Pete Deaver ~ Guest Writer

     Virginia has passed two new bills that are designed to protect victims from forced sex crimes if they are victims of human trafficking.

     House Bill 2133 was voted on during the 2021 General Assembly and was unanimously approved. It seeks to allow victims of human trafficking who had been, “solicited, invited, recruited, encouraged, forced, intimidated, or deceived by another to engage in acts of prostitution or unlawful sexual intercourse for money or its equivalent” to apply to have convictions as a result of those terms to be vacated. This means that, although the record of that conviction will still be in place, it will be considered dismissed by a court of law.

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Cassandra Matthews ~ Assistant Editor

     The Claytor Nature Center is home to the Belk Astronomical Observatory, and work done there furthers the discoveries of the NASA Solar System Ambassador program.

     The NASA Solar System Ambassadors (SSA) website page describes the program by saying, “The NASA Solar System Ambassadors program is a public engagement effort that works with motivated volunteers across the nation to communicate the science and excitement of NASA’s space exploration missions and discoveries with the people in their communities.”

     Trish Cerulli is one of those motivated volunteers. She said, “I became an SSA in Jan. 2021, after hearing about it last year from one of our dedicated docents, Ray Bradley. As the Outreach Coordinator for the Belk Observatory, much of my work there is already aligned with the mission of the SSA program, so I was happy to be selected as a volunteer SSA for NASA! I am the only SSA serving in the Lynchburg, Va., area, and I hope to be able to visit local libraries, scout troops, campus events, and other Lynchburg community opportunities to spread the word about space science and Belk Observatory!”

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Maggie Rolf ~ Guest Writer

     It has been one year since COVID-19 emerged, bringing challenges and even closure for many small businesses due to lack of customers. However, a few local Lynchburg businesses are standing strong. 

     CBS News stated, “nine million small firms are at risk of closing for good this year.” Outside the Cone and Mission House Coffee are local businesses in Lynchburg, Va., that have defeated the odds and remained strong during the pandemic. 

     Kyle Spangler, owner and manager of Outside the Cone an ice cream shop in Wyndhurst, said, “Definitely feel very blessed and lucky to be able to have a shop that is doing so well in a time like this.” 

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Hunter Epperson ~ Staff Writer

Lynchburg, Virginia is more than just a college town; in fact, full of gems, stories, and hundreds of years of history.

Lynchburg, VA is known for being the place where Liberty University is perched, and situated among the shadows of the Blue Ridge Mountains and cities such as Charlottesville, Richmond, Raleigh/Durham, and Washington D.C.

But, there are actually gems within the city that makes Lynchburg’s identity unique compared to other cities. 

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Hunter Epperson ~ Staff Writer

The coronavirus continues to linger in the Lynchburg community even though thousands have received vaccinations and is still impacting local nonprofits such as the University of Lynchburg. 

  Nationally, there has been a strict enforcement of social distancing policies and many nonprofits were forced to cancel fundraisers, which were their primary sources of income to keep their organization operating.

  The pandemic has highlighted the financial plights of many nonprofits in the Central Virginia region as they struggled to stay open, this led to a rise in nonprofits applying for financial aid, said Dr. Jimmy Roux, president of Central Virginia Academy for Nonprofit Excellence (CVANE). 

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Grace Cavanaugh ~ Editor in Chief

     On Oct. 12, a new local nonprofit, SHARE Greater Lynchburg was launched.

     According to Bill Bodine, president of the Greater Lynchburg Community Foundation, “SHARE Greater Lynchburg is a website developed originally in Charlotte and now in use there as well as Omaha, the Cape Fear area of North Carolina, and now here.”

     Bodine continued, “It is a common site where virtually any nonprofit in our region, Lynchburg and the four surrounding counties, can have a page listing that shows what they do, who they impact, upcoming events, volunteer opportunities, and a shopping cart that shows items they need where people can actually purchase needed items on Amazon and have them sent directly to the nonprofit. It is a single source for citizens to find help or opportunities that can be searched by category, such as food provision or education, for example. It also makes it easier for people to donate money if they choose.”

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