JMU announces 2012 football schedule

Contributors

The James Madison University football team announced its schedule for the 2012 season today, which includes six home games at the expanded Bridgeforth Stadium including defending CAA champion Towson. Game times will be announced at a later date, following the completion of the CAA Television contracts. “This is a quality schedule for our football program…

McDonnell announces education agenda

Chris Graham

Joined on Monday by Virginia public school students, teachers, superintendents and parents, Gov. Bob McDonnell unveiled his 2012 legislative and budget actions that support his administration’s ongoing “Opportunity to Learn” K-12 education agenda. The actions, to be introduced in the 2012 General Assembly session, focus on raising standards for schools and teachers, reducing mandates on…

Three families conserve 400 acres of farmland in Greene

Contributors

The Virginia Department of Forestry recently recorded its first working forest conservation easements in Greene County. Three families granted to the VDOF four separate conservation easements protecting 395 acres on Snow and Hightop mountains west of Stanardsville. Collectively, the properties are 97 percent forested and contribute to the large, unfragmented forested landscape in the area….

McDonnell: More than $2B in road, bridge contracts advertised in 2011

Chris Graham

Gov. Bob McDonnell announced on Wednesday that the Virginia Department of Transportation advertised more than $2 billion worth of construction and maintenance contracts during 2011. Contracts include repaving, bridge repairs and replacements, intersection and safety improvements and road widenings among several other transportation projects across the state. “I tasked VDOT to push projects out the…

Senate Dems oppose education cuts

Contributors

Gov. Bob McDonnell has proposed deep cuts to K-12 public education and pre-kindergarten in his 2012-2014 budget. Senate Democratic leaders are raising issue with the governor’s budget, with one calling McDonnell “the most anti-public education governor” of the last three decades. “There is no way we should be taking money out of public education in…

William Browning: A key to rural economic growth – increased availability of broadband services

Chris Graham

Many of Virginia’s rural communities still lack access to high-speed wireless Internet service, including right here in the Shenandoah Valley and parts of western and southwestern Virginia. While our political leaders continue to discuss, debate, and attempt to reach a workable solution on how to create more quality jobs and jumpstart our economy, it is…

Final tally on McDonnell streamlining initiatives: $2M a year

Contributors

Gov. Bob McDonnell announced today his government reform initiatives that are contained in a Government Reorganization Plan submitted to the General Assembly. The proposals, a result of the ongoing work of the Governor’s Commission on Government Reform and Restructuring, include eliminating two state agencies; merging seven state agencies into others; eliminating 19 boards and commissions;…

Drive safe – or else – this holiday weekend

Chris Graham

Notwithstanding statewide progress in the fight against drunk driving over the past decade, drunk driving is still killing six people a year in Augusta County, according to Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles data of alcohol-related traffic deaths averaged over the last five years.  Augusta County averaged the 11th most drunk-driving fatalities in Virginia during the…

Mark Warner: It’s time to really fix housing

Chris Graham

Recently, I attended a community meeting hosted by faith leaders in Northern Virginia’s Prince William County that brought together more than 1,000 anxious homeowners and several leading mortgage lenders. Many other communities across Virginia also have experienced significant challenges as a result of the housing crisis. But Prince William County has led Virginia in foreclosures…