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» Latest News Stories Published: Mar 11, 2010  Powhatan rescue responded to an early morning accident involving a school bus and a car today at the intersection of Maidens Road and Jefferson Woods Drive. There were five students on the bus at the time, but no injuries were reported in either vehicle. Firefighters from Engine 1 did however have to cut some sheet metal from the school bus in order to free the car that had become lodged under the bus. Read more...Published: Mar 10, 2010  Former Powhatan County Sheriff Nelson Batterson likes to say that, when he served, one of the best tools he had to work with was the one between his ears. As important as common sense remains, Batterson had a good reason for relying so heavily on it back then: particularly in the early years of his career, it was pretty much all he had. Published: Mar 10, 2010 Powhatan’s Extension Office could close A House budget amendment may lead to the loss of Powhatan County’s Cooperative Extension office. The change calls for the closing of 13 Virginia Cooperative Extension Service offices, including Powhatan’s, and merging them with other nearby offices. For Powhatan extension agent Eric Bowen, news of the proposal came as a surprise. Bowen said he first learned of the possibility that the Powhatan office could be shut down on Feb. 21. Information since then has been hard to come by. … Read more...Published: Mar 10, 2010 Case against Royal sent to grand jury A rape case that was certified to a grand jury in February is streaked with conflicting testimony and graphic details. A woman has accused John B. Royal III of raping her Jan. 2 inside his home in Powhatan. According to testimony at a preliminary hearing, the victim had been in a relationship with Royal, 40, for about a month before the alleged rape. A witness for the defense, who claims to have participated in what transpired Jan. 2, said sexual intercourse was consensual. Despite discrepancies between the testimonies of the victim and defense witness, Assistant Commonwealth’s… Read more... Published: Mar 10, 2010 Powhatan ranks 38 for online government transparency A ranking of Virginia’s most transparent local governments finds most of the Richmond area doing comparatively well at providing information on the Web. In a recent report, the Thomas Jefferson Institute for Public Policy—a nonpartisan research and education organization in Springfield—scored localities on budget and expenditure information available online. On the list of 134 localities, Goochland County was ranked fourth with a score of 65.5 out of 100. Goochland edged out Henrico County, in fifth place, with a score of 61.5. The recognition is noteworthy… Read more... Published: Mar 09, 2010 Budget negotiators miss first deadline to reach deal Senators are retreating somewhat on fattened court fees to help balance Virginia’s recession-wracked budget, but delegates aren’t impressed. Ahead of the assembly’s scheduled Saturday adjournment, the 13 budget negotiators missed their first deadline to reach a deal—midnight tonight. The latest maneuvering came as the McDonnell administration reported that the state’s tax collections continue to lag. In a written proposal that the House rejected as inadequate late this afternoon, Senate negotiators proposed cutting from $51 million to $38 million… Read more... Published: Mar 08, 2010 State budget cuts could bring large layoffs Thousands of state and local government employees face layoffs because of the severe budget cuts. Just how many jobs will be lost should become clearer by Saturday when the General Assembly is scheduled to adopt a budget for the 2010-2012 biennium. Since the recession began, the state’s general fund budget has been reduced by $7 billion. The assembly is wrestling with an additional $4 billion in cuts. Gov. Bob McDonnell’s proposal to close the state’s funding shortfall referred to the elimination of about 500 jobs, including mostly direct-care and support… Read more... Published: Mar 07, 2010 Va. House, Senate budget negotiators make little progress House of Delegates and Senate budget negotiators practiced shuttle diplomacy today but made little headway on reaching an agreement. “Not a lot of progress,“ said Del. S. Chris Jones, R-Suffolk. “We talked a lot but didn’t make much progress,“ said Sen. Charles J. Colgan, D-Prince William, chairman of the Senate Finance Committee. The day of negotiations began with Senate negotiators showing up an hour late for a meeting with delegates on the ninth floor of the General Assembly Building. Their offer was swiftly denounced by the House… Read more... Published: Mar 05, 2010 School board will have to look at reworking schools budget The Powhatan County School Board will have to rework the “preliminary spending plan” it approved last week because the plan hinges on an increase in funding from the county that was never formally agreed to by the board of supervisors (BOS), supervisors said Thursday. Based on information provided by School Superintendent Dr. Margaret S. Meara, school board members worked March 3 to shore up what they saw as a $2.1 million budget gap. Materials presented at the school board budget workshop showed county funding for schools in excess of $20 million for next fiscal year,… Read more... Published: Mar 04, 2010  Tim Kennell grew up in rural Illinois. After five years of missionary work in Belarus, he accepted a call to pastor at the Powhatan Mennonite Church. This is why he lives here. TK: Some people refer to me as pastor, but I would just rather people call me Tim. I was Tim a lot longer than I was ever a pastor. I met my wife, who was from Powhatan, at Ohio Bible college, [and have] been in and out of this community since ‘83;… Read more... |
