Daily Bacon's | Weekend Roundup

Posted on October 17, 2009 by matt ohern
Share this article on:

Today’s Topics

Voting Rights

Va. violated voting rights, U.S. judge rules a second time | The Richmond Times Dispatch

A federal judge in Richmond has ruled for the second time that Virginia violated the voting rights of American military personnel and overseas citizens by failing to mail absentee ballots in sufficient time for them to be counted in last year’s presidential election.

More on this story:
The Virginia Railway Express Operations Boardwants its governing commissions to award VRE’s next operating contract to Keolis Railroad Services America instead of Amtrak.
More on this story:

Technology

Northrop Grumman seeks to soften criticisms in report | The Richmond Times-Dispatch


Lobbyists and executives for Northrop Grumman are quietly pressing General Assembly investigators to soften a report that was sharply critical of the company for failing to deliver computer services to the state on time.

Back to the top

In the first seven months since patrol officers began carrying Tasers, the weapons have been used to scare off a pack of dogs, stop a wanted man from jumping out of a fourth-floor window and subdue someone who threw a sword at police.Sentara clears path to new Chesapeake center | The Virginia Pilot

$75,000 grant to subsidize city living for police officers | Daily Progress

The Charlottesville Area Community Foundation on Friday announced a $75,000 Catalyst Grant to help city police officers find housing in Charlottesville.

Burglars with a keen appreciation for gold have targeted Indian and South Asian homes in a months-long series of daytime break-ins in Northern Virginia.

Back to the top

An advocacy group is threatening to sue Governor Kaine over a plan to replace the Southeastern Virginia Training Center in Chesapeake.
ACLU challenges Chesterfield rental inspections | The Richmond Times-Dispatch

The ACLU of Virginia has warned Chesterfield County leaders that a proposed rental-inspection program could infringe on the constitutional rights of owners and tenants.

ABINGDON — A federal jury has awarded $200,000 to a newspaper publisher after deciding the Buchanan County School Board unconstitutionally banned him from school grounds.

Panelists at an open government conference today took shots from opposing directions at a proposal for anonymous juries in Virginia.

Back to the top

The Fairfax County School Board is bracing for the most dramatic reduction in services in more than 20 years as it attempts to bridge a projected $176 million budget shortfall with cuts that could extend to closing schools, increasing class size, ending summer school, discontinuing most full-day kindergarten classes, and eliminating foreign language instruction in elementary schools.

HENRICO, VA (WWBT) – With state revenues declining, and local dollars going in the same direction, it’s no surprise within Henrico county schools that another tough year is on the horizon.

Despite all the hype put out by the state’s universities, the fact remains that Virginia is distinctly an “also ran” when it comes to research and development.
The cost of a private education is becoming too much for some families to bear in this economy, so they’re increasingly turning to public schools.
Harold “Skip” Garner has been named executive director of the Virginia Bioinformatics Institute (VBI) at Virginia Tech. Garner joins VBI from the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center (UTSW), where he was professor of Biochemistry and Internal Medicine and the Philip O’Bryan Montgomery Jr., M.D. Distinguished Chair in Developmental Biology. Before coming to UTSW in 1994, Garner served as a senior staff scientist and founder of the Bioscience Division at General Atomics in San Diego.

Back to the top

Virginia’s tourism industry rose to eighth in the nation for domestic-visitor spending in 2007, according to new figures released by Gov. Kaine.

The thousands of military jobs coming to the Fredericksburg area could create “a change of the business dynamic,” Joe Grzeika told an audience of area business leaders Thursday night.

Back to the top

Virginia health officials have ordered 265,000 doses of swine flu vaccine, enough to allow planned clinics to go on as planned.ACLU challenges Chesterfield rental inspections | The Richmond Times-Dispatch

BRISTOL, Tenn. – A $25 million grant could attract part of the proposed King College medical school to Virginia.
The private, Bristol, Tenn.-based school is asking the Virginia Tobacco Indemnification and Community Revitalization Commission for that amount to jump-start the project, college President Greg Jordan told the Bristol Herald Courier.

Health advocates are calling on all Virginia restaurants and other workplaces to go completely smoke-free following the release of a landmark report by the Institute of Medicine (IOM) that concluded smoke-free laws reduce the number of heart attacks and save lives.

After running into a snag at City Hall, Sentara Healthcare is now moving forward on a $6.1 million plan to build a 46,000-square-foot ambulatory surgery center in Greenbrier.

Back to the top

Environment

VIRGINIA BEACH — It’s tough, kind of pretty and poised to wreak havoc, say environmental officials who have discovered for the first time in Virginia Beach a fast-growing Asian plant that thrives on dunes and crowds out native species.


Local

The city of Virginia Beach has released the final draft of its comprehensive plan, which is a blueprint for how the city will grow in the future.Included in the plan is a section on light rail and how it could fit into the city’s transportation master plan.

The ailing economy has Albemarle County officials contemplating once “unthinkable” financial adjustments that could include a real-estate tax rate increase, employee reductions and delays or reductions in infrastructure projects.

City officials plan to use a budget surplus to give employee bonuses, fight gangs, reinstate free bulk refuse pick-ups and build its reserve fund.

JAMES CITY — An ambitious plan is in play to reinvent Williamsburg Crossing.

Back to the top

matt ohern
Latest posts by matt ohern (see all)
This entry was posted in Uncategorized. Bookmark the permalink.