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| Business Intelligence for Virginia's Entrepreneurial Economy | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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In This Issue... Expansions, Relocations and Launches, Who's Hot, Who's Winning Business, Deals & Partnerships, Innovations, Partnerships & Collaborations, Trends, Other News, Commentary, Events Click here to forward to a friend or colleague who might like this newsletter. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Back To Top | Expansions, Relocations & Launches   | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Apex to Expand in India HERNDON-Apex Publishing, a provider of data conversion and imaging services, has announced its intention to expand its workforce by 1,000 by the 1Q of 2007, although most of those jobs will be in India. The company will expand geographically as well, creating new capabilities in the state of Kerala in addition to its locations in Chennai, Hyderabad, Rajkot, Pune and Guntur. More. In Brief... CHARLOTTESVILLE-The Virginia Active Angel Network will expand its presence to the Blacksburg/Roanoke area, giving angel investors and entrepreneurs a larger pool of financial and mentor capital to facilitate launching and early-stage opportunities in Virginia. More. GLEN ALLEN-EnergyConnect, Inc., a provider of energy management services, has established an office, its seventh, in Henrico County to serve the Virginia, Maryland and Washington, D.C., markets. More. RICHMOND--Albemarle Corporation has added a production and packaging unit for merchant sales of industrial-grade N28 anhydrous Hydrogen Bromide in Magnolia, Ark. More. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Back To Top | Who's Hot | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Freedom Bank to Raise $5.1 Million FAIRFAX-Freedom Bank of Virginia will raise $4.1 million from the six founding directors of James Monroe Bank, who also will join its board. Additionally, the Ategra Community Financial Institution Fund, of Vienna, will invest $1 million in the bank. James Monroe Bank was acquired earlier this year by Baltimore's Mercantile Bank for $143 million. More. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Back To Top | Who's Winning Business... | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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ICF Awarded Post-Katrina Housing Contract FAIRFAX--ICF International has been awarded the second and third phases of its Housing Program Management Services contract by the State of Louisiana. The new funding brings the total value of the engagement, which is expected to extend for three more years, to $756 million. The ICF team will process applications and provide housing assistance to qualified homeowners and small rental unit landlords affected by Hurricanes Katrina and Rita. More BearingPoint Wins Jordanian Consulting Contract MCLEAN--BearingPoint, Inc., a management and technology consulting firm, has won a contract from the United States Agency for International Development to implement the Sustainable Achievement of Business Expansion and Quality program for Jordan. The purpose of the Program is to spur economic growth and reduce poverty by expanding trade and investment, enhancing the competitiveness of Jordanian firms and increasing the number of jobs available to Jordanians. More Tax Bill Caught You Flat-Footed? Charge It! RESTON--Official Payments Corp. has been authorized to provide secure electronic property tax payment options to the citizens of St. Louis County, beginning with the 2006 tax season. Through the new service, residents can pay real and personal property tax payments with any American Express, Discover, MasterCard or VISA card. More In Brief... ARLINGTON--CACI International Inc. has been awarded two task orders totaling $3.93 million to continue its lead role in supporting the Naval Logistics Readiness Research Center. More. RESTON--SI International, Inc., has been awarded the Standard Automated Logistics Tool Set contract, valued at $3.65 million over two years, by the Navy Inventory Control Point. More. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Back To Top | Deal Makers | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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KSL Acquires Homestead HOT SPRINGS-KSL Capital Partners, of La Quinta, Cal., will take over ownership of the Homestead resort in conjunction with its acquisition of ClubCorp, Inc. ClubCorp will retain KSL Resorts, a resort management company, to manage the Homestead when the transaction is complete at year end. More. 3 Daughters Acquires Two Clear Channel Stations FOREST--3 Daughters Media, Inc., a locally owned radio chain, has acquired radio stations WVGM Lynchburg and WGMN Roanoke, known locally as "ESPN The Game," from Clear Channel Communications of San Antonio, Tex., as well as stations in Chattanooga, Tenn. CEO Gary Burns said he will merge the Virginia stations with 3 Daughters Media's WBLT Bedford and WMNA FM Gretna/Danville. "The combined coverage ... will provide 24-hour sports