Webb: Investments in nuclear will boost economy

Chris Graham

Sen. Jim Webb is on board with President Obama’s push for new investments in nuclear energy. “These investments in nuclear energy technologies will help invigorate the U.S. economy and expand access to clean, domestic energy,” Webb, D-Va., said today. “They are going to keep the United States competitive in a global marketplace that has accelerated…

Creigh Deeds: Session update

Creigh Deeds

The Virginia General Assembly works as close as is possible to the way representative government was intended. Sessions are short, fast-paced and members, by necessity, have to earn their principal income outside of government. Members of the General Assembly come from all walks of life and must balance family and work with legislative service. It…

Ken Plum: Tough choices

Ken Plum

A legislative session is filled with tough choices. Allocating scarce resources in the budget presents difficult choices that have been discussed many times in this column. This legislative session has been presented the choice by the Governor of taking money from the general fund that supports public schools, police, and mental health programs and others…

Students to hold mock Wilson press conference

AFP

The Woodrow Wilson Presidential Library and Museum will sponsor a student mock press conference on Friday, Feb. 18, at 2 p.m. in the school forum at Beverley Manor Middle School. Judd Bankert, portraying President Woodrow Wilson, will take questions from 21 Beverley Manor seventh-graders acting as reporters, and student Cole Fainter will portray President Wilson’s…

Waynesboro Senior Center news

Chris Graham

The Waynesboro Senior Center, sponsored by Valley Program for Aging Services, invites people 60 years of age and older to participate in a variety of programs to be offered in the coming week. The center, at 325 Pine Ave., in the Jackson-Wilson building, is open 9 a.m. to 1:30 p.m. Monday through Friday. Transportation is…

Poll: Help the WIldlife Center name the hawk

AFP

The polls are now open in the Wildlife Center of Virginia’s campaign to name a red-tailed hawk – a non-releasable hawk that will soon be visiting schools as one of the Center’s environmental ambassadors. The Center is taking online votes in this Name-the-Hawk contest through Monday, Feb. 21, and everyone is encouraged to participate. To…

Community Mourning: Waynesboro loses local arts icon

Chris Graham

The Waynesboro arts community is in mourning today over the sudden passing of artist, dramatist, author and retired Waynesboro High School teacher Duane Hahn. “Duane … how can we imagine creative Waynesboro without you? I’m heartbroken,” wrote author and friend Elizabeth Massie on a Facebook post Thursday morning. Hahn was an icon to the local…

McDonnell’s higher-ed reform legislation passes key legislative hurdles

Chris Graham

Gov. Bob McDonnell’s “Preparing for the Top Jobs of the 21st Century: The Virginia Higher Education Opportunity Act of 2011” passed two key votes on Wednesday in Richmond. Following a vote in favor of the omnibus bill by the Senate Finance Committee earlier in the morning, the full House of Delegates voted unanimously for final…

Mill at South River completes $5.5 million prep work

AFP

Redevelopment team members for the Mill at South River in Waynesboro announced today that the project has successfully completed a $5.5 million voluntary remediation and site preparation phase of the property redevelopment. It is the largest known voluntary Brownfield investment by an individual in Virginia and ranks in the top 7 percent in size of…

David Reynolds: Denial

David Reynolds

Boy, I’m sure glad I live in Rockbridgeland . . . and not in Virginia. And that our three local governments can take the year off. After all, we were told that almost everything was accomplished in paradise during 2010. But that the Commonwealth has all sorts of problems, from textbooks to roads, from funding…