Common Cents | GSA takes great pride in local presence

AFP

Next time you see a car, van or truck driving by you with a government license plate, look closely. Chances are there’s a GSA logo in the corner. GSA is shorthand for the U.S. General Services Administration, quite possibly the largest federal agency you never heard of. But we’re a neighbor and part of your…

Preaching to the choir

Jim Bishop

What do a pear, a “talking” tennis ball and “hee-haw” have to do with conducting children’s choirs? More than 250 music educators from across the state found out during a seminar in children’s choral conducted Nov. 21. Julia White, founder and artistic director of the 17-year-old Shenandoah Valley Children’s Choir, led 69 choristers, ages 7-13,…

Va. not blue yet, governor says

Chris Graham

“It was really about the best night of my life,” Tim Kaine said of Election Night, which not only saw his long-time friend Mark Warner capture a landslide of landslides win over Jim Gilmore in their U.S. Senate race but also saw another friend, Barack Obama, win Virginia on his way to a historic triumph…

Divided Ds, motivated Rs, and other ’09 trends

Chris Graham

The formal entree of former Democratic National Committee chair Terry McAuliffe into the 2009 governor’s race on Monday means all the players are present and accounted for now. McAuliffe, who filed papers today to run for governor, but is officially still only exploring a possible run, will compete for the Democratic nomination with Northern Virginia…

Photocast: Barack Obama in Roanoke

Chris Graham

Photos by Mark Miller Barack Obama addresses 10,000 Virginia Democrats today at the Roanoke Civic Center. U.S. Sen. Jim Webb, D-Va., serves up some red meat. Ninth District Congressman Rick Boucher warms up the crowd. Handmade signs relayed a variety of progressive messages. NBC29 Shenandoah Valley bureau chief Ken Slack reports live from Roanoke.   …

Harrisonburg: Annual relief sale a big success

Chris Graham

Story by Jim Bishop Economic woes apparently took a back seat to spectacular weather that helped draw an enthusiastic crowd of nearly 10,000 to the 42nd annual Virginia Mennonite Relief Sale held Oct. 3-4 at the Rockingham County Fairgrounds. This year’s sale raised approximately $307,638 in total receipts for Mennonite Central Committee. This does not…

David Cox: Mean time

David Cox

Column by David Cox It happened in Buena Vista. Then Minneapolis. I guess it was inevitable that 2008 political races would get downright mean. On Labor Day, when each year our very own BV becomes the political capital of Virginia, senatorial candidates Jim Gilmore and Mark Warner wasted no time in trying to flatten the…

Augusta, Staunton, Waynesboro Dems Paint the Valley Blue

Chris Graham

Story by Chris Graham [email protected] Creigh Deeds remembered being asked to save the date on his schedule. “David Bottenfield said we needed to mark off this date, the 16th of August, for Paint the Valley Blue, that we were going to have a little picnic at the Frontier Culture Museum,” Deeds said at last night’s…