A taste of the reporting business

Chris Graham

Story by Chris Graham [email protected] I had this great idea. See, I have these two interns, Erin Gutzwiller, a senior at Bridgewater College, and Faryal Zubair, a sophomore at Waynesboro High School. Due to a scheduling quirk, I have both here in the office every Tuesday afternoon, which is great, because as it happens, I…

Immigration, race hot topics at BC

Contributors

Story By Erin Gutzwiller The issues of illegal immigration and racism have long been topics of spirited discussion. And the issues have not disappeared in the last few years, and in fact have only been growing into more of a flash point. Bridgewater College welcomed three speakers who talked to the students and faculty members…

Transportation shocker

Chris Graham

General Assembly Report column by Del. Ben Cline With the final week of the 2008 General Assembly session upon us, 100 delegates and 40 senators have begun to close up their Richmond offices and return to their homes, families, and communities to discuss the accomplishments of the past 60 days. But just as we began…

Landes provides updates on legislative activities in Richmond

Chris Graham

Column by Steve Landes This last week in Richmond was one of the busiest and most eventful of the session, as the General Assembly has now reached the home stretch in completing its work for 2008. In a week that began with a federal holiday and ended with my attendance at the celebration of the…

A different kind of ministry

Contributors

Story by Laura Lehman Amstutz Many people prefer to avoid hospitals and nursing homes, but many Eastern Mennonite Seminary graduates have chosen these places to do ministry. About a dozen recent EMS graduates are pursuing chaplaincy roles as their ministry field, partially due to the Clinical Pastoral Education program at EMS. CPE gives students opportunity…

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…

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…

Inside Tuesday’s Valley primaries

Contributors

Story by Chris Graham [email protected] I look at the voter turnout in Tuesday’s presidential primaries here in the Central Shenandoah Valley, the breadbasket of the Virginia GOP, and have to wonder about the fall elections. It was a bare majority, but still a majority, of voters who voted the Democratic primaries in Greater Harrisonburg and…

Winners: Sixth District Democrats

Chris Graham

Winners and Losers column by Chris Graham [email protected] Give ’em credit – it’s due, finally. Democrats have not fielded a candidate for the Sixth District seat in the United States Congress since 1998 – yes, a decade ago. But now they have two in Sam Rasoul and Drew Richardson, and though neither is exactly a…