Politics

It’s all about the money

It’s all about the money

“Many of our schools are failing and our dropout rate is too high, but the VEA finds time to advocate for illegal same sex marriage,” said Victoria Cobb, President of The Family Foundation, in a statement highlighted in a news release from the social-conservative... [Read more...]

Government

Collins nominated to NIH post

Collins nominated to NIH post

Today, President Barack Obama announced his intent to nominate Staunton native Francis S. Collins as director of the National Institutes of Health at the Department of Health and Human Services. Collins, a physician-geneticist noted for his landmark discoveries of disease genes... [Read more...]

Sports

Weekend Watchdog | It’s All-Star time

Weekend Watchdog | It’s All-Star time

My son was born in 1997, about a week before that year’s All-Star game. The American League has not lost since then. The National League tries to regain its winning ways Tuesday in St. Louis, following Monday’s home run derby and assorted contests. [Read more...]  Read More →

Local News

Sherwood Avenue bridge reopened

Sherwood Avenue bridge reopened

The bridge connecting Sherwood Avenue in Waynesboro to Rockfish Road in Augusta County will be reopening Wednesday afternoon, July 8. A call from a city public-works worker at the site at 3:15 p.m. today indicated that the bridge should be reopened to the public by 3:30 p.m.... [Read more...]

Biz/Economy

Virginia makes Top 5 on another best state for business list

Virginia makes Top 5 on another best state for business list

Gov. Timothy M. Kaine today highlighted Virginia’s ranking among the “Five Best States to Start a Business.” The recognition by U.S. News & World Report this week comes on the heels of the Commonwealth’s sixth number one ranking for its pro-business environment. ... [Read more...]

Life

Jim Bishop | A dazzling experience in the Land of the Midnight Sun

Jim Bishop | A dazzling experience in the Land of the Midnight Sun

“North to Alaska, Goin’ north, the rush is on . . .” - The late Johnny Horton (1960) “Welcome to Alaska, the last foreign country still friendly to Americans.”  [Read more...]  Read More →

Arts/Culture

‘Radio Hour,’ Third Fridays sets lineup for July

‘Radio Hour,’ Third Fridays sets lineup for July

The July 17th performances of “The River City Radio Hour” will be headlined by Sound Direction, an a cappella sextet, and the world famous Washboard Wonders. Sound Direction had a loyal following before it went into hiatus four years ago. This will be their first... [Read more...]

The ND Magazine

Out of Biz: What felled NewBiz Virginia?

Out of Biz: What felled NewBiz Virginia?

Story by Chris Graham It was the 1990s. The dotcom boom had everybody convinced that this new thing they were calling the New Economy was going to make everybody on the right side of the curve filthy rich. The trick was figuring out how one could participate in the New Economy.... [Read more...]

Local News

Robbery reported at county hotel

A pizza-delivery driver was robbed at gunpoint Tuesday night at a hotel just outside of Staunton, and Augusta County sheriff’s deputies are looking for a young white male suspected in the incident.
The suspect in the 11:23 p.m. robbery at the Days Inn on the 300 block of White Hill Road in the county is described as a white male, 18-25 years of age, 5-5 to 5-9, 160-180 pounds. He was wearing a black sweatshirt, a toboggan hat and a blue bandana at the time of the robbery.  [Read more...]

July 8, 2009 | Leave a Comment

Waynesboro gets CDBG funds for Arch/Market improvements

Waynesboro is on tap to receive a $684,000 Community Development Block Grant to go toward a rehabilitation project in the floodprone Arch Avenue/Market Street neighborhood. The grant was announced today by Gov. Tim Kaine in conjunction with more than $14 million in Community Development Block Grants awarded statewide. [Read more...]

July 7, 2009 | 2 Comments

Health director urges continued vigilance against swine flu

Central Shenandoah Health District Director Dr. Doug Larsen said today that local residents need to continue to protect themselves against the H1N1 flu virus, with new cases being confirmed each week in the state. The Virginia Department of Health is closely monitoring the outbreak to keep Virginians informed of this rapidly evolving public health issue. [Read more...]

