Author: Randi B. Hagi
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Randi B. Hagi, Assistant Editor
Randi's writing and radio reporting has been featured on WMRA News, The Mennonite, Mennonite World Review, and EMU's Crossroads magazine. She also raises muscovy ducks, chickens, and Katahdin sheep. Her roots are in West Virginia, but she can’t seem to let go of Rockingham County. Check out Randi's latest photo work on instagram at @randi_b_hagi_photography.
Council approves plan to spread CARES Act funds, bans most gatherings of more than 50 people
The $4.6 million in federal CARES Act funding will go toward paying for school technology, personal protective equipment and facility cleaning, as well as providing assistance for businesses and the city’s housing insecure population. The Harrisonburg City Council voted unanimously on Tuesday to approve that spending plan and then to implement a 60-day ban on many large gatherings in time for the return of college students to town.
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Resource officers to stay in Hburg schools this year — but with a more limited role
The five police officers stationed in Harrisonburg City Public Schools will be charged with focusing only on protecting schools and the people in them as opposed to monitoring student culture or “morality” this academic year, as the division works to revise its memorandum of understanding with the Harrisonburg Police Department.
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Parents and Hburg’s schools scramble to find childcare in preparation for fall’s online learning
Many Harrisonburg families are trying to figure out where their children will spend their school days now that the district plans to start the fall with online learning for most students. This has set into motion a massive revamping of not only how teachers will deliver lessons but of the entire school-day scheduling process. District leaders, such as the superintendent, have been negotiating with child care providers and non-profit organizations to find places — and funding options — for children of working parents to go and learn during the day while staying safe. Meanwhile, parents and guardians are having to get creative to ensure their children have structure and supervision during the school days.
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‘He uses your fear and the love of your animal against you’
A recent lawsuit and public records through the state board that regulates veterinarians reveal how the Harrisonburg Emergency Veterinary Clinic and its owner have come under scrutiny.
Despite budget cuts, CA’s office still hopes to analyze racial disparity in prosecutorial decisions
When pressed earlier this summer to release data about how people of different races are prosecuted locally, Commonwealth’s Attorney Marsha Garst publicly committed to greater transparency on that issue. Her ability to provide that information hinged on a new case management system her office was supposed to get this summer, but, as it turned out, was scuttled soon thereafter by budget cuts.
After call-in complaint campaign, city council scrutinizes public housing authority
Complaints about conditions in city subsidized housing prompted both expressions of support for residents and indignation from members of the Harrisonburg City Council on Tuesday evening, as current and former tenants along with activists from across the state called in to the livestream meeting.
A valley between them: While one group has brought signs to local racial justice rallies, another carried guns
A few hundred people knelt in silence in Heritage Park in Broadway earlier this month. Drops of sweat beaded on their brows amid the muggy early evening air as eight minutes and 46 seconds passed quietly. The silence was meant to honor George Floyd, who was killed by police in Minneapolis and whose death has sparked Black Lives Matter protests across the globe. It was interrupted by a counter-protester on the ridge overlooking the park.
With U.S. Covid cases rising, school board changes plan to mostly online learning this fall
Instead of requiring students to attend school a couple days a week this fall, the latest plan for the Harrisonburg City Public Schools will be to require most students to learn from home virtually five days a week, as a result of the discussion during Tuesday’s school board work session.
