A regional business leader who helped grow the aerospace sector in the Tri-Cities before his untimely passing has been posthumously honored by the state and his company. Wysong Enterprises Tuesday joined with State Representative Timothy Hill for a brief ceremony to rename a half-mile section of State Road 75 near the Tri-Cities Airport as the Rodney Wysong Memorial Highway. Also in attendance were State Se ...

The phenomenon that is #2020 continues unabated. Massive unemployment. Trillions of dollars of new debt. A pandemic. Racial strife. Murder hornets. Fire tornadoes. Zoom meetings. Zoom dating. That tiger thing on Netflix. Everybody trying to make sourdough bread for some reason. And, of course, a presidential election campaign that makes one remember fondly the sound, sober and sensible candidacy of Ross Per ...

Above: Ernie Rumsby, right, during a 2018 presidential visit to Johnson City. The man who has, for most of the last decade, served as the face and voice of veterans in the Tri-Cities business community has passed away. Ernie Rumsby, founding president of the Tri-Cities Military Affairs Council died this week. His passing was announced by T-C MAC via the organization’s social media accounts. “I always apprec ...

by Scott Robertson The COVID-19 pandemic has played havoc with the revenue stream at Ballad Health, but administrators are using a pair of no- to low-interest debt instruments to protect the company’s cash reserves, at least for now. As the crisis began in March and April, Ballad Health received and utilized $200 million in advance payments on Medicare claims through the Medicare Accelerated and Advance Pay ...

by Scott Robertson Clay Walker, CEO of NETWORKS Sullivan Partnership and Lynn Tully, Northeast Tennessee director for the Tennessee Department of Economic and Community Development (ECD) knew they were going into a meeting with huge long-term implications for the regional economy when they sat down with Domtar executives shortly after the company announced it was temporarily closing down Kingsport operation ...

More worrying: Labor force participation on decline by Don Fenley WARN Act-mandated layoff notices are piling up in northeast Tennessee and southwest Virginia. Utility Trailer in Glade Spring – 326 layoffs. Scholle in Chilhowie – 128 layoffs. FLSmidth in Johnson City – 113 layoffs. Kennametal in Johnson City – 141 layoffs. Domtar in Kingsport – 308 layoffs (more on that on page 11). Cooper Standard in Surgo ...

Above: Tennessee Commissioner of Economic and Community Development Bob Rolfe addresses a crowd of around 200 in Erwin prior to the PlastiExports ribbon-cutting A year ago, when Wisconsin-based Regal Beloit announced plans to shutter its Morrill Motors production facility in Erwin, Tenn., the news hit the community particularly hard. The impending loss of around 125 jobs was a blow to a town of under 6,000 ...

Above: Tom Sellig, LabConnect CEO, addresses a socially distanced crowd of community and business leaders prior to the ribbon-cutting LabConnect has been conducting medical lab work and clinical trials in Johnson City since 2015, and announced it planned to move its corporate headquarters from Seattle to Johnson City in April, 2020. The COVID crisis, however, forced a delay in officially announcing the comp ...

Former Eastman Vice President Jim Harlan is the new chairholder of the AFG Industries Chair of Excellence in Business at East Tennessee State University. Harlan is a member of the ETSU College of Business & Technology Hall of Fame and has received the college’s Lifetime Achievement Award. Harlan has previously served as executive-in-residence at ETSU. Harlan retired from Eastman in 2015 as vice presiden ...

Above: Rep. Phil Roe and Robert Wilkie chat after a press conference at Mountain Home last week. Photo by Dave Ongie By Scott Robertson  The United States Secretary for Veterans’ Affairs, Robert Wilkie visited the James H. Quillen VA Healthcare System and National Cemetery at Mountain Home last week, accompanied by U.S. Congressman Dr. Phil Roe of Tennessee’s 1st Congressional District. Roe, who is ret ...