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Smithfield Foods to pay $2M to settle child labor claims

A subsidiary of Virginia-based Foods has agreed to pay $2 million to settle allegations it hired children to work at a meat packaging plant in .

According to the Minnesota Department of and Industry, Smithfield’s operation in Minnesota allegedly employed at least 11 children between the ages of 14 and 17 during the audit period of April 2021 through April 2023, three of whom started working for Smithfield when they were 14.

All 11 children “performed hazardous work for Smithfield, including: working near chemicals or other hazardous substances; operating -driven machinery, including meat grinders, slicers and power-driven conveyor belts; and operating nonautomatic elevators, lifts or hoisting machines, including motorized pallet jacks and lift pallet jacks,” the department said in a Nov. 14 news release.

Nine of the children are alleged to have worked at night after the hours allowed by state law, according to the news release. Smithfield Packaged Meats is located in St. James, Minnesota, southwest of Minneapolis. Smithfield agreed to pay the $2 million within 30 days of the consent order.

“It is unacceptable for a company to employ minor children to perform hazardous work late at night. This illegal behavior impacts children’s , safety and well-being and their ability to focus on their education and their future. Combating unlawful in Minnesota is a priority for DLI and it will continue to devote resources to addressing and resolving these violations,” Minnesota DLI Commissioner Nicole Blissenbach said in a statement. “DLI’s resolution with Smithfield sends a strong message to employers, including in the meat processing industry, that child labor violations will not be tolerated in Minnesota.”

Smithfield issued a statement Thursday: “Smithfield contested DLI’s claims and denies that we knowingly hired anyone under the age of 18 to work in our St. James facility. We have not admitted liability as part of this ; however, in the interest of preventing the distraction of prolonged litigation, we have agreed to settle this matter.”

According to Smithfield, it screens all new hires through E-Verify, the federal system that validates hiring eligibility of U.S. citizens and noncitizens based on records available to the Department of Homeland Security and the Social Security Administration.

“Each of the 11 alleged underage individuals passed the E-Verify system by using false identification,” Smithfield said. “Each used a different name to obtain employment with Smithfield than the name by which DLI identified them to Smithfield.”

The company says it has taken steps to enforce prohibition of the employment of minors, including additional signage, HR training, and inspection protocols for temporary workers and employees of third-party sanitation contractors.

The largest producer in the United States, Smithfield has about 35,000 employees nationwide, according to a company spokesperson.

In Virginia, the U.S. Department of Labor announced in September 2023 it was investigating Perdue Farms and Tyson Foods facilities in Accomack County on the Eastern Shore over allegations of child labor violations recounted in a New York Times story last year. It appeared to be the first time that the federal agency had attempted to hold companies liable for alleged child labor violations by a subcontractor. A Department of Labor spokesperson said Friday that the investigations are still open.

According to the Times story, a 14-year-old Guatemalan boy’s arm was permanently injured in a 2022 conveyor belt incident at a Perdue plant in Accomack, where he was hired to work by a cleaning contractor. In May, a federal court approved a consent order between Fayette Industrial, a cleaning contractor that was contracted for overnight sanitation shifts in Perdue’s plants in Accomack, and the federal Department of Labor, with nearly $650,000 in penalties.

Specialty coils manufacturer to expand in Chesterfield

Super Radiator Coils, an and company based in , will invest $22 million to expand in County, creating an estimated 160 jobs, Gov. ‘s office announced Friday.

The company will upgrade machinery and add about 80,000 square feet to its existing approximately 160,000-square-foot facility at 451 Southlake Blvd.

The plant has about 400 employees, and the 160 new jobs will be office and shop positions, according to company vice president Matt Holland, who runs its Richmond division. Office positions include engineering, management and supervision, procurement and administrative roles, and shop manufacturing positions include equipment operators, welders, brazers and entry-level assembly roles.

Super Radiator Coils has previously expanded the Chesterfield facility three times, most recently in 2022. The company announced its most recent expansion, representing a $9 million investment, in March 2021.

“This expansion builds on a 44-year history of Super Radiator Coils in the commonwealth and strengthens Virginia’s position as a leader in advanced manufacturing,” Youngkin said in a statement.

