Senate highway bill includes Warner proposals

Chris Graham

U.S. Sen. Mark R. Warner, D-Va., on Wednesday joined colleagues in a bipartisan 74-22 vote to adopt the Moving Ahead for Progress in the 21st Century Act (MAP-21), which reauthorizes highway, transit, and safety programs for two fiscal years at current funding levels. The legislation is fully funded and maintains the solvency of the Highway…

Candidate Forum 2012: What would you ask?

Chris Graham

Staunton and Waynesboro City Council candidates will respond to a series of citizen questions pertaining to city-wide topics and senior issues at two upcoming public forums. Questions will be developed based on submissions from local citizens interested in what’s affecting area public safety, health, housing, transportation and more. When new and incumbent Council members face…

Michael Ragland: ‘Recovery Model’ of mental health and state funding

Contributors

Relatively recent “recovery principles” in mental health stems around the motto self determination, recovery, and empowerment. The genesis of this was the President’s New Freedom Commission on Mental Health (2003). Despite the fact the Virginia DMHMRSAS mission (now rechristened the Virginia Department of Behavioral and Developmental Services) statement is, “Our vision is of a “consumer-driven…

Webb introduces legislation to preserve Post-9/11 G.I. Bill

Chris Graham

Senator Jim Webb (D-VA), author of the landmark Post-9/11 G.I. Bill, today introduced bipartisan legislation to preserve those veterans’ education benefits from abuses by certain schools. Troubling statistics show that the cost to taxpayers to send a veteran to a for-profit school is more than double the cost of a public university and that eight…

Creigh Deeds: Session update

Creigh Deeds

Adjournment of the 2012 Session of the General Assembly, scheduled for March 10, is rapidly approaching, and we are in totally uncharted waters.  The Senate versions of the caboose budget bill that covers the remainder of the current fiscal year and the budget bill for the 2012-2014 biennium have been defeated in the Senate.  The…

Farm Bureau: Taking agriculture back in time ‘will not feed the world today’

Chris Graham

Big companies are trying to change the way U.S. farmers operate their businesses, but some things don’t need changing. Restaurant chain Chipotle aired its “Back to the Start” advertisement April 12 during the Grammy Awards. The commercial portrays large-scale farming as dismal compared to bucolic grasslands on which pigs roam free. And McDonald’s recently announced…

$100K matching gift creates an opportunity to build a Habitat dream development

Contributors

Raymond Reed, a long-time resident of Waynesboro, project manager and supporter of Staunton–Augusta-Waynesboro Habitat for Humanity, passed away last March.  But his dream to create housing for working poor families didn’t because he and his wife, Peggy Reed, share the same vision. At a recent volunteer dinner Peggy Reed was recognized for her work stepping…

Advance investing $8M in new center in Roanoke

Contributors

Advance Auto Parts Inc., a leading automotive aftermarket retailer of parts, batteries, accessories, and maintenance items, will add a Financial Services Commercial Customer Care Center to its operation and corporate headquarters in the City of Roanoke and will invest $8 million to support this expansion, as well as other growth. Financial Services will manage the…

Warner proposals on transit safety, development incorporated into Senate bill

Chris Graham

U.S. Sen. Mark R. Warner (D-Va.) joined colleagues on both sides of the aisle in passing legislation out of the Committee on Banking, Housing and Urban Affairs to make improvements to the U.S. Department of Transportation’s public transportation programs. The legislation included new safety standards championed by Sen. Warner in the wake of a fatal…