from ESPN as well as local sports coverage to all of Roanoke, Lynchburg, Danville, and the surrounding areas." More. AES Doubles Wind-Development Pipeline in Europe ARLINGTON-- AES Corporation has expanded its European wind generation business through transactions in France and Bulgaria. The company purchased a minority interest in InnoVent SAS, a French wind farm developer with more than 600 MW of wind projects in development, and a minority stake in the 120 MW Kavarna wind project in Bulgaria, with options to acquire majority positions. Said AES executive Keith Oberg: "AES's investments in InnoVent and Kavarna allow us to enter the fast-growing wind energy markets in France and Bulgaria early, quickly and with established players." More. Imaging Acceptance Sold to Anacomp WARRENTON-Imaging Acceptance Corporation has been acquired by Anacomp, Inc., a San Diego-based provider of outsourced document management solutions. IAC is a strong player in the federal government sector, performing scanning and other document services. Said Anacomp executive Thomas Cunningham: "This acquisition will afford us production synergies and expanded capabilities in our government operations." More. In Brief... ARLINGTON--Interstate Hotels & Resorts has acquired the 308-room Hilton hotel in Arlington, Tex., from an affiliate of the Blackstone Group for $36.3 million. More. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Back To Top | Innovations | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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TrafficLand Rolls Out Traffic Camera Service FAIRFAX--TrafficLand, Inc., developer of traffic camera networks, has unveiled its Video Distribution System, which allows federal and state government agencies to obtain real-time traffic video from thousands of traffic cameras across the United States. The service is fortified by a fully redundant infrastructure, and it can meet spikes in user demand. Said President Lawrence Nelson: "Video hosting with TrafficLand allows our government clients to avoid the high cost of developing and maintaining the network and hosting infrastructure required to meet peak demand periods seen during emergency situations like hurricanes." More. In Brief... DULLES--Brainware, Inc., which provide solutions for high-speed capture, search, and classification of unstructured corporate data, has announced that its IDC-distiller version 3.1 has received certification for integration with SAP AG's enterprise solution. More. VIENNA--HandySoft Global Corp., a provider of business process management solutions, has released BizFlow Business Activity Monitoring, a dashboard-driven solution that tracks key performance indicators in real-time. More. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Back To Top | Partnerships and Collaborations | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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AOL to Sell Paramount Movies on its Movie Portal DULLES--AOL has inked a partnership with Paramount Pictures to deliver downloadable movies and television shows through the AOL Video portal. Prices for the Paramount titles range from $9.99 to $19.99. Once downloaded, videos can be viewed offline as well as on other PCs and portable devices. This deal follows AOL partnerships with 20th Century Fox, Sony Pictures Home Entertainment and Warner Bros. Home Entertainment Group. More. AOL, Four Points to Pilot On-Demand Services in Hotels DULLES--AOL has closed a deal with Four Points by Sheraton, of White Plains, NY, to launch a pilot program at the Manhattan Chelsea Hotel in New York City to provide access to videos, news, music and movies via a co-branded version of the AOL.com Web portal and AOL CityGuide New York homepage. Guests in the hotel's signature Family Room area will enjoy on-demand access to more than 40,000 videos through the AOL Video "10-foot" living room experience on a large-screen television. More. GE Fanuc, SAP America to Market to Manufacturers CHARLOTTESVILLE--GE Fanuc Automation, a unit of GE Industrial, has completed a sales and marketing agreement with SAP America, Inc., to jointly market GE Fanuc Production Management solutions and SAP applications. The joint capabilities are geared to boosting manufacturing quality, improving productivity, achieving regulatory compliance. More. Inxight, Government Micro Partner on Language Processing Platform RESTON--Inxight Federal Systems Group, a provider of search, extraction and visualization solutions, has partnered with Government Micro Resources to supply the Inxight SmartDiscovery platform. The platform's natural language processing capabilities help government agencies glean intelligence from the native text of terrorist organizations and other criminal communications. Inxight's ThingFinder engine automatically tags more than 35 entity types, including names, facilities, weapons, vehicles, geo-coordinates, dates and emails. More. Synchris, epipeline Partner on Market Intelligence Product STERLING/HERNDON--Synchris, Inc., and epipeline, inc., have agreed to integrate epipeline's research and business intelligence capability into Syncrhis' Privia product. Federal government contractors use Privia to manage bid-evaluation, capture-planning, proposal-development, and task-order responses across distributed teaming partners. More. