Author: Ryan Alessi
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Ryan Alessi, Publisher
Ryan mostly focused on covering state politics and government in Virginia’s former county of Kentucky from 2003 – 2014. Before that, he was a reporter for the now-defunct Scripps Howard News Service in Washington, D.C. In 2016, he followed his wife to Harrisonburg, where he teaches journalism and media classes at James Madison University. You can reach Ryan at [email protected]
2023 in Harrisonburg: Here’s what people were reading
Readers in 2023 really wanted to know about Harrisonburg’s new high school — and can you blame them? It seems like it’s been in the works for ages.
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A lawsuit against the city schools and the fate of an area veterinarian got a lot of buzz in 2022. Here are The Citizen’s most-read stories of the year.
For the first time since the 2019 year-end roundup, the COVID-19 pandemic wasn’t driving local news, at least in the stories our readers were clicking on the most. In fact, of the top 10 most-read stories on The Citizen in 2022, the word “COVID” appears only in passing, like a black cloud receding into the distance.
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Council gives final approval — and a defense — of its spending plan
The Harrisonburg City Council on Tuesday put a bow on its plan for spending more than $20 million in federal funds, while Vice Mayor Sal Romero wrapped up the last meeting of his four-year tenure.
City braces for higher construction costs, including public works building and potentially the new homeless shelter
Concerns about ballooning construction costs for the city’s homeless services center and low barrier shelter prompted the city council to hold off on finalizing a plan Tuesday for spending its $23.8 million in federal American Recovery Plan Act funds.
Council holds off on appointing electric utility board member
Two lawyers and a former city council member applied to join the Harrisonburg Electric Commission board. But one city council member wasn’t ready to make a pick yet during Wednesday evenings council meeting. Here’s why:
School board candidates make their differences clear over parents’ concerns
As it has in school board races across the country, the notion of parental rights served as a key distinction among the five Harrisonburg school board candidates, who faced one another Wednesday in the campaign’s only forum.
Overly rosy or ‘doom and gloom?’ Council candidates offer different views of Hburg, but find some agreement
Even as city council candidates painted different pictures of Harrisonburg, the five contenders on the Nov. 8 ballot found some common ground Wednesday when it came to the role of police, and specifically in supporting diversity among the ranks.
City council candidates offer different takes on homelessness and disruptive student partying
On housing issues, the five candidates running for city council agreed Thursday that Harrisonburg needs to increase affordable options but split over the city’s role in addressing homelessness. And in front of an audience of JMU students, the candidates had slightly different takes on how to referee a clash of town and gown happening in the Old Town area where some residents have complained about their student neighbors’ partying — and the aftermath of those parties.
