Last year, a diverse group of congregations got the Richmond sheriff to form a task force to create a plan for a new drug-treatment program for city jail inmates. At last night’s annual action meeting of Richmonders Involved to Strengthen Our Communities, Mayor Dwight C. Jones promised to consider funding a program recommended by the task force. The program would cost about $140,000 a year for 120 inmates.

The Richmond Slave Trail Commission has lined up against a proposed bus transfer center for Main Street Station in Shockoe Bottom. A majority of commission members agreed last week to oppose the $70 million project on the grounds that the related traffic would undermine efforts to commemorate the area’s role in the slave trade, said chairwoman Delores L. McQuinn, a state delegate from Richmond.

Carolyn Johnson’s search for her great-great-grandfather ended in Richmond’s Oakwood Cemetery last August with a tinge of disappointment. A small, block-shaped stone marked the grave of Confederate soldier Austin Brown of the North Carolina 3rd Artillery. He was identified only by an engraved numeral seven. Johnson said the numbered marker is striking when compared with the handsome headstone of another ancestor who died in the Civil War. Her great-great-uncle served the Union Army and was buried at the Annapolis National Cemetery in Maryland.

Richmond Mayor Dwight C. Jones is hoping to reassign rather than lay off employees as part of a proposed spending plan that would trim nearly 150 jobs from the city payroll. As the City Council starts its review of the $629.6 million proposed budget for fiscal 2009-10, Jones’ administration is looking closely at the jobs that would be cut—most of them vacant but some filled.

Richmond Mayor Dwight C. Jones is hoping to reassign rather than lay off employees as part of a proposed spending plan that would trim nearly 150 jobs from the city payroll. As the City Council starts its review of the $629.6 million proposed budget for fiscal 2009-10, Jones’ administration is looking closely at the jobs that would be cut—most of them vacant but some filled.

GRTC Transit System may scale back but not eliminate bus service to the West End, including the University of Richmond. Officials are revamping their months-old plan to scrap inefficient routes by proposing to combine, rather than cut, the No. 16 Westhampton and No. 13 Main Street/Church Hill routes. The new, merged route would extend from downtown as far west as Carytown, said John M. Lewis Jr., GRTC chief executive officer.

Richmond Mayor Dwight C. Jones received a national “Keeper of the Dream” award Wednesday at an event in New York. He was honored during the National Action Network’s 11th annual “Keepers of the Dream” Awards. Recipients are chosen for sharing the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr.‘s vision and ideals. “To receive this award and be mentioned in the same breath as Dr. King is very humbling,“ Jones said in a statement. “I am truly honored and I hope my efforts continue to inspire and make a positive difference in the lives of others as we strive as a nation to achieve Dr. King’s dream.“

Richmond Mayor Dwight C. Jones is tackling one of the city’s most nagging and expensive building needs: the Richmond City Jail. Calling the current conditions unconscionable, Jones is proposing to spend $2.3 million next year and $138.4 million over five years to overhaul the overcrowded, outdated jail through a series of expansion, improvement and demolition projects to be completed around 2013.

Richmond Mayor Dwight C. Jones is proposing a budget for next year that reduces overall spending by more than 4 percent and spreads some of the pain to schools, police, fire and social services. The $629.6 million budget proposes no layoffs, but it would leave more than 200 city positions vacant. Officials say they’re hoping to minimize any impact on city services

Officials roll out for meals event Meals on Wheels delivery day draws mayors, supervisors Public officials in central Virginia visited their communities yesterday morning, but it wasn’t to make campaign promises. They delivered food for local Meals on Wheels programs during the nationwide Mayors for Meals event. C. Scott Davis, in his first term as mayor of Colonial Heights, said the city has contributed to the feeding program for many years but that this was the first time he had seen first-hand how it benefits the community. It was an experience he’d do again.

Richmond Jones proposes budget solution Compromise for the current cycle melds council, Wilder plans Richmond Mayor Dwight C. Jones is proposing a fix to the 10-month-old budget dispute between City Council and former Mayor L. Douglas Wilder. As he prepares to submit a spending plan for next fiscal year, Jones has offered a $655.3 million substitute budget for the current year.

Richmond Mayor Dwight C. Jones has enlisted the city’s financial advisers to test the feasibility of a proposed ballpark development for Shockoe Bottom. The city is spending $100,000 to get an outside review of the $363 million Shockoe Center project.

The city of Richmond wants its financial advisors to study the feasibility of a proposed Shockoe Center baseball stadium.

Fathers and daughters were the center of attention last night at a benefit held at Art Works Studios and Galleries in South Richmond.

Richmond Times-Dispatch Exclusive: Six-figure wages reach from big localities to tiny King and Queen.