Super Radiator Coils manufactures heat exchangers and specialty coils for generation, commercial and industrial HVAC, data center cooling, military and other industrial uses.

“I’m hugely proud of the growth of our Chesterfield facility over the last 40-plus years,” Super Radiator Coils President and CEO Rob Holt said in a statement. “And this latest expansion will allow us to continue our mission of unleashing the power of thermodynamics to improve our world. … We take our role as a growing Central Virginia employer seriously and can’t wait to see the impact of this latest growth.”

The company has two other manufacturing facilities — one in Chaska, Minnesota, and one in Phoenix. Virginia competed with Minnesota and Arizona for the expansion project, according to a news release.

The Virginia Partnership worked with to secure the project. Youngkin approved a $610,000 grant from the Commonwealth’s Opportunity Fund to assist the county. will support Super Radiator Coils through the Virginia Talent Accelerator Program, a collaboration between VEDP and the Virginia Community College System that provides free customizable recruitment and training services.

Paragon Systems fined $52M for alleged fraud

Herndon-based agreed Tuesday to pay $52 million to resolve allegations by the U.S. that Paragon used its own subsidiaries to fraudulently win set-aside contracts, violating the federal False Claims and Anti- acts.

The company is one of the federal government’s largest providers of security, fire and emergency response and mission support services, according to the U.S. Department of Justice’s news release, and former top officials at Paragon allegedly directed female relatives and friends to “serve as figurehead owners of purported small businesses” to win set-aside contracts from the Department of Homeland Security that were meant to go to woman-owned small businesses and service-disabled veteran-owned small businesses, as well as other types of small businesses.

In 2020, Securitas Critical Infrastructure Services (SCIS) rebranded under its subsidiary Paragon Systems’ name. Paragon is a subsidiary of the Swedish security giant Securitas, which announced in September it had set a provision of $53 million to pay the costs.

“The investigation relates to alleged misconduct by certain former employees and to Paragon’s relationship with various small business entities which were a direct or indirect party to contracts with the U.S. government starting around 2012,” Securitas said in a statement then. “Paragon is cooperating fully with the investigation.” According to a news release Thursday, the settlement will be paid throughout 2025.

In the alleged scheme, Paragon executives controlled Maryland-based limited liability companies Athena Services International and Athena Joint Venture Services, and these purported small businesses “surreptitiously paid substantial sums of money” — more than 300 payments totaling more than $11 million — as “consulting payments” to the former Paragon executives.

According to the DOJ, Paragon’s president, vice president of business development, vice president of operations, compliance manager and contracts manager were allegedly involved.

“Those who fraudulently procure, or assist others to fraudulently procure, small business set-aside contracts will be held accountable,” Principal Deputy Assistant Attorney General Brian M. Boynton, head of the Justice Department’s Civil Division, said in a statement. “When ineligible companies obtain contracts reserved for veteran owned or socially or economically disadvantaged businesses, they prevent the small business community from receiving the contracting opportunities that Congress intended.”

Athena Services International and Athena Joint Venture Services and their owner, Alisa Silverman, along with Paragon, agreed to pay more than $1.6 million to resolve their liability, as well as the allegations that ASI improperly received a Paycheck Protection Program loan that was forgiven in full. The DOJ filed a complaint against another purported small business, Patronus Systems, and its owner, Mabel O’Quinn, the news release said.

“This settlement is the largest civil recovery in over a decade by the Department of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General (DHS-OIG),” DHS Inspector General Joseph V. Cuffari said. “The settlement sends a clear message that the federal government will continue to investigate and prosecute , waste and abuse to protect small businesses owned by service-disabled veterans and other socially and economically disadvantaged individuals. I am grateful for the continued partnership with the Department of Justice and for the who initiated the complaint.”

Whistleblower Todd Pattison is set to receive more than $9 million as part of the settlement, the DOJ said.

Appalachian Power plans small nuclear reactor in Campbell

Appalachian , an electric subsidiary of which serves more than one million customers in Virginia, West Virginia and , announced plans Thursday to bring a small modular reactor () project to .

