A merger that isn’t Comcastic

Contributors

On Dec. 3, 2009, the cable giant Comcast announced plans to buy NBC/Universal from General Electric in a $28 billion merger. Ever since, lawmakers in Washington and legions of activists have been raising the alarm about the threat such a deal would pose to telecommunication workers, cable and Internet users, and communities of color. As…

Busy building at EMU

Jim Bishop

A quiet campus at Eastern Mennonite University? Not at all, especially this summer, with outside groups and auxiliary programs stretching the facilities non-stop from early May through mid-August and several major capital improvement projects happening simultaneously. The biggest project: what is being called “Phase II” of the University Commons, a $2.4 million funded project that…

Tickets on sale for Hairspray

Contributors

ShenanArts will be hosting the Virginia premiere of the recent Broadway hit musical Hairspray beginning Aug. 12. The local production, based on the film written and directed by John Waters, is being directed by one-time “American Idol” contestant Colon Berry, who also co-stars as Link Larkin, the resident hunk of “The Corny Collins Show.” The…

Dr. Jeffrey Patterson: Lessons from the Gulf for nuclear reactors

Column by Dr. Jeffrey Patterson Submit guest columns: [email protected] One crucial lesson from the BP oil spill is that measures to speed licensing, cut corners on safety and undermine regulation can lead to tragic consequences. Yet Congress appears on the verge of repeating mistakes that led to the environmental catastrophe in the Gulf. Federal lawmakers…

David Reynolds: So long for awhile, that’s all the songs for a while

David Reynolds

Column by David Reynolds Submit guest columns: [email protected]   So long for a while. That’s all the songs for a while. So closed the old “Your Hit Parade” radio show every Saturday night. This might also be a good way to say that until its proprietor and the weather cools off, this marketplace of ideas…

Drilling in the Valley

Contributors

Millions of gallons of water are used to literally fracture the earth to get at the natural gas below. And below is the operative word – hydraulic fracturing, or hydrofracking, as it’s commonly called, aims at natural-gas reserves anywhere from 5,000 to 20,000 feet beneath the earth’s surface. The good news is that natural gas…