Chris Graham: Surprised by JMU sacking Mickey Matthews? Not at all

Chris Graham

One perspective on Mickey Matthews is that he should have been able to decide the day that he left JMU and even had a hand in picking the guy who would sculpt the statue to his tenure. You win a national championship and take a football program at a school that didn’t play football until 1972 to the precipice of FBS, and they eventually name the field after you.

VDOT: Route 727 bridge in Mount Crawford to open on Friday

Chris Graham

VDOT will open Route 727 (Airport Road) in Rockingham County on Friday. Contractors from Fairfield-Echols LLC of Fishersville have substantially completed the project just west of Route 11 at Mount Crawford. The work included construction of a new bridge over the North River and realigning part of the road to eliminate two sharp curves.

State Board of Education approves A-F school grading system

Chris Graham

The Virginia Board of Education today unanimously approved an A-F grading system that will assign letter grades to schools based on the percentages of students demonstrating proficiency, academic growth and college and career readiness. Initial letter grades will be announced at the beginning of the 2014-2015 school year.