Today's News

At the end of each legislative session, there are always several issues that remain unresolved, often because others dominate discussions or time simply runs out.

The 2009 Regular Session was a textbook example of both of those in action. With less than two dozen days to debate bills, the General Assembly focused most of its attention on overcoming a sizeable budget deficit; significantly reforming the testing system that measures school progress; enacting a major highway plan; and implementing a better, more cost-effective approach to treating non-violent drug offenders.

General Manager

Justin Bramlage remembers bouncing a racquetball against a wall while talking to his mother.

“I said if I feel like this Monday morning, I’m ... getting the paperwork to quit,” Justin said. He was in his plebe year at the  United States Military Academy at West Point, the year his mother Ruth describes as the pressure cooker year. He told his mother there was a 99.9 percent chance he was quitting.

The government has seen fit to subsidize two automobile manufacturers with billions of dollars of our (and our children’s) tax money. If one is the recipient of “free” money from the government I’m sure there is reason to celebrate, but what of those who are not receiving government largesse?

Staff writer/photographer

Ashley Ireland’s groundbreaking research into the high-tech “Google Generation’s” information gathering methods earned her a trip abroad.

This spring, the 2001 Henry County High School graduate was invited to present her findings at the Literacy Annual Conference in Cardiff, Wales.

“There was a lot of publicity calling this college-age generation lazy,” she said, “and unable to think critically.”