibility. It’s obviously a lot of administrative work. You know, law firms are complex businesses and they require a lot of administrative work to make sure that we operate. But it’s also significant in terms of setting strategy and making sure that we’re recruiting and retaining talent. So there’s a lot that goes into it.”

He said one of his main goals is ensuring Hunton retains its position as “a destination practice for corporate law in Virginia and beyond.”

“I think some of the challenges facing law firms right now that we’ll have to confront is artificial intelligence and then the increasing demands for recruiting exceptionally talented ,” he said. “Because the future of any law firm is rooted in its talent pool, right — in the young lawyers. Making sure that we’re attracting bright, ambitious lawyers, and then we’re training them, and we’re creating opportunities for them to become partners in the future.”

Haas also serves as chair of the American Bar Association’s Corporate Laws Committee, is a fellow in the American College of Governance Counsel and was elected to the American Law Institute in 2021.

Jamie Head became leader of the Hunton’s and infrastructure team. Photo Courtesy Hunton Andrews Kurth

Jamie Head, who has experience on large-scale infrastructure developments and public-private partnerships around the world, became head of the firm’s energy and infrastructure team. He’s succeeding Jeff Schroeder who led the team since 2011 and remains with the firm. Head said he’s “extremely proud” to be entrusted with the new position.

In his new role, Head will be organizing the lawyers overseeing clients in the energy and infrastructure space. He said about 100 lawyers at the firm are focused on energy and infrastructure all over the globe and that the leader of that group is “mainly herding cats” to get the partners to work together.

“I mean, so we’re a partnership and a true partnership in the sense that we support each other’s initiatives and strategies for growing our own practices,” he said. “But in the end, there’s not a whole lot of heavy management. That’s not the nature of the role of being the head of a group. It’s largely to help facilitate coordination and collegiality and, when appropriate, to figure out how to focus on acquisitions of other lawyers where we have gaps, as well as to push our partners towards the work that the firm wants to be doing. That strategically makes sense.”

Head said that representing clients working on energy and infrastructure has always been a core part of Hunton’s identity, and five years from now, it should “still be a preeminent law firm in that space,” helping clients achieve their business goals and adapt and work within an evolving energy landscape.

Head was a summer associate in the Richmond office in the summer of 2004 and the summer of 2005. He then served in the United States Navy in Iraq, Washington State, and Washington D.C. as a judge advocate and then rejoined the firm in 2011 after resigning his commission.

He worked and Hunton’s Richmond office from 2011-2015, briefly left for a stint at another company — chief operating officer and general counsel of a Virginia-based American company called Alton Lane — and then returned to Hunton in 2016 to work at its London Office. Head has been at the Hunton Richmond office since 2019.

John Delionado, a litigation partner and former assistant United States attorney, has become Hunton’s Miami office managing partner, succeeding Juan Enjamio, who led that office since 2012. Delionado joined the Miami office in 2005 and has held a number of leadership roles concentrating on recruitment and mentorship, including serving as the Miami hiring partner and serving on the firm’s associates committee. Meanwhile, Deidre Duncan has become head of the firm’s administrative law group. Duncan led the firm’s environmental practice since 2017 and focuses her practice on permitting, compliance and litigation relating to environmental statutes. Duncan assumed the position from Eric Murdock.

“We are honored to announce these new leadership appointments,” said Hunton managing partner Sam Danon in a statement. “Each of these individuals brings a wealth of experience, dedication and vision to their roles, and will continue to drive the firm forward, further enhancing our ability to serve to our clients and communities with distinction.”