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Chasing
away those February blahs
by
Paula C. Squires
Virginia
Business
February 2004
Two months into the new year and so far the signs are
positive: the election-year economy seems to be chugging
along. Unemployment rates are down — with Virginia
enjoying one of the lowest rates in the country —
and the stock market is up. In fact, one of this month’s
guest writers, Stephen S. Fuller of George Mason University,
expects the economy to turn in its best performance
of the decade in 2004. To find out why, check out our
annual State of the State
report, starting on page 16. In addition to Fuller’s
commentary, we have compiled stats and charts on Virginia’s
economic health, including areas where we shine and
areas where we need to catch up. Another piece in this
package looks at what happens
to business incentives, funded with tax dollars,
when companies don’t show or close their doors.
When it comes to economic development, no state agency
has as much to spend as Virginia’s tobacco commission.
Flush with funds from a national tobacco settlement
— Virginia could get as much as $4 billion over
the next 25 years — the commission is trying to
reinvent the depressed economies in the state’s
struggling Southside and Southwest regions. In this
month’s cover story,
we take a look at how the money has been spent so far
and what effect the programs are having on people who
live in Virginia’s tobacco-growing regions. Meet
Robert Robertson, the 62-year-old tobacco farmer on
our cover, who has farmed tobacco for decades near Danville.
Even with indemnification payments, he works full-time
and goes to school at night. Then there’s Nancy
Breeding of Russell County, who took advantage of a
commission-funded scholarship to earn her master’s
degree. Both photos were shot by freelance photographer
Doug Miller of Roanoke.
Also in February’s issue is our annual List of
Leaders, a ranking of the top companies in Virginia
in 16 sectors. We round out our report with a piece
on the growth of private evangelical
schools and a regional report on Alexandria.
This vibrant Northern Virginia city, known for its Old
Town district, is home to the country’s new U.
S. Patent and Trademark headquarters office, located
in one of the Alexandria’s fastest-growing areas.
Judging so far from the traffic on our Web site at www.virginiabusiness.com,
people are voting on poll
questions in our stories, a new feature we started
in January. Thanks for the feedback. As a result of
public interest, the poem, “The
Road from Hell,” sent in by one of our readers
in response to an October cover
story on the proposed widening of Interstate 81,
has been posted to the site. I mentioned the poem by
Robert K. Wineland in my November column, but didn’t
have enough room to print it in its entirety. Ever since
then people have been asking in person and via e-mail,
“Where’s the poem?” Believe me, Wineland’s
colorful comments on I-81’s heavy truck traffic
are enough to chase away the February blahs.
Paula
C. Squires
Managing Editor
psquires@va-business.com
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