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Columnists

FRED FIRST: Approaching the Longest Night

Yes, you’re right—if you’ve even noticed—that this space has been neglected for some weeks now, and it has been hard to figure out where and how to jump back...

A Life Well-Lived: Shirley Padgett Lester (1947-2025)

Shirley Padgett Lester of Vinton went to her heavenly reward October 4. Below is the...

BOB BROWN: How the White House Functioned With a Diminished Biden “Presidency”

Permit me to think out loud as an old-fashioned person who respects authority, history, and...

JOHNNY ROBINSON: The Gratitude Perch

On the old road up Mill Mountain, part of Roanoke’s fabulous greenway system, there’s a...

ROBERT L. MARONIC: Sometimes President Trump Needs To Think Before He Speaks – Part II

Contrary to what President Trump believes, I think that Lakanwal was adequately vetted before September 2021,...

Preacher’s Corner by Donna Hopkins Britt

We can be very attached to places, like a home, or town, or house of worship … these places have significance beyond the...

The Happy Chef – Nestled Egg Muffins

by Leigh Sackett I love Easter and as my children get older it is refreshing that their Easter experience is more about the activities that...

This Land Goes on Forever: A Letter Home From the Family Farm

by Fred First If the children of Southwest Virginia don’t grow up with strong ties to place, they will be less likely to strive...

Lessons From Okuma: An Energy Strategy for 2050 and Beyond

by H. Bruce Rinker, Ph.D. For years, I have advocated the use of nuclear power as an interim action to wean society at-large from...

A Perspective on Global Community

by Stephanie Koehler I will start this by admitting that I don’t’ know anyone in Japan.  While I know a few people who have traveled...

Miz Flora and Miz Anderson

by Lucky Garvin Miz Flora. She would come to our emergency department perhaps two or three times per week. At fifty years of age, she...