Posts tagged "virginia"

BHC 0512 BVsigns 01 on Flickr.

Via Flickr:
Photo Earl Neikirk/Bristol Herald Courier

Bristol Virginia city council is working on the rules for signs around the City. The signage along Commonwealth Ave. is shown here.

Pieces of Home: VAR’s 2011 Year-End Housing Report

Virginia Association of Realtors® released its 2011 Pieces of Home Housing Report today including housing market data, trends, and comparisons. Articles by real estate experts from across the state can be read as well as commentary on each data illustration. An American Housing timeline centerfold providing integral milestones in the development of this country’s real estate market as well as interest rates, cultural dates and legislative decisions decade by decade, is a highlight.

Highlights of Pieces of Home:

• Virginia homes sales in 2011 exceeded home sales levels in 2010 despite the lack of a stimulus. Note the peaks and valleys over the past four years on page 3.
• The Central Valley regions experienced the greatest increase in sales and the Northern Virginia region experienced the only decline.
• The median sales price in Virginia began the year at $205,000, peaked at $244,800 in June and closed the year out at $225,000. The year over year change however, showed a 3.3% decline.
• Home sales under $100,000 increased by 33% between 2010 and 2011. See all price distribution on page 6.
• Median home prices have declined in both Virginia and the U.S. over the past year, although Virginia’s median sales price remains above our nation’s. See VA Vs. U.S. graphs on page 9.
• Foreclosure data gets some light shed on it thanks to Theodore Koebel, Ph.D. on page 11.
• American housing timeline: see decade by decade beginning in 1930, what major political and cultural events have shaped and built American housing. Note the effect these events had on interest rates throughout the timeline.
• Low mortgage interest rates and what it means for 2012. Pages 18-20
• Baseball card-like stats on each region of the state relating it its own economy and housing. Page 21-22.
• Virginia is about to face and age-shift. Are individuals and businesses prepared? Page 24.

And that’s just the numbers. It’s easy to forget that there are people behind that data. There are families who can finally afford a dream home, who can move to a better school district, or can refinance to stay afloat. There are people wondering when they’ll be able to sell their homes, and who have taken the leap into buying their first.

Take them into account as you read through this report: Virginia’s homes and families, communities and jobs- the lives that are more than dots on a chart or entries in a table. These are pictures of homes, struggles, and celebration, and our springboard into 2012.

Virginia Main Street: Visit Downtown Bristol

neikirkimage:

Via Flickr:
Photo Earl Neikirk/Bristol Herald Courier

Bristol Virginia Mayor Ed Harlow, right, and Jeff Sadler, Virginia Main Street Program Director unveil the new signage during a press conference on friday. There are 25 downtown’s in the program.

schoolit:

Yesterday the House of Delegates in the Virginia General Assembly passed a bill that would allow Virginia to join the 25 other states to permit home-schooled students to play varsity sports at public high schools. 

Home-schooling has evolved into a more mainstream activity, up from 850,000 students nationally in 1999 to 1.5 million in 2007.  For students wanting to participate in sports that require large number of players, such as football, high school sports may be their only option.  Many parents of home-schooled students also feel that their children should be allowed to participate given the taxes they pay to support public education.

Certain high-profile athletes have publicized this issue. Tim Tebow, who is now the Denver Broncos quarterback, won the Heisman Trophy and two national championships at the University of Florida, and was home-schooled but competed for his public high school’s football team in Jacksonville, FL.
 
Opponents argue that home-schooled students could not be monitored by public schools in regard to academic eligibility, and others question whether or not it should be allowed to use public schools as an à la carte system:  if football is allowed, should school clubs, science projects, and homecoming events be open to home-schooled students also?

Question: Do you think that students whose parents have chosen to home-school them have the right to participate in athletics at public schools?

The five largest banks in the U.S. (Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Citigroup, JPMorgan Chase, and Ally Financial ) agreed to a $26 billion settlement for the roles they played in the mortgage meltdown. More than 2 million Americans could reap financial benefits from the settlement, the largest of its kind in history and the biggest civil-action suit ever against the housing industry. All 50 state attorneys general started working on the deal in late 2010 amid outrage over the corrupt mortgages. Though billions are laid out in the agreement, the money will likely help only a relatively small portion of borrowers facing foreclosure, depending on how effectively Washington manages the deal.

Some $17 billion of that would go toward writing down mortgage principal for an estimated 850,000 troubled borrowers, $3 billion could go toward restitution payments of $1,500 each to borrowers who lost their homes to foreclosure, and the rest could go to state funds for foreclosure relief

According to sources, Virginia & Tennessee are among those states signing onto the deal. 

Summary as introduced:
Text messaging and emailing while driving; penalty. Allows police officers to issue citations to violators who text message or email while operating a moving motor vehicle. Currently, police officers must have cause to stop or arrest a driver for some other violation before issuing a citation.

Virginia is doing much better than Tennessee (& most of the Nation) in Science standards

That’s the conclusion from a recent report “The State of State Science Standards 2012”. The  report published by the Thomas B. Fordham Institute, surveys and evaluates state science standards in all fifty states plus the District of Columbia.

Here’s what they had to say about TN & VA:

The Tennessee science standards are clearly written—but their linguistic clarity too often is undermined by statements that are so broad they starve the passages of meaning. To make matters more confusing, Tennessee offers a bewildering array of high school courses. Taken together, these drawbacks make it impossible to infer what a student in the Volunteer State will know (or at least be expected to know) upon graduation.

The Old Dominion’s science standards are among the few that we would cheerfully recommend as models for other states (and for drafters of “common” standards for this field). They are thorough and rigorous, particularly in the areas of mathematical applications and evolution, and they clearly provide a solid foundation for a rigorous K-12 science curriculum.

Jump to the specific pages of report for Tennessee or Virginia

Economic Impact of Virginia Wine Industry Increases 106% to $747 Million Over Figures from Last Study in 2005. Full-time jobs at wineries and vineyards grow to 4,753

• There are nearly 200 Viginia wineries.
• There are 6 Virginia Wine Regions & AVAs
• Virginia is now the nation’s 4th largest wine producer & 7th largest wine grape producer.
• Wine Enthusiest Magazine( Feb 2012) lists VA as one of the 10best Wine Travel Destinations for 2012

Visit www.Virginia.org/wine to learn more about wine travel in Virginia or call 1-800-VISITVA to request a free, Virginia is for Lovers Travel guide. To learn more about Virginia’s wineries including wine varietals and special events, or to request a 2012 Virginia Wine Guide, go to www.VirginiaWine.org