Presidential address on jobs

AFP

Tonight we meet at an urgent time for our country.  We continue to face an economic crisis that has left millions of our neighbors jobless, and a political crisis that’s made things worse. This past week, reporters have been asking, “What will this speech mean for the President?  What will it mean for Congress?  How…

One in five children in Augusta, Rockingham at risk of hunger issues

AFP

The Blue Ridge Area Food Bank and Feeding America, the nation’s largest hunger-relief organization, today released a new study which reveals that more than 20 percent of children under the age of 18 in Augusta County are struggling with hunger. In Rockingham County, more than 19 percent of children are food insecure. The study, “Map…

David Reynolds: Waiting game

David Reynolds

I spent a previous lifetime playing with budgets in Washington, so I should have known that the debt talks were a game, a waiting game, not unlike those played in Searchlight, Nevada, Senator Reid’s home town. Except in Searchlight they play with their own money. Yes, that’s what they do in DC, take credit and…

Kathy Crandall Robinson: Time for a comprehensive nuclear test ban treaty

Letters

July 16 marks the 66th anniversary of the first nuclear weapons test explosion. The United States’ test, code-named “Trinity,” was exploded in the desert of New Mexico and ignited the nuclear age. The bombing of Hiroshima on August 6 and Nagasaki on August 9 were followed by some 2,050 nuclear tests worldwide, with over half…

Lilly Ledbetter and Linda Hallman: The Wal-Mart decision

AFP

A sharply divided Supreme Court ignored more than 40 years of established jurisprudence in its Wal-Mart v. Dukes decision, which severely restricts the ability of employees to fight discrimination as a class-action group. In a deeply misguided opinion, the majority ruled that the women of Wal-Mart cannot band together nationwide and stand up as one…

Karen Jacob: Hard choices

AFP

I’ve lived in the heartland for more than two decades. And I can tell you that there’s nothing like a sultry July night at the local ballpark, rooting for the home team, eating hot dogs and quaffing beer, watching fireworks viewed from damp, warm infield grass. This time of year, the Midwest is awash in…