Ken Plum: Schools feeling impact of cutbacks

Ken Plum

I learned recently that the Page County School Board has decided to close GroveHillElementary School that I attended for my first seven years of schooling. The locality has lost too much in state education funding and local tax revenues to be able to keep the 100-year-old community school open. The longer bus rides to other…

Ranking: Virginia tops in business

Chris Graham

Virginia is the “most pro-business state” in America according to the Pollina Corporate Top 10 Pro-Business States for 2010 rankings released Thursday. This marks the fourth time the Commonwealth has held the top spot, with previous top rankings garnered in 2003, 2007 and 2009. In the official release from Pollina, the company notes that the…

March of Dimes awards grant for Centering Pregnancy Program

AFP

Shenandoah Women’s Healthcare has received a $28,000 grant from the March of Dimes to enhance their Centering Pregnancy Program. Centering Pregnancy is an innovative approach to providing prenatal care in groups. Certified nurse-midwives at Shenandoah Women’s Healthcare have been piloting this project since December 2008, and now, thanks to the March of Dimes, all of…

A merger that isn’t Comcastic

AFP

On Dec. 3, 2009, the cable giant Comcast announced plans to buy NBC/Universal from General Electric in a $28 billion merger. Ever since, lawmakers in Washington and legions of activists have been raising the alarm about the threat such a deal would pose to telecommunication workers, cable and Internet users, and communities of color. As…

Ken Plum: ABC for sale

Ken Plum

In thinking about what makes Virginia special from her neighboring states, I would include on my list the fact that corner liquor stores with their barred windows and neon signs do not exist in Virginia. But that picture may change soon if the McDonnell administration has its way. As a candidate for that office, Gov….

Y, Augusta Health team up to fight obesity epidemic

Chris Graham

Sixty percent of adult Americans are overweight, and thirty percent are obese. And our bad habits are affecting our kids, whose life expectancy, shockingly, sadly, will be less than our generation, a major step back in quality of life that is entirely preventable. “It’s not just about the elderly and people who have had heart…

David Toscano: Inside the surplus

AFP

It is always better to have a surplus than have a deficit. Consequently, Governor McDonnell and many Virginians recently celebrated the fact that the Commonwealth will have a surplus at the end of the fiscal year. After all, who would not want a surplus? If we balance our family checkbook at the end of the…