In an event bursting with pride and youthful exuberance, the Valley Today welcomed several graduates of the Top of Virginia Regional Chamber‘s Arising Leadership Program. The program, designed to cultivate the next generation of confident leaders, concluded with a memorable graduation ceremony that highlighted the growth and achievements of its participants. In today’s episode, host Janet Michael, shares the experiences and speeches of both the graduates and program sponsors. Click here to listen.

Cynthia Schneider, the CEO of the Top of Virginia Regional Chamber, delivered an inspiring opening speech to the graduates. She praised their dedication and growth throughout the program. “You all have already mastered many leadership principles. You showed up. That is number one. Your employers are looking for people who will show up on time every day, and you did just that… You’ve made some new friends. I hope you have,” she expressed warmly.

Cynthia emphasized the importance of confidence and clarity that the program aimed to instill in the students. “The program was designed to cultivate leaders in the arising generation that radiate confidence. I remember when we were putting this program together two years ago that we wanted young people that would radiate confidence and I think that’s what we are seeing.”

One of the highlights of the evening was the speech by Ava Funkhouser, who was elected by her peers as a speaker for the graduation ceremony. Ava reflected on the personal growth and unexpected discoveries she made during the program. “When I first started this program, I thought we’d be learning about leadership in a traditional sense… But what I didn’t expect was how much I learned about myself and what kind of leader I want to be,” she shared, her words resonating with many in the room.

Ava beautifully articulated the essence of leadership, saying, “It’s about listening. It’s about caring. It’s about showing up for people, even when things feel uncertain. Being a leader is about who you are when nobody’s watching and who you become when people are counting on you.”

Janet interviewed several students, including Ava Funkhouser, Kobe Kerns, Kiahna Venable, Brenden & Colton Luttrell, who shared their favorite aspects of the program and the friendships they formed. Kobe highlighted the unexpected enjoyment and learning experiences: “When I first started, I thought it was gonna be this boring thing. I’m doing it just for the experience of learning new things. And then when I got into it and I started meeting my people and my fellow friends, it just clicked to me that this is actually really fun and I actually had a lot of fun.”

The program’s success would not have been possible without the support of sponsors like Carmeuse Lime and Stone. Logan Thompson, the Area Operations Manager, expressed the company’s dedication to local leadership and community involvement. “Leadership is very near and dear to Carmeuse’s heart… We want to be one of the places that attract people in a program like this to come back and work in the area.”

Kaleigh Finchem, who created and led the program’s first batch of students, saw it flourish under its new leadership. Sharing her sentiments, she remarked, “It’s just really nice with these kids. They come out here, they have an expectation of what they think this program’s gonna be… But I’ll tell you what, three days in, it’s like they come out of their shell.”

As the event wrapped, Cynthia sat down with Janet to reflect on the program’s success and its bright future. She shared the long-term vision for the program and its impact. “This is the culmination of an almost 10-year goal… And now getting that vision, like having the program was a vision. I’m just in awe of how beautifully it’s rolling out.” Cynthia highlighted the vital role of sponsors like Carmeuse Lime and Stone and shared her confidence in the program’s continued success. “Because of them, we then had the confidence to launch knowing that we could pay for every student.”

The evening concluded with a celebration of camaraderie and shared experiences among students, parents, and organizers. “Our future is looking pretty bright,” Janet Michael remarked, reflecting the collective sentiment of hope and optimism for the leaders of tomorrow.

If you are interested in supporting the Arising Leadership Program or participating in its Community Leadership counterpart, visit regionalchamber.biz for more information.

One of the big questions around TNT Sports no longer having NBA rights is what would happen with NBA TV, which is owned by the NBA itself, but operated by TNT Sports.

And while the sides did come to an agreement last fall that will see continued highlights for Bleacher Report and House of Highlights, the future of NBA TV wasn’t spelled out at that time. But it’s now clear that whatever its future holds, TNT Sports won’t be a part of it.

That news comes via a memo that TNT Sports CEO Luis Silberwasser sent to employees Friday. In the memo, Silberwasser mentions that this deal will end as of October 1, and that they made several proposals to keep operating the network, but couldn’t work out a deal with the NBA. Awful Announcing obtained that memo. Here it is in its entirety:

Hi everyone,

I want to provide an update on the future of NBA TV and our digital partnership with the league. After discussions with the NBA in recent months, we have mutually decided to part ways at the end of the 2024-25 season.

We made several proposals to continue to provide services and operate the NBA TV network and related digital assets. However, we were unable to agree on a path forward that recognized the value of our expertise, quality content, and operational excellence that our fans and partners have come to expect from TNT Sports. We will work closely with the NBA on a transition plan for the league to assume the responsibility of programming and operating NBA TV and NBA.com, which will be effective October 1.

It’s important to note that, as part of our new NBA agreement announced late 2024, we will continue to be digital and content partners with the league in other areas of our business such as Bleacher Report and House of Highlights, along with our ability to license and create NBA related content for our TNT Sports properties, and live games in some of our key international markets.

