
Chris Graham: Secession
I totally get the bent toward secession that we’re seeing from the sore-loser set that has cropped up in the aftermath of the 2012 presidential election.

I totally get the bent toward secession that we’re seeing from the sore-loser set that has cropped up in the aftermath of the 2012 presidential election.

Robert McWhirt, RN, BSN, MSN, is the new Chief Nursing Officer at Augusta Health. McWhirt’s predecessor, Lisa Cline, MSN, MBA, is now Augusta Health’s Vice President of Operations.

Smart Beginnings Shenandoah Valley, a local school-readiness initiative that works to improve the quality of early childhood care and learning in the cities of Harrisonburg, Staunton and Waynesboro, as well as in Augusta, Page, Rockingham and Shenandoah counties, has received a grant of $75,000 from the Virginia Early Childhood Foundation (VECF), a public-private partnership headquartered in Richmond, Va.

Anna Leavitt, coordinator of the Community Action Partnership of Staunton, Augusta and Waynesboro (CAPSAW), announced an expansion of the organization’s free tax preparation services.

As a software entrepreneur, I find it ironic to see people going online to rail against taxes and government spending. The Internet grew from government research financed by earlier generations of taxpayers. So did computers, GPS technology and many other technologies we take for granted today.

Hundreds of children in the Central Shenandoah Valley will receive their first distribution of take-home meals and snacks this month through the Blue Ridge Area Food Bank’s BackPack Program thanks in part to several local donors who have stepped up to fund the program this school year.

Over 20 cooperative business organizations have their roots in Rockingham County, from large credit unions and agricultural marketing co-ops to smaller beef producer co-ops and worker-owned restaurants. Together they are joining in celebrating the United Nations’ declaration of 2012 as the International Year of Cooperatives

Increasing opportunities for adults in our community through increased literary skills, a number of organizations are providing over $15,000 in funding support to LEARN (Learn English and Reading Now, Inc.), while several new members of the nonprofit’s Board of Directors and a new program coordinator have been announced

The Valley Program for Aging Services announces that Ann Weiland has been named the new director for the Churchville Senior Center. Welland comes to this position with decades of executive level experience working in a variety of settings including a non-profit consulting organization and two United Ways.

It started with an idea from a young man named Jeffrey Bowers at the Boys & Girls Club. He attended the National Youth Venture Summit in Orlando and thought there should be a video on bullying. That idea grew. Cynthia Pritchard, executive director of the United Way of Greater Augusta, says, “Jeremiah Jordan contacted our…
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