Webb tired of being in Warner’s shadow
Story by Chris Graham
newdominion@ntelos.net
Count me as being among those in the Virginia punditry who thinks that the main reason the Commonwealth is in play politically these days is because of Mark Warner.
That having been established as a baseline, I’ve been interested, to say the least, at the thought of what people like Tim Kaine and Jim Webb have to say about all that right there. Read more
EMU magazine wins prestigious award
Story by Jim Bishop
Crossroads magazine at Eastern Mennonite University won a major award this year from the southeast district of the Council for the Advancement and Support of Education.
Competing against dozens of magazines produced by larger institutions, Crossroads received a “special merit award” in the category of “magazine publishing improvement.”
The other winners in this category were magazines produced in 2007 by Furman University in South Carolina, Vanderbilt University in Tennessee, the University of Alabama, the University of Miami, Brenau University in Georgia and Barry University in Florida. Read more
Guess who called me today …
Best Seat in the House column by Chris Graham
sportsdom@ntelos.net
I’m going to go ahead and answer that one there.
“Chris, Bill Roth for you …” was the message from down the hall.
I knew right away what it was about. Read more
Middle-class servants to the wealthy
Column by Sam Rasoul
In a free society, inequality of income in inevitable. But inequality of income, if not moderated, becomes a force which both destabilizes and disables a society.
Not only is excessive inequality morally offensive; it is dangerous.
We have concrete data from 2005 delineating the severity of the income gap in the United States. In that year, the top 1 percent of Americans, those earning in excess of $348,000, pulled in a larger proportion of the national income than at any time since 1928. To be exact, those at the top took in 21.8 percent of all income, almost reaching the 1928 level of 23.9 percent. To offer some comparison, in 1980, the top 1 percent earned 8 percent of the country’s income, a far cry from the 2005 21.8 percent. Those receiving more than $100,000 in 2005, the top 10 percent, also reached pre-Depression levels. Read more
Another way to look at payday-loan claims
Op-Ed by Harvey Yoder
I want to thank payday-lending institutions for all of their recent newspaper and other ads. They have enlightened me so much about why we should not compare their rate of interest, over 350 percent as computed on an annual basis, with the typical amount of interest charged, which they insist is not exorbitant at all for an emergency two-week loan. Read more
Intensity in Staunton porn war ratchets up
Story by Chris Graham
freepress2@ntelos.net
On one front in the Staunton-Augusta porn war, score one for the anti-porn forces.
“I think the community is behind the board of supervisors, the community is behind the planning commission, and they want them to move forward on these strict ordinances to protect our community,” said Kurt Michael, a member of the Citizens Task Force Against Pornography, after a special meeting of the Augusta County Planning Commission last night to discuss proposed zoning legislation that would effectively limit where adult-themed stores could be located in Augusta County. Read more
Transportation
General Assembly Report column by Del. Ben Cline
If you have visited Richmond before, you may have taken a tour of Virginia’s Capitol building. The stately building, built by Thomas Jefferson in 1788 and renovated last year, is where the House and Senate hold their legislative sessions each day at noon. The building has the air of a museum, with tour groups wandering, cameras flashing, and voices kept to a near-whisper. Read more