July 7, 2009 | Leave a Comment

No more big bangs?

We may have seen the last community Fourth of July celebration in Staunton. At least that’s what I’m hearing.
“Our committee is going to meet at the end of the month to make decisions about whether this festival goes on next year or not,” America’s Birthday Celebration organizer Terri Corey told me before Saturday’s big Fourth events at Gypsy Hill Park. [Read more...]

July 6, 2009 | 9 Comments

Waynesboro seeks citizen volunteers to guide public policy

Seats are open on the following Waynesboro boards and commissions in Waynesboro. If you are a city resident and are interested in being considered for one of these openings, please request an application from the Clerk of Council or submit a letter of interest and resume to the Clerk at the address provided. If you have any questions or would like further information on these and all City Boards and Commissions, please contact the Clerk of Council at 540-942-6669 or by e-mail at bortleje@ci.waynesboro.va.us, or write to Julia Bortle, Clerk of Council, 503 West Main Street, Suite 210, Waynesboro, VA 22980. [Read more...]

July 6, 2009 | Leave a Comment

Harrisonburg announces fourth Citizen Academy

The City of Harrisonburg is taking applications for the annual Harrisonburg Citizen Academy beginning today.
The Citizen Academy will begin its fourth annual session on Sept. 3 and run through Nov. 19. The program is open to all city residents ages 18 and older. [Read more...]

July 6, 2009 | Leave a Comment


Business/Economy

Unemployment claims down last week

In the week ending July 4, the advance figure for seasonally adjusted initial claims was 565,000, a decrease of 52,000 from the previous week’s revised figure of 617,000, according to data from the U.S. Department of Labor today.  [Read more...]

July 9, 2009 | Leave a Comment

Earth Talk | Thinking green

Dear EarthTalk: What kind of job opportunities might be opened up by the new federal emphasis on green projects?
- Dick Wetzler, St. Paul, Minn.

If it’s a U.S. industry that has the potential to be cleaner and greener, chances are the Obama administration has already set aside some stimulus money for it. In February 2009, the new president signed the $787 billion American Recovery and Reinvestment Act into law. Besides creating jobs, the bill promises to spur American companies to greener heights through investments totaling over $75 billion. [Read more...]

July 9, 2009 | Leave a Comment

Page Shields | Can coal be clean?

With all of the controversy surrounding the construction of a coal plant in Wise County, VA it bears repeating that coal is not clean energy. The phrase “clean coal technology” fosters hope that scientists will find a way to take harmful elements, especially carbon, out of coal. Unfortunately this is a lost hope as the harmful elements of coal cannot be simply scrubbed away.  [Read more...]

July 9, 2009 | 2 Comments

Thoraya Ahmed Obaid | Addressing crisis by investing in women

None of the crises we face today - whether it is the food crisis, the water crisis, the financial crisis or the crisis of climate change - can be managed unless greater attention is paid to population issues.
World Population Day is the right time to put the issue of population back on the radar screen. And it is not a moment too soon. By 2050 our current global population of 6.8 billion could grow to the United Nation’s median projection of 9 billion, or even soar to 11 billion people.  [Read more...]

July 9, 2009 | Leave a Comment

Unemployment ticks up in June

The national unemployment rate inched up a bit in June, to 9.5 percent, a tenth of a point higher than May and getting close to double where we were at the start of the recession in December 2007.
Another measure that factors in people working part-time who would prefer full-time work, the long-term unemployed who no qualify for unemployment benefits and those who have been out of work for a year or longer who have suspended their job searches puts the unemployment/underemployment rate just shy of 20 percent, from my analysis of figures from the Bureau of Labor Statistics report released Thursday morning. [Read more...]

