By Jeff Keeling Crown Laboratories is on a roll. The Johnson City-based pharmaceutical manufacturer, best known for its Blue Lizard sunscreen, secured a $20 million credit facility last month that has CEO Jeff Bedard bullish on the future of a company that’s seen its peaks and valleys since its founding 15 years ago. Blue Lizard’s revenues are growing strongly, up 24 percent in the current fiscal year, whic ...

The Business Journal Q&A Patrick Wilson, Executive Director, Tri-Cities Regional Airport   When one goes to an airport, one’s mind is generally on the skies. Tri-Cities Regional Airport officials, however, have had their minds very much down to earth for the last several months, a trend that will continue for many more months to come. The airport is moving a lot of dirt these days, in two separate ...

By Jeff Keeling  Anthony Royer walked past rows of cubicles at the Borla Enterprises building south of Johnson City, where head-setted employees talked quietly with stranded motorists, technicians, tow operators and other players in the world of roadside assistance. Workers looked up and gave him quick smiles before hunkering back down to the momentary task at hand, and eventually Royer – the CEO of Allied ...

By now you must be familiar with the “Buy Local” campaign. It started with food and has more recently (at least in this area) branched out to craft beer. But there’s a segment of the marketplace that makes just as much sense to buy local that would surprise many consumers: information technology. Chase Boles, co-owner of Bailey Computing Technologies in Gray has watched the local IT scene grow in depth and ...

It’s not set in stone yet that the Tennessee State Legislature will be asked to approve a hike in the gasoline tax in the coming year, but it should be. While we see most taxes as generally detrimental to business, the Tennessee gas tax is actually in need of being raised or replaced with something more effective for the betterment of business in the volunteer state. And despite the fact that toll roads are ...

By Jeff Keeling His bosses on the Johnson City Commission were discussing potential shared economic development projects with Washington County, TN last month when City Manager Pete Peterson broadened the scope of the regionalism discussion. The five commissioners, mulling the possibility of an interlocal agreement with Washington County, had mentioned incentivizing retail development in Boones Creek, or po ...

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By Jeff Keeling "It is the policy of this state, in certain instances, to displace competition among hospitals with regulation to the extent set forth in this part and to actively supervise that regulation to the fullest extent required by law, in order to promote cooperation and coordination among hospitals in the provision of health services and to provide state action immunity from federal and state anti ...

PUBLIC CHAPTER NO. 464 SENATE BILL NO. 994  By Norris, Crowe, Mr. Speaker Ramsey  Substituted for: House Bill No. 1146 By Eldridge, Harrison, Lundberg, Hulsey, Holsclaw, Hawk AN ACT to amend Tennessee Code Annotated, Title 68, Chapter 11, Part 13, relative to hospital cooperative agreements. BE IT ENACTED BY THE GENERAL ASSEMBLY OF THE STATE OF TENNESSEE: SECTION 1. Tennessee Code Annotated, Section 68-11-1 ...

Replete with a deli that serves wild game sandwiches, a fudge shop and a full array of powersports offerings, Cabela’s will open the doors of an 82,000-square-foot store at The Falls development in Bristol, Va., Oct. 1. The opening marks the end of a long wait for all involved, from city officials to the store management team. Perhaps no single individual is more eager for the archer to cut the ribbon (yes, ...