Expansion Underway at Elkton Drug Plant

Merck & Co. broke ground on a $3 billion expansion of its pharmaceutical manufacturing facility in Elkton. The project, known as the Center of Excellence for Pharmaceutical Ingredients and Small Molecule Manufacturing, is expected to be completed by 2029 and add as many as 500 jobs.

The international drugmaker had already intended to invest $2 billion and add 300 jobs at the site. Gov. Glenn Youngkin approved $9 million in state grants to support this expansion of the project.

“Today is an important milestone for Merck, for Virginia, for manufacturing in the United States and, most importantly, for the patients we serve,” company CEO Robert M. Davis said in a statement.

Merck already employs more than 1,000 people at the site.

Data Outage Centered in NoVa 

An Amazon Web Services outage in the US-EAST-1 region disrupted service on hundreds of web sites and apps Monday morning. The region is based in Northern Virginia, which has become a hub for data centers.

“We have confirmed multiple AWS services experienced network connectivity issues in the US-EAST-1 Region,” Amazon announced yesterday morning. “We are seeing early signs of recovery for the connectivity issues and are continuing to investigate the root cause.”

Major sites including Apple Music, AT&T, Zoom, Snapchat, Signal, Slack, X, Ring, Reddit, and Delta Air Lines were disrupted, along with the finance apps Coinbase and Venmo, among other banking sites.

As of yesterday afternoon, AWS said it was seeing recovery across all of its services.

Federal Shutdown Drags On

Some lawmakers said the federal government shutdown that began on Oct. 1 may go on even longer than the one that began in Dec. 2018 and lasted 35 days.

According to a survey by WalletHub, Virginia is the sixth most-affected state. The Commonwealth is home to tens of thousands of federal employees and contractors and is also home to national parks.

Despite the shutdown, long segments of the Blue Ridge Parkway are open to drivers because partnering foundations are paying to keep visitor centers staffed.

The City of Richmond posted a document showing how it is responding to the disruption. “We’ve navigated this before—and we will again,” Mayor Danny Avula said. In addition, a map created by MyFedBenefits aims to help furloughed federal employees find assistance.

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➤ Prince William County: Deshundra Jefferson, the chair of the Board of Supervisors, asked a federal judge to dismiss a lawsuit filed against her by a property developer that wants to build data centers in the county. “None of the claims have merit, and the lawsuit’s ulterior purpose (is) to silence and recuse Jefferson,” her suit said. (Details)

➤ Newport News: A $40 million civil lawsuit on behalf of former teacher Abby Zwerner is set to open next week. She was shot by a 6-year-old student in her classroom in January of 2023. (More)

➤ Richmond: The city is on a list with nearly two dozen others being considered to host a U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement office. ICE is looking to sign 10-year leases for property that would be used in “support of administrative operations for law enforcement.” (Details)

➤ Henrico: Arman Momand, a student at J.R. Tucker High School, was freed after two months in ICE detention. He came to Virginia with his family from Afghanistan in 2021 on a special visa granted for helping the U.S. military. (More)

➤ Fairfax County: The U.S. Postal Service offered a $150,000 reward for information about two robberies in recent months. (Details)

➤ Wise County: Officials will host a webinar tomorrow to educate voters about a potential local electric authority that would focus on large businesses that need new power generation. (More) 

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➤ UVA men’s soccer, ranked No. 9, took down Denver University 2-1 this weekend thanks to a beautiful upper 90 goal from Reese Miller during the second half. (See Highlight)

➤ Liberty field hockey, ranked No. 7, beat St. Joseph’s 2-1 after converting a pair of penalty corners just one minute apart. The Lady Flames are now 12-2 on the year and undefeated at home. (More)

➤ The Washington Wizards hired former guard Shabazz Napier as a “coaching apprentice” for the upcoming season. Napier last played professionally in Europe for Bayern Munich, where he won the Bundesliga finals MVP. (More)

Yesterday’s Results: NFL | MLB | NHL | Soccer | Tennis

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➤ The average price of gasoline in Virginia dropped. According to GasBuddy, fuel cost an average of $2.89 per gallon yesterday, down 5.6 cents in the last week. That’s 10.6 cents less than last month and 18.6 cents less than last year. (Details)

➤ Frontier Airlines inaugurated twice-weekly flights from Richmond to Atlanta and Denver. (More)

➤ The Riverfront Park Amphitheater in Lynchburg is ahead of its construction schedule and is expected to open next year. (Other Regional Projects)

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“One of the Largest Industries Ever”

That’s what NVIDIA’s CEO said about robotics. And he’s not alone. Ark Invest values it as a $24 trillion global opportunity. 

So it’s a big deal that NVIDIA, Uber AI, and Amazon helped Miso Robotics perfect Flippy, its new fully commercial kitchen robot. It’s no wonder that initial units sold out in just one week.

Miso already has 200K+ hours for brands like White Castle under its belt. With the $1T fast-food industry facing 144% employee turnover rates, Flippy provides 24/7 labor and can boost profits by up to 3X.

Now, Miso’s leveraging its new manufacturing partnership to scale US-based production nationwide across a $4B annual revenue opportunity. 

➤ Camden Thepsimuong, a senior at William Byrd High School in Vinton, celebrated his graduation with honors over the weekend, months ahead of his classmates. He is battling Stage IV bone cancer. (Details)

➤ A Dominique Dawes Academy opened in Ashburn, making it the Olympic gold medalist’s fourth location in the Washington D.C. region. (More)

➤ The Orionid meteor shower peaks tonight as the Earth passes through debris left by Halley’s Comet. (How to Watch)

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What’s your favorite Virginia delicacy?

1. Oysters
2. Ham
3. Peanuts
4. Blue crabs
5. Other

Monday’s Results:

Have you ever taken part in a political rally? 

1. No: 38%
2. Yes: 32%
3. Not yet: 30%

Who was the first governor of Virginia after independence from England?

Show me the answer