
Big power line ‘upgrade’ worries Rappahannock residents
Company contends it’s routine; others fear energy demands from data centers When Kerry Sutten steps outside his Sperryville home, he is greeted by a beautiful view of the Blue Ridge Mountains. There are power lines and poles mixed in with the trees, but they’re...
IN PHOTOS: Culpeper Rodeo
The Cupeper Rodeo returned for its fourth year over Labor Day weekend, hosting over 8,000 people at the Culpeper Agriculture Enterprise. Photos by Ireland Hayes [gallery link="none" size="large"...
Roger Jenkins ‘has the DNA’ to serve
Chief deputy sheriff retires after 30 years…sort of After nearly three decades wearing a Rappahannock County Sheriff’s Office badge — from his early days as a jailer to chief deputy — Maj. Roger Jenkins has closed that chapter of his life and retired. Well, for the...
Doers
Pathfinders
Doers Profile: Laurie Smith
Background: President and owner of L.E. Smith Enterprises LLC, a marketing and advertising business whose clients include RappCats, Rappahannock League for Environmental Protection, FamilyFutures and Friends of the Library; President, Businesses of Rappahannock (BOR);...
Pathfinders: The enduring story of Betty Kilby Fisher Baldwin
At 13, she desegregated Warren County High School In the heart of rural Virginia, an incredible story of strength and transformation unfolds through Betty Kilby Fisher Baldwin. It twists and turns through her eight decades, but pivotal to who she is today was an act...
Latest Stories
ANALYSIS: PEC facing off with Big Tech over data centers
Local environmental group wants guardrails on AI-fueled boom The Piedmont Environment Council (PEC), after 53 years of thoughtfully protecting the lands and waters of the Virginia Piedmont, finds itself on the front lines of a David and Goliath face-off with Big...
Big power line ‘upgrade’ worries Rappahannock residents
Company contends it’s routine; others fear energy demands from data centers When Kerry Sutten steps outside his Sperryville home, he is greeted by a beautiful view of the Blue Ridge Mountains. There are power lines and poles mixed in with the trees, but they’re...
Library’s biggest challenges, possible solutions
The feasibility study conducted to determine the possibility of raising the $6.5 million needed to expand and renovate the Rappahannock County Public Library found, based on responses from community members, the biggest challenges to be: Fundraising goal is perceived...
Library’s $6.5M expansion feasible, study says
Fundraising will be tough despite support The Rappahannock County Public Library’s $6.5 million plan to expand and renovate its building is ambitious but achievable, according to a recent feasibility study that found strong public support. However, it warned...
IN PHOTOS: Culpeper Rodeo
The Cupeper Rodeo returned for its fourth year over Labor Day weekend, hosting over 8,000 people at the Culpeper Agriculture Enterprise. Photos by Ireland Hayes [gallery link="none" size="large"...
Speeding ticket makes it all the way to jury trial — Guilty verdict returned in 10 minutes
After just a little over 10 minutes of deliberation, a Rappahannock County Circuit Court jury found a Potomac, Md. man guilty of speeding 74 mph in a 55 mph zone after he appealed his case from District Court. “Look, no one likes to get a speeding ticket … I can...
Roger Jenkins ‘has the DNA’ to serve
Chief deputy sheriff retires after 30 years…sort of After nearly three decades wearing a Rappahannock County Sheriff’s Office badge — from his early days as a jailer to chief deputy — Maj. Roger Jenkins has closed that chapter of his life and retired. Well, for the...
William Webster’s lasting hope: ‘We return to being a people…the world respects’
Former FBI, CIA director and Rappahannock resident dies at 101 Judge William H. Webster, former director of the FBI and the CIA died last Friday at 101, and friends, policy analysts and national media began an extended reflection on his person and record in...
Is flooding in Rappahannock the new normal?
Who’s at risk and where? New ways to cope The owners of The Black Twig restaurant in Sperryville know all too well the life-threatening impact of severe flooding. Abigail Gleason was left stranded at her home the evening of May 13 with her two young sons on one side...
A night to remember
Abigail and Dan Gleason, owners of The Black Twig restaurant in Sperryville, and their two young sons found themselves in the thick of a flooding nightmare in mid-May. “I returned to our home in Nethers about 6 p.m. on May 13 with our two boys,” Abigail said. “The...
Our Journalism Team

