News Near You for May 30

NEWS NEAR YOU

Petersburg The Virginia Interfaith Center and the Virginia Organizing Project will host a community forum today on "The Restoration of Civil Rights for Former Felons." The forum will be held at the Union Train Station, 103 River St., from 1 to 4 p.m. A restoration of rights restores those rights which are lost in Virginia upon getting a felony conviction. These include the rights to vote, to run for and hold public office, to serve on juries and to serve as a notary public.

Chesterfield Friends of the Lower Appomattox River announced this week that the trails the group has developed along the river have been officially designated as part of the East Coast Greenway network. The East Coast Greenway Alliance is working to develop a long-distance, shared-use trail system along the eastern seaboard, from Calais, Maine, to Key West, Fla. The vision is to have a 3,000-mile "spine" route accompanied by 2,000 miles of alternate routes, all suitable for walkers, wheelchairs and bicycles. FOLAR, a nonprofit organization sponsored by the Crater Planning District Commission, works to protect the river and promote its natural beauty and history.

Fort Lee The Fort Lee Family and Morale, Welfare and Recreation division invites the community to attend the Boogaloo Festival, a kick-off festival for their summer concert series at the Fort Lee HideAway Lawn, today from 1 to 9 p.m.. The Boogaloo Festival is a Cajun celebration that is all about spicy food, music and friends. The festival menu will include gumbo, a shrimp and crab-tail bisque served over rice, po'boy sandwiches and crawfish. The headlining music act is Rosie Ledet, a Zydeco artist. Zydeco is a form of American roots music that combines the accordion with quick tempos and traditional Creole, Cajun and rhythm and blues music.

Prince George The county has instituted the CodeRED Emergency Notification System. It is a high-speed telephone communication service for emergency notifications. The system will allow Prince George to notify all or targeted areas of the county in an emergency. To sign up or to learn more about the system, call the Prince George Fire, EMS and Emergency Management Office at (804) 722-8614 or visit http://www.princegeorgeva.org.

Petersburg The Petersburg Health Department, at 301 Halifax St., will host a free class titled "The Nuts and Bolts of Diabetes" on Monday from 1 to 3 p.m. Participants will learn helpful tips to manage their diabetes, with topics such as nutrition, exercise and stress management. To register, call (804) 862-8958.

Richmond The Richmond City Charter Review Commission will hold its next meeting from 9:30 to 11 a.m. Tuesday at City Hall, 900 E. Broad St. The meeting will be held in the 11th-floor conference room. The commission, appointed by the City Council, is expected to release in October its report of recommended changes to the charter.

AROUND THE STATE

Lynchburg State regulators have reduced a proposed fine against Liberty University for wetland and stream damage caused by a dorm construction project in 2007. Virginia Department of Environmental Quality spokesman Bill Hayden says Liberty faces an $8,850 fine instead of the $9,270 penalty proposed by the agency last summer, and that the school has made a good-faith effort to correct the problem. The agency has said the damage involved a small amount of forest wetlands and 65 feet of a small stream. Hayden says the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers never officially marked off the wetland area.