LOCAL & STATE A3 House,Senatesealdeal ontransportationfunding€¦ · Martinsville Bulletin •...
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Martinsville Bulletin • martinsvillebulletin.com Friday, March 6, 2020 • A3 Patrick Henry Mall Martinsville, VA FALL & WINTER Ladies Clothing 70% OFF SALE HOLLYWOOD DIGITAL CINEMA Beside Walmart • hollywoodmtn.com 276-656-3456 BRAHMS: THE BOY 2 1-3-5-7-9:15 P.M. THE INVISIBLE MAN 1-3-5-7-9:15 P.M. THE CALL OF THE WILD 1-3-5-7-9:15 P.M. SONIC THE HEDGEHOG 1-3-5 P.M. BAD BOYS FOR LIFE 7-9:15 P.M. Fri-Sun Show Times Movie Town 276-638-4040 *Mon-Thur call 638-4040 for showtimes BAD BOYS FOR LIFE (R) 1:00P • 4:30P • 7:00P • 9:20P SONIC THE HEDGEHOG (PG) 1:00P • 3:05P • 5:10P • 7:15P • 9:20P ONWARD (PG) 1:00P • 3:05P • 5:10P • 7:15P • 9:20P FANTASY ISLAND (PG13) 1:00P • 3:05P • 5:10P • 7:15P • 9:20P THE INVISIBLE MAN (R) 1:05P • 4:30P • 7:00P • 9:20P SharingYour Real Estate Dreams for 92Years Beverley Coleman (276)806-0791 Betty Sue Copenhaver (276)252-7773 Rives Coleman (276)732-2859 Terry Mason (276)340-0340 Tommy Wright (276)790-7720 Gina Ashbrook (276)340-6659 Marsha Adams (276)732-4997 Melodie Hall (276)340-1130 Alice Elmore (276)252-2121 Ramona Adams (276)632-3463 92 YEARS 92 YEARS Thank you for the privilege of helping you buy or sell your home! 324 East Church Street, Martinsville,VA | 276-632-3463 | www.rivessbrown.com By Bill Wyatt bill.wyatt@martinsvillebul- letin.com Martinsville Police are in- vestigating a robbery that occurred around midnight Thursday at the Neighbor- hood Market, 707 Memo- rial Blvd. N. Police Chief Eddie Cas- sidy confirmed Thursday morning that two males wearing masks and dark clothing entered the con- venience store and de- manded cash from a ca- shier. One of the robbers indicated he had a gun in his pocket. After the cashier gave the robbers an undisclosed amount of money, the two men fled on foot. Investigators responded and processed the scene for evidence. Cassidy said police are working to identify the suspects and are searching for them. MPD asks that anyone with information about this case to please contact, Sgt. Durham at 276-403- 5330 or Crime Stoppers at 276-632-7463. Information that leads to the arrest and conviction of suspect(s) in this case could receive a re- ward of up to $2,500. Bill Wyatt is a reporter for the Mar- tinsville Bulletin. He can be reached at 276-638-8801, Ext. 236. Follow him @billdwyatt Police seek 2 who robbed store Two robbers fled on foot with an undetermined amount of cash. MARTINSVILLE POLICE DEPARTMENT These are closed-circuit video images of the two men being sought by Martinsville Police for a robbery early Thursday. BILL WYATT/MARTINSVILLE BULLETIN Two male robbers wearing masks robbed this Neighborhood Market convenience store of an undisclosed amount of money. LOCAL & STATE God’s Pit Crew sends help to Tennessee Special to the Register & Bee God’s Pit Crew is sending two tractor-trailer loads of Blessing Buckets, water and relief supplies to Tennessee after devastating tornadoes ripped through Nashville and other communities in the state earlier this week. Two additional tractor- trailers, one containing bot- tled water, and the second containing Blessing Buck- ets, Gatorade and more, was scheduled to leave later in the week. As of Wednes- day afternoon, a fifth load was being planned as well. “After these tractor-trailer loads leave our distribution center, our entire Bless- ing Bucket inventory will be depleted,” said Nathan Burnett, God’s Pit Crew’s vice president of ministry operations. God’s Pit Crew is a Danville-based disaster relief organization. God’s Pit Crew had al- ready scheduled a pop-up Blessing Bucket collection drive for this weekend to help replenish the inven- tory of supplies required to assemble thousands more Blessing Buckets. The Blessing Bucket Drive will be from 10 a.m. to 6 p.m. today and Saturday at the Danville Walmart on Mount Cross Road and the Walmart Neighborhood Market in NorDan. Volunteers will be at the stores passing out “shop- ping lists” with items that are needed to fill a Blessing Bucket. For a complete list of the items, visit godspit- crew.org/blessingbuckets. God’s Pit Crew also has representatives traveling to Nashville to see the damage firsthand and will deter- mine if a team of volunteers are needed to assist in de- bris clean-up. For those who can’t make it to this weekend’s drive and would like to help sup- port God’s Pit Crew’s disas- ter responses or Blessing Bucket program, visit god- spitcrew.org/ donate and select “Disaster Response” or “Blessing Buckets” as a gift designation. CHATTANOOgA