This Week at a Glance
Staunton’s population hit 26,801 in the Census Bureau’s newest estimate, a number that breaks a forecast the region’s own planners built just five years ago, and it lands the same month City Council adopted the very document meant to plan around growth like it.
A second DEQ hearing on Northrop Grumman’s Waynesboro air permit drew residents still measuring the company’s promises against a century of precedent, and the state has set an October 22 decision date.
Virginia’s legislative watchdog told lawmakers this week it still wants the Commonwealth Center for Children and Adolescents, the state’s only youth psychiatric hospital, closed, three years after first raising the alarm about conditions at the Staunton facility.
Westwood Hills Elementary reopens today, more than two weeks after the September 2 shooting, and a new relief fund is helping families who lost wages during the closure.
Governor Spanberger declared a state of emergency Wednesday over a drought-driven hay shortage hitting Augusta County farms hard heading into winter, and Staunton voters will decide a 1 percent sales tax for school construction on the November ballot.
Gas prices have climbed past $4.15 a gallon statewide, and a historically strong El Niño taking shape in the Pacific is raising real questions about what kind of winter the Shenandoah Valley gets.
Lead Stories
Staunton Outgrew Its Own Forecast
Staunton’s population hit 26,801 people in the Census Bureau’s newest estimate, dated July 2025, up from 25,750 at the 2020 census. That’s a 4.1 percent jump in five years, and measured as an annual rate it nearly matches the growth the city posted the decade before, after a full stretch of the 2000s in which Staunton’s population barely moved at all. Whatever pulled people into the city after 2010 hasn’t let up.
The growth caught the region’s own planners off guard. The Central Shenandoah Planning District’s official projections, built in 2017 and still the numbers the region plans around, put Staunton at 25,378 people in 2025. The real count came in 1,423 higher, a 5.6 percent miss, and the same projections currently show the city essentially flat through 2045, a forecast Staunton has already broken five years into the window. Waynesboro’s growth has outpaced Staunton’s own, more than doubling its annual rate since 2020; Augusta County has slowed instead. The demographics of who’s arriving have shifted too: Staunton’s Hispanic and Latino population has more than quadrupled since 2000, and residents identifying as two or more races have grown nearly fivefold.
None of it has come cheap. Staunton’s median home sale price has run about $324,800 for months, up 12 percent from a year ago. Waynesboro already had to act on the mismatch between its housing stock, built mostly for larger families, and the one- and two-person households that now make up 65 percent of the city; Council voted 5-0 in January to legalize cottage court housing to close the gap. Staunton adopted its own 2045 Comprehensive Plan at the September 10 Council meeting, built on the same regional projections that had already undercounted the city by 5.6 percent. The city’s housing strategy, still being finalized by planning staff, is the next document that will show whether Staunton follows Waynesboro’s example. Read the full story at stauntonian.com.
A City Waits to Learn How Much Its Air Is Worth
More than fifty residents packed Waynesboro High School’s auditorium Tuesday for a second DEQ hearing on Northrop Grumman’s air permit, and the underlying question hasn’t moved since the first hearing in July: how much should anyone trust a company’s own emissions numbers. DEQ is weighing a state operating permit that would cap the defense contractor’s releases at 24.9 tons of volatile organic compounds a year, chemicals including MIBK, toluene, and xylenes, from its 315,000-square-foot plant on Shenandoah Village Drive, which sits against Coyner Springs Park and the drinking-water supply it feeds.
The skepticism has deep roots. Waynesboro’s own DuPont plant spent decades dumping mercury into the South River, a contamination that still shows up in local fish, and Northrop Grumman itself carries a documented history of underreporting groundwater contamination at its Bethpage, New York, facility for years and telling the public the water was safe. Neither history involves the Waynesboro plant directly, but both shape why residents like Carrie Eheart, who has organized independent water testing at four sites in Coyner Springs Park, want a third-party monitor rather than the company’s own tracking. Waynesboro Vice Mayor Lorie Jean Akanbi has broken from council silence to back that position publicly. DEQ has acknowledged the permit is structured to keep the facility just under a federal threshold that would trigger tougher controls, and the agency has said it will issue a final decision by October 22. Read the full story, cross-posted from The Shenandoan, at stauntonian.com.