The company, which has its headquarters in Charleston, West Virginia, has identified a potential site for the project on property it already owns in Joshua Falls near the James River and outside . A 765-kilovolt substation is already located at Joshua Falls and nearby roads are adequate to support moving equipment to the site, according to Appalachian Power.

“Advanced nuclear power is at the heart of Virginia’s All-American, All-of-the Above Plan, a plan that prioritizes abundant, reliable, affordable, and increasingly clean power to fuel our thriving and growing economy,” stated in an Appalachian Power news release. “I am grateful that Appalachian Power is taking this next step to support Virginia’s nuclear future.”

SMRs are designed to generate up to 300 megawatts per unit, about one-third the capacity of conventional nuclear reactors, according to the International Atomic Energy Association. As of now, only two SMRs are in operation — one in Russia and the other in China.

In 2022, Youngkin announced Virginia would build a SMR within a decade. The next year, the governor and the General Assembly created the Virginia Power Innovation Fund, which provides $4 million for research and development of innovative energy technologies.

“Appalachian Power is committed to generating clean, always-on power to meet Virginia’s future demand,” Appalachian Power President and CEO Aaron Walker stated in a release. “We are grateful to the Virginia General Assembly and Gov. Youngkin for embracing SMR technology. This announcement would not have been possible without their forward-thinking support.”

The largest SMRs can produce enough energy for 250,000 to 500,000 homes, according to George Porter, a spokesperson for Appalachian Power. The SMR in Campbell County would generate power for Appalachian Power customers in Virginia, he stated.

In October, Amazon.com and Dominion Energy Virginia entered into an agreement to explore development of small modular nuclear reactors at North Anna Power Station in Louisa County.

Appalachian Power plans to file an application with the Virginia State Corporation Commission in spring 2025. The company intends to apply for the U.S. Department of Energy’s $900 million grant program that is designed to accelerate the deployment of SMRs.

The utility serves about 550,000 customers in an 11,000 square-mile territory in central and southwestern Virginia. It will hold a community open house to discuss the project on Dec. 5 from 5 to 7 p.m. at the Lynchburg Regional Business Alliance.

 

Youngkin announces plan to grow workforce housing

At the Governor’s Conference in Virginia Beach Thursday, Gov. unveiled the Investment Program, an initiative at Virginia Housing that will invest $75 million over five years to spur the creation of -priced housing.

The funding holds the potential, according to a news release from the Governor’s Office, to “catalyze $750 million and build 5,000 units of workforce housing in conjunction with projects in the commonwealth.”

Additionally on Thursday, Youngkin issued an executive order directing the and the Department of Housing and Community Development to coordinate with Virginia Housing — which was created by the General Assembly in 1972 to help Virginians attain affordable housing — to ensure business site investment decisions take into account nearby localities’ plans to foster housing development.

Virginia has a housing supply of about 3.6 million residential units but has a housing demand of 4.1 million units, according to an analysis performed by the Department of Housing and Community Development. The current shortage of workforce housing in Virginia is 41,000 homes, according to the executive order.

The executive order also notes that an analysis from the Virginia Economic Development Partnership found Virginia’s metro areas are building new housing units at a lower rate than metro areas in competing states. Metro areas outside of Virginia are also issuing permits for new residential units at a faster rate than the commonwealth’s metro areas, according to the order.

“With record employer relocations and expansions in the commonwealth, over $85 billion in capital investment, nearly 250,000 jobs created, and a reversal of recent trends on net-out migration, it is clear that Virginia is growing and we need to make sure the supply of housing can meet our surging demand,” Youngkin stated. “The private sector is ready to step in and meet the needs of our growing workforce with much-needed workforce housing, and today’s announcement advances these efforts by accelerating workforce housing development and requiring local governments to support the housing growth that Virginia needs.”

Under the Workforce Housing Investment Program, Virginia Housing will provide loans, loan subsidies and grants up to $3 million to localities and nonprofits to develop housing for workers earning between 80% and 120% of the area median income, or up to 150% in rural areas.

