Collins nominated to NIH post

AFP

Today, President Barack Obama announced his intent to nominate Staunton native Francis S. Collins as director of the National Institutes of Health at the Department of Health and Human Services. Collins, a physician-geneticist noted for his landmark discoveries of disease genes and his leadership of the Human Genome Project, served as Director of the National…

Jennifer Rogers | Protecting the public from harmful chemicals

AFP

I recently read an article about Bisphenol-A (BPA) that eerily reminded me of the movie, “Thank You for Smoking.” In the movie, the “merchants of death” or MOD Squad, as they call themselves, are lobbyists for the alcohol, gun, and tobacco industries and meet for lunch while plotting to keep vital information about the harmful…

Earth Talk | Birth-control chemicals in drinking water?

Roddy Scheer

Dear EarthTalk: Is there any truth to the rumor about high levels of birth-control chemicals being found in some cities’ drinking water? If so can these be filtered out? – Elizabeth Yerkes, via e-mail It is true that trace amounts of birth control and other medications—as well as household and industrial chemicals of every stripe—are…

Jim Bishop | Clarence Peifer epitomizes life of lay ministry

Jim Bishop

Clarence E. Peifer of Bridgewater will defuse any preconceived notions of how a person who turned 95 (on May 18 this year) should appear or act. Clarence moves at a slower pace these days, but gets around well. He wears a hearing aid but responds thoughtfully to questions. He recently passed another drivers’ test but…

The state of the Valley

AFP

Per-capita incomes are a little less than 80 percent of the state average. We’re older, more of us lack health insurance, most of us are overweight or obese, and a higher-than-acceptable proportion of us lack a high-school education. And yet for the most part, we’re doing OK.

Wednesday, March 4, 2009

Chris Graham

– Local News: Missing juvenile sought in Staunton, Wednesday, 2:45 p.m. – Local News: Grant to aid local Meals on Wheels, Wednesday, 2:45 p.m. – Local Events: AFP editor to participate in Big Read event today at Augusta County Library, Wednesday, 9:50 a.m. – Local News: EMU students spend spring break at home doing service…

AFP Politics Blog – Tuesday, Feb. 17, 2009

Chris Graham

– News: Pew Center commends Virginia for budgeting, management, Tuesday, 5:40 p.m. – News: House GOP kills bipartisan redistricting, Tuesday, 5:40 p.m. – News: Statement of Transportation Secretary Ray LaHood on stimulus, Tuesday, 5:40 p.m. – News: Gov. Kaine announces initiative to prepare dropouts for entry-level tech jobs, Tuesday, 12:20 p.m. – News: Shannon announces…