State Watchdog Renews Call to Close Staunton’s Youth Psychiatric Hospital
Virginia’s legislative watchdog agency told lawmakers this week that nothing has changed its mind about the Commonwealth Center for Children and Adolescents.
JLARC first recommended in December 2023 that the state close the 48-bed Staunton facility, the only state-run psychiatric hospital for children in Virginia, citing patient safety failures so severe that an unannounced inspection found the hospital posed “an immediate threat to the health and safety of patients.” Nearly three years later, JLARC director Hal Greer told commission members Tuesday the agency still hears directly from CCCA staff raising the same safety concerns, and has “no reason to believe that conditions have improved significantly, if at all.”
State Sen. Creigh Deeds, a Charlottesville Democrat who sits on JLARC and has personal history with Virginia’s psychiatric bed shortage, called CCCA “the most dangerous psychiatric hospital we have” as of his last visit, though he cautioned that closing it raises hard questions about where the mostly foster-care teenagers it treats would go instead. The Department of Behavioral Health and Developmental Services, which runs the facility, says it has no current plans to close it and points to real progress: seclusion and restraint use is down 58 percent since last fiscal year, and workers’ compensation injuries have fallen 34 percent. The agency argues Virginia still lacks enough alternative placements for children with the most complex needs, meaning CCCA keeps functioning as a backstop whether or not anyone considers it a good one.
JLARC’s broader concern is capacity: none of Virginia’s state psychiatric hospitals, children’s or adult, currently follow the industry guideline of staying under 85 percent of staffed bed capacity, and a 2014 law tied to Deeds’ own family requires the facilities to accept patients as a last resort even when full. Read the original reporting at VPM.
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Quick Hits
Westwood Hills Elementary School reopens today, September 17, fifteen days after a gunman forced his way in and shot a staff member before turning the gun on himself in the school library. Waynesboro Public Schools built the return around a staged schedule: staff training and mental health support Monday, a family open house Tuesday, and final preparations Wednesday, alongside new interior classroom locks and a dedicated campus officer. The division has called today “an important milestone, not a finish line.”
The Community Foundation of the Central Blue Ridge has opened the Westwood Hills Elementary Family Relief Fund to help families who lost wages or fell behind on bills during the two-week closure. Superintendent Jeffrey Cassell said the school’s shutdown created financial strain “well beyond the walls of Westwood Hills” for families suddenly unable to work. The Foundation is partnering with the Community Assistance Network at the Embrace Center in Waynesboro to connect families with help, and the Kiwanis Club of Waynesboro Foundation has separately launched its own fundraiser through GoFundMe.
Governor Abigail Spanberger declared a state of emergency Wednesday over a statewide hay shortage tied to persistent drought, which has cut hay yields by 35 percent this year, with losses reaching 70 percent in some areas, according to Virginia Cooperative Extension. The order grants over-width exemptions for trucks hauling hay into affected areas and activates price-gouging protections, giving Augusta County’s livestock farms a faster path to feed supplies heading into winter. The waivers take effect October 1 and the emergency order runs 45 days.
Staunton voters will decide a 1 percent local sales tax on the November 3 ballot, money earmarked for school construction and renovation. Staunton City Schools’ own facilities study found $168 million in unfunded capital needs, led by a $56.8 million overhaul of Shelburne Middle School, built in 1962, and a $26.4 million renovation at T.C. McSwain Elementary. The Dixon Educational Center, which houses the city’s preschool and special education programs, has never been renovated and still runs on HVAC dating to 1972.
A Facebook post warning that a counterfeit $100 bill slipped through at an Augusta County youth football game has circulated widely across local groups this week. The image shows a novelty note printed with “for motion picture purposes” and “not legal tender” along the border, the kind of prop currency sold for film production that can pass a quick glance in a cash-heavy setting like a concession stand. Anyone handling cash at weekend events would do well to check bills more than once.
Out & About
Thursday, September 17
Marino’s Lunch hosts its regular Irish session tonight, and Visulite Cinemas runs its usual film slate through the evening.