To be eligible, a locality must be located within a 30-minute drive of a business adding new jobs. For a locality that isn’t economically distressed, that business must add 100 jobs. For a distressed locality — a locality with an unemployment rate above the state average or with a poverty rate above the statewide average poverty rate — the business must add 50 jobs. For a double-distressed locality — a locality with both an unemployment rate above the state average and with a poverty rate above the statewide average — the business must add 25 jobs.

The Virginia Governor’s Housing Conference, which opened Wednesday and continues through Friday, attracts more than 900 affordable housing advocates, providers and policy makers.

Permanent Hard Rock Bristol casino opens

The bright lights of shine considerably brighter now following the of Virginia’s second full-fledged .

Thursday heralded the of the $515 million-plus Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Bristol, Virginia’s first hotel/casino combo. Symphonies of sounds, from music to slot machines, indicated the site’s time for business had arrived.

“This brand is now 54 years old, [with] 60,000 employees in 74 countries,” said Jim Allen, chairman of Hard Rock International. “I hope we have collectively created something that everyone is proud of.”

Located near downtown Bristol, the casino resort’s dominant features include a 45-foot-tall guitar at the entrance to the 303-room (including 56 suites) concave-shaped hotel. The 620,000-square-foot facility opened with the Hard Rock tradition of The Who-like smashing of guitars inside Hard Rock Live Bristol, an indoor flexible capacity venue that can seat up to 2,000 people.

There’s a spa in the hotel, nearly 1,500 slot machines in the casino, 38,000 original miles on Faith Hill’s vintage Rudolph red Corvette on the casino floor, and countless grins on the faces of those who made the place happen.

“It was a moonshot,” said Jim McGlothlin, chairman of Bristol-based United Co. A joint venture between Hard Rock, McGlothlin and Par Ventures President Clyde Stacy developed Bristol’s Hard Rock.

“With Hard Rock, we went to work in Bristol,” McGlothlin added. “We’re changing a lot of lives here.”

The new resort casino replaces the temporary : Future Home of Hard Rock, which opened in July 2022 as Virginia’s first operating casino. Since then, a permanent facility in Portsmouth and a temporary casino in Danville have opened. Located inside the former Bristol Mall, the 30,000-square-foot temporary casino featured 900 slot machines, 29 table games and a sportsbook.

Today, maintains about 1,400 permanent jobs, nearly 1,500 slots and 50 table games.

“Today is the day we go from operating a casino to operating a Hard Rock,” said Hard Rock Hotel & Casino Bristol President Allie Evangelista.

The development team previously pushed back the opening of the permanent casino at 500 Gate City Highway, which had been expected in July, in favor of opening the full casino resort, the nation’s eighth Hard Rock Hotel & Casino.

TN Ward and BurWil Construction are the contractors for the Bristol Hard Rock project. Some construction work remains to be done, which will increase the team’s capital investment, Evangelista said Tuesday, adding, “Right now, I think it’s at $515 million, but we’re not done.”

In its first year of operation, the temporary Bristol casino’s net revenues totaled $157 million, while the Rivers Casino Portsmouth, which opened in January 2023, made almost $250 million in gaming revenue during its first year. The temporary Caesars Virginia casino in Danville opened May 2023; in its first six months, the Danville casino racked up about $145 million in gaming revenue.

In 2023, Virginia generated $554.87 million in adjusted gaming revenues, based on monthly reports from Virginia Lottery. The Bristol casino represented $160.49 million of the annual total.

Virginia’s three casinos reported a total of $56.56 million in gaming revenues for September. Of that, about $14.09 million came from the temporary Bristol casino.

Thus far, the Bristol Hard Rock has paid more than $68 million in taxes to the and has hosted more than 3 million guests.

Marcellus Osceola Jr., chairman of the Seminole Tribe of Florida, which acquired Hard Rock in 2007, said the company takes pride in the incorporation of local flavor within their properties. “We pride ourselves in immersing ourselves in a community,” Osceola said. “We love all — we serve all. That’s our motto.”

Love, in the form of music, abounds inside Bristol’s Hard Rock. Myriad examples of Bristol, Virginia, and Tennessee music history are displayed throughout the site.

“That’s very important to us,” Evangelista said. “We want to connect with Bristol because it is the Birthplace of Country Music.”

