INSIDER
Dozens of protesters filled the room Monday as Lynchburg’s City Council held a heated budget meeting that sparked debate and left many questions unanswered.
The City of Roanoke will meet today to discuss an amendment to the 2024-2025 annual budget for the Roanoke City Public Schools budget.
A new meals tax hike is leaving a bad taste in the mouths of Roanoke restaurant owners. This week, the City Council approved an increase in the meals tax from 5.5% to 6.5%. Now, some local business owners say the city is taking too big of a bite out of their profits.
Six people in a rural Texas county have been indicted in a widening elections investigation led by Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton.
A few months ago, a mayor in Massachusetts was relishing a rare victory over a newspaper for its years of personal attacks.
A Martinsville city councilman spoke out on Thursday afternoon after being removed from a Tuesday night council meeting.
Roanoke City’s recommended budget will be presented to the City Council later today, March 24, at 2 p.m. It will contain several items, from school to street maintenance funding.
Roanoke City high schools have a problem with overcrowding, and during a joint meeting between the Roanoke City School Board and the City Council, they plan on tackling this issue.
Roanoke City high schools have a problem with overcrowding, and during a joint meeting between the Roanoke City School Board and the City Council, they plan on tackling this issue.
Tenants searching for an apartment in New York City have long been forced to pay thousands of dollars to real estate brokers.
Roanoke College released its poll for the upcoming races in the Star City Wednesday.
The city of Norfolk, Virginia, has repealed a 45-year-old ban on palm reading and clairvoyance for money.
T.C. Miller and Sandusky Elementary may remain open for one more year if the city finds the money.
Black immigrants have turned out in the hundreds across from a City Hall, drawing attention to racial inequities in the city’s shelter and immigrant support systems.
The rural city of Grants Pass in southern Oregon has become the unlikely face of the nation’s homelessness crisis as its case over anti-camping laws goes to the U.S. Supreme Court.
NYPD officers will have to record the race of people they question under new police transparency law.
New York City’s mayor has vetoed bills aimed at banning solitary confinement in city jails and requiring more transparency in police encounters with civilians.
Roanoke police say crime is down from last year. They recently presented numbers to City Council and shared how they are working with organizations to make sure crime is down all across the city.
The lawyer for a small Kansas newspaper raided by police last month said he believes officers didn't follow the search warrant's requirements to only seize computers believed directly involved in suspected identity theft.
One of the reporters who works at the small Kansas newspaper that was raided by authorities earlier this month filed a federal lawsuit against the police chief Wednesday.
Newly released video shows the 98-year-old mother of a Kansas newspaper publisher confronting police officers as they searched her home in a raid that has drawn national scrutiny.
Activists have announced an effort to force a referendum that would allow Atlanta voters to decide whether the construction of a proposed police and firefighter training center should proceed.
A federal jury in Florida has awarded $63.5 million to a pair of businessmen who claimed a city of Miami commissioner used his office to harass them after they supported the commissioner’s political opponent.
Democratic leaders in major U.S. cities are finding themselves politically squeezed when it comes to addressing homelessness.
Five major U.S. cities and the state of California will receive federal help to get unsheltered residents into permanent housing.
Los Angeles' new mayor has outlined her vision to turn around a troubled City Hall and restrain an out-of-control homeless crisis in the nation's second-largest city.
Voters in Portland, Oregon, have approved a ballot measure that will overhaul the city's government, spurred by growing concerns over homelessness and a desire to make City Hall more inclusive.
Nearly a half-century after arson killed 32 people in a New Orleans gay bar, the City Council has renewed the search for the remains of four victims — three of them never identified.
The Roanoke City Council is pushing an incentive forward to increase housing opportunities in the Star City – City leaders approved a $50,000 grant from the Virginia Housing Development Authority during their session Tuesday.
The Roanoke Fire Fighters Association spoke at Monday’s city council meeting to address the proposed Public Safety Pay Plan before the official budget is voted on in May.
Homeless people may soon be banned from sleeping on sidewalks in downtown Roanoke because of a newly proposed ordinance presented at Monday’s City Council meeting.
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LYNCHBURG, Va. – Lynchburg residents have the chance to attend a public hearing on March 30 and express their thoughts over the city’s budget. One major item is a possible increase in real estate taxes. Preston said his valuation went up 16%, and he’s already paying about $1,100 a year. This comes as the city council considers raising real estate taxes because Lynchburg’s total assessment went up to $428 million. “For the city government to now come in and say, ‘okay, we’re going to add an extra burden, another $4.2 million of tax increase on these citizens and businesses?
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Defense attorney Eric Nelson also raised the possibility of renewing his previously unsuccessful motion to move Derek Chauvin's trial to another city. AdMayor Jacob Frey deferred questions about the timing of the settlement to City Attorney Jim Rowader, who declined to comment. Potential jurors questioned later didn't mention hearing of the settlement, and neither attorneys nor the judge directly asked if they were aware of it. At least four potential jurors dismissed Monday said they couldn’t be impartial. Three other former officers face an August trial on charges of aiding and abetting second-degree murder and manslaughter.
