Look in the mirror each morning, and, if you’re honest with yourself, you’ll probably see a gray hair that wasn’t there are a week or so ago. You’re not alone. According to a newly released study conducted by the Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service at the University of Virginia, the number of Virginians aged 65 and older will likely double in the next 20 years, growing from 900,000 today to more than 1.8 million in 2030.

Virginia Sen. Jim Webb believes that America’s prison system needs reforming. And this spring he plans to introduce legislation to accomplish that. It’s a politically sensitive issue, but he makes a good case for it in a number of venues.

In their battle to become an inclusive party that reaches out to all voters, the Republicans can’t win for losing.

By its very nature, the traffic death toll on Virginia highways is bad news. But for the year that just ended, there was a glimmer of good news.

In just a little over two weeks, the 140 members of the General Assembly will convene in Richmond for the 2009 session, the latest installment in what passes for political leadership in the Commonwealth of Virginia.

For years, now, public water has been a sore subject in Appomattox — both the county and the town. The county is developing new lines in several sections that will be filled with water purchased from Campbell County.

To steal an opening line from Charles Dickens, 2008 was the best of times and the worst of times, both nationally and here in Virginia.

Chauncey Spencer II believes that his father and the organization he helped found should be included and recognized at the Jan. 20 inauguration of Barack Obama. He makes a good case.

What some folks in the Charlottesville area don’t understand about U.S. 29 is that it is a major highway that carries large volumes of traffic. The north-south corridor that links North Carolina through Danville to Northern Virginia and Washington, D.C., is no longer a farm-to-market roadway designed to get produce from the country into town. Those days are long gone.

News of Gov. Timothy M. Kaine’s state budget cuts arrived at school administration offices in the area with the impact of the Grinch that stole Christmas. Lynchburg will be hit particularly hard because it is the largest school system with a higher budget than surrounding counties.

You can almost hear the cheering at the nation’s gas pumps these days as prices continue to drop. The cheers have replaced the groans of the past five years as gasoline prices escalated to record highs for motorists in the United States. In Virginia, those prices topped $4 a gallon of regular and briefly flirted with $5 a gallon.

The holiday season is upon us and in full swing: the parties, the family gatherings, the dining room tables laden with all the traditional dishes from recipes passed from one generation to the next. As much as our thoughts are turned inward to our own homes and families at this time of the year, let’s take just a moment to think about the greater Central Virginia community, the greater Central Virginia family, if you will.