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Back To Top | People | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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In Brief... MCLEAN--BearingPoint, Inc., a management and technology consulting firm, has promoted Judy Ethell, chief accounting officer, to CFO, replacing Harry You, who had held the position in addition to his CEO title. More. MCLEAN--Vigilon, Inc. has appointed Ian Strain, formerly senior vice president of consul risk, to the position of president and CEO. More. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Back To Top | Trends | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 Chmura Economics & Analytics |
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 Retail sales. The pace of retail sales growth in Virginia picked up in August. For the year ending with August 2006, retail sales rose 7.0 percent in the state, the fastest pace since last October. As the state's rate of retail sales growth has accelerated, it has surpassed the national pace. Since last August, retail sales increased only 5.7 percent nationally. The monthly periodicity of employment data makes it the most timely and encompassing measure of regional economic growth. For details and forecasts of economic conditions across Virginia, as well as a list of Chmura Economics & Analytics (CEA) products and services, click here or call 804-649-1107. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Back To Top | Other News | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Lambert's Point Completes Dredging Operations NORFOLK--Lambert's Point Docks, one of Virginia's main breakbulk marine terminals, has completed dredging operations to allow it to handle ships with up to 36 feet of draft - four feet more than previously. "The increased price of chartering has led to a consolidation of commodities aboard vessels, thereby increasing the loads and the requirement for deeper drafts," said Corine Barbour, general superintendent of the Norfolk Southern subsidiary. "LPD has always handled a lot of forest products, but the dredging opens up opportunities for us to market the terminal to vessels carrying more cargo." More. Owens & Minor Takes $4.5 Million Charge for Fast-Growth Unit RICHMOND--Owens & Minor recorded a $4.5 million charge in the quarter ending Sept. 30 for its Access Diabetic Supply LLC unit, acquired in early 2005. Access has nearly tripled its customer base, which strained existing business systems and led to a deterioration in collections. Said CEO Craig R. Smith: "Our team at Access has built the customer base very rapidly, resulting in some growing pains along the way. We have taken immediate steps to improve systems and processes." More. U.S. Open Cycling Event to Launch in Virginia RICHMOND--Red Five Sports Group, a sports event marketing and management group, and NBC Sports have announced the inaugural U.S. Open Cycling Championships. The race, which will run from historic Williamsburg to Richmond in April 2007, will be broadcast nationally on NBC Sports. The U.S. Open, expected to draw top teams and athletes from around the world, will showcase Virginia's historic scenery and attractions weeks before the 400th Anniversary of the founding of Jamestown. In Brief... ASHBURN--Edens & Avant, a retail real estate developer, has opened The Shoppes at Ryan Park, a 100,000 square-foot neighborhood center off the Dulles Greenway in Loudoun County. More. TAPPAHANNOCK-Eastern Virginia Bankshares has expanded its relationship with Digital Insight Corp., of Calabasas, Cal., for consumer Internet banking, business banking and bill payment solutions. More. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Back To Top | Commentary | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 Catching Crayfish Craig Understanding how Virginia grew a Nobel Price winner can inform everything from budget discussions to economic development strategies. More. |
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My Votes in the First District I know you've been waiting breathlessly to hear how I'll be voting in November. The suspense is over at last. In this next-to-last column before the election show time, I endorse the Republican candidates in Virginia and the Marriage Amendment. I know - what a shock. Perhaps my reasons might influence a fence sitter, if there are any left. More. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Back To Top | Events | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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VA Newswire is a free, email-based weekly newsletter that covers news and events from around the state. If you have any news, events, job openings, or office space availability that you would like to include in next week's newswire, email jabacon@baconsrebellion.com. Click here for a free subscription. Click here to unsubscribe. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