A hallway connects the casino and dining area. One side of the hall depicts musicians from Virginia. The other, Tennessee. There’s a framed autograph from Winchester’s Patsy Cline and an autographed album from Castlewood’s 49 Winchester.

Labyrinths of music memorabilia weave like straw through the Hard Rock Café and casino to form basketfuls of iconic imagery. Examine Glen Campbell’s guitar where it resides near Hard Rock Live. Marvel at Bob Dylan’s harmonica. Lean in and read the details on Johnny Cash’s passport.

“I loved the Ozzy Osbourne display,” said Ali Randolph, a country musician from Burnsville, North Carolina. “Old school metal; you can’t beat it.”

Randolph will perform at the Hard Rock Café Bristol on Nov. 27. There are four stages for live music — rock and otherwise — within the complex.

“Hard Rock is not just about rock music,” Evangelista said. “We have about $1 million of music memorabilia on site.”

Then again, Hard Rock earned its name because it does rock — at least on occasion. Grand opening night features country music star Blake Shelton at Hard Rock Live Bristol. Rock veterans Soul Asylum, purveyors of such 1990s generational hits as “Runaway Train,” appear in the 23,000-square-foot venue on Saturday.

“We’ll be there for the grand opening, the christening of the Hard Rock in Bristol,” Dave Pirner, lead singer of Soul Asylum, said by phone on Monday from an airport in Minneapolis.

Hard Rock features more than gaming and music. Seven restaurants, from the dining of Council Oak Steaks & Seafood to the finger food of Street Tacos, occupy various spaces on the outer edges of the casino.

An Appalachian merry-go-round, adults grinned like children in a cotton candy glow on opening day. That was music to perk the ears of McGlothlin and his Hard Rock brethren.

“It’s Bristol, baby!” McGlothlin said. “The casino is our winning lottery number.”

Associate Editor Katherine Schulte contributed to this article.

Terracon Consultants: Eric White

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Pittsylvania megasite wins $1.3B battery separator project

Tennessee-based Microporous will invest $1.3 billion to build its separator facility at the Southern Virginia at Berry Hill in , announced Wednesday. The company expects the project to create 2,015 jobs.

The megasite’s first tenant, Microporous will develop Lot 1 at the park in two phases, with each phase being about 500,000 square feet. According to a news release from the governor’s office, the state anticipates Lot 2 of the megasite will be under consideration for Microporous’ potential future expansion. Virginia successfully competed with North Carolina for the project.

During the ceremonial groundbreaking for the project, Youngkin nodded at the controversy created in 2023 after word broke that the governor had pulled the Southern Virginia Megasite out of the running for a $3.5 billion Ford Motor Co. electric vehicle battery factory over national security concerns that a Chinese company would be involved in its operation.

“I want to say it very clearly,” Youngkin said Wednesday. “This is an American company using American technology that will hire American workers and supply American companies.”

For more than eight decades, Microporous has produced separators for lead-acid batteries, the oldest rechargeable battery technology, which is typically used in vehicles and to power grid systems. The company’s headquarters are in Sullivan County, , near , Virginia. It also has a facility in Austria.

At the megasite, Microporous plans to expand into creating battery separators for batteries, which are used in electric vehicles, storage systems and other applications.

Microporous CEO John Reeves said Wednesday that the facility will be at the forefront of clean energy. “We are driven by commitment to innovation, sustainability and growth, and today marks an extraordinary step in that journey,” he said.

The company’s Berry Hill manufacturing facility will be fully operational by 2026, according to Reeves.

The Southern Virginia Megasite at Berry Hill is owned jointly by the City of and Pittsylvania County through the Danville-Pittsylvania Regional Industrial Facility Authority (RIFA). Leaders in the two counties have worked to make the site a reality since 2008.

Pittsylvania County Board of Supervisors Chair Darrell Dalton called Microporous’ selection of the megasite “a testament to how two localities work together [to] pull themselves out of economic hardship, to where they’re generating optimism for the future.”

