Skip to main content

Amazon targeted $1B in incentives on top of HQ2 funds in 2017

Amazon.com Inc. in 2017 set a goal to receive $1 billion in incentives on top of any incentives it would get for its second headquarters, according to a new Wall Street Journal report.

The tech company kicked off its search for HQ2 in September of 2017, but that same year, CEO Jeff Bezos challenged his team of top executives to secure $1 billion in incentives for unrelated projects, unnamed sources told WSJ. The goal was set because the company expected higher-than-normal capital expenditures that year, according to the report.

The group did not meet that goal in 2017 and did not set the same goal in 2018, according to WSJ’s reporting.

Amazon.com Inc. did receive a commitment in 2018 of $1 billion in incentives from Virginia to locate HQ2 in Crystal City if the company delivers on 38,000 jobs for the site. It also had the promise of $3 billion in incentives from New York to split HQ2 between Arlington and New York’s Long Island City neighborhood, but Amazon pulled out of the Long…

Read the full story from the Washington Business Journal.

Va. health dept. improves nursing home inspection backlog, reforms sanction criteria for facilities

Stories of neglect in care or unsanitary living situations have plagued several of Virginia’s nursing home facilities in recent years and data backs up a lapse in oversight by state agencies.  With reform efforts underway, the Virginia Department of Health officials said they aim to adopt sanction criteria by the end of the year to rein in bad actors and get troubled facilities back on track.  As of July, 58% of Virginia’s nursing homes were overdue for inspections and 68 of Virginia’s 289 nursing homes were found to have serious deficiencies, according to ProPublica. Several of the state’s flagged facilities with numerous deficiencies also had high staffing turnover rates.  The issue has been salient among various healthcare spaces, including VDH. 
Read Next Story