Virginia Governor Ralph Northam kicked off a listening tour of Virginia by taking part in a virtual roundtable with southwest Virginia business, education and local government leaders Friday morning. The meeting was hosted by the United Way of Southwest Virginia’s COVID relief council. That council has been meeting since March to coordinate relief efforts across southwest Virginia. To date it has invested m ...

By Scott Robertson Legal recommendations have been presented to Mayors Richard Venable of Sullivan County and Joe Grandy regarding potential bylaw changes for the First Tennessee Development District Foundation, though the mayors are not yet in full agreement on when the foundation will be ready to house a regional economic and community development hub. “The attorney is helping reformulate the bylaws into ...

Steve Smith K-VA-T Food Stores President and CEO Steve Smith received the Employer of the Year award during the Oct. 23 opening ceremonies of the Council for Exceptional Children’s Division of Career Development and Transition (DCDT). The award is presented to an employer or business that has shown remarkable commitment to promoting or providing employment opportunities to students with disabilities. ...

Pictured above, David Stetson Activist investor group MG Capital, which owns 5.8 percent of Contura Energy Inc., is demanding the company replace half of its board of directors. In a letter dated Oct. 7, Michael Gorzynski, managing member of MG Capital, says, “After recently assessing all of our concerns pertaining to Contura’s trajectory, we concluded that the Company’s Board – in particular, legacy direct ...

Pictured above, Mitch Miller (left) and Clay Walker The economic development organization threw out a collaborative document a year in the making in favor of its own brand new plan. Reactions ran the gamut from disappointed to delighted. By Scott Robertson Three meetings this week revealed a new level of clarity regarding the positions of major players for and against efforts to create a regional economic d ...

Tri-Cities Airport (TRI) Executive Director Gene Cossey took the occasion of a Tuesday morning Legislator’s Breakfast to make it known that the airport will likely be able to bring tenants to Aerospace Park sooner if it has funds on-hand so it can offer to erect a building as an incentive. Gene Cossey “This is by no means to negate all the money and all the work that was put into making this facility in the ...

The First Tennessee Development District (FTDD) has been awarded nearly $1.3 million from the U.S. Department of Labor through its Workforce Opportunities in Rural Communities (WORC) grant to fund the Caring Workplace Initiative. Lottie Ryans According to Lottie Ryans, Director of Workforce & Literacy Initiatives for the FTDD, “Our region has had various programs working to assist people in recovery and ...

U.S. Congressman Morgan Griffith (VA-9) was on hand this week to cut the ribbon for a new Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) facility in Lebanon, Va. HUD’s EnVision Centers are tasked with offering support for assisted families to help them achieve self-sufficiency and, thereby, make limited federal resources available to others awaiting assistance. The centers are premised on the idea that f ...

Tennessee Governor Bill Lee and the state's Financial Stimulus Accountability Group (FSAG) today announced an initial $50 million in federal Coronavirus Relief Funds for the new Supplemental Employer Recovery Grant (SERG) program to provide additional relief to small businesses suffering during the COVID-19 pandemic. This new wave of funding includes specific support for minority-owned, women-owned and vete ...

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