Thursday, May 17, 2012
Councilman Sherman Lea Sr.Thursday, May 17, 2012
The advantages of moving elections to the November cycle would be as follows: 1) Greater voter turnout at council elections (40,000+ versus 9,000+) using the 2008/2012 election as example in 2008. 40,000 people voted in the presidential race and 9,000 voted on May 1 out of a possible 62,000. 2) Assure the spirit of the [...]
Wednesday, May 16, 2012
Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli will be in Salem, Virginia on May 24. Chief Chris Perkins said that the Roanoke City police gang investigator would be in attendance. RADFORD (May 16, 2012)-Today, Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli’s office kicked off a series of five community and law enforcement gang trainings across the commonwealth. The first training was [...]
Wednesday, May 16, 2012
Monday’s council meeting was quick and painless with no discussion except to thank staff for their hard work in assembling the 2013 fiscal year budget for final adoption. The city manager, Chris Morrill’s “budgeting for outcomes” task began in September of 2011. The $252.8 million budget was approached conservatively. Revenue is faring well and running [...]
Wednesday, May 16, 2012
Today’s editorial blaming city council for not paying attention to the Republican mayoral candidate Mark Lucas when he suggested a tax for increasing teacher pay is reprehensible. It smacks of a defensive maneuver to cover up their previous editorial where they asked school board chairman David Carson about another tax to raise teacher pay. From [...]
Tuesday, May 15, 2012
Virginia Delegate Bob Marshall made good on his promise to scuttle the nomination of Tracy Thorne-Beglund an honorably discharged Navy Lieutenant and Top Gun who he called a “gay activist.” Marshall feared he would be a gay activist on the bench of the Richmond General District Court. The court decides such activist issues as traffic tickets, simple assaults [...]
Tuesday, May 15, 2012
Richmond, VA – Democratic Party of Virginia Chairman Brian Moran released the following statement today following an early morning vote in which Republicans in the General Assembly rejected Tracy Thorne-Begland’s nomination to become a General District Court Judge because of Mr. Begland’s sexual orientation: “In the final hours of a legislative session defined by right-wing [...]
Monday, May 14, 2012
It may be a snap but after checking with four city council members it appears that they are not so sure it is a good idea. Roanokers will not see local elections in November anytime soon. At the request of Councilman Sherman Lea and a nod from Mayor Bowers at the May 7 council meeting [...]
Monday, May 14, 2012
Lt. Governor Bill Bolling and U.S. Senator Mark Warner were paired as speakers at the Technology Council Awards Banquet Thursday evening. Bolling is traveling the state as part of the “Virginia Growing Stronger” tour highlighting the state’s successes in creating an environment for small businesses with technology playing a large part in that success. “We’re doing [...]
Friday, May 11, 2012
RICHMOND (May 11, 2012) – Attorney General Ken Cuccinelli announced today that he has joined a lawsuit against Penguin, MacMillan, and Apple, Inc., alleging that the companies violated state and federal antitrust laws by conspiring to fix the prices of e-books. “We do not want businesses interfering with the markets by illegally conspiring to fix [...]
Thursday, May 10, 2012
For those of you who do not know already The Roanoke Times and the Virginian-Pilot in Norfolk are both owned by Landmark Communications, Inc. That is why you occasionally see Virginian-Pilot copy in The Roanoke Times. The Virginian-Pilot is being taken to task for not reporting an assault on two of their off-duty reporters. In [...]
Tuesday, May 8, 2012
School Board Chairman David Carson said that contrary to the expected downturn of the school population just the opposite is true. The first thing they would do to prevent overcrowding would be to adjust the attendance boundaries. “We need to stay on top of it,” he said. “The highest priority is the eventual sale of [...]
Tuesday, May 8, 2012
The state has generously increased funding to Roanoke by $163,000. This has allowed restoration of cuts to the three areas that took a hit. At the April 26 budget hearing council members heard from 17 speakers opposing cuts to the Virginia Cooperative Extension Agriculture and Natural Resource component. Other speakers asked for restoration of the [...]
Monday, May 7, 2012
Roanoke City residents will have inviting green vegetation to ponder as they visit the City Treasurer’s window to pay their taxes. Monday afternoon city council members took time from their last glimpse at the city’s budget and before the beginning of the 2:00 p.m. council meeting to water some “green.” It isn’t a new way [...]
Monday, May 7, 2012
Poe & Cronk Real Estate Group has been awarded the disposition assignment for the 640,000 square foot Hanover Direct Industrial Facility located on Hollins Road. In a press release Friday Poe & Cronk said that the state-of-the art building was originally constructed by Hanover Direct in 1994 as a fulfillment/distribution center. The property sits on [...]
