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Photo above: Mountain States President and CEO Alan Levine addresses the Southwest Virginia Health Authority, Oct. 14. By Scott Robertson Just after 3 p.m., Oct. 30, 2017, Mountain States Health Alliance and Wellmont Health System and the general public received formal notification that Virginia had approved the cooperative agreement under which the merger of the two systems may take place in the Commonweal ...

By Scott Robertson Northeast State Community College will close its Bristol campus at the end of the fall 2017 semester. The decision is part of the College’s correction action plan to align revenues and expenses. Northeast State recently trimmed $5 million to balance its 2018 budget. “The process we went through in making the decision on Bristol was the same way with everything else,” President James King ...

Photo above: (L-R) Panelists Mike Evans, Clay Walker, Brad Maul and Bryan Daniels at the Governor’s Conference on Economic and Community Development Oct. 26 in Gatlinburg.  Photo by Scott Robertson By Scott Robertson Clay Walker, CEO of NETWORKS Sullivan Partnership sat as an expert panel member during the “Selling Your Site” session at the October 2017 Governor’s Conference on Economic and Community Develo ...

Photo above: John Silvia, chief economist, Wells Fargo, at Bristol’s Paramount Center, Oct. 19. Photo by Scott Robertson By Scott Robertson The chief economist for Wells Fargo told a crowd of a few dozen businesspeople in Bristol last month that it’s virtually a given that interest rate hikes are on the way, but that no one should hold their breath waiting for politicians in Washington to start putting hard ...

The region’s manufacturing economy got a boost in October from two expansions and one acquisition. Jarden Zinc will add jobs in Greene County, Techni-Glass will add jobs in Hawkins County. General Shale announced it will acquire Columbus Brick Co. Jardin Zinc Jarden Zinc Products officials announced in October the company will expand its operations in Greene County. The zinc products manufacturer plans to c ...

$500,000 available for projects that fund region’s economy The wait is over for entrepreneurs who believe they have a great idea for a business that could create jobs and economic opportunity in Southwest Virginia. The GO Virginia Region One Council, which includes the counties of Lee, Scott, Wise, Dickenson, Buchanan, Tazewell, Russell, Smyth, Washington, Wythe, Bland, Grayson, Carroll and the cities of No ...

Photo above: The 2017 class of Faith in the Future award winners is the eighth class of honorees named. Photo by Jeff Derby The winners of the 2017 CenturyLink Faith in the Future Awards were recognized at a luncheon event coordinated by CenturyLink and The Chamber of Commerce serving Johnson City-Jonesborough-Washington County.  Recipients were evaluated based on their commitment to the future of their bus ...

Photo above: Sarah Goodpaster and Jason Reed Because of changes in the economics of touring, it’s been some time since the No. 1 band in America played a live show in the Tri-Cities. The venues built to house such shows are not viable in today’s marketplace. In fact, in a recent documentary, a tour manager who has been working since the 1970s looked back with nostalgia on the days when he could book moneyma ...

By Scott Robertson Since 1988, this publication has trumpeted the virtues of a regional approach to economic activity in Northeast Tennessee and Southwest Virginia. The wisdom of a unified effort to attract jobs and capital investment, to address problems both economic and societal, and to change negative perceptions of the region held by those outside our borders has been apparent to several publishers, mu ...