Live Blog: UVa. vs. Duke
Moderated by Chris Graham
freepress2@ntelos.net
ACCVirginia.com is live at the John Paul Jones Arena for tonight’s men’s basketball game between the University of Virginia (14-12, 5-8 ACC) and #5 Duke (24-4, 11-2 ACC).
The opening tip is scheduled for 7:45 p.m. The game is being broadcast on Fox SportsNet.
Editor Chris Graham is courtside and will provide score updates and analysis and commentary during the game.
I Love The ’90s, Part Two
Are we about to reprise the pendulum swings of the Gingrich-Clinton era?
Report by Chris Graham
freepress2@ntelos.net
Might we see a repeat of 1994 in 2010? The short answer: yes. Next question: Might we then see a repeat of 1996 in 2012? Well, maybe.
“For all the trouble Barack Obama’s had lately voters still prefer him to any of the top Republican contenders for 2012,” said Dean Debnam, president of Public Policy Polling, which polled 743 registered voters in February and found the Democrat Obama leading all of the top potential 2012 Republican Party hopefuls at this very, very early stage more than two and a half years out from the November 2012 presidential election.
An Obama win might have to come after a November 2010 switch in majority-party status in at least the House of Representatives, which would mirror the Republican takeover of Congress in 1994 that was followed by the re-election of Democratic President Bill Clinton in 1996.
An analysis from the University of Virginia Center for Politics released last week suggests that Republicans could be poised to gain 37 seats in the ’10 midterms, which would put the GOP within hailing distance of taking majority control of the legislative chamber. A switch of 40 seats from the D column to the R column would give the Republicans the majority in the House. Read more
Can Waynesboro be a tourist destination?
Special Report by Chris Graham
freepress2@ntelos.net
Waynesboro doesn’t have a facility like The Biltmore to pull people down off the Blue Ridge Parkway like Asheville, N.C., has. But what if it did?
Consider that between 2 and 3 million visitors go in and out of the Shenandoah National Park each year, and 20 million people travel the Blue Ridge Parkway each year.
“When you consider that you’re strategically located between those two, that’s something that no other community can boast. No one else can say that they are located in between those two huge tourism assets. That’s tremendous untapped potential there,” said Brian Ososky, the executive director of the Shenandoah Valley Travel Association, which coordinates tourism-marketing efforts for localities from the Roanoke Valley to the Winchester area.
Waynesboro is perhaps the best situated from a tourism-marketing standpoint of any locality in the Valley. We are literally at Milepost Zero, the entrance both to the Blue Ridge Parkway that runs south and the Skyline Drive and the Shenandoah National Park that runs to the north. Read more
Weekend Watchdog: See you in Sochi
Column by Mike Judge
WeekendWatchdog.blogspot.com
Sunday night, the Olympic flame will go out in Vancouver. Two weeks of speed and gold medals will close out.
Before the world packs up to return home, there’s plenty of big events. Men’s ice hockey semifinals are Friday, with the United States playing Finland at 3 p.m. and Canada and Slovakia meeting at 9:30 p.m. The losers go to the bronze medal game Saturday, then the gold medal contest is Sunday before the Closing Ceremonies.
The women’s figure skating champion will be crowned Thursday, and Saturday there’s the Champions Gala to give you one more chance to see the best skaters.
Then if you’d like to see more ice dancing or short-track speed skating, you’ll have to wait for the torch to be lit in Sochi, Russia in four years. Read more
Just rearrange the deck chairs
Why are our local school systems going to a job fair when they’re cutting jobs?
Story by Chris Graham
freepress2@ntelos.net
It seems counterintuitive at first glance – to have a job fair to recruit potential new employees when the economic reality that you’re facing has you considering deep and painful cuts to staff. So when it was brought to my attention that the Waynesboro school system was spending what I was told was more than $3,000 to take part in a teacher-recruitment fair at James Madison University this weekend, yeah, I did a doubletake.
Turns out that the figure cited to me was low – it’s actually going to cost the city school system $5,000 to take part in the Shenandoah Valley Job Fair. It also turns out that Augusta County and Staunton and administrators from school systems in several neighboring localities are going to be there. And all, it seems to me, after looking into the matter, for good reason.
“We experience between a 9 and 15 percent turnover in professional staff each year due to attrition – retirements, relocations, life changes, et cetera. Because this may occur within an unpredictable timeline and varied endorsement areas, we must be certain we maintain an adequate pool of applicants with varied levels of experience, licensure and endorsements,” said Vermell Grant, the assistant superintendent in the central office at Waynesboro Public Schools.
Which is to say, the outside-looking-in wisdom that, OK, you’re having to cut jobs, you have some people retiring, some people moving, so just move people around internally, and you’ve got it all covered, doesn’t work in practice. Read more
Carly at the Movies: Heroes never wear Band-aids
Column by Carl Larsen
Submit a review: freepress2@ntelos.net
Why would Martin Scorsese, probably the world’s most-respected film director, give away the mystery to his latest movie in the very first scene?
If you pick up that clue to “Shutter Island,” currently playing at the Regal Staunton Mall Cinema, you’ll just sit there for the next two-and-a-half hours waiting for it to turn out just as you’d expected.
In the meantime, you can enjoy the standard Scorsese cinematic touches and revel in a plot that seems straight out of the beloved old WWII radio adventure series called “I Love a Mystery” by Carlton E. Morse.
Yep, there’s Master Martin’s patented 360-degree camera turn and, oh yes, there’s his gorgeous, shadowy photography, set to wonderful use on the bleak and mysterious island that’s the setting for this tale of weird goings-on in an isolated hospital for the criminally insane. Read more
David Reynolds: Sinful solutions
Posted February 28, 2010
Column by David Reynolds
Submit guest columns: freepress2@ntelos.net
By now if you haven’t figured out the subject of this week’s sermon you need to get another bottle. It should be as easy as ABC. In Virginia we know what those three letters stand for. It is All But Competition, in other words, revenue, revenue and more revenue.
So, how do you feel about owning a string of liquor stores? Actually, you should feel good. They make money, and not just during the holiday season. All of our ABC stores operate in the black, No other state agency can make that claim!
Yet in spite of their profitable operations, however slim, our new governor, that good looking Irish fellow, wants to shut them down – and let liquor stores spring up everywhere, except, of course, in the Drug Free Zone surrounding your kid’s school. Read more
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