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Port CEO: Trade war will lead to less cargo, but effects are far from certain
There was an “elephant in the room” Thursday during Port of Virginia CEO Stephen Edwards’ annual State of the Port speech: Uncertainty. Speaking to hundreds of leaders from various levels of the shipping industry at the Marriott Virginia Beach hotel at the Oceanfront, Edwards made the case that the Port of Virginia has the infrastructure and position within global trade to weather the upheaval caused by the Trump administration’s tariff policies.
Lego to invest $366M in 2 million-square-foot Virginia warehouse
The Lego Group is continuing to build its empire, investing $366 million to build a new 2 million-square-foot warehouse in Prince George County, Virginia. Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin announced Thursday the warehouse will employ over 300. "The Lego Group is not just a household name, it’s a symbol of creativity, innovation and quality that resonates globally," Youngkin said in a news release. "Three years after choosing Virginia to establish its U.S. manufacturing plant, the Lego Group’s decision to expand into Prince George County is an exciting new chapter in this partnership, bringing 305 new, high-quality jobs to the region."
Lego announces plans for massive distribution center in Prince George
As it pieces together a $1 billion factory in Chesterfield, Lego Group has another sizable build in the works in a neighboring county. The Danish toymaker announced plans this week to build a $366 million warehouse and distribution facility in the Crosspointe Business Centre in Prince George County. The 2 million-square-foot project would rise on a 200-plus-acre site at 8800 Wells Station Road, across from the former Rolls-Royce manufacturing facility.
Amid DOGE cuts, families struggle with bills, consider leaving D.C. area
There’s the fired federal contractor scrambling for a new job in his 60s and the meteorologist tightening his budget by eating more rice and beans. The nonprofit administrator who lies awake at night worried she’ll lose her grant funding and the masters student wondering what job prospects, if any, will exist upon graduation. As the Trump administration and the U.S. DOGE Service, which stands for the Department of Government Efficiency, wield a chain saw to the federal government, they’ve also yanked away the tablecloth upon which many in the D.C. region laid their lives.
Virginia teachers struggle to keep up as history guide rollout lags
Virginia teachers are still flying blind months into a new school year — trying to adapt to overhauled history standards without the full set of instructional guides the state promised to help them navigate the change. Since early April, the Virginia Department of Education has continued to publish its history instructional guides to help prepare teachers to instruct students in the state’s updated history and social studies standards.
Spanberger splits the middle on right-to-work, opposes full repeal
Democratic gubernatorial nominee Abigail Spanberger said she opposes a full repeal of Virginia’s right-to-work law, though she’s open to reforms. In an interview with WRIC’s Tyler Englander, Spanberger said she supports making changes to the decades-old statute but would not sign legislation that eliminates it entirely. ... Spanberger’s Republican opponent, Lt. Gov. Winsome Earle-Sears, has made defending the law a central part of her platform.
Virginia Beach GOP chair ousted in bitter party feud over control and transparency
In a dramatic late-night vote that capped more than a year of escalating infighting, the Republican Party’s 2nd Congressional District Committee voted Wednesday to remove Laura Hughes as chairwoman of the Virginia Beach GOP, accusing her of mismanagement and failing to perform her duties. But Hughes says the move was political payback — and an affront to the grassroots Republicans who elected her. “This was a ‘screw you’ to the Virginia Beach voters,” she said of her detractors’ actions in a phone interview Thursday, “because they wanted this small little group who likes to stay in charge, and they installed a chair that will do their bidding. And I am most likely going to file an appeal with the state Republican party.”
Friday Read How One Woman Saved the Outer Banks From Impending Development 50 Years Ago
In August 1973, three children who regularly played atop the East Coast’s tallest active sand dune system spied a bulldozer that hadn’t been there before. The children ran to tell their babysitter, who took them to the family’s nearby store in Nags Head, North Carolina, where their mother, Carolista Baum, made and sold jewelry. Condominiums had been constructed near where the bulldozer was working, and Baum knew more development would irreparably harm these beloved dunes known as Jockey’s Ridge, an Outer Banks fixture for 3,000 to 4,000 years. Immediately, Baum closed shop and rushed to confront the driver. Developers had already flattened most of the dunes north to the Virginia border. “I’m not moving,” Baum said, positioning herself in front of the bulldozer’s blade.
Sewage Sludge Fertilizer From Maryland? Virginians Say No Thanks.
In 2023, sewage plants in Maryland started to make a troubling discovery. Harmful “forever chemicals” were contaminating the state’s sewage, much of which is turned into fertilizer and spread on farmland. To protect its food and drinking water, Maryland has started restricting the use of fertilizer made from sewage sludge. At the same time, a major sludge-fertilizer maker, Synagro, has been applying for permits to use more of it across the state border, on farms in Virginia. A coalition of environmentalists, fishing groups and some farmers are fighting that effort. They say the contamination threatens to poison farmland and vulnerable waterways that feed the Potomac River.
Port of Virginia CEO says port should endure Chinese tariffs better than most
Port of Virginia CEO Stephen Edwards said the port is a “blueprint” for the future of the supply chain and will be able to weather the ongoing trade war with China better than others in the nation. New tariffs will certainly affect Virginia’s port, but Edwards doesn’t expect major changes as a result. “We’re in the somewhat fortunate position of being the least-exposed major U.S. port on trade with China,” Edwards told government and industry leaders at the Virginia Beach Marriott Thursday. About 19% of the port’s business comes from China. It’s the port’s second-largest trading partner after the European Union.