By Lydia Wheeler
lydia.wheeler@insidebiz.com
During Game Day, an Urban Land Institute-sponsored event held last year at Old Dominion University, more than 300 stakeholders gathered for an exercise in visioning the region's future growth. But architect Burrell Saunders, ULI Hampton Roads District Council chair, said that exercise only started the conversation about working together.
Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel announced today that he has signed a memorandum directing defense managers to prepare to furlough most Defense Department civilian employees for up to 11 days between July 8 and the Sept. 30 end of the fiscal year.
Here is the text of the memo in its entirety:
By Bill Cresenzo
bill.cresenzo@insidebiz.com
Nine Hampton Roads businesses are this year's recipients of the Virginia Chamber of Commerce's Fantastic 50 Award.
The award recognizes the 50 fastest-growing companies in the commonwealth. This is the 18th year the chamber has given out the award, this year on April 25 in Chantilly.
By Lydia Wheeler
lydia.wheeler@insidebiz.com
Hampton Roads Ventures LLC will receive $45 million in tax credits from the U.S. Treasury for real estate investments in challenged communities across the country.
The Norfolk-based community development investment firm was one of 85 organizations chosen from 282 applicants nationwide to receive a portion of the $3.5 billion in New Markets Tax Credits from the federal Community Development Financial Institutions Fund.
WASHINGTON — The Office of Personnel Management is planning to reduce its call-center hours and halt overtime for workers who process federal-retiree pensions because of the government-wide spending cuts that took effect last month.
The agency expects the moves to save about $1.5 million in projected spending as it reduces its budget by about 5 percent under the sequester.
By Bill Cresenzo
bill.cresenzo@insidebiz.com
A California economist urged Hampton Roads business leaders to unite in order to reinvent the region, and to embrace a spirit of inclusiveness in the economic, civic, educational and social arenas.
It's a refrain that's been heard many times, as cities in Hampton Roads have struggled to form cohesive, regional relationships.
By Bill Cresenzo
bill.cresenzo@insidebiz.com
Earlier this month, a two-block stretch of a neglected part of Granby Street teemed with people who visited temporary "pop-up" shops, cafes and art galleries.
Team Better Block is a Dallas-based group that travels from city to city to show city leaders and residents how they can turn blighted areas into a focal point of a neighborhood. Granby Street was its first Norfolk project.
Now the group is casting its eye on two other areas in Norfolk - 35th Street in Park Place and the Five Points area.
WASHINGTON — The rules aren't even in place yet but allegations of fraud are already flying.
The Securities and Exchange Commission is crafting rules to implement a new law that makes it easier for private firms to raise money from the general public. But it has been struggling over how to do so in a way that protects investors from fraud.
WASHINGTON — The Labor Department lifted its controversial hold on Job Corps enrollments Monday, ending an action the agency took in January to deal with an estimated $60 million shortfall for the federal job-training program.
The move comes as good news for individuals who were locked out of the program in a stubbornly sluggish job market, but the Job Corps still plans to reduce enrollment by 20 percent, according to the National Job Corps Association (NJCA), which represents the contractors that run the training centers.
The Virginia Beach Airport, which maintains, displays and flies vintage aircraft of the Military Aviation Museum, is set to receive $55,000. The money will be used to expand the main hangar, among other things.
Compasión – which employs licensed clinicians and counselors to work with at-risk youth primarily in the school setting – will use its $10,000 grant to expand its facilities and grow from 61 to 81 employees.