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LYNCHBURG, Va. – Real estate tax prices could go up, but before that happens, the city council wants you to weigh in. Leaders say the majority of people in the Hill City saw a rise in real estate assessment. While the current rate is $1.11, the city council would need to lower it to $1.03, otherwise, taxes could go up. “Do we really want to be taking more tax dollars from the community? That meeting is on Tuesday, March 30th at 7 p.m. at Lynchburg City Hall.
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MARTINSVILLE, VA. – Martinsville city leaders are hailing their police department for their response to the shootout at a local bar and restaurant over the weekend. City Council met Tuesday night for its regular meeting and when it came time for member comment, they had a lot to say. Martinsville City Councilman Danny Turner said Tuesday night the police department prevented something even worse. Vice-Mayor Jennifer Bowles shared her frustration with racially charged comments shared by community members on social media following the shooting. And for those who think one incident defines the entire Black community, they’re wrong,” Bowles said.
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MINNEAPOLIS – The Minneapolis City Council unanimously approved a budget early Thursday that will shift about $8 million from the police department toward violence prevention and other programs — but will keep the mayor's targeted staffing levels for sworn officers intact, averting a possible veto. “Tonight the City Council passed a budget that represents a compromise, and also a big step forward into a more compassionate and effective public safety future,” said City Council member Steve Fletcher, co-author of the proposal to lower the cap on staffing. The plan cuts nearly $8 million from Frey’s $179 million policing budget and redirects it to mental health teams, violence prevention programs and other initiatives. Those against the plan said the City Council was acting irresponsibly and has bungled its attempts to bring change. Such cuts have led some departments to lay off officers, cancel recruiting classes or retreat from hiring goals.
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The footprint of the production hub will grow with a private land purchase and a lease involving state trust land. She said the partnership with Netflix should send a signal that New Mexico is the place to be for film and television production. As part of the proposed investment, Netflix has committed to providing training programs in partnership with the New Mexico Film Office, local universities and industry organizations. Since coming to New Mexico in 2018, Netflix said it has spent more than $200 million, used more than 2,000 production vendors and hired more than 1,600 cast and crew members. Netflix is in production in New Mexico on the original films “The Harder They Fall" and “Intrusion" and is expected to soon begin filming “Stranger Things 4" in Albuquerque.
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RICHMOND, Va. – The City Council in Richmond, Virginia, has renamed a stretch of four residential blocks that had been known as Confederate Avenue. The Richmond Times-Dispatch reported Monday that its name is now Laburnum Park Boulevard. The renaming is part of a much larger and ongoing reckoning over the city’s history of slavery and racial discrimination. Laburnum Park Boulevard is in a historic district with the same name. Democratic U.S. Sen. Tim Kaine lives on Laburnum Park Boulevard with his wife Anne Holton.
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MINNEAPOLIS – A stretch of a Minneapolis street that includes the place where George Floyd was killed will soon be named in his honor. Although the street will still be called Chicago Avenue, the city will refer to the blocks between 37th and 39th streets as George Perry Floyd Jr. Place, the Star Tribune reported. Floyd, a Black man who was handcuffed, died May 25 after Derek Chauvin, a white officer, pressed his knee against Floyd’s neck even as Floyd said he couldn’t breathe. Floyd’s death was captured in widely seen bystander video that set off protests around the world. Months after Floyd’s death, the intersection remains barricaded and now holds a memorial.
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NORTH MYRTLE BEACH, S.C. – If you have a trip planned to North Myrtle anytime soon, make sure to pack a mask. The North Myrtle Beach City Council passed an emergency ordinance on Tuesday which requires people to wear masks in certain places, including retail businesses like grocery stores and pharmacies. The ordinance goes into effect at 12 p.m. on Thursday. Plus, all restaurants, retail businesses and government offices must require their employees to wear masks at all times while having face-to-face interaction with the public. Each day of a continuing violation would be considered a separate offense, according to the ordinance.
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FREDERICKSBURG, Va. –FREDERICKSBURG, Va. (AP) — A 176-year-old slave auction block has been removed from a Virginia city's downtown. The weathered stone was sprayed with graffiti twice and chants of “move the block” erupted this week during local demonstrations over the death of George Floyd in Minneapolis, city officials said in a statement announcing the removal. In 2019, the City Council voted in favor of its removal and relocation to the Fredericksburg Area Museum, and a judge upheld that decision in February after two businesses near the auction block sued to stop the relocation. The museum now plans to display the knee-high stone in an exhibit chronicling the "movement from slavery to accomplishments by the local African American community,” the Free Lance-Star said. The staff also plans to feature the recent protests in the exhibit, according to the museum's president and CEO.
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