hburgnews.com

Sen. Mark Obenshain voiced opposition to a bill that would prohibit discrimination (in public employment) on the basis of sexual orientation. The state senate passed the bill today. Read more »

Are local governments doing a good job making the information you have a right to know publicly available on their websites? According to Thomas Jefferson Institute for Public Policy, “Localities in Virginia were generally dismal in their efforts at online financial transparency.”

How do Harrisonburg and Rockingham County compare to other local governments when it comes to budgetary transparency? Read more »

After a request for information, Harrisonburg Public Information Officer Miriam Dickler provided a list of recent city expenditures that have gone to the Daily News-Record.  The earliest expense listed is on July 15 of last year, and the most recent is January 20 of this year.  The total for this six-month period comes to $22,058.52.  Much of it is for required notices, while some is for advertising special events and programs.

Of course, this list does not include expenses by other local governments, state agencies, or institutions like JMU or BRCC.

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Last Friday, Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced the arrest of dozens of unauthorized immigrants and fugitives wanted for various criminal activities. The operation netted 36 people statewide; 12 arrests were made in the Harrisonburg area. Read more »

As reported by WHSV, Staunton Delegate Dickie Bell’s bill to establish a new requirement that schools spend 65% of their budgets on “instructional spending” is moving forward in the Virginia General Assembly.

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Remember when snow day open threads used to be novel, fun, and rare? Those were the days.

Feel free to add comments and updates about snow, road conditions, closures, and flooding on this post as the winter of ‘010 continues to dump on Harrisonburg and Rockingham County.

According to a recent study by UVa’s Weldon Cooper Center for Public Service, the Harrisonburg population grew a total of 15.9 percent between 2001 and 2009. Estimates on the spreadsheet indicate that 5.8 percent of that growth (2,355 people) was due to a “natural increase,” and 10.1 percent (4,088) was due to migration.

During the same period, Rockingham County grew by an estimated 8,248, an increase of 12.2 percent. The Harrisonburg Metropolitan Area (city and county combined) grew by 14,691 people (13.6 percent). That’s slightly higher than the rate of growth statewide (11.4 percent). If that sounded clunky, it’s because it’s spreadsheet data.

Mayor Kai Degner writes about the connection (or disconnection) between the Daily News-Record’s pay wall, and the local business economy:

. . . business leaders from outside the area can’t read about or find economic development news [on the DNR's website] because the news stories don’t show up in search engine results (Google won’t show DNRonline.com pages because users can’t read them) . . . The opportunity lost is for people in this industry to get our region on their radar . . . we have to change this – and that means business leaders put more energy into creating content for the web. We are behind the curve. (read the full entry)

Across the nation, localities are taking count of their homeless populations, and some officials are finding major increases in the number of people without homes.

HRHA is currently conducting a similar study in Harrisonburg, and they expect the numbers to be up here also. Read more »