Friday, September 18
Shop and Dine Out returns downtown with extended hours until 11 p.m., the first of two nights this week. Leftover Salmon plays The Foundry in Waynesboro, and Queen City Music Studios hosts Tim May and Steve Smith in concert at 7:30 p.m.
Saturday, September 19
The Staunton African American Heritage & Multicultural Festival opens at the Gypsy Hill Park Bandstand, running through Sunday. Saturday’s program features area bands and community entertainment, a partnership between the City of Staunton, Staunton City Schools, and Waynesboro Public Schools. The Historic Staunton Foundation leads a free guided walking tour from 10 a.m. to noon, Gypsy Express mini-train rides run from 1 to 5 p.m., and Shagwüf plays Redbeard Brewing Company. Shop and Dine Out continues downtown for its second night.
Sunday, September 20
The Heritage Festival continues at Gypsy Hill Park with a church service, gospel bands, and a cultural fashion show closing out the weekend. Gypsy Express keeps running mini-train rides from 1 to 5 p.m.
The Tempest. Blackfriars Playhouse’s 25th-anniversary production continues in repertory through November 13; check the American Shakespeare Center calendar for showtimes this week.
River Watch
The South River near Waynesboro has been running in its typical late-summer range, and USGS flagged scheduled maintenance at Station 01626000 that may affect the timeliness of readings this week. Check the USGS live dashboard the morning of any outing rather than relying on a printed figure.
The Sneeze Index
Weed pollen has been running high as ragweed season peaks. Tree pollen has largely disappeared and grass remains low. Check IQAir’s live station data the morning of any outdoor plans this weekend.
The Weekly Pump
Virginia’s average price for regular gas climbed to $4.16 a gallon this week, according to AAA data, up from $3.97 a week ago and nearly $1.20 higher than a year ago. Analysts point to the same Middle East tensions and Strait of Hormuz concerns that have pushed crude back toward $100 a barrel. Diesel has climbed past $6.30 statewide, a level not seen since 2022.
Per The Bulwark’s YouTube Page
”Gas prices are surging and this time, the outlook is getting even uglier. Tim Miller is joined by Patrick De Haan, head of petroleum analysis at GasBuddy, to break down why oil prices are climbing, why diesel prices are hitting record levels, and why Americans could be facing $7 and $8 diesel this winter.
De Haan explains how the escalating conflict in the Middle East, attacks on Russian refineries, tight diesel inventories, and refinery disruptions are squeezing the global fuel market. Forty-two states are already seeing record diesel prices, while the national gas average is creeping back toward this year’s high.
With refineries operating at nearly 98% capacity and diesel inventories 15% below their five-year average, De Haan warns there is very little room for another disruption, especially heading into winter. And despite talk of prices coming down after the midterms, he says there’s no magic date when the underlying problems simply disappear.”
Real Estate Watch
Staunton’s median home sale price has run about $324,800 for the past several months, up 12 percent from a year earlier. Anyone actively buying or selling should talk with a local agent with direct MLS access.
Who’s Hiring
General Warehouse Worker, Best Buy, Staunton, paying $22.50 to $26.85 an hour. Listed on Indeed.
Production Operator, The Hershey Company, Stuarts Draft, starting at $26.88 an hour. Listed on Indeed.
Customer Service Representative, Shentel, Staunton, paying $42,000 to $60,000 a year. Listed on Indeed.
Package Handler (Part Time), FedEx, Staunton, paying $18.00 to $18.25 an hour. Listed on Indeed.
Maintenance Worker, Traffic Control Division, City of Staunton, paying $16.54 an hour. Listed on Indeed.
Salary figures above are listed only when explicitly stated by the employer. Full listings and current openings can be found on Indeed and through the city and schools’ shared jobs portal.
From The Stauntonian This Week
Beyond the leads above, The Shenandoan also published a look at the historically strong El Niño taking shape in the Pacific and what it could mean for a valley winter.
NOAA puts the odds at 75 percent that this event surpasses every El Niño on record since 1950, but the local snow picture is murkier than that headline suggests: Virginia sits in “equal chances” territory on NOAA’s own precipitation map, with January and February the best window for snow in the Southern Appalachians and a white Christmas unlikely. Read the full piece at shenandoan.com.
Note from the Editor
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