Tim Carrington
Tim Carrington has worked in journalism and economic development, writing for The Wall Street Journal for fifteen years from New York, London and Washington. He later joined the World Bank, where he launched a training program in economics journalism for reporters and editors in Africa and the former Soviet Union. He also served as senior communications officer for the World Bank’s Africa Region.
He is author of The Year They Sold Wall Street, published by Houghton Mifflin, and worked at McGraw Hill Publications before joining the Wall Street Journal. His writing on development issues has appeared in The Globalist, World Paper, Enterprise Africa, the 2003 book, The Right To Tell: The Role of Mass Media in Economic Development.
He is a regular writer for Foothills Forum, with his stories appearing in the Rappahannock News in other outlets in surrounding communities. His profiles and stories on the county’s political economy have earned numerous awards from the Virginia Press Association.
Carrington is also a painter, whose work is regularly shown at the Middle Street Gallery in the Town of Washington, Rappahannock’s county seat. He grew up in Richmond, Va., and graduated from the University of Virginia. In 2006, he and his wife became part-time residents in Rappahannock County, which is currently their legal residence.
Reach Tim at [email protected]

Luke Christopher
Luke Christopher is a “Best of D.C.” photographer and two-time “Best in Show” winner of the Virginia Press Association’s photo essay award. He started his career as a writer at the University of Maryland’s Diamondback student newspaper. With a passion for telling visual stories via photo and video, he interned at National Geographic Television and worked as a video editor at Discovery Channel.
Luke’s photography clients have included The National Gallery of Art, The Washington Post, Washington Times, Washingtonian magazine and The Embassy of India. In his travels, he produced a documentary for the Cyprus Tourist Board. Since 2016, he has worked as a photographer, videographer and reporter for the Rappahannock News and Foothills Forum.
Covering local government meetings and events has connected him with the farmers, first-responders, local businesses, charities, schools, artists and all the other wonderful people who make Rappahannock County so special.
Reach Luke at [email protected]

Ireland Hayes
Ireland joined Foothills Forum as a full-time reporter in 2023 after graduating from the University of Georgia’s Grady College of Journalism and Mass Communication with a degree in journalism and minor in music. As a student, she gained valuable experience in reporter and editor positions at The Red & Black, an award-winning student newspaper, and contributed to Grady Newsource and the Athens Banner-Herald. She spent three years as an editorial assistant at Georgia Magazine, UGA’s quarterly alumni publication, and interned with The Bitter Southerner.
Growing up in a small town in Southeast Georgia, Ireland developed a deep appreciation for rural communities and the unique stories they have to tell. She completed undergraduate research on so-called “news deserts”, ghost papers and the ways rural communities in Georgia are being forced to adapt to a lack of local news. This research further sparked her interest in a career contributing to the preservation of local and rural news.
Reach Ireland at [email protected]

Bob Hurley
Bob Hurley has been a member of the Foothills reporting team for many years. In addition to writing in-depth news articles, Bob regularly contributes “Doer’s Profiles” which feature stories about people who make important contributions to the Rappahannock community.
After graduating from college, Bob worked for several years at the ABC News bureau in Washington, D.C., and then as a communications director for the National Wildlife Federation. Later, he spent over a decade in the United States Senate as a senior staff member working on major environmental laws including the Clean Water Act. Subsequently, he ran a government relations firm specializing in environment, energy and sustainability issues.
Bob and his wife, Heather Wicke, have had a home in Rappahannock since 2016. He enjoys being involved in a wide range of community activities including the Rappahannock League for Environmental Protection, RAAC Theatre, Headwaters Starfish Mentoring Program, the Lions Club and Rapp at Home. He enjoys fishing, gardening, hiking, and biking.
Reach Bob at [email protected]

