Challenging nonconference hoops schedule for VCU

Chris Graham

Seven postseason qualifiers and a possible trip to The Mecca of Basketball, Madison Square Garden, highlight the 13-game 2010-11 non-conference schedule for the Virginia Commonwealth University men’s basketball team. “Overall our schedule presents a wide variety of challenging opponents,” head coach Shaka Smart said. “We’ll have the chance to test ourselves in extremely hostile environments…

Who is DeFundIt.org?

Chris Graham

A 21-year-old named Alex Cortes has inserted himself into the thick of the Fifth District congressional race, with his advocacy group DeFundIt.org targeting Democratic incumbent Tom Perriello for his vote in favor of the health-care reform. A Google search of the name produces as the top item a link to a column about an op-ed…

Another Dem-less year in the Sixth

Chris Graham

It had been 10 years since the last Democratic Party nominee challenge to Republican Bob Goodlatte when Sam Rasoul made a run at the Sixth District seat in 2008. Goodlatte’s 61 percent showing in 2008 was convincing enough to convince Democrats not to field a candidate against the incumbent in 2010. The question today –…

Ken Plum: Schools feeling impact of cutbacks

Ken Plum

I learned recently that the Page County School Board has decided to close GroveHillElementary School that I attended for my first seven years of schooling. The locality has lost too much in state education funding and local tax revenues to be able to keep the 100-year-old community school open. The longer bus rides to other…

Busy building at EMU

Jim Bishop

A quiet campus at Eastern Mennonite University? Not at all, especially this summer, with outside groups and auxiliary programs stretching the facilities non-stop from early May through mid-August and several major capital improvement projects happening simultaneously. The biggest project: what is being called “Phase II” of the University Commons, a $2.4 million funded project that…

Hurt pledges to defund health-care reform: Good politics, but is it good policy?

Chris Graham

Robert Hurt’s move to sign the DeFundIt.org pledge to pull funding from the health-care reform measure passed by Congress and signed into law by President Obama in March is good politics. It’s probably also bad policy, but you could say that policy is the province of those who are good at politics first. “By signing…

What does early Perriello money lead mean for November?

Chris Graham

You look at the money race in the Fifth District, and it’s no race at all, really. Democrat Tom Perriello has $1.7 million in cash on hand while his Republican opponent, Robert Hurt, has $212,000, according to reports filed by the respective campaigns with the Federal Election Commission. Those numbers are bound to change between…