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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,...

Why Work When You Can Be My Son?

by Lucky Garvin Young Sir Garvin had a religious experience the other day.  He found a ten dollar bill on the road. Stirred to...

Dead Language A Wonderful Part of Living

by Mary Jo Shannon Latin is dubbed “a dead language.” For centuries after the modern Romance languages, derived from Latin, were spoken in France,...

A Positive Contribution of Faith by Tim Harvey

Do not repay anyone evil for evil, but take thought for what is noble in the sight of all. If it is possible,...

Recipe of the Week: Meatball Minestrone Soup

by Leigh Sackett It would be so great to get at least a little snow! My children keep waiting and waiting . . . Remember...

More Tales From the ER Diary

by Lucky Garvin I’m on duty in the ER. Thirty inches of fresh snow on the ground.  Police are asking that all unessential travel...

Health-Care Sticker Shock in VA

The coming year will determine whether  or in what form  health reform survives. The U.S. Supreme Court is expected to rule on reform's constitutionality...