Valley: Ag Secretary designates drought disasters

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Story by Chris Graham [email protected] Gov. Tim Kaine on Monday announced that the U.S. Secretary of Agriculture has designated 11 Virginia counties primary natural-disaster areas due to the spring and summer drought, including on that list Nelson County, and that 24 contiguous counties including Rockbridge and Augusta had also received contiguous disaster status, making farmers…

The legislative district that ties UVa., Virginia Tech, as a reason for nonpartisan redistricting

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Story by Chris Graham [email protected] Creigh Deeds lives 85 miles from Charlottesville. That’s how far I am from Richmond, give or take a mile or two. Can you imagine a legislative district that would somehow link Waynesboro and Richmond? Yeah. Not much of a community of interest there. Right? But Deeds represents Charlottesville in the…

Citizens groups join suit to block I-81 widening

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Story by Chris Graham [email protected] The New Jersey Turnpike in the Shenandoah Valley. That’s what critics of the Virginia Department of Transportation’s Interstate 81 widening plan envision happening if the engineers get their wishes. “For us, our mission is to protect farms, forests, open spaces and cultural heritage – and this is impacting all of…

The end of the car tax as we know it – revisited

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The Top Story by Chris Graham Tim Williams doesn’t like passing the buck to taxpayers any more than he has to – particularly when Richmond is awash in money from those same taxpayers. “The state has a surplus, and here they are passing this onto us. I don’t understand that. They made the promise, and…

Sime happy as independent

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Story by Chris Graham The headlines last summer had Arin Sime working hard behind the scenes to try to convince local Republican leaders that he could be the man to unseat incumbent Republican Sen. Emmett Hanger. And there was what was actually taking place. “That whole episode was interesting,” said Sime, a Crozet businessman who…

The Valley media market

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Story by Chris Graham Another attempt by another publisher to add to the Central Shenandoah Valley media-market offerings has breathed its last breath. “Our board of directors has examined all of the aspects of our operation since we began in mid-March and has determined that the costs of delivery, news gathering and printing far exceed…

One voter at a time: Sisson builds Democratic campaign for State Senate

Chris Graham

Story by Chris Graham Steve Sisson is quietly, patiently building a state Senate campaign. The Elkton Democrat is meeting practically every night with voters in different parts of the 24th Senate District – which stretches from Rockingham County to Greene, Albemarle, Highland and Rockbridge in addition to Augusta County, Staunton and Waynesboro. And he has…