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Smithfield Foods relocating 115 corporate jobs to Hampton Roads
Smithfield Foods is relocating about 115 of its U.S. corporate jobs to Hampton Roads. Two regional Midwest offices — in Illinois and Missouri — will close and associated positions will move to the Smithfield headquarters by the end of next year, said Ray Atkinson, Smithfield Foods spokesperson. Since the process has just begun, the company hasn’t yet determined how many employees will move and how many positions will be open for hire, Atkinson said. The positions include finance, procurement, human resources, information technology and other support functions.
Richmond’s 4th Circuit upholds federal ban on handgun sales to young adults
The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on Wednesday upheld a federal law barring gun shops from selling handguns to individuals under the age of 21. The ruling is another flashpoint in a yearslong saga by Second Amendment advocates to allow young adults to buy handguns — an issue that has divided Virginia’s federal judiciary since 2018, when a young Republican political organizer first alleged an infringement of his rights. ... Wednesday’s ruling came in response to a lawsuit brought in June 2022 by Palmyra resident John Corey Fraser.
VPAP Visual Jones vs. Jones for Attorney General
Jay Jones secured the Democratic nomination for Attorney General in last Tuesday's primary election, after losing the primary in 2021 to incumbent Mark Herring. Jones won a larger share of the vote in 113 of Virginia's 133 localities compared to four years ago. See where Jones performed better, or worse, this year in Virginia's counties and cities.
Trump’s tax bill has become a battlefield for tobacco giants
Two of the largest tobacco firms in the United States are waging a lobbying battle over a key provision in the GOP’s massive tax and spending bill. The version of the legislation that the House passed last month included language to claw back a $12 billion tax break that tobacco producers — most of them in North Carolina — use to make their products cheaper to export. The version of the legislation the Senate is considering would leave the tax break untouched. Now cigarette manufacturers and their allies in Congress are wrestling over the final fate of the provision — with Sen. Thom Tillis (North Carolina), a Republican whom Democrats hope to unseat in midterm elections, stuck in the middle.
Virginia professors warn against governance boards politicizing tenure processes
The Virginia Conference of the American Association of University Professors (AAUP), the largest organization representing university professors in the commonwealth, is raising fresh concerns, after learning the George Mason University’s Board of Visitors inquired in February 2024 about their roles in reviewing promotion and tenure cases. The educators say they fear the pipeline of college professors could contract if more college governing boards seek to influence the process of hiring and promoting professors. The debate has bubbled up as the politicization of governing boards at public colleges and universities nationwide, including those in Virginia, has increased.
Judge facing bribery charge allegedly sought pay raises for court staff
A Fredericksburg-area judge facing a felony charge of bribery of a public official did not attempt to enrich himself, the special prosecutor handling the case said. Richard T. McGrath, the chief judge of the 15th Judicial District of Virginia, which includes the Fredericksburg region, was indicted on June 2. The Mechanicsville resident’s next appearance in Spotsylvania County Circuit Court is scheduled for July 7. He is represented by Richmond-based defense attorney Craig Cooley, who did not return a phone call seeking comment. “What I can share is he was charged with soliciting a bribe, not offering a bribe,” said Special Prosecutor Nate Green, the Williamsburg Commonwealth’s Attorney. “He basically was asking someone to give money, not to give him money.”
Frederick County quashes two data center proposals
The Frederick County Board of Supervisors rejected via a consensus vote the further study of two Comprehensive Plan amendment applications for potential data center facilities during a joint work session with the Planning Commission on Wednesday night. One application was for a 644-acre data center campus called Meadow Brook Technology Park between Valley Pike (U.S. 11) and Hites Road just south of Stephens City. The other was for Winchester Gateway 2, which proposed a 105-acre data center development at the southern corner of Va. 37 and Middle Road south of Winchester.
State agencies begin moving out of James Monroe Building
The state government has begun moving out of the James Monroe Building. The Office of the State Inspector General recently relocated to a small office complex on Governor Street called Reid’s Row. By the spring of 2026, the state expects the 29-story Monroe building to be empty, Banci Tewolde, director of the Department of General Services, told the state’s Senate Finance and Appropriations Committee on Wednesday. General Services handles real estate for the state government.
How Black Lung Came Roaring Back to Coal Country
Denver Brock and his son Aundra used to spend early mornings hunting rabbits in the wooded highlands of Harlan County, Ky. But they don’t get out there much these days. They both get too breathless trying to follow the baying hounds. Instead, they tend a large garden alongside Denver Brock’s home. Even that can prove difficult, requiring them to work slowly and take frequent breaks. “You get so dizzy,” Denver Brock said, “you can’t hardly stand up.” The Brocks followed a long family tradition when they became Appalachian coal miners. For it, they both now have coal workers’ pneumoconiosis, a debilitating disease characterized by masses and scarred tissue in the chest, and better known by its colloquial name: black lung.
Senate draft of ‘big, beautiful bill’ could cut funds for Virginia hospitals, also affect Medicaid
Virginia’s hospitals are monitoring congressional budget proposals with concern. While the recently-passed U.S. House of Representatives’ version of the President Donald Trump-backed “big beautiful bill” retained federal mapping that preserves Medicaid access in Virginia, a new draft in the U.S. Senate could alter two critical funding mechanisms that support Virginia’s hospitals and their ability to bolster the state’s expanded Medicaid program. The Senate proposal could change provider assessment rates and state-directed payment programs. The two funding mechanisms are critical to hospital operation in Virginia and how they chip into the expansion of Virginia’s Medicaid program.