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Louisa wins 2nd big data center project in a month
Louisa County is selling its 697-acre Shannon Hill Regional Business Park to a Colorado-based data center firm, the second major data center firm to say it’s coming to the rural county in less than a month. EdgeCore Digital Infrastructure, which develops and operates data centers, bought the Shannon Hill land for $42 million. The site is 40 miles west of Richmond. Earlier this month, Amazon Web Services announced its plans for a $1 billion investment in a data center campus in Louisa ...
Henrico accepts Richmond mayor’s invitation to talk about water infrastructure
Richmond Mayor Danny Avula has invited the entire region to take part in a regional advisory group that will focus on righting concerns around their interconnected water utility system. He also asked the Henrico Board of Supervisors to meet with him, and Richmond City Council, for a joint meeting to talk about the utility. The Henrico Board of Supervisors released a statement Monday accepting the mayor’s invitation.
Audit finds ‘significant weaknesses’ with Richmond’s government purchasing cards
An internal audit of the city of Richmond’s purchasing card system found at least $5 million in “questionable expenses” and a lackadaisical approval and oversight system that made it difficult for the city to track and control what employees were buying with their city-issued cards. A report released Tuesday by Auditor Riad Ali said the “significant weaknesses” in city controls over the purchasing cards (known as P-cards for short) led the auditor’s office to refer millions in questionable spending to the city’s inspector general office, which has more power to investigate wrongdoing such as waste, fraud or abuse.
Audit: Richmond city credit cards used for $5M in ‘questionable expenditures’
City auditors on Tuesday morning released a damning assessment of City Hall’s purchasing card program that, among other things, identified $5 million in “questionable expenditures” made by cardholders between July 2022 and May 2024. That’s nearly one quarter of the credit card spending during that timeframe. Those transactions were referred to Richmond’s inspector general, who investigates claims of fraud, waste and abuse, auditors said.
Audit finds $5M in dubious Richmond credit card spending
The city of Richmond approved roughly $5 million in questionable purchases on employee credit cards over two years due to lax oversight, according to a just-released internal audit. That's roughly a quarter of all spending in the period through the city's Purchasing Card (P-Card) Program. City auditor Riad Ali's report, published Tuesday, found "significant weaknesses" in the internal review process and general oversight of the P-Card program, which was started in 2018.
Arlington board grants Amazon extended deadline to build next phase of HQ2
Amazon has received another three years to get started on the next phase of its Crystal City headquarters. The Arlington County Board granted a three-year extension to plans to develop the PenPlace site at a meeting earlier this month. Amazon’s new deadline to act on the current site plan, which envisions a futuristic spiral structure towering over the intersection of S. Eads Street and 12th Street S., is June 30, 2028. An Amazon representative told ARLnow that the company has ample space at its current Metropolitan Park location, but continues to look at PenPlace as a long-term investment.
Latest lawsuit fails to stop Botetourt County wind farm
The latest — and likely the last — legal challenge to a proposed wind farm in Botetourt County was turned down by the Virginia Court of Appeals on Tuesday, as preliminary construction of the project continues. In a unanimous ruling, a three-judge panel of the court found that opponents lacked standing to legally object to a temporary facility that will produce concrete needed for the foundations of the massive turbines.
Grand jury refuses to indict UVa student accused of antisemitic hate crime
The criminal case against a University of Virginia student accused of perpetrating a hate crime against a Jewish housemate hit a roadblock last week, at least temporarily, after a Charlottesville grand jury refused to issue a felony indictment against Robert Cabell Romer. While a lower court judge certified a threat warrant against the 20-year-old Romer last month, the grand jury hearing evidence this month marked that charge as "no true bill."
Fort Lee changes are now online as post switches Facebook, social-media account names
The changeover from “Fort Gregg-Adams" to “Fort Lee” may not be physically visible yet, but in cyberspace, the rebranding is complete. The official website and social-media outlets Facebook and X now indicate the Prince George County Army post as Fort Lee, less than two weeks after the Pentagon announced it was reverting the names of military posts mainly in the South from what they were changed to in 2023.
Science agency staff brace for HQ takeover
The Department of Housing and Urban Development is expected to announce Wednesday that it’s moving into the headquarters of the National Science Foundation in Alexandria, Virginia, according to the union representing NSF employees. But as of Tuesday evening, staff at the science foundation hadn’t been informed by management about their building’s incoming occupants, leaving them feeling blindsided and unsure about where they’re expected to work.