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Court Order Preserves Jobs For Firm Employing Blind Workers

A legal battle is potentially threatening 52 IFB employees, many of whom are blind or visually impaired. (DAVID FORD/WFDD)

A federal judge has ruled that a Triad company can continue to employ dozens of blind workers.

The judge ruled Friday that it's in the public interest to allow IFB Solutions to continue to employ nearly four dozen blind and severely handicapped workers until the case is resolved.

The Winston-Salem Journal reports that nearly $15 million in annual revenue is at stake for the nonprofit group formerly known as Winston-Salem Industries for the Blind Inc.

The group's Winston-Salem optical lab is in the middle of a dispute between the U.S. Veterans Administration and PDS, the New Jersey company that has a contract to manufacture eyeglasses for the agency.

The ruling means the VA is not allowed to change its current hiring contract.

Neal Charnoff joined 88.5 WFDD as Morning Edition host in 2014. Raised in the Catskill region of upstate New York, he graduated from Sarah Lawrence College in 1983. Armed with a liberal arts degree, Neal was fully equipped to be a waiter. So he prolonged his arrested development bouncing around New York and L.A. until discovering that people enjoyed listening to his voice on the radio. After a few years doing overnight shifts at a local rock station, Neal spent most of his career at Vermont Public Radio. He began as host of a nightly jazz program, where he was proud to interview many of his idols, including Dave Brubeck and Sonny Rollins. Neal graduated to the news department, where he was the local host for NPR's All Things Considered for 14 years. In addition to news interviews and features, he originated and produced the Weekly Conversation On The Arts, as well as VPR Backstage, which profiled theater productions around the state. He contributed several stories to NPR, including coverage of a devastating ice storm. Neal now sees the value of that liberal arts degree, and approaches life with the knowledge that all subjects and all art forms are connected to each other. Neal and his wife Judy are enjoying exploring North Carolina and points south. They would both be happy to never experience a Vermont winter again.

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