July 2, 2009 | Leave a Comment

Unemployment up slightly in May

Unemployment ticked up a bit across the Valley in May, though the slight increases were called seasonal by a Virginia Employment Commission economist today.
Waynesboro still has the highest unemployment rate locally, at 9.1 percent, up from the 8.8 percent mark in April, according to VEC data released today. Staunton was up from 6.9 percent in April to 7.0 percent in May. Augusta County went from 6.4 percent in April to 6.9 percent in May. [Read more...]

June 30, 2009 | Leave a Comment


Life

David Reynolds | You can’t lose

Or can you? We don’t know because of what we don’t know. And that is the problem. So we take chances thinking that the more we know the better our chances of success. And that creates an even bigger problem - one that allows us to believe that we are smarter than we really are. [Read more...]

July 10, 2009 | Leave a Comment

Shepherd Bliss | 3-year-olds and cell phones

“The 3-year-old just walked right past me,” the Santa Rosa, Calif., pediatrician reported, “talking into a cell phone.” That stark image of toddler attached to machine has troubled me. “I was amused at first,” the physician continued. “Then I felt sad. She was learning how to relate to people through a machine. It was so mechanical. Cell phones can connect people, but they also speed things up.” Must we rush even toddlers into machines?  [Read more...]

July 10, 2009 | Leave a Comment

Chris DeWald | Fourth of July for all

The ’60s rock group Steppenwolf sang a song that included a lyric “get your motor running”… . Well, my power wheelchair was burning the electric motorways” at the Staunton Fourth of July 2009 event held in Gypsy Hill Park. I wanted to render a view on accessibility for those from a wheelchair or other similar device.  [Read more...]

July 10, 2009 | Leave a Comment

Dad’s Point of View | Can a relationship survive this much stress?

How much stress can a new relationship survive? I am fond of quoting the cliché that most of us would rather keep our own problems vs. trade with someone else. Yet, lately, I wonder. Okay, I’ll keep our troubles, but it does raise the notion of enough is enough. [Read more...]

July 10, 2009 | Leave a Comment


Arts and Culture

ShenanArts to stage Annie next month

ShenanArts is proud to announce its upcoming production of the immensely popular, classic American musical Annie. The 1977 Tony award winner for Best Musical will open on Friday, Aug. 7. There will be performances on Aug. 7-9 and 14-16 at Stage4 Theatre in Verona.  [Read more...]

July 10, 2009 | Leave a Comment

Heritage Foundation seeks volunteers

The Waynesboro Heritage Foundation, Inc. is seeking volunteers to help us do small jobs at our museums. At the Plumb House Museum we could use help with sourcing a destination of pine needles, raking and bagging needles for use in museum gardens. Bags will be furnished. We also need help with weeding and readying the gardens for the pine needles. [Read more...]

July 8, 2009 | Leave a Comment

Stop the Presses | Post-MJ music royalty

Elvis Presley was the “King of Rock ‘n’ Roll” when he passed in 1977. Michael Jackson was the “King of Pop” when he died last month. So who’s the new King, or, er, Queen, of, you know, Whatever, in music now that MJ has joined Elvis in leaving the building? [Read more...]

July 7, 2009 | 3 Comments

Carly at the Movies | Public enemies bite the dust

Ah, Johnny, we hardly knew ye!
In “Public Enemies,” currently playing everywhere in the universe, Johnny Depp does an adequate job as old timey bank robber John Dillinger, but any nuances the script had were drowned out by the incessant chatter of Tommy guns. [Read more...]

July 6, 2009 | Leave a Comment


Sports

Golf Things Considered | Are your golf clubs too long? Even if you seek distance, it might be true

There is a good chance that your golf clubs are too long. Over the past twenty years, golf club manufacturers have been making clubs stronger (meaning they have less loft on the face), and longer so that they can sell hopeful golfers the newest “hot” weapon that will knock the ball unimaginable distances. But when golfers arrive at the driving range with long clubs, what I see is a lot of people with poor posture, inefficient shaft angles, awkward or mismatched swing planes, off-center contact with the ball, unhelpful trajectory, little accuracy, and none of the distance the long clubs were supposed to provide.  [Read more...]