Mary Ann Kuhn
Veteran journalist Mary Ann Kuhn, a former editor of the Rappahannock News, joined Foothills in 2023 part-time as an editor and reporter. She fills two critical needs:
– A frontline “go-to” editor when Foothills journalists file their stories. Previously, Foothills had relied on a small corps of volunteer editors operating ad hoc. Since joining the Foothills team, Mary Ann has served as the primary editor. All stories have continued to receive a “second read” by a Foothills volunteer editor before being released to the Rapp News or other outlets.
– In addition to editing, Mary Ann is an accomplished reporter/writer who has helped by tackling some of the many stories that Foothills has been unable to pursue because we simply don’t have enough journalists.
Over her career, Mary Ann has worked in both print and broadcast for some of the nation’s leading news organizations (The Washington Star, The Washington Post and CBS News, among them). She was editor of the Rappahannock News from 2003-2005 and, for many years, owned and operated the historic Middleton Inn in the Town of Washington, Rappahannock’s county seat. She has a deep knowledge of the community.
Separate from her position with Foothills Forum, Mary Ann has been hired by the Rappahannock News as an editor. Her responsibilities include editing stories, coordinating graphics and photography, reporting and playing a key role in putting the entire paper together.
Reach Mary Ann at [email protected]

Paul McGeough
Born in Ireland and raised in Australia, Paul McGeough is a former managing editor of The Sydney Morning Herald. As the Herald’s Chief Foreign Correspondent, he spent decades reporting from and writing books on the Middle East and Central Asia – Iraq and Afghanistan in particular. During his career he won eight Walkley Awards, Australia’s Pulitzer Prize equivalent; was twice named Australian Journalist of the year; and his book “Kill Khalid,” the story of Hamas, was named Book of the Year in Australia. Happily retired in Rappahannock County, McGeough builds and gardens – when he’s not engaged in Foothill Forum’s journalistic pursuits.
Reach Paul at [email protected]

Randy Rieland
Randy Rieland was a newspaper reporter and magazine editor for more than 20 years, starting with stints at the Pittsburgh Press and Baltimore Sun, and moving on to become editor of Pittsburgh Magazine and a senior editor at Washingtonian magazine.
He made the switch to digital media in 1995 as part of the team that launched Discovery.com, the website for the Discovery Channel, Animal Planet and other Discovery Communications Networks. He ultimately was promoted to senior vice president of Discovery Channel Digital Media.
After his return to print journalism, Randy has written for Smithsonian and Johns Hopkins Magazine. He is a longtime, regular contributor to Foothills Forum. His stories, appearing in the Rappahannock News, have won numerous Virginia Press Association awards for excellence.
When he’s not reporting, Randy is a volunteer with the National Park Service at Arlington House, above Arlington National Cemetery. He and his wife, Carol Ryder, have owned a house off Tiger Valley Road since 2005.
Reach Randy at [email protected]

Laura Stanton
Laura Stanton is an award-winning artist who specializes in infographics, having spent more than two decades on the staffs of The Washington Post, the Chicago Tribune and the Dallas Morning News.
She taught information graphics at the University of Missouri Journalism School for a decade. She has run LaVidaCo Communications since 2012, creating illustrations, presentations and animations for a wide range of clients, including the Rappahannock News and Foothills Forum.
She loves working with other journalists to bring a visual storytelling component to their high-quality, deeply reported stories.
Watch our video and see what Foothills Forum is all about!
Our Partners

Dennis Brack
Rappahannock News Publisher
Dennis Brack is publisher of the Rappahannock News and co-managing partner of Rappahannock Media, which also publishes community newspapers/sites in Prince William, Culpeper and Fauquier counties, as well as local magazines, specialty publications and InsideNoVa.com, Northern Virginia’s largest news digital site. Brack became publisher of the Rappahannock News in 2013 after leaving The Washington Post Company, where he worked in a variety of positions in the Post’s newsroom, including leading the design and graphics teams, and as creative director of Foreign Policy magazine.
Earlier in his career, Dennis worked for news publisher Knight Ridder, and as an independent consultant he helped lead newspaper redesign projects in Spain and Bolivia. Dennis grew up in Fairfax and is a graduate of Northwestern University’s Medill School of Journalism.
Reach Dennis at [email protected]

Julia Shanahan
Rappahannock News Editor & Reporter
Julia has been working as editor of the Rappahannock News since spring 2023 covering a wide span of issues, including rural broadband access, zoning and other happenings in local government. She graduated from the University of Iowa in 2021 with bachelor’s degrees in journalism and political science, and she served as politics editor of The Daily Iowan, the independent student newspaper. She also interned with the Pennsylvania Legislative Correspondents’ Association, where she covered state government in Harrisonburg, Pa.
Reach Julia at [email protected]