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.
Local high schools’ class of 2020 get their diplomas to go
About 1,300 local students graduated over the last several days, with Harrisonburg High School seniors receiving their diplomas one at a time in a near empty football field and county grads celebrating in front of a sea of cars at the Rockingham County Fairgrounds.
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‘We are going to make a change.’ Efforts toward racial justice take shape across Harrisonburg
A silent crowd marched through downtown Harrisonburg with a single voice on Monday. Hands pointed skyward in unison at a community prayer event earlier that evening. And hundreds more gathered Wednesday evening in an online town hall to hear calls to action. Racial justice advocates across Harrisonburg — all of different races, ethnicities and ages — have mobilized peacefully and en masse in the past week. They have employed a variety of tactics to protest systemic racism and police brutality, to pay respects to George Floyd and other black Americans killed by police and to call for change.
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City schools begin bracing for a new year of online and in-person teaching and learning
Superintendent Michael Richards told the School Board Tuesday that the city schools might rely on a hybrid system of remote and in-person learning in the fall, but school officials are waiting for the state to release guidelines for reopening schools.
Decriminalization of marijuana possession won’t necessarily affect those already caught up in the system
Simple possession of an ounce or less of marijuana is set to be decriminalized in Virginia on July 1. But that won’t prevent Harrisonburg resident Christopher Jones, a cook at O’Neill’s Grill, from being sent to jail later that month if it’s what the prosecutor seeks.
Hundreds rally for peace in the wake of George Floyd’s death
About 300 people, donning face masks and holding signs, gathered at Court Square in Harrisonburg on Friday evening to speak out against racism and police brutality following the death of George Floyd, who died Monday after a Minneapolis police officer knelt on his neck.
Amid money crunch, school board cuts $1.2 mil. in new positions from budget
Harrisonburg City Public Schools is slowing the expansion of district-wide staff in response to expected revenue losses because of the pandemic. To this end, the Harrisonburg School Board, during its Tuesday work session, tentatively approved a first draft of budget revisions that takes out planned positions.
Council cuts funding for golf course
The Heritage Oaks Golf Course would take a 36.5% cut in city funding, following the Harrisonburg City Council’s latest version of the 2021 budget, which got its first reading at Tuesday’s meeting.
May 27, 2020
Poultry worker advocates urge city council to act after spike in COVID-19 cases
Concern about the spread of COVID-19 in area poultry plants came to the forefront of Tuesday’s Harrisonburg City Council meeting, as 12 city residents representing a variety of grassroots organizations petitioned the council to ask Gov. Ralph Northam to dial back reopening of businesses in order to protect workers.