A Riverfront runs through it: Development project could reverse fortunes in downtown Waynesboro

Chris Graham

The Top Story by Chris Graham   One problem that Waynesboro has with regard to its plans for revitalizing its downtown-business district is “the fact that we don’t have buildings,” downtown businessman Len Poulin said. “But as I like to say, the biggest advantage that we have in rebuilding downtown is that we don’t have…

Life by design: Debate heats up over new theory of how we got here

Chris Graham

The Top Story by Chris Graham The fact that President Bush thinks intelligent design should be taught in American public schools is more than enough for JoAnne Shirley. “I absolutely hope that this becomes an issue here locally and statewide. Students need to be given a choice, as the president said,” said Shirley, a former…

Waynesboro’s growing pains

Chris Graham

Story by Chris Graham  Waynesboro City Council members have come across in recent weeks as being at odds among themselves and with city manager Doug Walker over issues involving the debt load that the city can take on and the city government’s handling of a recent political controversy regarding a proposed West End fire substation….

Kilgore fleshes out tax-relief plan

Chris Graham

Story by Chris Graham Backdoor tax increases resulting from increases in local property-value reassessments are “unfair,” Republican Party gubernatorial-nomination frontrunner Jerry Kilgore said on Wednesday. “I don’t know about you, but the only number that I care about as a taxpayer goes in that little box on the right-hand side of each check that I…

Fitch waging solo campaign for GOP nod

Chris Graham

Story by Chris Graham Somebody forgot to tell George Fitch that he was supposed to have given up on his bid for the Republican Party gubernatorial nomination a long time ago. “I’ve got another 10,000 miles between now and the primary,” said Fitch, the Warrenton mayor, who is waging the most grassroots of campaigns for…

Bolling picks up key endorsement

Chris Graham

Story by Chris Graham Former Virginia governor Jim Gilmore has weighed in on the Republican Party lieutenant-governor nomination battle – in favor of Mechanicville Sen. Bill Bolling. Bolling, who is challenging Prince William County Board of Supervisors chair Sean Connaughton for the party nod, was a cosponsor of the legislation initiated by Gilmore that brought…

Davis fighting for heart and soul of GOP

Chris Graham

Story by Chris Graham Gil Davis views the campaign for the Republican Party lieutenant-governor nomination in stark black-and-white terms. “We’re in a fight for the soul of the Republican Party that will determine whether we are the tax-and-spend party in Virginia or we are the party that aims to be fiscally responsible to the people…

Faith issues front and center in governor’s race

Chris Graham

The Top Story by Chris Graham Tim Kaine doesn’t hide the fact that he is a Roman Catholic. “I am a Catholic, and I’m very serious about my faith,” said Kaine, Virginia’s lieutenant governor and the presumptive Democratic Party nominee to run for governor in the Commonwealth in the fall. “I took a year off…