More on the new ban from Fredericksburg.com

Virginia is one of 14 states to ban text messaging while driving, according to the Insurance Institute for Highway Safety. A handful of other states have banned text messaging for drivers under 18 and school bus drivers.

Using a hand-held cell phone to make calls while driving is still allowed for drivers over age 18, but typing text or reading text messages or e-mails will be forbidden while operating a moving vehicle.

The bill prohibiting this type of multitasking passed General Assembly earlier this year.

Prohibits operation of a motor vehicle on the highways in the Commonwealth while using any handheld personal communications device to manually enter multiple letters or text or to read a text message. This bill provides exemptions for using global positioning systems (GPS), reading caller identification information, and using a wireless telecommunications device to report an emergency. The provisions of this bill do not apply to operators of emergency vehicles.

The fine for getting caught texting while driving is $20 the first time. Second-time offenders will get slapped with a $50 fine.

Back in Harrisonburg, the teenager’s case ignited furious debate. Readers of the local newspaper were split between those who see her case as an example of the ways current immigration laws tear families apart, and others who say the failure to enforce those laws is why so many illegal immigrants are here in the first place.

The Times story paints Maria’s plight against the impossible background of Capitol Hill gridlock; politicians who listen, but can’t or won’t do anything about it. Sen. Mark Warner said he couldn’t help Maria, either, as the issue is out of his jurisdiction. The article also adds that there were “some 360,000 high school graduates between the ages of 18 and 24 who would have qualified for legal status under an immigration bill that failed to pass in Congress two years ago.” Read the full story.

The Home Safety Event will take place from 11am until 2pm. There will be a variety of safety displays and demonstrations for children and their parents.  There will be free cotton candy, snow cones and hot dogs provided by Country Cookin’, an inflatable bounce house, police officers helping families put together child ID kits, displays about fire safety, seat belt safety, and more.

The 16th Annual African-American Festival will take place between 12noon-5:30pm. The event features a variety of musical entertainment, the Gus Bus, a clown, kids entertainment, local and regional crafts, food and more.

Our Community Place’s Summer Lawn Jam is between 12noon until dark. There will be musical performances throughout the day, an auction, yard sale, tie dying, water balloons, musical chairs, horseshoes, a fire truck, Gus Bus, volley tournament, drop off for electronics recycling, food, and more! (event poster)

As of now weather.com says that Saturday will be mostly sunny and a high of 89 degrees. Enjoy your weekend!

The magazine has the following to say about Harrisonburg:

Pop: 40,468

Median home: $181,000

Overall score: 56

Quiet town with an hour of 2 national forests and 1 national park

Unemployment is 6.4% – and falling: active student culture with 8 colleges within 50 miles

Surrounded by superb kayaking, hiking, fishing, and cycling (try the 32-mile Southern Traverse singletrack:); minutes to Shenandoah NP, and a little more to W. Virginia wildlands.

Other places ranked in the top 25 includ: Seattle, WA; Hood River, OR; Eureka-Arcata-Fortuna, CA; Bozeman, MT, Jackson, WY; Durango, CO; Flaggstaff, AZ; Fort Collins, CO; Boulder, CO; Colorado, CO; Madison,WI; Rapid Cioty, SD; Minneapolis-St. Paul, MN; Duluth, MN; Madison, WI; Wheeling, WV; Sevierville, TN; Brevard, NC; Asheville, NC; Glens Falls, NY; Lebanon, NH; Burlington, VT; Manchester, NH, and Portland, ME.

Woo hoo Harrisonburg!

Interested to hear what other outdoor activities hburgnews readers have to suggest for outdoor activities; especially for those who are parents – what places do your children enjoy?

Mast arms for the Route 33 traffic signal will be installed today and will go into flash mode. The light goes into full operation next Monday.

Once the signal is up and running, the southbound onramp to I-81 will be closed permanently and traffic will be switched to the new pattern.

Virginia Alcoholic Beverage Control agents charged the restaurant, located on Deyerle Avenue, with five administrative violations, including failing to pay sufficient sales tax and defrauding or attempting to defraud the board or government authority …

The Pub is accused of not reporting all its liquor sales in an attempt to show compliance with state law, which requires businesses with a mixed-beverage license to have a sales ratio of 55 percent alcohol to 45 percent food. Read the full story.