July 9, 2009 | Leave a Comment

The AFP on WREL | Valley League, college football, NFL

AFP editor Chris Graham joins WREL’s “Online with Jim Bresnahan” for their weekly local-sports wrap. Today Chris and Jim analyze the ‘09 Valley League baseball season at the halfway point of the campaign, talk some Major League baseball and look ahead to the start of training camps in college football and the NFL. Length: 36:17. [Read more...]

July 7, 2009 | Leave a Comment

BeatTech

Years ago, right after the Scott Stadium expansion had been completed, I had UVa. football season tickets with a group of friends sitting in the new upper deck behind the end zone. I remember that first year, must have been 2001, when there was practically nobody up there with us most of the way, and we were left thinking, I thought it had been announced that we’d sold out all the season-ticket allotment this year. Hunh.  [Read more...]

July 6, 2009 | Leave a Comment

ACC passes on political controversy

The Atlantic Coast Conference Baseball Championship will be held at NewBridge Bank Park in Greensboro, N.C. (2012), and the Durham Bulls Athletic Park (2011, 2013), as announced today by ACC Commissioner John Swofford. This will give the championship a home through 2013, as it was recently released that the 2010 ACC Baseball Championship would be held in Greensboro, N.C.  [Read more...]

July 6, 2009 | Leave a Comment


News Updates
Local News

In the News

Friday, July 10
- More cuts at Leader
- VDOT awards two contracts for projects in Valley

Thursday, July 9
- Research facility associated with JMU to launch in Lynchburg
- Private College Week

Wednesday, July 8
-
Friendly City Food Co-op hires new outreach coordinator
- Staunton receives stimulus funds for emergency food, shelter program
- Augusta receives state monies for food, shelter

Monday, July 6
- SWAN to host Longaberger/Pampered Chef Bingo
- Legislative forum set for Aug. 18  [Read more...]

July 6, 2009 | Leave a Comment


State News

State News

Friday, July 10
- Judge throws out suit against Roanoke TV protestor

 Thursday, July 9
- ACLU fighting jail censorship of religious materials  [Read more...]

July 10, 2009 | Leave a Comment


Elections '09

Updates from the Campaign Trail

Friday, July 10
- Cuccinelli calls for special session
- Saxman statement on anti-gang committee

Thursday, July 9
- Dems respond to McDonnell-Bolling jobs agenda

Wednesday, July 8
- LG Race: Wagner calls Bolling out on Palin visit
- Governor’s Race: Statement from Creigh Deeds on expansion of stem-cell research [Read more...]

July 8, 2009 | Leave a Comment


Capitol Hill

Hill Roundup

Friday, July 10
- Warner, Webb announce weatherization funding 

Tuesday, July 7
- Perriello unveils energy blueprint  [Read more...]

July 10, 2009 | Leave a Comment


White House

News from 1600 Pennsylvania Ave.

Friday, July 10
- Press conference with the president in L’Aqila, Italy
- Press gaggle with Press Secretary Robert Gibbs and Denis McDonough, deputy national security advisor for strategic communications

Thursday, July 9
- Press briefing by Mike Froman, deputy national security advisor for international affairs, and Todd Stern, special envoy for international economics
- Press briefing by Press Secretary Robert Gibbs, Denis McDonough, deputy national security advisor for strategic communications, and Michelle Gavin, senior director for African affairs
- Remarks by the president to the H1N1 Preparedness Summit
- Biden highlights Recovery Act progress

Wednesday, July 8
- Memo from President Obama to Secretary of State Clinton: Waiver of Restriction on Providing Funds to the Palestinian Authority
- Fact Sheet: The G8 meeting at L’Aquila
- Joint Understanding for START Follow On Treaty
- Remarks by Vice President Biden at health-care announcement
- Gaggle by Press Secretary Robert Gibbs

Tuesday, July 7
- Biden announces findings of Food Safety Working Group
- Remarks by the president at Parallel Civil Society Summit, Moscow, Russia
- Remarks by President Obama in meeting with Russian opposition leaders

Monday, July 6
- Joint Statement by Russian President Dmitry A. Medvedev and U.S. President Barack Obama on missile-defense issues
- The Joint Understanding for the START Follow-on Treaty
- Joint statement by Russian President Medvedev and U.S. President Obama on Afghanistan
- Transcript of Joint Press Conference with President Medvedev and President Obama at The Kremlin
- Nominations sent to the Senate [Read more...]

