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As expansion continues, summer drivers to see new looks at Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel
As the summer travel season picks up, visitors will have a much different view — and some different routes — at the Hampton Roads Bridge-Tunnel as a result of the ongoing expansion project. Traffic counts at the primary route between the Peninsula and South Hampton Roads have grown steadily ever since it opened in the 1950s. In 2011, for example, the state transportation department reported that on a daily basis, more than 44,000 vehicles used the artery each way, and projected that number to rise to about 56,000 by 2040. Last year, according to the department, roughly 100,000 vehicles used it daily during the tourism season, which begins on Memorial Day weekend.
Hampton Roads jobless claims up this year, but economists say region faring better than Northern Virginia
Hampton Roads’ economic reliance on the military has been seen as a crutch by business and community leaders hoping to diversify its economy and compete with thriving metro areas such as Richmond and Raleigh, North Carolina. But that same pillar of the economy is also a major reason why federal workforce cuts by President Donald Trump’s administration haven’t sent local unemployment claims soaring, an Old Dominion University economist said Friday.
Amherst Job Corps students, staff scramble to find new homes, jobs after closure
After a nearly 50-year stint in Amherst County, the Old Dominion Job Corps in Monroe is wrapping up operations and more than 100 employees are looking for new jobs — an abrupt measure that caught many in the Lynchburg region by surprise. Layoffs from the U.S. Department of Labor’s decision to close the center on Father Judge Road, one of 99 contractor-run Job Corps centers across the country, will affect 130-plus staff, according to Virginia Works, a Virginia Workforce Development and Advancement equal opportunity employer/program.
Amazon Web Services proposes 1,370-acre Louisa data campus
Amazon Web Services is planning a substantial data center campus inside of Louisa County’s Technology Overlay District. The campus would be spread across 1,370 acres and feature up to 7.2 million square feet of data center space and seven electrical substations. Plans submitted to the county show four total buildings to house data center equipment. They are assembled on a site adjacent to the county’s Northeast Creek Reservoir.
Yorktown Naval Weapons Station, Dominion exploring energy projects, including nuclear reactor
Leadership of Naval Weapons Station Yorktown and Dominion Energy signed an agreement to work together to build energy resiliency at the station. Potential projects at the weapons station could include solar farms, turbine energy or a small modular nuclear reactor. Cpt. Dan Patrick said it has been a goal to have more sustainable power sources for the station. Over the next decade, power demand in Virginia will increase, so having a diverse source of power is necessary for the station to continue providing weapons support to other military installations across the East Coast, he said.
Friday Read ‘This is a document with frequent flyer miles’: The curious journey of Chesterfield County’s 1749 charter
In an inconspicuous reading room on the third floor of the Library of Virginia, work is underway to restore a seminal document in the history of Chesterfield County – the 1749 Commission of the Peace, now considered the county’s original charter. ... It is a difficult piece of parchment to miss. Not only does it still have its original ribbon-and-wax seal, but it’s about 80 inches diagonally from corner to corner — the size of a very large television. Despite that, the charter has had an extraordinary journey over more than 275 years — disappearing multiple times along the way before ending up in the library’s hands in 2017.
Adams, Brownlee and others: Under President James Ryan, UVA is flourishing
The Jefferson Council, a group that purports to be “protecting” the University of Virginia’s legacy and upholding its core principles, has decided instead to attack President James Ryan’s leadership in a newspaper ad. To be clear, The Jefferson Council has no official university association, and was, in fact, co-founded by Bert Ellis, who was recently removed from the university’s board of visitors by Gov. Glenn Youngkin. The council is tragically out of touch and an embarrassment to today’s university, which continues to flourish, and remains a robust, forward-thinking institution ...
Yancey: 81 years ago, Allied forces landed in Normandy. Many units from Virginia were in the first waves of D-Day.
Bob Sales lied about his age. He wanted to join the National Guard but was just 15. His father didn’t seem too worried. “Don’t worry, because he won’t last a week,” his father told his mother. This was 1941, and the United States was still at peace. The Amherst County teen who fibbed about his age lasted a lot more than a week, and, come one December morning that year, the United States was no longer at peace. Eighty-one years ago today, Sales was on a boat bobbing in the waters off the coast of France. It was June 6, 1944, and an operation we remember today as D-Day, the largest successful amphibious assault in history. It may not have seemed that way to Sales at the time.
State cuts off money to agency supporting halfway homes for recovering addicts
For several years, Virginia’s halfway homes for recovering addicts have been managed by an independent, non-governmental group. That will soon change to the dismay of some local recovery home operators. Language in this year’s budget takes nearly $2 million away from the Virginia Association of Recovery Residences, or VARR. The organization certifies group homes, of which there are more than 100 in Richmond and Henrico. It also monitors those homes, investigates complaints and sets standards of care.
Former Virginia congressman reports back from Ukraine
Former Virginia Congressman Denver Riggleman has been busy since he left office, including doing humanitarian work in war-torn Ukraine. He returned from his most recent trip early Thursday morning after spending recent days dodging drone strikes. In a video shot on one night of his trip, the former Fifth District Congressman turned humanitarian, writer and podcaster can be seen running from Russian drones as they strike the Ukrainian port city of Odessa.