Hepatitis Smoothie Outbreak Hits 80 in Va.; DC Metro Ridership Plunges; ITT Closes Nationwide: Business News

Patch has 32 sites in communities in Va. and D.C. Here are some of the top business posts from the past week.

• ITT Technical Institute Closing All Campuses, Including 2 in Northern Virginia
• The Washington Redskins Are the Most Expensive Ticket in the NFL: Report
• Virginia Wine Sales Reach Record High

Hepatitis A Smoothie Outbreak Now Numbers 80 in Virginia; 45 in Northern Virginia

As of Thursday, Virginia is now looking at an outbreak of 80 cases of hepatitis A linked to consuming strawberry smoothies from Tropical Smoothie Cafes, the Virginia Department of Health reported. That's a jump of 10 cases since Tuesday.

The Virginia Department of Health is investigating the outbreak of hepatitis A cases and has identified a potential association with smoothies that contained frozen strawberries imported from Egypt suspected to be contaminated with the hepatitis A virus. Hepatitis A is a contagious liver disease. >>>Read more.

DC Metro Ridership Takes Huge Plunge in 2016

Metro officials forecast a slight rise in ridership in fiscal 2016, but the year-end review just released shows they were dead wrong: ridership actually plunged by more than 20 million rides compared to 2015, meaning officials were off their estimates by a whopping 8.9 percent. And that is bad news for the embattled agency's revenues.

Total transit ridership in fiscal 2016 across all modes was 321 million trips, a full 31 million below what Metro officials had predicted. >>> Read more.

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• Next Metro Repairwork Starts This Week, to Impact Orange Line
• Paid Parking at Reston Town Center Postponed Until 2017
• Bob Dylan Creates Metal Sculpture for MGM National Harbor
• Lowes Opens Leesburg Location

• Brew Republic Bierwerks Grand Opening Sept. 24 in Woodbridge
• Nando's Peri-Peri Has Grand Opening in Woodley Park Sunday
• Huge Beer and Film Festival Coming to Reston Town Center
• Here's When the New Starbucks Will Open at Reston Station
• KO Distilling to Celebrate One-Year Anniversary in Manassas

• Coton & Rye Grand Opening Held Thursday
• Taco Bamba Attracts Fans Thursday Morning with Grand Opening in Vienna
• The Italian Place Opens for Business Thursday in Alexandria
• Pizza Palooza Sept. 17 at Market Square in Fredericksburg
• Cox Farms to Kick Off Fall Festival Sept. 17-18
• Scout & Molly's One Loudoun Location Opens

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