July 6, 2009 | 1 Comment


Sports News

Local Sports Roundup

Friday, July 10
- Generals break three-game losing streak
- Three JMU Dukes named preseason football All-Americans [Read more...]

July 10, 2009 | Leave a Comment


Government

VDOT getting word out on rest-area closings

The Virginia Department of Transportation has begun notifying motorists today of impending changes at the rest areas slated for closure later this month.
“These are hard decisions for us to make,” said VDOT Commissioner David S. Ekern. “It is difficult to cut back on these popular motorists’ services, but we must prioritize our limited funding to emergency response and maintaining our roads and bridges. We have worked with the trucking, tourism and commuter communities to ensure that those impacted are aware of the impending changes and to address adverse impacts wherever possible.”  [Read more...]

July 6, 2009 | 1 Comment

Raymond R. Ratke | Transforming child welfare in Virginia

Imagine if you could no longer care for your children and that they had to leave your home and be separated from one another. You would want your kids to be in a safe home, close to school and friends, with plenty of support as they adjust to a new family. But for nearly 7,000 children in Virginia’s foster care system who have been separated from their families, these things have never been guaranteed. [Read more...]

July 6, 2009 | Leave a Comment

Tom Perriello | Fifth District Report

Our region of Virginia that once gave birth to the Declaration of Independence now stands poised to lead a new revolution that grants our nation energy independence. Whether one is for or against the new energy bill, most Americans are sick of going to the gas station to pour our hard-earned dollars to petro-dictators overseas instead of investing those same resources in homegrown energy and industry. Most also agree that bringing jobs back to Southside requires a major shakeup, not just business as usual. The key to that shakeup is game-changers that redefine our competitive advantage. The time has come to change our trade policy and to embrace a new energy future that transforms our rural areas into the frontlines of our struggle for energy independence. The time has come to let consumers decide how much they want to invest in America instead of dictators like Ahmadinejad.  [Read more...]

July 6, 2009 | Leave a Comment

Charles Goldstein | A Fourth of July for everyone

This Fourth of July, America celebrates its 233rd birthday. Concurrent with the celebration, over 6,000 immigrants were naturalized as citizens in commemoration programs throughout the United States (including New Jersey’s Liberty Island and Betsy Ross House in Pennsylvania).
Unfortunately, millions of American residents who are “yearning to breathe free,” who work hard, pay taxes, and even some who protect and defend our republic in the military do not have a path to citizenship … yet. [Read more...]

July 2, 2009 | Leave a Comment

Billy Parish | The first step is the hardest

The House recently passed the American Clean Energy and Security Act , an important step toward protecting our environment and building a clean energy economy.
ACES has generated a lot of strong opinions, for and against, especially in the environmental community. Now, I’m not a scientist or a policy wonk, but I did help start and run the Energy Action Coalition, the largest youth clean energy organization in the country, and following the debate over the 1,200-page proposal has been confusing, even for me. [Read more...]

July 2, 2009 | 1 Comment

Earth Talk | ‘Clean’ coal?

Dear EarthTalk: As I understand it, “clean” coal really isn’t—yet the Bush Administration gushed strongly for it. What is Obama’s take on it?
- John Zippert, Eutaw, Ala.

Barack Obama and George W. Bush differ in many ways, but both have embraced so-called “clean coal” for providing an ongoing supply of cheap and readily available energy for electricity generation.  [Read more...]

