The following stories have been hand-selected by the Assignment Desk at News4:
Va Halts Payments to Nonprofits
Local nonprofits, including the Fredericksburg Area Food Bank and the Lloyd Moss Free Clinic, have been affected by the state’s decision to halt grants to charitable organizations. Direct payments from the state—the type that Moss and other groups have received for years—were stopped after Attorney General Kenneth Cuccinelli declared them unconstitutional. Officials are scrambling to come up with a new way of funding the nonprofits, including contracts which would reimburse them for services performed. “They’re holding funds at the state level until they resolve all this,” Karen Dulaney, executive director of the Moss Clinic, said yesterday. The Fredericksburg clinic is budgeted to receive nearly $100,000 from the state this year, or about 6 percent of its total budget. (Fredericksburg.com)
Manassas Ordinance Regulating Sex Shops Moves Forward
The Manassas City Council entered the end game in regulating sexually-oriented businesses when it held its final public hearing on the matter Monday night. The council is also considering zoning amendments to regulate tattoo parlors, transient housing, sex offender treatment services, massage parlors and short term loan establishments along with an ordinance to define indecent exposure. The process to regulate sexually oriented businesses started when mother-and-daughter team Kim and Kristina Skokan obtained a business license for their adult-oriented store in late August. On Sept. 7, the city council held an emergency public hearing when council members heard the first of the uproar that produced a demonstration at city hall and hours of public comment. (InsideNoVa.com)
DC Man Found Guilty of Biting Cop
A Washington man who tried to steal $160 in goods from a Home Depot and then bit an off-duty police officer who was trying to help restrain him has been convicted of assault. Forty-four-year-old George Ball was convicted by a jury on Monday of felony assault on a police officer, assault with a dangerous weapon and assault with significant bodily injury. He pleaded guilty to second-degree theft before the start of the trial. The officer, Anthony Wallace, was also shot in the elbow after Ball tried to grab the officer's gun and they struggled over the weapon.(Washington Examiner)
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Washington, D.C., Maryland and Virginia local news, events and information
Fairfax Unemployment Rate Declines
Fairfax County’s unemployment rate continues to follow the usual start-of-the-year trends: Having bumped up from December to January, joblessness declined slightly as winter began to recede. The county’s unemployment rate dropped from 4.7 percent in January to 4.6 percent in February, according to figures reported by the Virginia Employment Commission. The percentage represents 573,115 county residents employed in the civilian workforce and 27,567 looking for work. Both figures were down slightly from January. Fairfax was part of a regional and statewide trend toward an improving jobs picture headed into the spring. (SunGazette.net)
