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Traditional Medicinals has started production at its $47 million Franklin County factory, nearly six years after announcing the project. The 110,000-square-foot plant has made its first batch of Throat Coat tea, using slippery elm sourced from Appalachia. The company says it has hired 19 local residents so far and aims to create 57 jobs over three years. The all-electric facility is its second manufacturing site, following its plant in Sebastopol, California. Virginia voters are signaling broad support for greater investment in public schools. In a statewide poll of 800 registered voters, 97% said addressing the K-12 teacher shortage is important, while 85% backed more funding to improve school facilities. More than 90% also supported investment in students’ post-pandemic reading and math recovery and closing the gap between Virginia’s per-student spending and the national average. The findings could help shape priorities for the General Assembly’s session beginning in January. Danville’s animal shelter euthanized about 59% of animals in 2025 — the lowest rate there in years, but still far above Virginia’s 9% average. As controversies around the shelter mount and residents press for change, animal welfare is headed to the election stage. Homeward Trails Animal Rescue is hosting a Wednesday forum where Danville City Council candidates will be asked about the issue. Incumbents have mostly stayed quiet, the rescue’s executive director says. Barbara Kingsolver’s 10th novel, “Partita,” returns to Appalachia — the region she says every book she writes will be about. Set on a fictional East Tennessee farm, the story follows Livia Cable, a young woman whose love of classical piano opens a path to a college scholarship. Kingsolver says Appalachian stories are too often told by outsiders. “This is what I can do: I can write from the place I live, about who we are.” Construction on Appomattox County’s “Project Hercules” data center is expected to begin by year’s end, after permits were secured and a performance agreement finalized. The $3 billion AVAIO campus is planned for more than 400 acres, with six or seven data centers and initial power expected in 2027. The buildout could take about a decade and generate at least 500 construction jobs. Across the Lynchburg region, other proposals are at earlier stages — and local zoning rules are shaping what comes next.

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