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 StatewideSchool budgets a thorny issue throughout Virginia
Read below to learn how districts are meeting the challenge. Senate approves charter, virtual schools bills (Associated Press) Va. Senate passes governor's plan to expand charter schools (The Washington Post) Governor's School faces shaky future (The Roanoke Times) Roanoke Schools may sue the state (The Roanoke Times) Tragic (The Richmond Times Dispatch Editorial) Gloucester School Board weighs "redesign" of elementary school as cost-cutting move (Daily Press) Newport News schools' budget shrinks $20 million, may get smaller (Daily Press) York County schools budget on hold while General Assembly talks money (Daily Press) Salem schools explore options (The Roanoke Times) Manassas Park ponders school budget cuts (News & Messenger) District hoping to slip big cuts (Waynesboro News Virginian) Posted on Wednesday, March 10, 2010 - 3:21pm
State budget negotiations continue
Assembly budget negotiators at odds amid grim tax report (The Times-Dispatch) Senate trims fees slightly in budget overture (The Associated Press) Budget negotiators don't have a deal yet (The Free-Lance Star) Bolling Enters Debate over taxes and fees in Virginia (The Washington Post) Cuccinelli asked if proposed fees would violate Virginia Constitution (The Washington Post) Va. budget plan would shrink general spending to 2006 levels (The Washington Post) Negotiators still divided on budget issues (The Virginian-Pilot) Posted on Wednesday, March 10, 2010 - 12:32pm
Technology helps citizens participate in governmentLocal governments and school districts are turning to technology in an effort to keep citizens abreast of
Read more at the Daily Press Posted on Wednesday, March 10, 2010 - 12:20pm
Officials determined to improve rail service between Richmond and Washington
Efforts to improve rail service between Richmond and Washington, and ultimately the rest of the state, will continue, according to Thelma Drake, director of the Virginia Department of Rail and Public Transportation. "Whether you like rail or not, it is the future," she said. More opportunities for federal funding will come up, and she expects to be on the spot, applications in hand. "A big part of my job is the Washington component," she said. High speed rail service allows trains to operate at 90 to 110 miles per hour. Currently, the fastest trains in Virginia operate at 79 mph. Read more at The Daily Press... Posted on Tuesday, March 9, 2010 - 4:49pm
Government to encourage short sales
“We want to streamline and standardize the short sale process to make it much easier on the borrower and much easier on the lender,” said Seth Wheeler, a Treasury senior adviser. More than five million homeowners are behind on their mortgages and risk losing their houses to foreclosure. The government’s $75 billion mortgage modification plan has helped a relatively small number of them. Read more in The New York Times... Posted on Tuesday, March 9, 2010 - 3:55am
Coastal entities urged to plan for rising sea levels
According to he Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, Hampton Roads is second only to New Orleans in terms of population and infrastructure at risk to sea-level rise and storm-surge flooding. Read more in The Virginian-Pilot... Posted on Monday, March 8, 2010 - 12:31pm
Stormwater regulations postponed
The tougher standards would control the way new homes, shopping centers, and other developments are built. Environmentalists maintain the new standards are necessary to protect the watershed for future generations, but opponents say the rules will increase sprawl, increase the cost of housing, and that consumers would ultimately bear the cost of stricter development rules that builders would have have to comply with. Read more in The Daily Press... Posted on Monday, March 8, 2010 - 12:11pm
Federal refinancing program extended
Posted on Saturday, March 6, 2010 - 9:09am
Get used to the gridlock: Long-range road funds lacking
Hampton Roads can expect a total of $2.3 billion for road construction through 2040, according to John W. Lawson, financial planning director for the Virginia Department of Transportation. Lawson said that is "significantly" less than previous long-range projections, but he could not say how much less. A rough estimate by the Hampton Roads Transportation Planning Organization indicates that the $2.3 billion is about half of earlier projections - $77 million per year compared with $150 million per year. To put the number in perspective, the cost of building the Midtown Tunnel and Martin Luther King Freeway expansion project is about $2 billion. Posted on Thursday, March 4, 2010 - 11:48am
Law gives flag display rights to Virginia homeowners
House Bill 956, sponsored by Delegate L. Scott Lingamfelter, R-Woodbridge, would give a property owner the right to display a U.S. flag as long as it complies with the federal Flag Code. "A unit owners' association may, however, establish reasonable restrictions as to the size, place, duration, and manner of placement or display of the flag provided such restrictions are necessary to protect a substantial interest of the unit owners' association," the bill states.
Posted on Tuesday, March 2, 2010 - 12:34pm
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Just about every school district in the Commonwealth is struggling with budget cuts -- a process of great interest to homeowners, whose taxes pay for programs. Maintaining quality education for district children while keeping taxes reasonable is even more challenging than usual because of cuts in state funding.
The House and Senate continue to wrangle over the budget. Areas of disagreement court fees, education cuts, and how much money the Commonwealth has to work with. Read the news and opinion articles below for a full picture:
issues and to gather their input. Their efforts have been largely successful, with localities noting greater participation via email and the Web than had been the norm at traditional meetings. Homeowners benefit by having their voices heard early in budget processes, rather than only at the polls.
Virgina officials were disappointed in the announcement of federal stimulus grants for high-speed passenger rail projects. The Commonwealth sought $1.8 billion but got just $75 million for its top rail initiative. 
The federal government has unveiled a new program encouraging buyers to sell their houses for less than they currently owe. Banks will be forced to accept the agreements, forgiving the difference between the market price of the property and what they are owed. Buyers will walk away with $1,500 in relocation assistance and the bank's promise that they will not be sued for the unpaid portion of their mortgage.
The Hampton Roads Planning District Commission says that rising sea levels are likely to impact cities and towns along the Virginia coast, and is urging those entities to take action to prevent disaster. According to the 2008 Governor's Commission on Climate Change, levels will rise 2.3 feet to 5.2 feet by 2100.
Stricter standards to keep stormwater runoff under control -- and out of the Chesapeake watershed -- have been postponed until at least the end of 2010, and possibly as late as Dec. 1, 2011.
Homeowners who haven't refinanced under the federal government's refinance program still have time, according to 