July 1, 2009 | 1 Comment

Money, money, money

How can you tell that we’re near a supposedly critical political fundraising deadline? By checking your e-mail.
“May I have just five minutes of your time?” one in my in-box yesterday from Republican guberatorial nominee Bob McDonnell asked, then got to the point. “In just 36 hours, I reach one of the last critical benchmarks before the November election - the June 30th fundraising deadline. This deadline is important as it will help set the tone for the remaining four months of the campaign.” [Read more...]

June 30, 2009 | Leave a Comment


Politics

Chris Graham | Do the right thing, Tim

I get that the flap over Gov. Tim Kaine’s travel schedules got going because Republicans didn’t have anything better to do with their time this summer. But the wild swing by GOP chair Pat Mullins has connected solidly and sent the political baseball uncomfortably toward the cheap seats in deep left-center, uncomfortably, that is, for us Democrats out here trying to lay the groundwork for Creigh Deeds and other Democrats toward the state elections in November.  [Read more...]

July 9, 2009 | 1 Comment

The Deeds’ Obama question

Wonder if there might have been more to the scheduling conflict that kept Creigh Deeds away from that Barack Obama health-care town hall in Annandale last week?
“You could argue in light of these numbers that it wouldn’t be that helpful for Creigh Deeds to have Barack Obama come and campaign for him. At the same time a primary purpose of Obama appearing would be to generate interest in the election among his base voters who turned out last year but wouldn’t generally vote in an off-year election and thus aren’t getting polled,” Public Policy Polling president Dean Debnam said today in talking about approval numbers for Obama among likely November voters in Virginia.  [Read more...]

July 8, 2009 | 9 Comments

Stop the Presses | The GOP’s Palin Quandary

Let’s pretend for a minute that I’m a Republican Party strategist. So I’m musing on the news that somehow, some way, Sarah Palin is even more popular among the GOP base now that she’s up and quit her job as governor of Alaska barely halfway through her one term in office, that two-thirds of my faithful want her to continue being a major political figure.  [Read more...]

July 8, 2009 | 9 Comments

McDonnell leads Deeds in poll

Bob McDonnell is on the air in early summer, Creigh Deeds is where he’s supposed to be in the silent phase of the general-election campaign. So that McDonnell has a lead in the first July poll of the 2009 campaign season should be no surprise.
“The race for governor right now is in a very similar place to 2005. The Republican atorney gneral has a modest lead four months out from Election Day,” said Dean Debnam, president of Public Policy Polling, which has McDonnell leading Deeds by a 49 percent-to-43 percent margin in its poll out today. [Read more...]

July 7, 2009 | Leave a Comment

Waynesboro Dems to meet, discuss EFCA

The Waynesboro Democratic Committee meeting set for Wednesday night will feature a forum on the Employee Free Choice Act led by a local labor organizer.
Jody Grogan, a retired local schoolteacher who is helping the Service Employees International Union with its Virginia Change That Works labor advocacy program, is the special guest at this month’s committee meeting, which will take place Wednesday at 7 p.m. in Meeting Room A at the Waynesboro Public Libary. [Read more...]

July 6, 2009 | Leave a Comment

Team Coverage | Business Leaders for Deeds

The economy has to be the driving issue of the 2009 Virginia governor’s race. The Creigh Deeds campaign looks to get a leg up in the race with the announcement on Thursday of the formation of Business Leaders for Deeds. AFP editor Chris Graham was on the phone with the Democratic Party nominee, U.S. Sen. Mark Warner and Washington Capitals owner and former AOL chairman Ted Leonsis as the campaign rolled out the new advisory group. Hear from the three with analysis from Chris today on “The Chris Graham Show.” Length: 13:10.  [Read more...]

July 2, 2009 | 2 Comments

McDonnell flip-flops on debates

“This letter is nothing more than grandstanding by a struggling campaign,” the campaign manager said regarding a letter from a political rival issuing a challenge for a series of debates across the Commonwealth.
“For a politician who claims to be all about straight talk, this letter is more about publicity than public service,” the campaign manager continued. [Read more...]

July 2, 2009 | Leave a Comment