Dr. Jeffrey Patterson: Lessons from the Gulf for nuclear reactors

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Column by Dr. Jeffrey Patterson Submit guest columns: [email protected] One crucial lesson from the BP oil spill is that measures to speed licensing, cut corners on safety and undermine regulation can lead to tragic consequences. Yet Congress appears on the verge of repeating mistakes that led to the environmental catastrophe in the Gulf. Federal lawmakers…

McAuliffe: ‘I want to keep all of my options open’

Chris Graham

Is Terry McAuliffe running for something? Well, not technically, but he is traveling with the former executive director of the Democratic Party of Virginia, Levar Stoney, who now works for him in a sort of nebulous role that doesn’t have Stoney as a political aide, per se, but … And McAuliffe didn’t begin his talk…

Madeline Ostrander: Protect America’s coasts and waterways

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Column by Madeline Ostrander Submit guest columns: [email protected]   Dave Rauschkolb took on the oil industry when it got personal—it threatened his beach and his business. Rauschkolb is not an environmental lawyer or professional Sierra Club-type. He’s an avid surfer and owns a pizza bar on the northwest coast of Florida, within range of the…

Dennis Markatos-Soriano: Gulf disaster calls for sustainable transportation revolution

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Column by Dennis Markatos-Soriano Submit guest columns: [email protected]   The oil drilling explosion that killed 11 people on April 20th and the spill now killing massive amounts of wildlife in the Gulf of Mexico is a sign. It’s a sign of how bad our nation’s oil addiction has gotten and of how much we need…

Environmental group praises delay on offshore drilling

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Edited by Chris Graham [email protected]   The U.S. Minerals Management Service announced today that it is postponing indefinitely the public-comment period and the public hearings that were scheduled in Virginia, Maryland and North Carolina in the coming weeks on the proposed sale for oil and gas drilling off Virginia’s shore.

Gypsy Hill Place: On pace

Chris Graham

Story by Chris Graham [email protected]   Talk about ambitious. Charlottesville-based Octagon Partners gave itself 10 months to rehab the old R.E. Lee High School on Churchville Avenue into senior housing and new spaces for ShenanArts and the Staunton Senior Center. And Octagon and general contractor Mathers Construction of Waynesboro are coming in a little ahead…

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…