Category Archives: Business

Affordable Care Act’s effects on health costs still unclear (Roanoke Business)

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After 33 years serving uninsured patients in Christiansburg, the Free Clinic of the New River Valley changed its name and business model in January.

The facility is now known as the Community Health Center of the New River Valley and is one of about 1,200 community health centers across the U.S., including New Horizons Healthcare in Roanoke and the Tri-Area Community Health Center in Ferrum.

CEO Michelle Brauns says the change came about as a direct result of the Affordable Care Act—the health-care reform law passed by Congress in 2010. The law, intended to provide better, more affordable health coverage, mandates that, with a few exceptions, every American be covered by health insurance or pay a penalty that will increase each year. Over time, it should dramatically decrease the number of uninsured Americans—dramatically affecting a clinic whose mission was to serve the uninsured. Faced with an uncertain future, the free clinic chose a different route.

My story looks not just at the former NRV free clinic, but also the bigger picture of what may or may not happen with long-term costs as a result of the health care reform law. Read the full story in the November issue of Roanoke Business.

Craft brewers join the fight against natural gas pipelines (Grist)

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On a recent afternoon, visitors packed into Blue Mountain Brewery, one of three craft breweries in Virginia’s idyllic Rockfish Valley. Couples and families spilled out of the restaurant onto patios and into gardens, sipping Full Nelson Pale Ale, Kölsch 151, Original Nitro Porter, and more.

Above them, the low-hanging clouds that obscured Afton Mountain’s upper ridges couldn’t mute the bright reds, oranges, and yellows exploding on its slopes. The brewery is just four miles below Rockfish Gap — the mountain pass that marks the southern entrance of Shenandoah National Park, the passage of the Appalachian Trail, and the point where Skyline Drive becomes the Blue Ridge Parkway.

But there’s a storm brewing in this autumnal paradise, as evidenced by a sign in front of the brewery that’s become quite common in the Blue Ridge Mountains of late: “No pipeline.”

Read more of my first story for Grist, which details how craft brewers increasingly are getting involved in environmental politics.

The Rise of Family-Friendly Breweries (All About Beer)

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When children walk in the door at Hopworks Urban Brewery in Portland, Oregon, they’re given a ball of the restaurant’s organic base pizza dough—think an edible version of Play-Doh. The restaurant features three different play areas with train tables, chalk boards, magnets, books and toys.

The child-friendly business model is catching on nationally, for good reason: Children drive buying decisions. That’s why fast-food restaurants snag licensing rights to the latest kids’ movies and groceries put candy bars on low shelves in the checkout line.

The link between beer and families isn’t as odd at it seems. European pubs and beer gardens traditionally serve as community centers. Busch Gardens amusement parks had their origins in 1906 when Anheuser-Busch opened a garden and invited families to participate in picnics and egg hunts while sampling beer in hospitality houses.

Read more about child-friendly breweries in my story on All About Beer magazine’s website.

You can also discuss the story, either in the comments on the story itself, on All About Beer’s Facebook page or in this thread on Reddit.

10 Road Projects That Will Change the Roanoke and New River Valleys

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Road construction projects clog traffic, drive commuters nuts and litter the landscape with orange cones and reduced speed limits.

Yet for their inconveniences, they can also solve troublesome traffic problems that have lingered for decades.

Fueled by a mix of regularly scheduled funding, federal money and state bonds approved by the General Assembly, the Virginia Department of Transportation (VDOT) has lined up a series of construction projects for state roads. Some already are finished. Others will have motorists pulling their hair for years before they’re finally complete.

You can read the full list, along with the status and cost of each project, in the October issue of Roanoke Business. It’s on regional newstands now and can be read online here.

New story in Roanoke Business: Valley governments in Roanoke & the NRV are working together

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Regional cooperation in western Virginia has come a long way from the late ‘60s and early ‘70s, when Salem and Roanoke each built their own civic center, just four years and seven miles apart from one another.

A 2013 report compiled by the Roanoke Valley Alleghany Regional Commission found that, despite the conventional wisdom, regional governments do work together on a regular basis. In fact the report, released biennially since 2003, cited 105 examples of governmental cooperation.

What’s that cooperation and collaboration produced? A growing network of greenways. A beefed-up tourism marketing campaign based around “Virginia’s Blue Ridge.” Economic development projects, including a near miss with Sierra Nevada Brewing Company and a win with Red Sun Farms, which will employ 200 people in a regional industrial park. More significantly, the various partnership give the region a leg up when competing in an increasingly global economy.

Despite its title, the commission’s “report card” offers no grades on efforts to cooperate. I tried to bring some of that critical perspective to my cover story on regional cooperation for the September issue of Roanoke Business. Read it here.

