Advance investing $8M in new center in Roanoke

AFP

Advance Auto Parts Inc., a leading automotive aftermarket retailer of parts, batteries, accessories, and maintenance items, will add a Financial Services Commercial Customer Care Center to its operation and corporate headquarters in the City of Roanoke and will invest $8 million to support this expansion, as well as other growth. Financial Services will manage the…

Warner proposals on transit safety, development incorporated into Senate bill

Chris Graham

U.S. Sen. Mark R. Warner (D-Va.) joined colleagues on both sides of the aisle in passing legislation out of the Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs to make improvements to the U.S. Department of Transportation’s public transportation programs. The legislation included new safety standards championed by Sen. Warner in the wake of a fatal…

Kaine addresses economic issues

AFP

Tim Kaine has been taking some heat from political rival George Allen over his support for the economic-stimulus package that President Barack Obama championed as a cornerstone to an economic recovery. Funny thing, to the Democrat Kaine – the stimulus package that the Republican Allen has criticized played a key role in the decision of…

Allied Realty names Polan new president

AFP

Allied Realty Company—with more than 2.5 million square feet of commercial, manufacturing and distribution holdings in downtown Huntington, Kenova, Nitro and Parkersburg, W.Va.; Paris, Ky. and Waynesboro and Harrisonburg, Va.—today announced that its board of directors has elected Rebecca Polan as its new president. “One of my goals is to find ways to boost job…

McDonnell announces 1,350 jobs in Chesterfield, Dinwiddie

AFP

Gov. Bob McDonnell and Amazon.com Inc. (NASDAQ: AMZN) today announced the company’s plans to open two fulfillment centers in Virginia, investing a total of $135 million. The company will invest $85 million and create more than 1,000 jobs in Chesterfield County, and invest $50 million in Dinwiddie County, creating more than 350 jobs. “This project…

Tea Party group blasts Allen on Fannie Mae, Freddie Mac

AFP

The Virginia Tea Party Patriots, a coalition of over 40 independent tea party groups in Virginia, issued a press release today challenging George Allen’s assertion that he is a Tea Party conservative focusing on the former senator’s failure to reform Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac in 2005, three years before the 2008 financial crisis. The release highlighted…

Agritourism initiative plants seeds for coordinated, strategic economic growth

Chris Graham

Agritourism could be a path to profit for small area farms. Since the early 1700s, farming has been central to the spirit and success of the Shenandoah Valley.  Today agriculture continues to play a fundamental role in the Valley’s community and economic health. Agricultural tourism, or agritourism, merges the world of travel with special farm-related…