Gov. Glenn Youngkin announces Microporous' $1.3 billion facility in Pittsylvania County. Photo by Beth JoJack
Gov. Glenn Youngkin announces Microporous’ $1.3 billion facility in Pittsylvania County. Photo by Beth JoJack

Vic Ingram, chair of the Danville-Pittsylvania Regional Industrial Authority and a member of the Pittsylvania County Board of Supervisors, considers Microporous selecting the megasite for its facility as the start of something great.

“We were once known as the world’s largest tobacco market and home of Dan River Mills, or Dan River Fabrics,” he said. “Many of us vividly remember those tobacco fields, but moving forward, we will be known nationwide, if not worldwide, for advanced manufacturing technology,” he said.

State Del. Danny Marshall, R-Danville, a commissioner on the Virginia Tobacco Region Revitalization Commission’s board, noted Wednesday that the commission has invested over $60 million in the project. “And we’re looking forward to getting returned with great paying jobs and great investments here,” he said.

Last year, the U.S. Department of Energy announced Microporous was among seven recipients of federal funding totaling $275 million designed to strengthen the country’s clean energy supply chains. The majority of the selected projects were planned to be in or adjacent to disadvantaged communities. Microporous was tapped to receive the largest chunk of those federal dollars: $100 million.

In a news release distributed Wednesday, U.S. Sens. Mark R. Warner and Tim Kaine, D-VA, noted that Microporous’ Virginia facility will also be eligible for “additional federal incentives because it falls within an area designated that has been designated an ‘energy community’ by the Inflation Reduction Act.”

For several years, progress at the megasite at Berry Hill had stalled because the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers would not issue a permit to grade the land unless a tenant had been secured. Warner and Kaine worked with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers and advocated for the work to be permitted.

“This is a testament to years of hard work and collaboration, including working in a bipartisan way to address permitting challenges at economic development sites in Southside,” Kaine stated. “With major federal investments from the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law and smart moves to cut red tape, it’s clear our work is paying off.”

The Virginia Economic Development Partnership worked with the Danville-Pittsylvania County RIFA, Pittsylvania County, the City of Danville, the Southern Virginia Regional Alliance, the Virginia Tobacco Region Revitalization Commission and the General Assembly’s Major Employment and Investment Project Approval Commission to secure the Microporous project.

Microporous will be eligible to receive an MEI Commission-approved special appropriation of up to $60.6 million for the company’s investment of more than $1.3 billion and the creation of more than 2,000 jobs, subject to the approval of the Virginia General Assembly, according to a news release from the governor’s office. Additionally, the company is eligible to apply for state grants from the Port of Virginia.

The Virginia Talent Accelerator Program, a program run by VEDP with higher education partners, will provide recruitment and training services to the company.

American Diabetes Assoc. chair tackles disease’s workforce impact

More than 780,000 adults in Virginia have diabetes. The indirect cost from lost productivity due to the in 2017 in this state alone was a whopping $2.3 billion, according to the .

That’s why Rhodes Ritenour, national of the ADA’s board and vice president for external and regulatory affairs with System in Richmond, wants to engage the commonwealth’s business community in a discussion about the disease’s impact on employees and employers. He will moderate a panel discussion about the financial impact of diabetes on employees and employers Thursday during the ADA’s 2024 Central Virginia State of Diabetes event at the Bon Secours Training Center in Richmond.

Ritenour, who is serving a one-year term as ADA’s 2024 board chairman, was diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes at age 5. He spoke with Virginia Business about how employers can make a difference in reducing diabetes costs and improving quality of life for their workers.

VB: One of the other panelists at Thursday’s State of Diabetes event will be Dr. John Clore, a Bon Secours physician who is board certified in internal medicine and endocrinology, diabetes and metabolism.

Ritenour: He really is a pioneer in trying to help diabetics with their primary care providers. With the proliferation of the disease, we just don’t have enough specialists, enough endocrinologists to see all the patients. The idea is, if we can get the general practitioners focused on on the disease and how to help , that’s really the way of the future. It’s hard enough to get in to see your primary care physician [and] even harder to see a specialist. And so Dr. Clore is really helping Bon Secours, and, for that matter, other [health] systems, to figure out a way to get the care that people need … at the front lines. We’ve got an all-star panel of people. … We’ve got a pharmacist, a clinician … [and] Gina Elbert, who’s … the head of HR at Dominion . So, we’ve got a lot of different perspectives.

