Gov. Abigail Spanberger announced today that a solar panel startup based in Woodbridge is expanding into Shenandoah County, with an investment that’s expected to create 150 new jobs.

Below, I report on the Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden workers fighting for their first union contract.

And I share the Hunter Biden posts delighting the internet.

Want to get in touch, or have stories you want me to cover? Reply to this email or reach out to me directly at michaeloconnor@couriernewsroom.com.

Michael O’Connor

Reporter, Dogwood

Workers at Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden in Richmond are fighting for better pay. (Photo Courtesy of IAM Union)

The fight for a contract is heating up at Lewis Ginter Botanical Garden in Richmond.

After weeks of informational picketing and a formal complaint filed with the National Labor Relations Board, workers voted Wednesday to authorize a strike if necessary.

That doesn’t mean they will strike—just that they are ready to.

Lewis Ginter workers are also collecting signatures for an online petition in support of their contract fight. Negotiations began more than a year ago.

These workers make on average $17.25 an hour and are currently asking for an across-the-board raise of $2.15. Lewis Ginter has countered with roughly 40 cents, according to the union representing workers there.

Meanwhile, the president of Lewis Ginter, Brian Trader, made more than $200,000 in 2024—the same year these workers voted to join the International Association of Machinists and Aerospace Workers (IAM Union).

I recently caught up with some Lewis Ginter horticulturists over Zoom. It was moving to hear them talk about their passion for the garden and frustrations with the low pay.

Horticulturist Clare Reines told me the garden “loses people left and right” because of low pay, but still called Lewis Ginter “a once in a lifetime place to work.”

“It’s really sad to see people walk away from something because of money and because of the stubbornness of an organization,” Reines said in an interview.

Richmond Public Schools adopted a budget that includes new cuts to some teacher pay, Victoria A. Ifatusin at The Richmonder reports. RPS and the Richmond Education Association are currently in contract negotiations.

President of the Virginia State Building & Construction Trades Council, Jason Parker, is in Politico defending the data center industry: “If lawmakers relent to public pressure, he said, ‘what can we build? What industry are we allowed to have?’”

Jacobin has a review of the new memoir by Chris Smalls, the Amazon organizer-turned-AOC hater.

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Service Employees International Union (SEIU) Virginia 512 released an ad criticizing Gov. Abigail Spanberger’s veto of collective bargaining.

The clip includes moments where Spanberger said she supported collective bargaining legislation, quotes from Republican lawmakers celebrating her veto, and ends with a graphic asking, “Workers stood with you. When will you stand with us?”

SEIU Virginia 512 president LaNoral Thomas told me the union is focused on pressuring Spanberger to follow through on the governor’s pledges of support for expanding collective bargaining — and says time is of the essence, given next year’s legislative session will be only 45 days long.

“If she is truly committed that means the negotiations happen now and we go into session with a bill that she, the legislators, and labor support,” Thomas texted me. “She’s either aligned with the people who elected her or not.”

Asked about collective bargaining possibly being included in the state budget, Thomas said she would welcome it being included and hoped Spanberger would be on board.

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Hunter Biden’s candid posts about his troubled past and his populist takes on X are uniting the internet and spurring jokes about him running for president in 2028.

“Hunter Biden is straight up a MAGA whisperer,” one user posted.

“Someone called me the MAGA whisperer and I’ll gladly take the title,” Biden posted. “Left, right, D or R we all want the same things. We’re being divided on purpose by the Epstein Elite Oligarch class because as long as we’re at each other’s throats, they get fat and rich off of our misery.”