By Raymond Monasterski Buena Vista’s school board set a 5 p.m. public hearing Thursday to hear comments on its proposed budget for next year. The plan calls for $500,000 less in spending than this year’s $11.2 million. But Superintendent John Keeler said the system still expects to add two full-time teaching positions in the next school year and give all employees a 2 percent cost-of-living raise. The school board’s regular monthly meeting will be held following the hearing at the Ramsey Center on Magnolia Avenue.
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By Raymond Monasterski It’s open—for now. The Vista Links, Buena Vista’s municipal golf course, remains open, even though the city defaulted on the course’s bond payments in December. Buena Vista is expected to negotiate a settlement on the defaulted bond payments with bond insurer ACA Financial Guaranty Corp. in late April. City Manager Jay Scudder told the Rockbridge Report in December that the city would have owed $30 million in interest over the life of the golf course loan. The golf course debt no longer exists because the city defaulted, but negotiations with ACA about the default remain. Now, Scudder…
By Kieran McQuilkin Lexington officials envisioned the Thompson’s Knoll development as much-needed affordable housing for its limited-income residents. The state gave the city $700,000 in 2011 to develop 20 lots in the subdivision. But only four homes have been finished, and on Dec. 8 the city will have to pay back $35,000 for each unoccupied lot.
CHARLOTTESVILLE — The article, titled “A rape on campus,” revolved around a student identified only as “Jackie,” who said she was raped at the Phi Kappa Psi fraternity more than two years earlier. It described a hidden culture of sexual violence fueled by binge drinking at the college. Police found evidence of neither. Announcing the results of a four-month investigation, Charlottesville Police Chief Timothy Longo said Monday there were numerous discrepancies between the Rolling Stone article, published in November 2014, and what investigators found. The police investigation’s conclusions brought a small measure of relief to students, many of whom told…
LYNCHBURG — Ted Cruz gives a rousing speech. The former college debate champion can energize a crowd of 10,000 evangelicals at a basketball arena as easily as he can captivate a few dozen inside a New Hampshire cafeteria. He’s proven in the Senate he’s got the stamina to go on longer than anyone else to make his point. As a messenger, he’s got fire. It’s the message that’s the question for Cruz. Kicking off his 2016 campaign for president, the first-term senator sought not to build a coalition of voters, but instead rally into action those who share his deeply…
By Lindsay Castleberry Dr. Erin Farabaugh Cassilly, who graduated from the University of Maryland School of Dentistry in 2012, moved to Lexington in the summer of 2013 to begin her career at the Rockbridge Area Health Center. Bringing a dentistry practice into the area’s public schools for the first time, she quickly discovered how teeth problems among the poor and uninsured are connected with so many other problems. “I was kind of ignorant to disparities of health care,” she said. “I’m not from around here, but I’ve come to realize that there are plenty of patients who can’t afford to…
By Raymond Monasterski With a leaking roof and damaged books, Buena Vista’s library building badly needed the $200,000 repair project that began in December. Bad weather and damage that was more extensive than planners thought have caused delays. But the project should be completed in the coming weeks.
By Kinsey Grant Commonwealth’s Attorney Bucky Joyce says his office will not pursue a criminal investigation into a hazing incident that led to the suspension of a Washington and Lee University fraternity unless the victim is willing to cooperate. “Unless the victim comes forward … then I’m not going to direct anyone to do anything,” Joyce said Thursday. He said he does not know the victim’s identity. Washington and Lee President Ken Ruscio suspended the Phi Kappa Psi chapter for three years last week after an anonymous complaint that a fraternity member had used a stun gun on one new…
By Meaghan Latella Washington and Lee University’s production of “Monty Python’s Spamalot” offered its audiences a lot of silliness, a little slapstick, and some big belly laughs. But there was something else noteworthy that wasn’t obvious to audiences. It was a debut performance for its leading man, and its director’s first stab at heading up a musical. Turner Meeks, the senior who starred as King Arthur, said overcoming butterflies wasn’t his biggest worry. “Honestly, the hardest part was to not break out laughing in the middle of performing,” he said. Before “Spamalot,” Meeks said, he’d had no experience acting or…
By Leslie Yevak Lexington city officials say they expect an increased demand for student-friendly businesses downtown as a result of Washington and Lee University’s recent decision to require third-year students to live on campus. But not all merchants share their optimism. Blue Sky Bakery co-owner Brenda Gregg said she thinks the new housing will pull students away from Lexington, especially when it comes to dining out. “By having a contained environment like [on-campus housing], I definitely think downtown businesses will suffer,” Gregg said. The differing predictions of city officials and business owners are echoed in the opinions of students, merchants…