Central Virginia has seen a slight increase in homicides so far this year, with higher numbers in Richmond and Petersburg offsetting improved numbers elsewhere. For the first nine months of the year, the region had 59 homicides, compared with 55 at the same time last year. The biggest shift has been in Richmond, where city police recorded seven more homicides as of Sept. 30 than a year earlier. Richmond’s nine-month count of 34 exceeds the total of 32 homicides for all of 2008.

Sussex County and state officials seized 72 dogs and a potbellied pig from a dog breeder last month, a spokesman for the county Sheriff’s Office said. The animals were seized from dog breeder John Boudiette on March 23 after the state veterinarian’s office received a complaint, sheriff’s investigator W.B. Banty said this week. Most of the dogs are Labrador retrievers, and 39 of them have been taken in by Lab Rescue of the Potomac, said Sterrie Weaver, a member of the group.

It’s important for assessors and commissioners to do a reassessment right. Their job is to determine the fair-market value of real estate—and that matters to property owners, because it is one of the two factors that determine their real estate tax bill. Assessments are supposed to be an impartial estimate. It’s the other piece—the rate at which property is taxed—that’s a political decision.

A look at localities that reassessed residential and commercial properties this year: Chesterfield County: In all, the county’s tax base grew 1 percent. The Board of Supervisors will advertise a tax rate of 95 cents per $100 of assessed value, the same as it now charges, even though the so-called rollback-rate calculation shows it could set a 97-cent rate for all real estate. The rollback rate, which localities are required to disclose when reassessments average a more than 1 percent increase, is what the real estate tax rate would have to be to keep tax bills unchanged.

Chesterfield The deadline to register for a chance to compete in Bandfest, United for Change, is Jan. 19. Bandfest, United for Change is an alcohol-and drug-free event where youths can showcase their music and video-production talents. It will be held March 14 at Southside Church of the Nazarene, 6851 Courthouse Road. Band auditions will be held on Feb. 8 at 1 p.m. To download official rules and a registration packet for either competition, visit chesterfieldsafe.org. Contact Beth Clements at (804) 796-7100.

A 52-year-old woman, riding with her family in a van in Sussex County, was killed Wednesday when high winds toppled a dead pine tree onto the passing vehicle’s roof, Virginia State Police said yesterday.

This daily column features short news items from the 20 localities that make up the greater Richmond area. On Mondays, we run at least one item from each of the localities. If you have a news item, call 649-6990 or e-mail us at Amelia Work has begun on the visitors center at Amelia County’s Sailor’s Creek Battlefield State Park. The $1.1 million center is expected to be completed next summer.

Caroline Fifteen people were arrested yesterday on a total of 57 indictments in what the Caroline County Sheriff’s Office described as a war on illegal drugs and distribution. The arrests resulted from a yearlong undercover drug investigation. The indictments, handed up by a Caroline grand jury Oct. 1, ranged from distribution of cocaine and conspiracy to distribute cocaine to distribution of marijuana.

Complaints of poor conditions at the county animal shelter and questions of who’s to blame have embroiled Sussex County. The conditions of the animal shelter, located on Robinson Road about a half-mile off state Route 40, were exposed by animal-rights activist Eileen McAfee, who documented conditions inside the shelter Aug. 11. She took pictures and video of a kitten lying in a feces-filled litter box, animals in need of medical attention, and dirty food and water bowls.

Complaints of poor conditions at the county animal shelter and questions of who’s to blame have embroiled rural Sussex County. The conditions of the animal shelter, located on Robinson Road about a half-mile off state Route 40, were exposed by animal-rights activist Eileen McAfee, who documented conditions inside the shelter on Aug. 11.

This daily column features short news items from the 20 localities that make up the greater Richmond area. On Mondays, we run at least one item from each of the localities.