
Rural health care in jeopardy
Federal cuts loom over providers, programs For nonprofits and health care providers in the region — as well as the people receiving rural health services — these are troubling times. The prospect of cutbacks in federal government funding — whether for huge health...
Rappahannock supervisors begin tackling challenging county budget
Proposal: Higher real estate taxes, fees Rappahannock County began hammering out its next budget this week in a fraught environment that mixes unprecedented disruptions from the federal government, little or no relief from the state, with anticipated new spending...
Area organizations move to engage seniors, ward off isolation
Growing old and alone in Rappahannock County Nancy Studds is 79 and lives by herself in her Sperryville home. And that gives her pause. “If you fall and you can’t get up,” she said, “you know nobody’s checking on you.” She zeroed in on a common fear among seniors...
Doers
Pathfinders
Doer’s Profile: Rachel Bynum
Background: Co-owner, Waterpenny Farm in Sperryville; director, Rappahannock Nature Camp; member, Rappahannock County School Board representing the Piedmont District since 2008; member, Rappahannock League for Environmental Protection Education Committee; former vice...
Howard Lambert’s mission: to honor Black Civil War soldiers
Rappahannock County’s calming beauty and rolling hills hold stories from the Civil War era waiting to be told. Howard Lambert, a Culpeper native and the first African American president of the Brandy Station Foundation, has worked tirelessly to bring these stories to...
Doer’s Profile: Wayne Dodson
Background: Assistant chief, Amissville Volunteer Fire and Rescue (AVFR); part-time EMT medic, Rappahannock advanced life support program; longtime president and coach, Rappahannock Athletic Association/Rappahannock Culpeper Baseball (RAA/RCB), Amissville; former...
Broken tail lights lead to 115 mph high speed chase, conviction in Rappahannock court
Broken tail lights led to a high-speed chase — and a jail sentence — for a Broadway, Va. man who led officers across three counties, traveling at speeds up to 115 mph in January. Blake Custer, 25, entered into a plea agreement last Thursday, pleading guilty to...
A Luray man facing 48 probation violations will receive mental health treatment
A Rappahannock County Circuit Court judge sentenced a Luray man to six months in jail last Thursday for violating probation 48 times following his conviction in a robbery at Sperryville resident Bill Fletcher’s property in 2020. Terry Dovel, 25, pleaded guilty to...
Washington planning commission approves pool for Inn at Little Washington guesthouse
Neighboring Trinity Church members express concerns The Town of Washington Planning Commission voted unanimously Monday to approve the construction of a small, in-ground pool that will serve The Inn at Little Washington’s Parsonage guest house — an addition that...
Another ‘mad scramble for funds?’
County budget tensions: property taxes, schools The Rappahannock County budget is composed of thousands of line items, but the annual debate centers on two: property taxes that provide 49% of the revenue, and public schools which account for 52% of the spending. ...
Town planners to consider pool at The Inn at Little Washington guesthouse
The Inn at Little Washington has submitted a draft proposal for an in-ground swimming pool behind its Parsonage guesthouse on Main Street. The application will be considered at the town Planning Commission’s meeting March 24 at 7 p.m. at the Town Hall, 485 Gay St....
Rappahannock supervisors begin tackling challenging county budget
Proposal: Higher real estate taxes, fees Rappahannock County began hammering out its next budget this week in a fraught environment that mixes unprecedented disruptions from the federal government, little or no relief from the state, with anticipated new spending...
Rural health care in jeopardy
Federal cuts loom over providers, programs For nonprofits and health care providers in the region — as well as the people receiving rural health services — these are troubling times. The prospect of cutbacks in federal government funding — whether for huge health...
Area organizations move to engage seniors, ward off isolation
Growing old and alone in Rappahannock County Nancy Studds is 79 and lives by herself in her Sperryville home. And that gives her pause. “If you fall and you can’t get up,” she said, “you know nobody’s checking on you.” She zeroed in on a common fear among seniors...
Ready or Not program for seniors: Plan when you can, not when you have to
Ideally, the end comes at home, in your own bed, surrounded by those you love. But it’s good to have a Plan B. That’s the core message of Ready or Not, a Rapp at Home program whose motto is, “Plan when you can, not when you have to.” It brings together small groups...
Our Journalism Team

Tim Carrington
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’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
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
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
– 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
Reach Paul at [email protected]

Randy Reiland
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
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]