AAA; National average for unleaded headed toward $4 mark

Chris Graham

Prices at the pump continued their relentless upward movement this week, despite a slight retreat in the oil markets.  The national average price for regular grade gasoline jumped a penny this week to $3.94 per gallon Friday and remains 18 cents higher than month ago prices, 21 cents higher than a year ago and within…

Spring events in Downtown Staunton

Chris Graham

Staunton Augusta Art Center Annual Youth Art Show Friday, March 30 through Sunday, April 1 Gallery located at the Staunton Augusta Art Center galleries in the R. R. Smith Center for History & Art at 20 S. New  Street.  The best art works from all public, private, and independent schools in Staunton, Waynesboro, and Augusta…

Earth Talk: Inside Solyndra

Roddy Scheer

Dear EarthTalk: What caused Solyndra, a leading American solar panel maker, to fail last fall and what are the implications for U.S. alternative energy industries? – Walt Bottone, Englewood, N.J. Solyndra was a California-based maker of thin-film solar cells affixed to cylindrical panels that could deliver more energy than conventional flat photovoltaic panels. The company’s…

Creigh Deeds: Session Report

Creigh Deeds

January has come and gone.  Punxsutawney Phil has seen his shadow, and it appears that six more weeks of winter weather are ahead.  We saw temperatures in the 70s in Richmond this week.  Hopefully Phil is predicting six more weeks of this type of wintry weather. Throughout this session, one thing that stands out for…

The Y goes green: $103K solar project largest in state of Virginia

Chris Graham

Sigora Solar and the Waynesboro Family YMCA are teaming up on what will be the largest thermal solar installation in the state of Virginia. The system will consist of 40 panels covering approximately 1,600 square feet of space mounted on custom-engineered and -built aluminum rack on the YMCA’s roof. The $103,000 project is being funded…

Rubbermaid to expand Winchester operations

Contributors

Rubbermaid Commercial Products, a leader in solution-based commercial products, will invest $67.25 million to expand operations in the City of Winchester and establish a distribution operation in Frederick County. The company, best-known for its commercial cleaning, materials management, washroom and foodservice products, will add a total of 71 new jobs. In the City of Winchester,…

Staunton, Waynesboro earn Tree City status

Contributors

Ceremonies celebrating Tree City USA took place in 57 communities across Virginia on Monday, including in Staunton and Waynesboro. The towns, cities and military installations that have achieved Tree City USA certification satisfy guidelines from the Arbor Day Foundation. “Trees are much more than a pretty face,” said Barbara White, urban and community forester with…

Jim Bishop: Letting go is hard and slow

Jim Bishop

I’ve known this for a long time but it’s still not easy to publicly divulge – I’m not good at “letting go, moving on.” For example, I don’t like face-to-face goodbyes when someone leaves our congregation for another setting about the time that we really got to know and appreciate them, especially those persons who…