Community Perspective: Settlement of suit against Harrisonburg Schools means more transparency, respect for conscience
A contributed perspectives piece by Deborah Figliola
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City adds restrictions on data centers, allows for developers to pay for public upgrades in zoning applications
Cash proffers — in which developers pay to offset effects on the community like necessary road expansions — will now be permitted in zoning applications after a 4-1 city council vote in favor of the change. City officials explained that all zoning requests would still be considered and adjusted individually, but allowance for cash proffers will provide more flexibility in zoning decisions.
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School board selects Phillips as chair; District adjusts class offering list
The Harrisonburg City School Board started its first meeting of 2025 by elevating Emma Phillips from vice chair to serve as the board’s chair this year, while new board member Tim Howley was unanimously elected vice chair.
Foodie Q&A: Maria Cooper of Broad Porch Coffee Co
I grew up in a big Italian household. My grandmother, when she moved to America, started working in restaurants because that’s what she knew how to do. I was always around her and my mom when they were cooking. In our family, everything revolves around food—it’s how we connect.
Harrisonburg Anabaptists Help to Create a New Study Bible
By Mary Ann Zehr, contributor Starting just before Christmas, Harrisonburg-based publisher MennoMedia began shipping thousands of copies of a new study Bible called the Anabaptist Community Bible. “We printed 10,000 in our first print run, and we’ve just gone back to do another printing,” said Amy Gingerich, the publisher and executive director for MennoMedia, affiliated …
Book review: Birth of a Child
By Mary Ann Zehr Reading in the Burg is a monthly column in 2025 by a local teacher and reader about connecting with books and taking in Harrisonburg’s literary scene. ~Kauffman, Rebecca. I’ll Come to You. Counterpoint, 2024~ The characters who first make an appearance in local author Rebecca Kauffman’s latest novel, I’ll Come to …
The Romance of Closeness
The year is ending, and I’m walking uphill again. I cross the square under a low, cloudy sky and stroll up Green Street, then turn onto Chicago Avenue, thinking that it’s the last time I will write this column, remembering why I started.
Salvage
Imagine your town was not going to last forever. If it was to be changed beyond recognition, what would you wish to salvage from the remains? If you had to leave, what would you want to take with you?
January 13, 2025
County school board, with a new chair, move ahead with elementary expansions and more lab schools
With Sara Horst taking over as chair of the Rockingham School Board, former chair Matt Cross didn’t address why he vacated that position but on Monday noted that the board “faced a lot of difficulties and challenges” last year.