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Interesting week for me in my often overlapping roles as a business writer and politics writer. On Wednesday, I met with U.S. Sen. Mark Warner, a Democrat, after a roundtable in Staunton with local business owners and business leaders who gave Warner quite the earful about the state of business and the state of the…
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The $4.55 million package of local and state incentives seems a pretty price to pay, but in the current economic environment, the 41 jobs that will come with the expansion of the PGI facility in Waynesboro might just have extra value. “Manufacturing has taken a big hit nationally. People think of jobs going offshore. But…
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Confidence. That’s what America needs to get business moving again. “The challenge we have now is, what can we do to fix the confidence of the business community at large?” U.S. Sen. Mark Warner, D-Va., told a group of business owners in Staunton on Wednesday. Warner did some talking and a lot of listening as…
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Facing a question on GOP-sponsored state legislation pushing electricity rates up pretty dramatically in Southwest Virginia, Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli deflected at a town-hall meeting in Rocky Mount Thursday to a discussion of cap-and-trade legislation that has been stalled in Congress for a year. “Cap-and-trade legislation failed in the U.S. Congress. It didn’t pass. For…
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A professional geologist’s review of an application for a Marcellus Shale natural-gas well in Rockingham County just released by local groups Community Alliance for Preservation, Shenandoah Riverkeeper and Shenandoah Valley Network, reveals a long list of environmental and public-health concerns related to the proposed well. The report, conducted by Mark Quarles, P.G., of Global Environmental…
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They don’t look like anything else on the Bridgewater College campus – and truth be known, they aren’t. The two new village-style residences that sprang up this summer on BC’s campus do far more than simply provide housing for students. By adhering to an internationally recognized green building certification system, they move the college forward…
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The Strong Families/Great Youth Coalition has been awarded a $7,000 grant from the Virginia Department of Alcoholic Beverage Control to help prevent underage drinking. The coalition plans to use the grant to fund writing, production and broadcast of a 20-minute educational video. The video will be written and produced by coalition youth with the help…
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The trend in political fundraising has been to tap into the power of the $10 and $20 and $50 donor. it takes a lot more of those size donations to add up, but they add up, and as they add up, the people who buy in add a weight to the momentum of the effort…
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On Aug. 26, we commemorate Women’s Equality Day and reflect on the true meaning of equality. The day is important, not just to evaluate where women are in terms of representation and equal pay for equal work, but also to consider the ramifications of what would happen should half of the world’s population be left…
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Gov. Bob McDonnell addressed the joint Senate Finance, House Appropriations and House Finance Committees in Richmond on Thursday. Below are the governor’s remarks as prepared for delivery. Thank you. Chairman Colgan, Chairman Putney, Chairman Purkey, members of the General Assembly money committees, ladies and gentlemen: good morning. As is the custom each summer, I come…
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