Fund fosters growth of small business in Staunton

Chris Graham

Story by Chris Graham [email protected]   Brian Wiedemann and Katie McCaskey weren’t looking for a handout, but a hand up. “We’re into our next growth phase,” said Wiedemann, who with McCaskey opened the George Bowers Grocery on West Beverley Street in the heart of Newtown in Staunton in November 2008, and after a harsh winter…

HeartThrobs: Love’s got everything to do with it

Jim Bishop

   Column by Jim Bishop Submit guest columns: [email protected] “The Fourteen of February every year It happens all over this planet, For on this day love melts the heart That’s usually taken for granite.” So what else is ode? That’s a poem that isn’t new. Johnny Tillotson crooned his way to the top ten in…

Lawmaker Dispatches

Chris Graham

Featuring: Randy Forbes, Tom Perriello, Robert Hurt, Kaye Kory Randy Forbes: National Dialogue www.forbes.house.gov Ask a teacher, and they will most likely tell you that one of the quickest ways to kill classroom discussion is for one strong-willed student to monopolize the conversation. A long-winded or uncomfortably impassioned monologue inevitably polarizes viewpoints. Conversation shuts down,…

Haiti: Environmental concerns

Contributors

   Earth Talk www.emagazine.com Dear EarthTalk: What are the primary environmental concerns in the aftermath of the big earthquake in Haiti? – Frank Dover, Portland, Ore. As would be the case after any natural disaster, water-borne illness could run rampant and chemicals and oil could leak out of damaged storage facilities as a result of…

Nuclear ‘renaissance’ or ‘retreat’? France is not the example

Contributors

   Column by Linda Gunter Submit guest columns: [email protected] It is perhaps no accident that the nuclear power industry chose a French word – “renaissance” – to promote its alleged comeback. Attached to this misapplied moniker are a series of fallacious suggestions that nuclear energy is “clean,” “safe” and even “renewable.” And, in keeping with…

Local officials back jobs program

Contributors

   Staff Report News tips: [email protected] As U.S. mayors gathered in Washington this week to meet with the Obama administration about unemployment and the economy, Virginia local government officials and community leaders are calling for the creation of a Community Jobs program. The jobs program would provide funding to localities across the country to create…

Tribute to fallen leaves – let them be!

Contributors

   Column by Shepherd Bliss Submit guest columns and letters: [email protected] First, some background: This November a City Council member in our small Northern California town of Sebastopol proposed a ban on leaf blowers, which the community and Council are currently discussing. Bans have been passed in many cities around the United States and proposed…

Raising the flag on Iwo, part two

Contributors

Waynesboro man spearheads effort to breathe life into Marine Corps War Memorial Story by Chris Graham [email protected] It started, appropriately enough, with Jim Donovan’s concern over the tattered flag flying over the Marine Corps War Memorial. The effort to restore glory to the Old Glory looking down at the scene harkening back to the historic…