When President Barack Obama urges America’s students today to “write your own destiny” by working hard in school, thousands of students in the Richmond area won’t be watching. Yesterday, the debate over Obama’s speech continued during Labor Day cookouts and final outings to the park before classes start. Schools in the counties of Chesterfield, Hanover and Powhatan and the cities of Colonial Heights and Petersburg do not plan to show the speech today. Henrico County is requiring teachers to get permission from every parent and preview the speech if they want to show it today.

What? Parents are protesting an American president’s message that their children study hard and stay in school? Some school systems, cowed by grumbling parents or perhaps politically simpatico, are refusing to broadcast President Barack Obama’s back-to-school address? A pro-education message by our president is being suppressed by educators. Goals that should be universally embraced are being treated as if they emerged from “The Manchurian Candidate.“

Reinforcing its interest in a Powhatan County location, Wal-Mart has filed a traffic-impact analysis with the county and the Virginia Department of Transportation. The study looks at construction of a 170,000-square-foot retail center using 25 acres of a 53-acre parcel north of U.S. 60 just west of state Route 675. The plan indicates that, if built, the development would be complete by 2011.

The controversy over President Barack Obama’s plan to address the nation’s schoolchildren Tuesday—during a noon broadcast from an Arlington County high school—picked up steam yesterday. Chesterfield County school officials joined those in neighboring Powhatan County in deciding not to broadcast the speech.

On Tuesday, President Barack Obama will deliver a back-to-school address to the nation’s students about taking responsibility for their success in school. But that’s not sitting well with some people in central Virginia. School officials in Powhatan County have opted not to broadcast the speech, said Debbie M. Jones, vice chairwoman of the county’s School Board.

Six years after Wal-Mart came to town, Ashland is still Ashland. There’s still a quaint downtown with railroad tracks running down the middle of the main street, and there’s still a bustling business corridor just off Interstate 95. Mom-and-pop stores and local restaurants still flank the tracks of the historic district, offering locals, college kids and passers-by ample opportunity to soak in the small-town charm.

When faced with millions of dollars in budget shortfalls earlier this year, school systems across Virginia searched for ways to ease those deficits. School officials say they weren’t easy decisions to make but necessary ones. “When you’re looking at a reduction of $2.6 million, you have to look beyond fewer pencils and paper products, and you certainly can’t make a great deal of money raising student fees,“ New Kent County School Superintendent Rick Richardson said.

Lawn mowers sat idly by as the minutes passed, their drivers waiting for the racing to start. But these mowers weren’t the typical John Deere’s used to cut grass. They were souped up to handle the rigors of racing, with thousands of dollars invested in engines to generate enough horsepower to hit upward to 30 to 40 mph on the track. Nearly 2½ hours after they were supposed to hit the dirt track at the Powhatan County Fairgrounds, roars of starting mowers filled the air yesterday afternoon, beginning the highlight attraction on the final day of the 90th annual Powhatan County Fair.

Wal-Mart may be coming to Powhatan County. Representatives from the retail giant met with local leaders yesterday to discuss plans to bring a store to the eastern end of the county. The 53-acre property being considered is on the north side of U.S. 60, just west of state Route 675 near the entrance to the Luck Stone plant. Nearby, in Chesterfield County, Wal-Mart is opening its 12th area store at Hull Street and Winterpock roads, in the Hancock Village shopping center.

The number of Virginia schools that made Adequate Yearly Progress goals in reading and math dropped slightly during the 2008-09 school year after the passing rates got a little tougher. But there were some bright spots. A few local school divisions improved despite the higher benchmarks—including Petersburg, which has a long history of low performance on standardized testing.

A look at homelessness figures in the metro Richmond area: OverallChildrenUnsheltered July 2007940138138 July 2008958153146
July 20091,061155135
SOURCE: Homeward

A domestic dispute between a husband and wife led Powhatan County deputies on Sunday to about 400 mature marijuana plants concealed on the couple’s property, police said. The husband, John Paul Russell Sr., 57, was charged with domestic assault and manufacturing marijuana at his home in the Little Fighting Creek subdivision off state Route 13, about a mile east of the Powhatan Courthouse area. His wife told deputies about the marijuana, which was camouflaged with other plants behind a shed, authorities said.

Powhatan County residents have a bigger place to play. Yesterday, a $3.2 million athletic complex at Fighting Creek Park opened to the public. Offering a 16-acre, four-field baseball and softball complex in the shape of a cloverleaf, an 18-hole disc-golf course and a network of new trails, the addition is a welcome one for county athletes of all ages.

Nathan Schneider has spent the past few weeks aboard what he describes as a “a floating city” in the Gulf of Oman. As you might have guessed from the location, it’s not a Carnival cruise ship. Schneider, 45, a Navy commander who grew up in Powhatan County, serves as aircraft maintenance officer for the USS Ronald Reagan. Since July 6, the 1,092-foot-long, 97,000-ton carrier has been providing support to U.S. and coalition forces fighting insurgents on the ground in southern Afghanistan with more than 60 aircraft.

Monica Plumb, an 11-year-old rising sixth-grader in Powhatan County, needed to build a lamp with simple materials at a summer engineering camp. So she filled a box with pennies for the base, taped toilet paper rolls together for a pole, got a light bulb socket with a battery and held it in place with coils, which stuck out and helped adorn the bulb. Then she covered it with pink duct tape.