Pastor to speak at EMU on race

Jim Bishop

Story by Jim Bishop A prominent pastor and community activist in Washington, D.C., will speak at Eastern Mennonite University as part of Afro-American History Month observances. Rev. Graylan Scott Hagler, senior minister of Plymouth Congregational Church in the nation’s capitol, will speak 10 a.m. Friday in EMU’s Lehman Auditorium. His message, entitled “From the Past…

Crystal Graham: Berry makes impression on ‘Idol’

Crystal Graham

Column by Crystal Graham [email protected] I just called and voted for local “American Idol” contestant Colton Berry about a half dozen times, and I got through the first time, every time. From past experience, this could be a bad sign for the young talent from Fishersville. I voted for Colton not just because he is…

What is a mentee, anyway?

Contributors

Column by Philip Day Mentee. It’s a strange word. The word is sometimes confused with those sea creatures known as “manatees.” Wikipedia defines a manatee as “large, fully aquatic marine mammals sometimes known as sea cows. The name comes from the Spanish manatí, which itself comes from a Carib word meaning ‘beast.’ ” No, a…

Citizens groups join suit to block I-81 widening

Chris Graham

Story by Chris Graham [email protected] The New Jersey Turnpike in the Shenandoah Valley. That’s what critics of the Virginia Department of Transportation’s Interstate 81 widening plan envision happening if the engineers get their wishes. “For us, our mission is to protect farms, forests, open spaces and cultural heritage – and this is impacting all of…

Greenberg directing Hokies to regroup

Contributors

Story by Chris Graham [email protected] Listen to “The SportsDominion Show” interview with Virginia Tech basketball coach Seth Greenberg. Show Length: 9:22. The final score was 92-53. Might as well have been 92,000,000-53 for the way that it felt. “Obviously I’m disappointed with the way that we played this weekend. But I’m not totally discouraged,” Virginia…

Mika-Spark Plug

Chris Graham

Story by Chris Graham [email protected] Listen to “The SportsDominion Show” interview with UVa. basketball coach Dave Leitao. Show Length: 11:38. Want to know the key that turns the UVa. basketball engine? OK, so that’s Sean Singletary. But the internal combustion comes from a guy named Lars. “It just confirms what I had been thinking to…

The Senate’s obligation to act on federal nominees

Contributors

Column by Bob Goodlatte Perhaps one of the most important responsibilities of the United States Senate is to give the president’s pending federal nominations a prompt vote in order to ensure that federal courts and agencies have the personnel they need to best serve the American people. Currently, there are more than 180 nominees awaiting…

Budget numbers worsen

Chris Graham

General Assembly Report by Rob Bell One of the General Assembly’s biggest jobs in 2008 is to craft the two-year budget that will begin on July 1. This year, the economic slowdown – especially in the housing industry – has meant that revenue is $1.4 billion below projections. Although the overall budget is increasing slightly,…

Our fifth week

Chris Graham

Column by Steve Landes In last week’s column, I mentioned how many bills we had to process before the midpoint of the General Assembly session, commonly referred to as “crossover,” on Feb. 12. In just one day, Monday, Feb. 11, the House considered more than 200 bills. In order to complete this task, we began…