Ceremony marks arrival of new high-tech business to Waynesboro

AFP

Solutions Place, a 340,000-square-foot office, manufacturing, and distribution business complex in Waynesboro, today welcomed high-tech electronics manufacturer PPI/Time Zero as its newest tenant in a grand opening event attended by top state and local officials. Virginia Secretary of Commerce and Trade Jim Cheng hailed PPI/ Time Zero’s $1.15 million expansion to Virginia from New Jersey…

Augusta Chamber launches free prescription cards program

AFP

The Greater Augusta Regional Chamber of Commerce introduce today a free Chamber RX drug discount card. Chamber RX is a program of Chamber Solutions, a Norfolk-based firm providing services to chambers of commerce. The card is offered in an effort to make prescription drugs more affordable, especially to people with no health insurance or those…

McDonnell’s higher-ed reform legislation passes key legislative hurdles

Chris Graham

Gov. Bob McDonnell’s “Preparing for the Top Jobs of the 21st Century: The Virginia Higher Education Opportunity Act of 2011” passed two key votes on Wednesday in Richmond. Following a vote in favor of the omnibus bill by the Senate Finance Committee earlier in the morning, the full House of Delegates voted unanimously for final…

McDonnell unveils education-jobs agenda

Chris Graham

Gov. Bob McDonnell is pushing a bipartisan higher-education initiative that he says will help Virginia colleges and universities issue an additional 100,000 degrees over the next 15 years. “Every student in Virginia deserves the opportunity to get a high-quality education at an affordable price. Virginia’s higher education institutions are among the best in the nation….

Aaron Dorfman: Healthy democracy needs philanthropy

AFP

Column by Aaron Dorfman Submit guest columns: [email protected]   When those who speak for regular folks – you, me and everyday working people – are outspent in Washington, even the most welcome legislation tends to serve the rich and powerful. As the country anticipates President Obama signing financial reform legislation, the scorecard is so starkly…

Bob Goodlatte: The wrong prescription for America

AFP

Column by Bob Goodlatte www.house.gov/goodlatte   Just days ago President Obama signed into law sweeping health care reform legislation pushed by Congressional Democrats that will dramatically impact every family, taxpayer and small business in America. As I have said time and time again, this monstrosity, which I voted against, amounts to a big government takeover…

Nelson gets $1.8M for broadband access

Chris Graham

Edited by Chris Graham [email protected]   Nelson County has been awarded $1,826,646 from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to expand broadband Internet service in rural areas of the county. The funding for the Nelson County Broadband Project was announced by Fifth District Congressman Tom Perriello on Thursday. “These stimulus funds give a major boost…

Letters to the Editor

AFP

– K. Rashid Nuri: Making the case for urban agriculture – Hunter Mabry: Tell McDonnell to commute Paul Powell’s death sentence – Haresh Daswani: Of walks and meditation    K. Rashid Nuri: Making the case for urban agriculture In his State of the Union address, President Obama enumerated ongoing problems requiring his attention: health care,…

Lawmaker Dispatches

Chris Graham

Featuring: Randy Forbes, Tom Perriello, Robert Hurt, Kaye Kory Randy Forbes: National Dialogue www.forbes.house.gov Ask a teacher, and they will most likely tell you that one of the quickest ways to kill classroom discussion is for one strong-willed student to monopolize the conversation. A long-winded or uncomfortably impassioned monologue inevitably polarizes viewpoints. Conversation shuts down,…