Category: Harrisonburg Issues
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City school board announces Loudoun Co. administrator as new superintendent
Applause rained repeatedly down at Tuesday night’s unusually jovial school board meeting, where the city’s new schools superintendent was announced and raises for all city schools staff were proposed. The board voted unanimously to hire Michael G. Richards as superintendent, starting May 1.
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‘Dream Hike’ up Kilimanjaro to honor legacy of EMU graduate and fund memorial scholarship
Rising more than three miles above the surrounding plain to 19,341 feet, Tanzania’s Mount Kilimanjaro is the highest peak in Africa. Every year, thousands attempt to reach its peak and bag one of mountaineering’s “Seven Summits.” Beginning tomorrow, a group will begin hiking up Kilimanjaro with a bigger goal than just reaching the top. Each step they take will be in remembrance of Michael “M.J.” Sharp, a 2005 graduate of Eastern Mennonite University, and every mile they conquer will raise money for a scholarship established there in his legacy.
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Following weekend rally, community criminal justice board picks new chair and talks some more about long-standing ‘asks’
On Saturday, more than 100 rallied downtown in support of eliminating the jail keep fee and hiring a community justice planner. On Monday, newly elected Community Criminal Justice Board chairman (and Harrisonburg City Councilman) Chris Jones spoke in favor of the justice planner, but said keep fee is the sheriff’s call.
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Project Update: George’s Flowers in Roanoke is Now Under Construction!
Jul 10, 2026
Project Update: George’s Flowers in Roanoke is Now Under Construction!
After last-ditch effort to fund I-81 improvements this year fails, more study, another report, and lots of divergent opinions await
State Sen. Mark Obenshain went out on a limb with a bill to begin tolling on I-81 to pay for $2.2 billion in much-needed improvements to the interstate . Things didn’t work like he’d hoped, however.
“I’m deeply disappointed,” Obenshain said. “We had a commitment to a process last year, and, frankly, I did a pretty uncomfortable thing of taking the result of that process and carrying that legislation.”
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As JMU students prepare for spring break, burglaries at off-campus complexes during previous breaks remain unsolved
With JMU heading on spring break next week, area law enforcement agencies are stepping up efforts to prevent more break-ins and burglaries as a result of unoccupied apartments while the university is closed and students are away.
Romero aims to propose council translation services next month
Vice Mayor Sal Romero said he hopes to present a proposal to the rest of council next month to introduce translation services at city council meetings and potentially other city services.
Beneath a political cloud in Richmond, legislators emerged with policy ‘success,’ says Harrisonburg’s delegate
Despite a legislative session that The Washington Post described as “the strangest … in anyone’s memory” amid a trio of scandals in Virginia’s executive branch, Harrisonburg’s state Del. Tony Wilt said it ended up being a “very successful legislative year.”
In the name of history: Should Paul Jennings Hall coexist on a campus with buildings that also honor Confederate leaders?
JMU leaders say the naming of the new residence hall after Paul Jennings is a step toward confronting racism that has been embedded in the history of the campus and its namesake, as well as the Harrisonburg community, the commonwealth of Virginia and the country. But some people, including students and community activists in Harrisonburg, are asking what this might signal about the renaming of other buildings on JMU’s campus — the ones named after confederate leaders.
