Roanoke’s Center in the Square has been pivoting away from its original mission of providing financial support for a hub of nonprofit cultural groups, and instead has begun creating its own attractions.
David M. Poole
David M. Poole is a former political writer for the Lynchburg News & Advance and Roanoke Times. In 1997, Poole founded the Virginia Public Access Project, a nonprofit dedicated to providing fact-based information about state politics. In August, the University of Virginia Press will publish Poole's first book, "Trusted Source," an inside look at VPAP and a quarter century of Virginia politics. He and his wife, Clare, live in Richmond.
Posted inCulture
Center in the Square: Institution to attraction?
Center in the Square opened in downtown Roanoke in the 1980s with a goal of providing nonprofits with rent-free space. That approach has shifted in recent years.
Posted inCardinal News 250
Freedom was paved with confiscation
Virginia eventually seized and sold off an estimated 53,000 acres, plus personal property, which in some cases included enslaved Africans.
Posted inPolitics
Redistricting ballot language says it’s vote for ‘fairness.’ Republicans say that’s not fair
Republicans are crying foul, saying the wording of the ballot question is heavy-handed and misleading. Democrats say it’s not.
Posted inPolitics
Pro-redistricting group launches campaign with $5 million from donors it doesn’t have to disclose
Meanwhile, the leader of a 2020 push for bipartisan redistricting helps found a new group that hopes to defeat the referendum to allow partisan mapmaking.
Posted inPolitics
A 10-1 map would give Virginia the most aggressive gerrymander of any other state
Virginia Democrats want to eliminate four Republican-held congressional seats. On a percentage basis, that’s higher than any other state that’s engaged in a mid-decade redistricting.
Posted inPolitics
Tazewell County judge sped up redistricting ruling to beat General Assembly vote to move the case
The judge had given both sides until next week to provide written arguments but acted before then to head off a Democratic attempt to relocate the case to Richmond.
Posted inEconomy
NIL could be made more transparent with new bill calling for work group on student athlete endorsement deals
The legislation comes as Virginia’s state universities have resisted calls to be more forthcoming about how they are complying with new compensation rules, which took effect last July, that allow schools to pay athletes directly.
Posted inSports
Virginia colleges resist disclosing athletic revenue-sharing
While Virginia Tech launches a massive $229 million campaign to compete nationally, college officials across the state are guarding financial details, refusing to release revenue-sharing records that are public at other ACC schools.
Posted inPolitics
After 36 years, suburban growth along I-95 corridor finally caught up with Del. Bobby Orrock
The Republican legislator lost reelection by more than 4 percentage points in a district that little resembles the one that first sent him to Richmond in 1990.