Next month, when state lawmakers meet for a special session to divvy up Virginia’s $4.3 billion share of American Rescue Plan funding, they’ll be faced with some easy decisions. Read more

THUMBS-UP: On Saturday, we met Justice Murchison, a 6-year-old who lives on Kelley Street and has taken ownership of his family’s planting box at the community garden located just down the street. Read more

Temperatures rising into the 90s is nothing new in Virginia and especially here in the Valley, when July begins its slow turn into August. Read more

It should come as no surprise that out of more than 9,000 responses the Virginia Department of Transportation received courtesy of its Shenandoah Valley Rail Trail feasibility study, only 3% had concerns about the project. Read more

Starting today, billions of eyes will turn toward Tokyo as the 2020 Summer Olympics finally begin. Read more

It seems incredible, but should Dr. Rahul Gupta’s nomination to become new director of the U.S. Office of National Drug Control Policy be confirmed, he will be the first physician to serve as our nation’s “drug czar.” Read more

At the start of this year, the Federal Aviation Administration announced a zero-tolerance policy against unruly passengers on flights. Since then, more than 400 cases have reached the level of being officially investigated. More than 3,000 incidents involving unruly passengers have been repo… Read more

THUMBS-UP: Maybe more of a thumbs-half-staff. The Shenandoah Valley region is leading the state when it comes to recovering jobs lost to the COVID-19 pandemic. Read more

On Friday, Gov. Ralph Northam announced that Virginia plans to invest $700 million in American Rescue Plan funding to speed up the deployment of “last-mile” broadband infrastructure to the vast underserved areas. Read more

We applaud not only Rockingham County for implementing its drug court program in 2017, but more importantly, we cheer the graduates themselves. Read more

The Salvation Army needs to raise money to feed empty stomachs, assist families in need with utilities and meet all the critical needs in the communities they serve. To raise that money, it uses its recognizable red kettles, which need bell ringers to help bring that money in. Read more

Something stinks about the United States Postal Service right now. And we write this with all the respect in the world for the rank-and-file employees who work tirelessly every day to make sure our mail gets stuffed in our boxes in a timely manner. Read more

Packed meetings are to be celebrated. They're our chance as Americans to gather and voice our opinions on the issues that matter to us. Read more

THUMBS-UP: Stuff the Bus events aren’t uncommon around here. But Mount Crawford is having its first in August and going a step further by making it a memorial event. Read more

The meme that floats around the internet this time of year never fails to make us laugh.  Read more

It seems common sense: Prisons are meant to discipline criminals by keeping them locked away from the rest of society. The function of a prison is to keep the inmates, well, imprisoned. But according to a recent Associated Press report, our nation’s minimum-security federal prison facilities… Read more

Most of us are looking for something to do to celebrate summer — a relatively normal summer, at that. There are camps, vacations, home improvement projects, fairs and festivals … plenty to occupy active families. Consider adding something else to the list: become a blood donor. Officials wit… Read more

It has been more than a decade since opioid abuse exploded into an epidemic in West Virginia. Shady pain clinics, pill mills and unscrupulous doctors became “legal” drug dealers as they reaped as much profit as they could before government caught on. Read more

There’s no denying the little slice of Americana that is the Clover Hill Fourth of July Parade. Read more

THUMBS-UP: It was great to see people gathering to celebrate the Fourth of July, especially after plenty of us stayed home during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic a year ago. Read more