hburgnews.com

So a new Indian restaurant has opened, and so has an Indian/Pakistani grocery store.  My wife and I went to both this evening…here’s what we thought:

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Supporters of the Downtown Harrisonburg Farmers’ Market may know that the association has been planning the construction of a permanent pavilion in the municipal parking lot on South Liberty. Yesterday the market’s manager told market committee members that the groundbreaking for the pavilion is planned for June 3, at 10:30 a.m.

Harrisonburg City Schools employees received word late today that a laptop containing names and Social Security numbers of those who took part in the school division’s dental plan several years ago has been stolen. The laptop was owned by BB&T Insurance, and more information will be forthcoming.

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There’s an interesting editorial in today’s Virginian-Pilot about a new law about to go into effect in Virginia. Apparently if you’re a bartender, you can’t serve a gang member.

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As you might imagine, blogging on hburgnews takes up a lot of time. Regular readers have probably noticed an increase in contributions from other writers here recently. Read more »

This week, May 12-16, is National Bike To Work Week and Friday May 16 is Bike To Work Day. Individuals are encouraged by a variety of agencies and organizations to ride their bikes to work instead of driving. On May 1, Deputy Secretary of Transportation Ralph Davis proclaimed from the Capitol steps that May is Bike To Work Month (read the proclimation). Locally, the Harrisonburg-Rockingham Healthy Community Council’s Green Team has been promoting this event with flyers, and the  Harrisonburg-Rockingham Metropolitan Planning Organization (MPO) has put out a PSA (click to listen) on local radio stations to encourage citizens to bike to work. Read more »

Today former City Treasurer Becky Neal plead guilty to misuse of public funds. She’ll serve two years probation, and pay $950 in restitution and fines (not including legal fees). As part of the agreement reached with the prosecutors, the CA is dropping 19 other charges against her.

Previously, the City of Harrisonburg only held Household Hazardous Waste Collections once a year, jointly with Rockingham County at the Fairgrounds. The City will continue to do so, but now offers a monthly collection of certain items:

The first monthly household hazardous waste collection of 2008 will be May 17 from 8:00 A.M. until 12:00 noon at 2055 Beery Road in Harrisonburg. Monthly collection dates will be the third Saturday of each month through October - except for September when we join with Rockingham County for the annual collection. Read more »

There’s been recent talk of who the city council nominees will be in the DNR, as well as on republitarian.com. The assumption is that Rodney Eagle and Charlie Chenault will run for reelection, accompanied on the ballot by Republican J.M. Snell and Democrats Richard Baugh and David Wiens (all from the Planning Commission).

Rather than have the candidates or the press dictate what the main election issues will be, what would you (the citizens) like to see the candidates address?

You may have noticed a change in the blog headlines in the left sidebar: it’s actually updating properly. That’s because we’ve switched aggregators from hburgblogs.com to hbblogs.com. The old one never worked properly, and Mason Wolf has created a new site for local bloggers that should serve as a hub for local blogs.

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I came across this story in the Washington Post today. It’s about Marie Willis, “one of the approximately 24,000 young people nationwide ages 18 to 21 who leave foster care each year, children who were never adopted or returned to their parents or guardians.”
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I’m seeing reports of a manhunt near Elkton Middle School. Reportedly, two shots were fired, and the middle school is on lockdown as police search for the injured gunman.

UPDATE: A man “with a history of mental issues” fired two shots during a domestic dispute, and was apprehended by police a half-mile east of Elkton Middle School.

Considering much of Mark Warner’s speech yesterday was about alternative energy, I thought this Media General article was interesting. Virginia energy lobbyists are already complaining about Sen. John Warner’s proposed clean energy regulations.
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A morning accident in Harrisonburg has sent one person to the hospital, damaged a utility pole and shut down both northbound lanes of South Main Street near El Charro, in the 1500 block.

The accident occurred around 9:15 a.m. and involved a Chevrolet Venture. The condition of the driver is not available. Read more »