Above: Tennessee Governor Bill Lee speaks at the Elizabethton/Carter County Legislative Breakfast, which was held at the Elizabethton TCAT campus last Friday morning. Photo by Dave Ongie By Dave Ongie, News Editor When Tennessee Governor Bill Lee took his turn at the podium during the Elizabethton/Carter County Legislative Breakfast last Friday, his message was loud and clear. A new day has dawned in the st ...

Domtar’s Kingsport Mill made its entry into the containerboard market official on Friday with a groundbreaking ceremony held at Cloud Park in Kingsport, Tenn. The event was led by Domtar’s CEO, John Williams, and featured a number of local, regional and state officials. “This is an exciting day for the Kingsport mill and for Domtar, and we are glad to celebrate it in the company of many of those who are mak ...

The sixth annual Southwest Virginia Economic Forum will be held virtually on May 26-27, 2021. Organizers say the two-day event, which will be streamed live from the University of Virginia’s College at Wise, features one of the strongest lineups of speakers and panelists yet. Every year, the forum engages participants through a shared vision of regional collaboration, growth and innovation for all of Central ...

Several of Tennessee’s prominent business groups, including the Bristol and Kingsport Chambers of Commerce, issued a statement Tuesday thanking Gov. Bill Lee for addressing the labor shortage crisis by ending the state’s participation in the federal COVID-related unemployment programs that give Tennesseans extra weekly unemployment benefit payments. Tennessee employers have said enhanced unemployment benefi ...

Above: Domtar Kingsport Mill Manager Troy Wilson. Photo by Earl Neikirk The sale of Domtar to British Columbia-based Paper Excellence will not affect plans to refit the Kingsport Domtar facility, according to Mill Manager Troy Wilson. “The scope of our mill conversion project remains unchanged and on schedule – we are going to walk into the office tomorrow, same as we did today, and continue our work to bui ...

Above: The newly acquired USAntibiotics building on Industrial Drive in Bristol, Tenn. Photo by Jeff Derby By Scott Robertson Jackson Healthcare, a healthcare company headquartered just north of Atlanta, announced last week it has purchased the former Neopharma building in Bristol, Tenn. In a release dated April 19, the company said it purchased the 360,000-square-foot antibiotic production facility and aro ...

Fifteen veterans graduated Tuesday from the East Tennessee State University STRIVE (Startup Training Resources to Inspire Veteran Entrepreneurship) program on the campus of the Mountain Home VA. The program, one of only two of its kind in the country (the other is at Syracuse University in New York), fills a niche in giving veterans much-needed expertise in starting and running their own businesses, said Ed ...

Abby Mease NETWORKS Sullivan Partnership, the economic development organization serving Sullivan County and parts of Hawkins County has promoted Abby Mease to the newly created position of Workforce Development and Special Projects Coordinator. “Abby Mease, in her two-plus years here, has continued to overachieve beyond her duties,” said Clay Walker, NETWORKS CEO. “She was already carving this niche through ...

Stephen Moret, Shannon Blevins and Dr. Donna Henry will all return to the Southwest Virginia Economic Forum. File photos. The sixth annual Southwest Virginia Economic Forum, which annually engages participants through a shared vision of regional collaboration and growth, will be streamed via Facebook Live from the University of Virginia’s College at Wise May 26 and May 27 from 9 a.m. to noon each day. The 2 ...

Virginia First Lady Pamela Northam announced Wednesday the creation of a Pre-K program to make around 450 southwest Virginia children better ready for kindergarten. The three-week Kinder Camps program will be funded to the tune of just under $200,000 by Ballad Health and administered by the United Way of Southwest Virginia in 30 locations. “We’ll work with school systems to host the camps for children whose ...