VB: Why is it important to focus on issues for Virginia’s State of Diabetes event?

Ritenour: We have so many great companies in Virginia and so many generous ones. We’ve really gotten to the point with the cost of diabetes [and] with the number of people who have it [and] with the number of people who are affected by it that … a lot of companies are really focused on it. It not only costs those of us affected by diabetes time and money, it’s also to the point where it’s costing employers time and money. So the idea is to get an audience that’s very employer-heavy to talk about the state of things and then also how they can work more closely with their employees to make them healthier and perhaps even more productive at work

VB: What role can businesses play in helping their workers with diabetes?

Ritenour: One in four health care dollars right now [are] being spent on diabetes in the U.S. A lot of employers want to help their employees … because it’s the right thing to do. I see that at Bon Secours or Dominion Energy. All the great companies, you see them wanting to have a healthier patient population because it’s the right thing to do. But diabetes has put us in a corner now where it’s costing so much that we also have to do it to help our bottom lines. Capitalism is a tool that we can use to really help people be healthier.  [On websites,] you see a lot about healthy lifestyle choices. A lot of people who are employed don’t necessarily have … access to the health care that they need, the nutrition they need and the knowledge they need. …  Employers can play an amazingly pivotal role in educating the employee about what they need to be healthier and to manage the chronic condition, but [employers can] also provide the tools. Maybe there’s a benefit where if you report your lab results, including your Hemoglobin A1C, which is a diabetes lab test, and you improve, maybe there’s financial or other incentives that an employer can provide to further motivate you to be healthy. Maybe there is a live counselor that’s available 24/7 to answer questions. Mental health is [also] a real big challenge in the diabetes community because of all you have to deal with, especially when you get to the point of having complications, and so having crisis and mental health counselors available through as an employee benefit is really important.

VB: You and your wife, Alana, have produced self-published children’s books involving a diabetic character. What are those about?

Ritenour: It’s about two 8-year-old kids who are best friends and live in Richmond. It’s us as 8-year-olds, and my character has Type 1 diabetes in the book. We had our second book came out in June, and our third book is going to come out next spring. … By then, the characters will be pretty much developed, and it’ll be more of just an adventure series after that. We try not to be diabetes-heavy or like a medical book. There’s a lot of one-off books about chronic conditions, but we really wanted ours to be a series where two children go on everyday activities that turn into adventures, and one of the characters just happens to be dealing with a chronic condition. So, the idea is we’ll get our third book out, and then we’ll try to really find a commercial publisher to pick it up after that.

The 2024 State of Diabetes will be held at the Bon Secours Training Center at 2401 W. Leigh St., Richmond from 8 a.m. to 10:30 a.m. The event is free. 

Va. appoints new DRPT director

Tiffany Robinson is the Virginia Department of Rail and Public ‘s new , Gov. announced Friday.

Robinson succeeds Zach Trogdon, who has served as acting director since Jennifer DeBruhl retired July 1.

Robinson has almost 15 years of experience in state and local government, according to a news release issued Tuesday. She was most recently deputy chief of staff in Youngkin’s office, a role she has held since September 2023.

“I am very excited to welcome Tiffany Robinson to lead DRPT,” W. Sheppard Miller III, the state’s secretary of transportation, said in a statement. “Her extensive background in public policy, strategic operations and community development fully equip her to advance Virginia’s rail and goals.”

Before joining Virginia , Robinson was secretary of the Maryland Department of , where she managed more than 1,800 employees and a $1.7 billion operating budget. Robinson previously served as deputy chief of staff in the Maryland’s governor’s office under former Gov. Larry Hogan, and before that as assistant secretary in the Maryland Department of and Community Development.

“I am honored to join the Virginia and am excited to lead such an important agency that plays a vital role in connecting communities and enhancing mobility across the commonwealth,” Robinson said in a statement.

She holds a bachelor’s degree in political science from the University of Maryland Baltimore County and a law degree from the University of Baltimore School of Law.