Opinion

The outgoing CEO of the Academy Center of the Arts in Lynchburg looks at what it takes to sustain an arts center.

We have new population projections for every city and county in Virginia through 2050. When we apply those to the state’s political maps, here’s how the math works out.

The black lung trust fund, which kicks in to pay black lung benefits when a coal company can’t, is funded by an excise tax only on coal sold within the United States. The majority of met coal is exported overseas. Revenue from exported coal doesn’t go in to support the trust fund, but those miners are just as likely to get black lung as any other coal miner is. 

The dispute over retiring (and then retaining) the old man in the logo might be silly, but the trends embodied in that change are quite real and quite serious.

Few days pass without one of us hearing from readers. They tell us about stories that touched their lives, prompted them to think differently about something, informed their work or provided information about a community that they didn’t know. They appreciate our nonpartisan approach. Mostly, we hear gratitude for telling their stories. They feel heard. […]

On both a percentage basis and a per-student basis, Loudoun County gets less federal funding than any other school system in Virginia. Tazewell County gets the most.

Reductions in funding will also create problems for organizations providing food and housing assistance and for school systems. These changes will mean that more of our neighbors will need more help.

When we use the latest population projections to try to draw future congressional districts, we see anew how much influence rural areas are losing.

Americans built our West with homesteading.  We can use the same tools to finally restore the coalfields of Central Appalachia.

A slow economy, a tight budget and rising energy demands will complicate the job of whoever wins the race.