BRIEFS: NEWS NEAR YOU

This daily column features short news items from some of the 20 localities that make up the greater Richmond area. If you have a news item, call 649-6990 or e-mail us at

NEWS NEAR YOU

Charles City Charles City County will host a Family Bike Ride on Saturday at 10 a.m. The ride will begin at the Charles City Recreation Center, 8320 Ruthville Road. For details, call

Chesterfield Public-input meetings on Chesterfield County's fiscal year 2011 budget and the projected $60 million shortfall will be held tonight at Clover Hill High School, tomorrow night at Salem Church Middle School and Thursday night at Manchester Middle School, all at 7.

Colonial Heights The Colonial Heights City Council has moved its regular monthly meeting from last week to Wednesday at 7 p.m. at City Hall. For details and the agenda, visit

Goochland Partnership for Smarter Growth and Goochland County's Department of Community Development will hold a seminar on Wednesday on creating viable villages in the county and their importance in fostering intelligent growth. Keynote speakers will be Carlton Abbott, an award-winning architect from Williamsburg, and Ralph Higgins, an awarding-winning landscape architect from Richmond. The seminar will start at 6:30 p.m. in the Board Meeting Room at the County's Administration Building, 1800 Sandy Hook Road. The public is invited to listen and participate.

Hanover Heavenly Creations Arts and Crafts Show will be held Saturday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. at St. James the Less Episcopal Church, 125 Beverly Road, Ashland. The show will begin with an Opening Night Wine and Cheese Reception on Friday from 6 to 9 p.m. The show will feature paintings, jewelry, baskets, ornaments and more. Proceeds will benefit community outreach. Admission is free. For details, call (804) 798-6336 or visit

Henrico The Henrico County Extension Office is accepting applications through Friday for its 2010 Master Gardener training program. Participants will learn about lawn care, tree and shrub maintenance, vegetable gardening, pest management and other topics. After completing classroom training, participants will serve a 50-hour internship with the Extension Office and will help conduct educational programs for the public. The $125 fee covers the cost of materials. Classes are scheduled for 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. each Tuesday and Thursday from Jan. 26 through March 25 in the Human Services Building demonstration kitchen, 8600 Dixon Powers Drive. For information, call (804) 501-5160 or visit http://www.co.henrico.va.us/departments/extension.

Hopewell Sheriff Greg Anderson will be the guest speaker at the Hopewell Citizens for Good Government meeting on Thursday. He will talk to residents about his duties, roles and responsibilities as sheriff. The meeting will take place at 7 p.m. at the Appomattox Regional Library, 245 E. Cawson St.

New Kent Laura M. Ecimovic, New Kent County's commissioner of the revenue, will hold a forum Thursday evening to discuss the county's reassessment process, called "Reassessment 101." Topics include legal restrictions, notification and appeals. The event is from 6 to 9 p.m. in the New Kent County boardroom, 12007 Courthouse Circle. Space is limited. Register by e-mailing DMCaldwell@

Petersburg The Petersburg police will hold a Police and Community Together (PACT) meeting Saturday from 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m., at the Ramada Inn Hotel on East Washington Street, for residents living in the south east areas of the city. Residents, local government department representatives and police work together to create measurable action plans with the intent of reducing crime. Residents, business, nonprofits and city agencies tackle such topics as beautification, positive activities for youth, police patrol patterns and similar issues. Lunch will be provided. For details or reservations, call Ardee Langford at

Prince George The Prince George County Board of Supervisors last week received a briefing on what one board member called a "bleak" outlook for state and local budgets over the next few years. Supervisor William A. Robertson Jr. gave the board a presentation Thursday on the county's fiscal outlook, based on an address last month at the annual conference of the Virginia Municipal League and Virginia Association of Counties in Roanoke. "I think we need to be very well aware that this year coming up, the budget is going to be very hard to deal with, and the next year could be worse." The conference presentation by economist James J. Regimbal Jr. of Richmond-based Fiscal Analytics predicted that Virginia's general-fund revenues will not return to the level collected in 2008 until 2012.

Richmond High school seniors are invited to attend College Night on Thursday at Ebenezer Baptist Church, 216 W. Leigh St. in Richmond, from 6:30 to 8 p.m. Representatives from state agencies will be available to answer questions. Assistance also will be available to help in the college-application process. For details, call

AROUND THE STATE

Newport News Newport News police say a shooting has left one woman dead and another person hospitalized. The 42-year-old woman and 29-year-old man were shot early yesterday morning in an apartment complex parking lot. Police found them sitting in their car in the parking lot of a different complex. Both victims, whose identities were not released, had been shot several times, and the woman died at the scene. The man was taken to an area hospital. Two witnesses were in the car's back seat when officers arrived, but a news release from police says they are not cooperating with investigators. They were not hurt. Police said no information was available on a possible suspect.

Roanoke Workers at a Roanoke pet store joined firefighters in safely evacuating puppies, cats and other pets after a back-room fire filled the store with dense smoke. Workers said they didn't think twice about rescuing the animals when smoke began filling a PetSmart store Saturday afternoon. Roanoke fire spokeswoman Tiffany Bradbury said no injuries were reported as some 80 puppies, cats, gerbils and other animals were safely plucked from the Valley View Mall. One store patron, Erica Vermillion, said that she saw a puppy after the fire and filled out adoption papers immediately. She plans to name her new pet Sparky. Firefighters say they also cleared smoke from a neighboring Target store that had to be evacuated. They say a sprinkler system quickly contained the fire.

Fairfax Fairfax County parks and libraries appear to face the deepest budget cuts among that county's agencies for next year. Officials will soon begin the process of slashing programs and jobs for next year to make up for a projected multimillion-dollar shortfall. Fairfax County Executive Anthony Griffin asked the Park Authority and the public library system to propose 15 percent reductions for fiscal 2011. That comes atop cuts of 15 percent or more this fiscal year. Griffin is crafting a budget that eliminates a projected $315.6 million shortfall. But Fairfax park and library officials say their budgets jointly represent about 2.2 percent of the $3.3 billion county budget and have been targeted unfairly.