Can Southwest Virginia win the data center game?
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Like many other parts of the commonwealth, Southwest Virginia is making a play to attract data centers, offering cheap land, available workers and a natural cooling system. Data centers aren’t huge employers but do offer high wages and significant tax revenue — which other regions in Virginia have taken full advantage of, particularly Loudoun County in
Viva Virginia
Voters in four cities will decide in November's election whether to allow casinos in the Old Dominion
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Danville once stood tall as a driver of Virginia’s economy, an epicenter both for textile production at Dan River Mills and for tobacco when it was still the commonwealth’s golden leaf. Both industries came crashing down in the 2000s. A rising tide of public sentiment led to tobacco’s decline, and the federal quota system that
Election 2021: Who’s running for governor?
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Several candidates have already jumped into the 2021 Virginia gubernatorial race, and several more likely entrants are waiting to declare their candidacies until the 2020 election concludes. Virginia’s constitution limits governors to nonconsecutive four-year terms, so incumbent Gov. Ralph Northam can’t run for reelection. Republicans haven’t won a statewide election in Virginia since 2009, and
Is Trump good for business?
Will voters tell president ‘You’re fired’ or hire him for second term?
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President Donald Trump entered the White House in 2017 with no political experience but a lifetime spent in business. Nearly four years later, with the incumbent Republican president up for reelection against Democrat Joe Biden, a former vice president who has been in politics for 50 years, Virginia voters are asking themselves: Is Donald Trump
A look at November’s ballots
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Besides considering candidates for president, U.S. Senate and 11 seats in the U.S. House of Representatives on Nov. 3, Virginians will also vote on two ballot measures to amend the state constitution. And four cities will hold local referendums to legalize gambling at proposed casinos within their boundaries. The statewide ballot measures include a proposal
Legislative Briefing
A summary of legislative actions taken during the 2020 General Assembly session
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Virginia lawmakers considered an array of bills impacting businesses and the state economy. Here’s a look at some key actions taken during the 2020 session: Casinos Virginia lawmakers passed legislation opening the door for casinos but only in five localities: Bristol, Danville, Norfolk, Portsmouth and Richmond. A study by the Joint Legislative Audit & Review
A session to remember
2020 General Assembly saw protests and pandemic
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In the six weeks between the Virginia General Assembly’s March 12 adjournment and its April 22 veto session, the world changed. The dramatic societal shifts brought on by the coronavirus pandemic were on display during the historic, surreal April meeting, in which the lawmakers gathered at unusual locations — the Senate at the Science Museum
Crossing the line
Bristol seeks to strike new chord as a destination for casinos and tourism
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A city famous for birthing country music and straddling the Virginia-Tennessee state line, Bristol, Virginia, has spent the last decade struggling to recover from the Great Recession and the coal industry’s steep decline. However, a new surge of economic life is reenergizing Bristol as it enters the 2020s. More visitors are flocking downtown. A new
Shentel installs residential fiber optic across valley
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A growing number of Shenandoah Valley communities are seeing more competition among broadband providers. Edinburg-based Shenandoah Telecommunications Co., or Shentel, founded more than a century ago by farmers seeking improved telecommunications services for their rural communities, is still focused on that mission, though these days it’s a little more high-tech than it was in the
Projects vie for federal abandoned mine grant funds
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Every year, Virginia receives $10 million from the federal government for projects to redevelop land that was home to abandoned coal mines. This fall, 18 different projects applied for funding — all seeking to become models for coalfield communities recovering from the industry’s slow collapse. The applications received by Virginia’s Department of Mines, Minerals and