hburgnews.com

Governor Kaine’s Commission on Immigration held a public hearing at the Festival building at JMU earlier this evening.

Recently, an 8-year old boy was allegedly assaulted in the bathroom of the Dayton Wal-Mart. The suspect was an employee of the store, 30-year old Felix Alberto Martinez-Pacheco. Martinez-Pacheco, originally from Puerto Rico, told police that he had previously served 9 years in jail over a similar allegation involving a 7-year old boy, [...]

Over the course of four hours Friday night, the Harrisonburg Police Department, in conjunction with the Rockingham County Sheriffs Office, conducted two separate safety check points in the city.
Shortly after 7 p.m., officers set up at Hawkins Street and Norwood Street, battling frequent rain. At 9 p.m., the operation moved to University Boulevard and Driver [...]

Earlier this week, the Times-Dispatch ran a story on a woman who is trying to keep Social Security numbers private by making the SS numbers of public officials, well… public. Today I noticed that some former Rockingham County officials were included on her list.

We’ve written about the farmers’ market(s) and low mileage food here before, but with all the national media coverage over the attack of the killer tomatoes, there’s yet another reason to buy locally grown food.
The NV Daily reports that Virginia ranks 4th in nation for production of fresh-market tomatoes.

Last night, TV3 ran a story on driving while texting that stated, “Virginians are some of the worst offenders in the nation when it comes to texting behind the wheel.”

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.

Dave Briggman and Myron Rhodes have posted Fitzwater - Neal lawsuit documents on republitarian.com, which chronicle the series of events leading up to the investigation of the treasurer’s office, as well as Cynthia Fitzwater’s role as whistleblower, and her demotion by Becky Neal which followed.

I suppose this is a continuation of the comments from last summer’s post about dangerous dogs. There’s a story in the News Virginian about a boy that was mauled by his neighbor’s dog. The attorney in the story says that under Virginia law, every dog gets one free attack, and adds that “Virginia one of [...]

The partial closure of Court Square for Mark Warner’s May 6 visit came up at City Council on Tuesday (and is covered in the DNR today). It seemed like a touchy subject for members of council. As I recall, when George Allen was on the courthouse steps for the marriage amendment rally, Court Square was [...]

The petition to remove Treasurer Becky Neal from office has been filed, and is currently being verified by the city voter registrar. But I’m trying to figure out if members of General Assembly tried to get involved in the process yesterday, by way of an amended bill.

Jokes aside, the DNR reports that One Court Square could possibly have occupants soon: county probation officers and magistrates. Presumably there aren’t enough of those downtown.
The city-owned building has been empty since 2004.

In the wake of the ICE arrests, WMRA’s Martha Woodroof interviewed an unauthorized Guatemalan immigrant who used to work at the Cargill plant in Dayton. She asks him about working with false papers.
Transcript and interview here.

H’burg news has 73 posts in the archives with the immigration tag; clearly, it’s a hot topic both locally and state-wide. Along those lines, the American Sociological Association (ASA) issued a news release: “Immigration ‘Hot Spots’ and Violent Crime Inversely Linked.”