The February New Dominion magazine is on the streets

The February edition of The New Dominion print magazine is out and about at locations across the Central Shenandoah Valley and Charlottesville. Links to stories on our sister website TheNewDominion.com and our web extras are here. To find out where you can pick up your copy, click here. Read more

It’s blowin’ in the wind

It sounds, if not perfect, then pretty darn close. The answer, or at least an answer, to our energy troubles is blowin’ in the wind. But is it really as simple as putting up turbines and connecting them to the grid? Read more

Jim Bishop | Have we gotten out of sorts over sports?

Dave King knows he’s juggling a “hot potato,” but he feels his message is urgent.
Dave, the athletic director at Eastern Mennonite University, believes firmly in the value of sports, but is raising red flags over what he perceives as “the new American dream” of obsessing over sports and sports competition. Read more

Ivy Main | Protecting the vote

Two years ago the Virginia legislature took a major first step towards verifiable voting by passing a law banning localities from buying any more of the paperless electronic voting machines known as DREs — the computers that most of us have been voting on, but which have been shown nationwide to be prone to failure, subject to programming errors, and vulnerable to manipulation. Read more

David Cox | Thinking strategically

Our legislators are back at it in Richmond. A couple of weeks into a session that, everyone knows, has got to tackle some excruciating budgetary problems, they seem — as so often — to have produced more heat than light. I often wonder what they’re thinking. Especially when someone comes up with a good, if difficult, idea that might actually help us all out. Read more

Veronica Gutierrez | Predators, indeed

Recently, the term “predatory lending” has taken on a new meaning for me. I’ve always thought that predatory lenders were bad businesses. They plant themselves in low-income communities, offer fast cash, and then charge ridiculous interest rates, inevitably trapping people in a cycle of debt. Last Saturday, I joined in the Virginia Organizing Project’s door-to-door canvass effort in Fredericksburg to talk to folks about this issue. By the end of the afternoon, we had knocked on more than 2,000 doors in the area. But there was one door in particular that helped me to put a face on the issue. Read more

Sanford D. Horn | More Morantics, and Mrs. Morantics, Too

Usually we can count on the irascible Eighth District Democratic Congressman Jim Moran for entertainment whenever he decides to open his mouth, but this time the irascibility was a tag-team effort with his wife LuAnn Bennett who both caused a scene on Inauguration Day at the Capitol. Read more

The AFP Blog – Weekend of Jan. 30-Feb. 1, 2009

- Singletary’s #44 to be retired, Saturday, 7:10 p.m.
- President Obama’s weekly address, Saturday, 8:04 a.m.
- Gannett, Media General slump deepens, Friday, 12:55 p.m.
- Free-speech organizations offer support to Gloucester 40, Friday, 12:55 p.m.
- Statement from Council of Economic Advisors chair Christina Romer on the fourth quarter 2008 advance GDP estimate, Friday, 10:02 a.m.
- Statement from President Obama on CHIP, Friday, 8:51 a.m.
- Webb applauds reauthorization of CHIP, Friday, 8:51 a.m.

Read more

Open Thread – Weekend of Jan. 30-Feb. 1, 2009

The upcoming Super Bowl matching the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Arizona Cardinals, a busy college basketball weekend, the ongoing dramas in Richmond and Washington chock full of legislative activity, and more. Share what’s on your mind.

Weekend Events – Jan. 30-Feb. 1

Here is a list of events ongoing this weekend in the Central Shenandoah Valley and Central Virginia.
For a complete rundown of what is on the local events schedule, go to our Calendar of EventsRead more

Waynesboro – The Tech Capital of Western Virginia: A Blueprint

Waynesboro was once the envy of Western Virginia for its manufacturing economy. As recently as 1990, almost half of the city’s workforce was employed in manufacturing, whose rate of pay has traditionally been at least 40 percent and some years approaching 50 percent higher than the median income in the city. Read more

The AFP Blog – Thursday, Jan. 29, 2009

- Unemployment in Waynesboro at 7.9 percent, 8:05 p.m.
- Moran releases Green Virginia plan, 12:50 p.m.
- ACLU says bills would violate religious freedoms, 12:50 p.m.
- President Obama on the Lilly Ledbetter Fair Pay Restoration Act bill signing, 10:37 a.m.
- More feel good about direction of country, 9:08 a.m.
- State issues new directive on reporting on pressure sores, 9:08 a.m. Read more