Institutional racism alive and well

Chris Graham

Op-Ed by Larry Yates We should all welcome the recent decision by the U.S. Sentencing Commission to allow crack-cocaine sentences to be reduced retroactively. But we should also pause to recognize what it means. This decision is a clear statement about a social phenomenon that most Americans want to deny – institutional racism.

Children’s choir releases 11th CD, Renowned environmental authority to speak at EMU, EMU expert part of collaborative effort on Civil War pacifism

Jim Bishop

Items by Jim Bishop Children’s choir releases 11th CD The splendor of brass, pipe organ and 150 children’s voices combine as the Shenandoah Valley Children’s Choir (SVCC) of Harrisonburg, Va., heralds its 16th season with the release of its 11th recording, “Christmas Joy.” This is the second collaborative effort that includes members of the Washington…

Warner for Senate? Not so fast

Chris Graham

Column by Chris Graham I’ve been taking in the speculation about Mark Warner’s next political step – and the notion that Democrats are courting him to run for the United States Senate in 2008. My take on this is that we’re being a little premature in analyzing that one – given what I think is…

Marriage amendment – a lose-lose-lose situation?

Chris Graham

The Top Story by Chris Graham   It’s politics to some people – the debate over a proposed amendment to the Virginia Constitution that would prohibit gays and lesbians from being able to enter into a state-recognized marriage or civil union. For those whose lives would be impacted directly by the much-talked-about change to the…

The fun-and-games department

Chris Graham

Story by Chris Graham It is not as if the steroids scandal that has been the talk of the baseball world for the past year or so was a recent revelation. “Every single sports reporter covering the San Francisco Giants in the late 1990s and the early part of this decade thought that Barry Bonds…