Staunton Music Festival announces changes to weekend schedule

AFP

Due to illness, Carsten Schmidt must postpone the scheduled lecture-recital and Bach Fantasias and English Suites programs this weekend. Staunton Music Festival organizers said today that will do all we can to either refund money to those who have purchased tickets to either or both events or alert you when they have rescheduled the events. The family concert, Saturday at 3pm, will go ahead as planned.

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LEARN seeks tutors to help others gain literacy skills

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LEARN (Learn English and Reading Now), the nonprofit organization that provides free, confidential, one-on-one tutoring for adults in basic reading and writing – and in English for Speakers of Other Languages – in Staunton, Waynesboro, and Augusta County, is seeking volunteer tutors to participate in its next training session on Saturday, March 16, from 9:00 am-4:00 pm at the Unitarian-Universalist Fellowship located at 565 Pine Avenue in Waynesboro.

ACLU praises school system in free speech cases

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The ACLU of Virginia on Monday sent a letter to the Fairfax County School Board thanking the Board and Superintendent for upholding free speech in two recent incidents: a parent’s attempt to have a book removed from the curriculum, and a request that a community group be denied permission to use school property for a controversial meeting. The school division denied the requests in both instances.

Stories and Legends of Blue Ridge & Shenandoah Told at East Rock

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Everyone enjoys stories and legends, and for the 20 members, three volunteers and six guests in attendance at the at the East Rockingham Senior Center on January 16, Elkton historian and JMU Lifelong Learning Program instructor, Jim Lawson, offered more than 60 minutes of very interesting and entertaining discussion during his program entitled, “Legends and Stories of the Blue Ridge and Shenandoah.”

Matt Lohr

Matt Lohr: What are you doing to protect your family farm?

AFP

It is a common issue in Virginia and just about every other state: what to do to protect your farm from development or any other situation that would take it out of production. Sometimes this occurs because a farmer gets an offer he or she simply can’t refuse. Certainly no one would deny any farmer the right to make a nice profit, especially if it’s just before retirement. (Not that farmers every really retire.)