Category: Harrisonburg Issues
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Nearly 11 months in, here’s how local businesses have survived the pandemic and what they’ve learned
When the pandemic hit the United States last March and government orders closed down many of them temporarily, most local business owners were trapped in a kind of economic limbo. To survive, some businesses shifted their business models. Others pursued government loans to keep employees on the payroll. But, above all, many local Harrisonburg businesses learned they could count on the community’s support.
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‘A prophetic voice against racial and economic disparities’
Speaking to college students on Martin Luther King Jr. Day in 2015, Stan Maclin patiently, yet powerfully, explained the pervasive legacy of systemic racism. The group had crowded into a barber shop in downtown Harrisonburg, with sunlight filtering through the beige, lacy curtains. He traced America’s history of slavery and injustice up through the decades to policies in Harrisonburg, such as the urban renewal projects that razed the homes and businesses of Black residents in the city’s northeast neighborhood in the 1950s and ‘60s.But Maclin imbued his talk with optimism.
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Hburg council offers chilly reception to jail expansion plan
Members of the Harrisonburg City Council expressed concerns about and, in some cases, outright opposition to a proposed expansion of the Middle River Regional Jail as the jail’s leader made his pitch Tuesday night. While the council didn’t take any vote on the issue, the discussion signaled that jail officials might have an uphill climb to convince Harrisonburg to kick as much as $1.2 million more a year for the city’s share of a nearly $40 million expansion.
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The Virginia Breeze looks past pandemic doldrums
It’s a quiet January Tuesday at the public transit hub outside of James Madison University’s Godwin Hall, where in more normal times, students would be waiting with bags loaded for the Virginia Breeze to take them back home. These are not normal times, though; no one is waiting for the bus, and the only breeze around is the bitter winter sort.
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As second pandemic semester begins, universities apply lessons learned
The second full semester of the COVID-19 era classes at EMU got off to a smoother start than the first, when several positive tests among residence hall staff resulted in a two-week postponement of move-in day. This time, on Jan. 17 EMU finished testing all 340 undergraduates who live on campus, with just one positive result, and classes began as scheduled on Jan. 19.
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School nurses answer the call to vaccinate Hburg teachers — and potentially others in the community
K-12 teachers are among those next in line for vaccinations in Harrisonburg, as the Central Shenandoah Health District moves into phase 1b of the COVID-19 vaccine rollout. Getting them all immunized over the next few weeks will take the coordinated effort of the school division’s team of 10 nurses, who have now been trained through Virginia’s Medical Reserve Corps as COVID-19 vaccinators.
What’s it like in D.C. today? A Harrisonburg police officer who’s part of the Va. National Guard gives us a glimpse
More than 21,500 National Guard members are deployed across Washington, D.C., to provide security for today’s presidential inauguration of Joe Biden. Among their ranks is Harrisonburg Police Sgt. Scott Drugo, who is the Intelligence Officer & Gang Task Force supervisor.
Area Black leaders explain how King’s words are as crucial as ever in 2021
For Black activists and leaders in the Valley, there’s more work the country must do toward achieving equality in America — that dream of which Martin Luther King, Jr. famously spoke. And that work continues today, as it did yesterday and will tomorrow in the far-too-slow bend toward justice.