The 45 percent rule is something I’ve written about here before, as it affects virtually every local establishment that sells alcohol. Attempts to change the rule have been unsuccessful in General Assembly.

The board is expected to decide the fate of The Pub in the next two to three months. Owner Bill Royer said he expects a positive outcome.

The article is based on  a working paper by GMU’s Patrick Marquardt. The author notes that after the implementation of the SOL’s in 1998, Virginia required all students to pass a certain number of SOL exams to graduate.  This paper examines the incentives that individual school districts put in place in order to encourage students to take the SOL’s more seriously.  Examples  include giving students who passed an exam a grade bump (from B to B+, say),  to allowing students to use the SOL in a particular subject as their final exam, earning an A as their course grade if they passed it.

The author’s hypothesis is that these incentives drive up the GPA’s of college-bound HS students.  He compared academic data on VA’s public colleges with that of 38 similar public colleges in 28 states that do not have SOL-type examinations.

Marquardt finds that the GPA’s of VA students showed a significantly higher increases than the other colleges;  from 1995-2007, for example, the HS GPA of freshman enrolled in VA colleges rose by an increase of 9.9%, or .79% per year.  In the alternative national sample, the increase was 6.4%, or .5% per year.   Aggregate VA data also show serious jumps in 2000 and 2004, the two points during which the state sharpened the stakes for school systems, based on their SOL performance.

Are there alternative explanations?  Marquardt suggests that perhaps  the best VA HS students are choosing to stay in-state and attend college closer to home.  If that were the case, we would expect to see SAT scores of entering freshman rise along with their GPA’s.  Leaderman digs up data from the JMU  Common Data Set to test Marquardt’s hypothesis, and to examine this possible alternative explanation  for the GPA increase.  He discounts this alternative explanation.

Looking more closely at the data, over this period, SAT scores for entering freshman  remained relatively stable.  JMU first started breaking down freshman HS GPA’s in the late 90’s, with yearly variations till a stable reporting form emerged in 05.  From the JMU’s Common Data set (section C has SAT and GPA data):

In 98 Average GPA = 3.44      GPA> 3.5= not reported :  GPA 3.0 or higher= 87.2%
In 99 Average GPA = 3.53       25 GPA percentile:  3.32, or 75% of all students had a GPA > 3.32
In 00 Average GPA = 3.53      breakdown by %age not reported
In 01 Average GPA = 3.58      GPA> 3.5= not reported : GPA 3.0 or higher= 96.5%
In 02 Average GPA = 3.64      GPA> 3.5= not reported : GPA 3.0 or higher=  98%
In 03 Average GPA = 3.66      No breakdown by %age  reported
In 04 Average GPA = 3.68      No breakdown by %age  reported
In 05 Average GPA = 3.673    GPA> 3.5= 68% : GPA 3.0 or higher= 97%
In 06 Average GPA = 3.69      GPA> 3.5= 70 % : GPA 3.0 or higher= 98%
In 07 Average GPA =  3.71     GPA> 3.5= 71% : GPA 3.0 or higher= 98%
In 08 Average GPA =  3.7       GPA> 3.5= 71% : GPA 3.0 or higher=  98%

Hmmm.  What do you think?

“Our college is truly privileged.  A lot of really talented people were interested in becoming the next president of Blue Ridge Community College,” said Kathy Whitten, the chair of the Blue Ridge Community College Local Board.  “I believe we selected the best of the best.  John has done outstanding work during his time at BRCC and we expect that to continue.”

“I’m delighted to appoint John as the next president of Blue Ridge Community College.  He’s already a highly regarded leader in our college system and he brings to the table the right qualities and skills to lead the college forward,” said Glenn DuBois, the chancellor of Virginia’s Community Colleges.

Maria’s mother was legal and so were her half brothers and sisters who were born here. So, in 2006, as a 16-year-old, Maria applied for citizenship. Her mother admits some regret now for that decision. Maria was denied and, by applying, the U.S. government knew, officially, she was here illegally.

On her 18th birthday, she would need to return to her grandmother’s home in El Salvador, or immigration officials would force her to leave the country. Read the full story.