I understand the impact of this news to our team members, especially those who work exclusively on our NBA TV productions. In the coming weeks, we will hold meetings with those who contribute directly to the NBA partnership as we begin to embark on a thoughtful transitional phase.

If you have any immediate questions, please reach out to your P&C partner and we will make every effort to transparently discuss this matter with you.

I’d like to thank everyone who has worked tirelessly on NBA TV and our digital partnership throughout these playoffs, this week’s NBA Draft, and historically through the years. You have delivered a fantastic experience for NBA fans with an emphasis on quality that will be impossible to replicate.

Luis

It’s not entirely surprising that the sides couldn’t figure out a way to extend this partnership. Much of the logic for TNT Sports with operating NBA TV was that it fit in nicely with their NBA on TNT coverage. That saw many people, both in front of and behind the camera, work for them on both of those networks. It would seem significantly harder to operate NBA TV without NBA rights elsewhere (although it is notable that Silberwasser indicates they wanted to do that, making “several proposals”), especially with that network receiving less exclusive games in recent years.

The overall cord-cutting environment may also factor in to how desirable NBA TV is to work with the league on. While national league-specific networks haven’t faced quite as much turmoil as regional sports networks to date, fewer people with cable or equivalent bundle packages means less subscribers for league networks too. NBA TV was in just 33 million homes in May, slightly more than half its peak, and there are questions about its future in the overall TV ecosystem with so much programming and viewing shifting to streaming services.

For TNT Sports, this looks like a further refocusing of their efforts on the rights they do have. They’ve got a swathe there, including baseball, college sports, NASCAR, and more, and they’ve received some praise recently for their French Open and FIFA Club World Cup work. But it is interesting to see them exit this long-running partnership; while the NBA launched NBA TV in-house in 1999, the now-TNT Sports had been operating it since October 2008.

For the NBA, there’s also probably some logic in ending this partnership if TNT Sports’ proposals weren’t appealing to them. The league has significantly boosted its in-house content efforts in recent years, so it’s possible they could return to operating NBA TV themselves. They also have three new/existing media partners now; while Amazon probably doesn’t want to get into the cable network business (and NBC did make their own move out of that business on the sports side with the closure of NBCSN), ESPN’s certainly in it, so there could be some level of deal struck there (or even just a content-sharing or content production deal, where the NBA still runs the channel itself but can bring in content from their partners).

Thus, the league would seem to have options on what to do with NBA TV. And we’ll see which way they eventually decide to go as we get closer to that October turnover date. But it is interesting to see them and TNT Sports move on from this long-running partnership.

Georgia landed its 15th commitment for the 2026 class earlier this month when Brownsville (Tenn.) Haywood cornerback Caden Harris announced that he had switched his commitment from Vanderbilt to the Bulldogs. The 6-foot, 160-pound prospect chose Georgia over 39 other offers, giving Georgia assistant and cornerbacks coach Donte Williams his second cornerback commitment for the 2026 cycle. A third could be coming on Friday.

Watch Harris’s junior highlights above.  Harris is ranked as the No. 94 overall prospect, the No. 9 cornerback in the country, and the No. 4 overall recruit in Tennessee according to 247Sports. He ranks as the No. 85 overall recruit in the country in the industry-generated 247Sports Composite, as well as the nation’s No. 11 cornerback and No. 3 overall prospect in Tennessee. Harris joins Fort Lauderdale (Fla.) St. Thomas Aquinas’ four-star Justice Fitzpatrick to give Williams a pair of Top 100 prospects at cornerback, with both being ranked among the top 10 cornerbacks in the country on 247Sports. Harris has visited Georgia for a spring practice and took his official visit on June 6.

“I’m a man of my word. Coach Donte and I had a conversation prior to my commitment, so I for sure had to at least come see what was offered to me,” Harris told Dawgs247’s Ben Wolk. “All of it was important. I retained a lot of information that was needed, so overall it’ll all tie in together. The message has been that I’m wanted, and they’ll continue to push for me.”

Below is the 247Sports Scouting Report for Harris from April 28, which comes with a player comparison of Ambry Thomas.

“Wiry cornerback with the reach, twitch and speed to mirror top weapons at the game’s highest levels. Turned heads in a combine setting spring before senior year not only acing footwork drills, but also holding his own out on the perimeter during 1-on-1s. Keeps his eyes on the hips of assignments as he fights to maintain phase and is quick to pivot. Owns valuable experience in both press-man and off-man coverage. However, needs to improve play strength if he’s going to be asked to jam every series on Saturdays, which should happen as he’s very young for the grade. Additional weight is also likely to make him much more effective in run support. Not one that has generated a ton of takeaways throughout his prep career, but reacts fast and gets to the football. Should be viewed as a high-upside outside corner that might need some time to get the body right, but one that has the athleticism to be a multi-year impact player for a Power Four program. Frame and testing numbers should be attractive to NFL evaluators one day, especially in a passing era.”

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