Cover Story
Virginia companies seek paths to reopening amid pandemic
RELATED STORY: Busch Gardens set to reopen Aug. 6. Reclining against the Williamsburg greenery, the 180-foot-tall steel serpent awaits anyone brave enough to test their mettle against it. Measuring 3,300 feet in length and boasting a top speed of 73 miles per hour, it shares the name of a Roman temple dedicated to the gods:
Opinion
The Mailroom
Letters to the editor
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Refreshing straight talk Mr. Niemeier, I want to thank you for your column, “It’s time to speak up,” in the July 2020 edition of Virginia Business. Your straight talk phrase, “an unjust society is bad for business,” says all that needs to be said! What a breath of fresh air for you to put the
What’s normal?
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When things get back to normal. How many times have you heard that? How many times have you said that? What’s normal? Sometimes there’s a qualifier, like what’s the “new” normal? Who knows? If you think you do, wait and see. It’s not just the normalcy that is intoned by such nostalgic statements, it’s the
From This Issue
Pipeline to progress?
Natural gas is key component of Dominion’s carbon-free plan
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Although Dominion Energy Inc. has pulled the plug on its $8 billion-plus Atlantic Coast Pipeline, natural gas remains a linchpin in the Richmond-based utility’s plan to shift from coal to renewable energy sources like wind and solar for electricity generation. Dominion announced over the Fourth of July weekend that it was abandoning the pipeline and
August 2020 – For the Record
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EASTERN VIRGINIA The Breeden Co. has plans for a new 240-unit apartment complex at the former Farm Fresh building at the heart of Virginia Beach’s Laskin Road Gateway. The initial development plans for Pinnacle at 31st Street were still being reviewed by the city in early July. The plans feature a two-level parking deck below
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Tech talent factory
Virginia Tech’s Innovation Campus will partner with industry to create tomorrow’s tech workforce
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Lance R. Collins was hired to lead Virginia Tech’s $1 billion Innovation Campus in one world, but he begins work Aug. 1 in another. But the Innovation Campus’ new vice president and executive director sees the disruption fueled by the pandemic and recession as only sharpening the mission of Tech’s initiative to create a tech
Creating space for startups to bring products to fruition
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South Boston’s town manager, Tom Raab, was elated when Mid-Atlantic Broadband Communities Corp. announced in early summer its plan for a Southern Virginia Tech Hub adjacent to its Southern Virginia Innovation Hub. “That’s big for South Boston and Halifax County,” Raab says. “The locations will have the fastest free Wi-Fi in Southern Virginia.” The Tech
Paw patrol guides seabirds to safer nesting area
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As construction work was set to begin on the $3.8 billion Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel expansion, the Virginia Department of Transportation noticed a roadblock — thousands of royal terns and other nesting seabirds at South Island were in the way. Their solution? Leave it to the dogs. Since February, a pack of 20 trained border collies have
Pandemic delays Virginia Business College opening
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The new Virginia Business College in Bristol won’t open as planned for its first semester this August due to the coronavirus crisis. VBC President Gene Couch issued a statement June 25 announcing the nonprofit private college’s plans to “defer the initial [academic] offerings until a later date” due to the pandemic. Couch did not respond
Richmond oversees Confederacy’s second fall
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In early July, J.E.B. Stuart was lowered onto a flatbed truck, along with the horse he rode in on. Following a summer of nationwide protests over racial injustice, Richmond removed the last of the city-owned Confederate statues on Monument Avenue on July 7. That left only the state-owned Robert E. Lee statue, which Gov. Ralph
Radford faces budget cuts, tough decisions
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Due to the pandemic, Radford University is faced with an unprecedented strain on its budget, which is likely to cause faculty and staff layoffs. Because of state budget cuts, the university is faced with an $8.1 million decrease in funding over the next two fiscal years. And at the same time, Radford administrators predict the
The VirginiaBusiness.com Top Five
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The top trending stories on VirginiaBusiness.com from June 16 to July 15 were led by a surprise announcement from Dominion Energy Inc., which also disclosed a $9.7 billion deal to sell its natural gas transmission and storage assets to a Berkshire Hathaway affiliate. Atlantic Coast Pipeline canceled: Dominion Energy and Duke Energy Corp. abandoned plans
From Donkey Kong to online tips – raising funds for restaurant workers
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After restaurants and bars in the Harrisonburg-Waynesboro-Staunton region closed or cut back to skeleton crews due to the coronavirus earlier this year, area residents rallied to help service industry workers. One of the more unconventional fundraisers was Nevin Zehr, who hosted a livestream event in March as he attempted, over seven days, to beat Nintendo’s