New work for Blue Ridge Country: Agriculture’s Industrial Revolution began in the Shenandoah Valley

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Compared to the monolithic corn and soybean fields of the Midwest, the rolling hills and valleys of western Virginia feel far removed from large-scale industrial agriculture.

But in the mid-19th century the region contributed heavily to feeding the rapidly growing United States of America, serving as the highest grain-producing region in one of the highest grain-producing states.

The Valley of Virginia also produced in that era a man who would forever leave a mark on American agriculture and business in general: Cyrus McCormick.

McCormick’s invention of the reaper changed food production around the world, and the business practices he and his brothers pioneered are standard today.

Read more about McCormick in the online teaser for my story at Blue Ridge Country. For the full story pick up the Sept./Oct. issue of Blue Ridge Country or read the digital edition here.

Manufacturing profile of New River Valley rifle maker, May 2014

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Bill Alexander spent much of his career designing armor in the United Kingdom and taking part in the steadily escalating arms race of the Cold War.

After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, however, Alexander’s focus shifted from tanks to small arms, and in 2001 he started Alexander Arms in Radford with a pilot product that adopted the AR-15 for larger caliber ammunition.

Today, 13 years after opening, Alexander Industries is gearing up for an expansion with a $2.8 million investment into a new, 25,000-square-foot facility in Dublin (Va.) Industrial Park.

Read more about Alexander Industries, its products, history and plans for the future in my manufacturing profile in the May 2014 issue of Roanoke Business Magazine. You can read it online here.

Where to find my stories, April 2014

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This month you can find my byline spread across five stories in three publications.

The most high-profile story runs in Delta Sky Magazine. The magazine’s new issue features a special section on the Roanoke and New River Valley region. Delta Sky Mag’s circulation is about 600,000 and the magazines are carried on all U.S. and international flights. I wrote a business profile that is paired with a travel feature by Jenny Kincaid Boone. You can read both stories online here.

Roanoke Business magazine runs three of my stories this month. I covered the Salem Red Sox, the reigning Carolina League champions, and how they use promotions, sponsorships and timing to create revenue. Bottom line: It takes more than a trophy to sell tickets to minor-league baseball games. That story included a sidebar on the Pulaski Mariners, which face similar challenges but in an even more rural atmosphere. Finally, I wrote a story profiling Franklin County, which matches its geographically diverse nature with an equally diverse economy. It looks at growing local companies like Homestead Creamery and international manufacturers like McAirlaids.

Finally, the spring issue of Virginia Tech Magazine, to be published later this month, will include an illustrated story on particle physics experiments conducted at Kimballton Underground Research Facility, a laboratory located in a working limestone mine 1,750 feet beneath a Giles County mountain.

Where to find my stories, March 2014

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This month you can find my work in two different but related publications.

Virginia Business published two of my stories as part of its annual “Big Book” issue. One story looks at Southwest Virginia’s 2013 in economic development — specifically the return of manufacturing and industry. The story includes a list of the region’s largest employers and the biggest economic deals of 2013 in terms of job creation. A second, related story examines the region’s “big deal” — in this case Roanoke County’s successful landing of Ardagh Group, a Luxembourg-based food packaging company that will invest $93.5 million to convert the former Hanover Direct building into a can-manufacturing plant.

Additionally, Roanoke Business published my story for businesses about how to prepare for the implementation of the Affordable Care Act, or Obamacare. What do you need to know? What’s the employment threshold for providing mandated health insurance? How to part-time workers figure in to that calculation? What can you do now to prepare for future years? I spoke to Roanoke-based attorneys who provided those answers, along with other advice for businesses coping with the law. Find it in the March issue of Roanoke Business, on stands or online here.

Who Southwest Virginia businesses supported in the 2013 elections

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My newest story for Roanoke Business magazine hit the stands this month. It looks at who businesses in the Roanoke and New River valleys supported during Virginia’s 2013 elections.

While most of the media attention focused on the competitive statewide races, most local businesses went the other way, with most of their dollars going to candidates in the lower-profile General Assembly elections.

Why?

1) Those races tend to be less competitive. Even when there’s a challenger (and in many cases there’s not) it’s usually easy to pick the winner. That makes campaign giving less of a gamble.

2) The stakes are lower and the districts are smaller, meaning that dollars (and potential influence) stretch farther.

3) Most importantly, the General Assembly is where laws and policy are made. The vast majority of bills that come through the legislature get hashed out at the committee level and pass with little or no controversy. Having a sympathetic ear at that level makes sense for businesses who may be affected by said laws and policy.

Final observation: A lot of businesses effectively outsource their campaign research, donating to trade organizations and their political action committees, which then focus their giving to the most influential legislators (often defined by seniority on a relevant committee).

You can read more in my story, either online or in Roanoke Business magazine, which is available on the way out of regional grocery stores or in the Roanoke Regional Chamber of Commerce.