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Last Updated: 02/04/2005
The Rockbridge Report is produced
under the supervision of the Dept. of Journalism and Mass Communications
at Washington and Lee University.
Reporting supervisors: Prof. Doug Cumming
Technical supervisor:
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Up in smoke: tobacco's
clout goes out
A migrant worker carries a bunch of flue-cured tobacco leaves atop his head during the annual harvest on a Sussex County farm in Virginia's southside (AP) Tobacco, our nation's first export, has always held a place in the heart of the Old Dominion. In the ceiling of the Virginia Senate, tobacco leaves entangle the state seal emblems in murals as a tribute to the plant that served as the backbone of the state's economy since before slavery. The tobacco lobby, both manufacturers and farmers, has always been strong in Richmond. But in 2004, the budget included a tenfold increase of the state's cigarette excise tax -- a sign that Virginia has changed. The tax, needed to help solve the state's budget crisis, marked the loosening of the age-old tobacco lobby's political power hold. Paving Virginia - the future of I-81
New Kingstown Fire Company arrives at the scene of a wreck on I-81. Bad accident rates, tons of truck traffic and unstoppable growth: Many Virginians agree something must be done with I-81. VDOT accepted STAR Solutions as its partner for the project, but debate over the highway's future rages on.
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Making ends meet? An in-depth look at trying to get by in Rockbridge County, Va. Nearly 10 percent of Rockbridge area residents live in poverty, even though many have jobs. This contradiction characterizes the class known as the “working poor,” people who find work but do not earn enough to rise out of poverty. Rockbridge County’s unemployment rate of 2.3 percent is well below the rates in Virginia and the United States; however, its poverty rate is identical to the state’s and comparable to the nation’s 11.7 percent. In other words, although most of Rockbridge’s citizens work, many remain poor.
Washington and Lee and in-depth reporting For six weeks, three separate teams of Washington & Lee University journalism students researched tobacco, I-81, and Rockbridge County poverty from a variety of viewpoints to produce these collaborative multi-media stories. Participants include:
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