Business and Economy: Drill, baby … uh, never mind

Chris Graham

Story by Chris Graham [email protected] The average price of a gallon of regular unleaded in Virginia dipped below the $3 mark today, days after prices went back beneath the $3-per barrier in the Greater Augusta area. The average is down a stunning 41 cents since last week and 83 cents in the last month. Three…

Politics: Bogus registration claims a ‘smokescreen’ for GOP suppression efforts

Chris Graham

Story by Chris Graham [email protected] Republicans and their allies in the mainstream news media are stating publicly that it’s Democrats who are trying to rig the 2008 elections by submitting voter-registration applications with phony names and other such chicanery. Funny how the media is either missing out on the real story or is working in…

Harrisonburg: Are voters being disenfranchised?

Chris Graham

Column by Joseph Fitzgerald Hundreds of potential first-time voters may have been disenfranchised by the Harrisonburg Registrar’s Office as part of a pattern that increasingly looks like an active campaign to limit voting by college students in the presidential election. The campaign began with unsubstantiated warnings to students about financial repercussions from registering; it is…

White House ’08: The Obama Effect

Chris Graham

Column by Chris Graham [email protected] Not a day goes by that I don’t hear from an Obama-Biden supporter about the Wilder Effect – or what some folks call the Bradley Effect, the basics being a major-party candidate who is African-American whose support in pre- and post-election polling registers higher than actual performance in the polls….

Harrisonburg: Retired JMU prof honored for professional achievement, service

Chris Graham

Staff Report Kathleen G. Arthur, a James Madison University professor emerita, received The Award for Exemplary Achievement, the most prestigious award given by the Southeastern College Art Conference, in recognition of personal and professional development as well as longstanding service. Arthur has served the SECAC, a nonprofit organization that seeks to promote the visual arts…

Local Politics: Elrod, Cox vie for leadership roles in Lexington

Chris Graham

Story by Chris Graham [email protected] I know Mimi Elrod and David Cox because of Ben Cline, or more to the point, because they both ran against Cline for the 24th District seat in the Virginia House of Delegates, Elrod in 2002 and Cox in 2005. Democrats then, Elrod and Cox are running as independents in…

Politics: Is voting determined by nature, or nurture?

Chris Graham

The Top Story by Chris Graham [email protected] You don’t want to believe it – that the way you vote is determined by biology. And while it might be taking things a little to the extreme to say that the study led by Virginia Commonwealth University researcher Pete Hatemi pins everything that you think about politics…

College Football: UVa. planks Pirates, 35-20

Chris Graham

Story by Chris Graham [email protected] A 79-yard first-quarter touchdown run by Cedric Peerman ignited a 28-point first-half outburst by Virginia, and the ‘Hoos withstood a late rally to beat back East Carolina by a 35-20 final on Saturday in Charlottesville. It was the second straight home win for the Cavs, who defeated Maryland 31-0 last…