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Virginia
West Virginia gov's historic Greenbrier hotel avoids foreclosure as he runs for Senate
The family of West Virginia Gov. Jim Justice has reached an agreement with a credit collection company to avoid the foreclosure of their historic hotel as he runs for US Senate, the resort announced Thursday.
The Republican governor’s family had been set to appear in court Friday to ask a judge to halt the auction of The Greenbrier, which had been scheduled for Tuesday.
That hearing has been canceled.
“It’s taken care of, and we move forward, and The Greenbrier is as whole as it can possibly be,” Justice said at a news briefing. “The Greenbrier is going to be in our family forevermore.”
The hotel came under threat of auction after JPMorgan Chase sold a longstanding loan taken out by the governor to a credit collection company, McCormick 101 — a subsidiary of Beltway Capital — which declared it to be in default.
In a statement, the Justice family said it had reached an agreement with Beltway Capital to “receive a specific amount to be paid in full by October 24, 2024.”
The family said it had already secured the money, although the Justices did not specify the amount.
“Under the agreement, Beltway Capital will Beltway reserves its rights if the Justice family fails to perform,” the statement reads.
A message left with Beltway Capital wasn’t immediately returned Thursday.
Justice defended his family’s business practices at Thursday’s briefing and repeated past claims that JPMorgan Chase’s sale of The Greenbrier loan was a politically motivated effort to hurt his US Senate campaign.
“We had a 14-year working relationship with JPMorgan, and then shortly after the primary where I was the winner — hands down, you’re going to the U.S. Senate, no matter what anybody says under the sun — it makes, it made, total no sense other than political, it made no sense at all,” he said.
Justice said that his family had made payments on the JPMorgan as recently as June and that it was notified the loan had been sold in July without prior warning. JPMorgan Chase did not respond to an email seeking comment.
If the hotel had been sold, Justice said, “there would have been carnage and devastation like you can’t imagine to the great people of The Greenbrier,” referring to jobs that could have been lost.
The auction, which had been set to occur at a courthouse Tuesday in the small city of Lewisburg, involved 60.5 acres, including the hotel and parking lot.
Justice family attorneys filed a motion this week for a preliminary injunction to try to halt the auction of The Greenbrier.
They claimed that a 2014 deed of trust approved by the governor was defective because JPMorgan didn’t obtain consent from the Greenbrier Hotel Corp.’s directors or owners, and that auctioning the property violates the company’s obligation to act in “good faith and deal fairly” with the corporation.
They also argued, in part, that the auction would harm the economy and threaten hundreds of jobs.
About 400 employees at The Greenbrier hotel received notice this week from an attorney for the health care provider Amalgamated National Health Fund saying they would lose coverage Tuesday, the scheduled date of the auction, unless the Justice family paid $2.4 million in missing contributions.
Peter Bostic, a union official with the Workers United Mid-Atlantic Regional Joint Board, said that the Justice family hasn’t contributed to employees’ health fund in four months, and that an additional $1.2 million in contributions will soon be due, according to the letter the board received from Ronald Richman, an attorney with Schulte Roth & Zabel LLP, the firm representing the fund.
The letter also said some contributions were taken out of employees’ paychecks but never transferred to the fund, concerning union officials.
Justice dismissed concerns about the claims Thursday, telling reporters that “insurance payments were made and were being made on a regular basis.”
“There is no way that the great union employees at The Greenbrier are going to go without insurance,” he said. “There is no possible way.”
Justice is running for Senate against Democrat Glenn Elliott, a former mayor of Wheeling. Justice, who owns dozens of companies and had a net worth estimated at $513 million by Forbes Magazine in 2021, has been accused in court cases of being late in paying millions for family business debts and fines for unsafe working conditions at his coal mines.
He began serving the first of his two terms as governor in 2017, after buying The Greenbrier out of bankruptcy in 2009.
The hotel has hosted US presidents, royalty and, from 2010 until 2019, a PGA Tour tournament.
Justice’s family also owns The Greenbrier Sporting Club, a private luxury community with a members-only “resort within a resort.”
That property was scheduled to be auctioned off this year in an attempt by Carter Bank & Trust of Martinsville, Virginia, to recover more than $300 million in business loans defaulted by the governor’s family, but a court battle delayed that process.
Virginia
First responders train in Blacksburg
BLACKSBURG, Va. (WDBJ) – First responders never stop training, and this week almost 500 from across Virginia are honing their skills in Blacksburg.
The Virginia Association of First Responders now includes EMTs, firefighters, police officers and many others who answer the call in an emergency.
Thursday, a farm accident and a collision involving a car and school bus were just two of the scenarios they encountered.
“It’s a week-long opportunity, not only for technical stuff like this, but for medical classes,” said Covington Volunteer Rescue Squad member Greg Burton. “People call 911 every day for something. And we’re just here to help ease the problem a little bit.”
The annual conference also includes a Rescue Camp for young people with an interest in emergency services.
43 campers are taking part in a variety of activities, including a session on scuba diving Thursday afternoon.
Copyright 2026 WDBJ. All rights reserved.
Virginia
Brush fire in Virginia Beach set by children playing with fire
VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (WAVY) — A brush fire in a wooded area on Criollo Drive Wednesday afternoon was set by children playing with fire, according to the Virginia Beach Police Department.
Units with Virginia Beach Fire and Virginia Beach Police were dispatched to the 3700 block of Criollo Drive in reference to a report of a possible fire in a wooded area at approximately 5 p.m.
Upon arrival, crews saw light smoke coming from a wooded area. They quickly had the brush fire under control at 6:05 p.m. and marked out at 6:37 p.m.
There were no injuries reported to civilians, firefighters or pets.
A VBFD Fire Investigator determined that the fire was set by kids playing with fire.
There are no charges being filed currently.
Virginia
Virginia Beach Fire Department battles multi-family structure fire on Rookery Way
For Navy Vice-Admiral Douglas Perry, you could say all roads, or waterways, lead to Hampton Roads.
“It is more than full circle,” said Perry, who noted he went to the first Harborfest downtown in 1976.
And when he saw those tall ships led by Coast Guard Cutter Barque Eagle, “I was sold. I wanted to go to sea. I wanted to be a naval officer.”
Link: https://www.wavy.com/living-local/50th-harborfest-weekend-more-than-full-circle-for-navy-vice-admiral/
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