TIMES FREE PRESS VIA THE ASSOCIATED PRESS Carli Williams (left) looks around Debra Maxwell’s front yard in Cookeville, Tenn., on Wednesday after a tornado went through the area Tuesday. House, Senate seal deal on transportation funding By Michael Martz Richmond Times-Dispatch RICHMOND — Virginia would raise the state gaso- line tax by 10 cents a gallon over two years as part of a tentative agreement by ne- gotiators for the House of Delegates and Senate on a sweeping transportation funding package that also includes regional gas taxes to pay for projects outside of major urban areas that already have a way to pay for their priorities. The compromise, offered by House Speaker Eileen Filler-Corn, D-Fairfax, also would maintain Virginia’s requirement for annual vehicle safety inspections, but reduce the annual ve- hicle registration fee by $10 and eliminate a $5 “walk- in” fee for people who go to Department of Motor Vehicle offices instead of transacting business on- line or by phone. “I felt strongly from the beginning that we ought to, and should and could, show savings for Virgin- ians,” Filler-Corn said after the conference committee blessed the deal Thursday morning. The compromise would “meet in the middle” of competing proposals by the House and Senate on state and regional gas tax- es, restoration of money for critical Northern Virginia projects that was lost in a 2018 deal to send $154 mil- lion a year to the Washing- ton Metro transit system, and tighten enforcement of highway safety require- ments. It also would adopt the Senate’s position on al- locating additional money to transit and rail projects. The agreement does not include highway safe- ty measures Gov. Ralph Northam proposed, but a separate conference com- mittee was discussing those proposals, including one to let law enforcement pull drivers over solely for failing to wear seat belts and to expand the require- ment to passengers. Northam had proposed to increase the state gas tax by 12 cents a gallon over three years and then tie the tax to the consumer price index to reverse the de- cline of revenues that had been linked to the whole- sale price of fuel, which has fallen along with gaso- line consumption since the state adopted a major transportation funding package in 2013. The House adopted the governor’s proposal but the Senate cut the third year, so in its plan the state tax would have gone up by a to- tal of 8 cents over two years. The Senate also proposed to extend a regional gas tax of 7.6 cents a gallon — al- ready in place in Northern Virginia, Hampton Roads and along Interstate 81 in western Virginia — to pay solely for transportation projects in rural localities and small urban areas. The compromise, sub- ject to final approval by the conference commit- tee and ratification by the full assembly, would raise the state gas tax by 5 cents a gallon each year for two years and extend the regional tax to the rest of Virginia. The plan is ex- pected to raise more than $370 million a year in state taxes and $96.5 million in regional taxes by 2024. Senate Majority Leader Dick Saslaw, D-Fairfax, a longtime gasoline dealer and service station owner, predicted that Virginia motorists would see little effect at the pump because retail gas prices depend more on the stock market, the season and big oil- producing nations such as Saudi Arabia. “It’s not like any other market,” Saslaw said dur- ing the initial confer- ence committee meeting Wednesday morning. Del. Vivian Watts, D- Fairfax, a former state transportation secretary, said the regional tax would move decision-making over transportation proj- ects to the areas that col- lect the revenues. “Too much is controlled out of Richmond,” Watts said. “Localities with some funding are in a much better position to know ... how to use the revenue.” The assembly already has approved legisla- tion, proposed by House Transportation Chair- woman Delores Mc- Quinn, D-Richmond, to create the Central Virginia Transporta- tion Authority and im- pose both the regional gas tax and a 0.7% sales tax to raise money for transportation projects in Richmond and eight surrounding localities. House Bill 1541, on its way to Northam’s desk, is expected to raise about $168 million a year for the region. The compromise also would restore $50 million a year to the Northern Virginia Trans- portation Authority to partially compensate for the loss of money for lo- cal transportation proj- ects to help repair the deteriorated Metro sys- tem. The money would come from increases in the grantor’s tax on deeds and the lodging tax in Northern Virginia, and a $20 million an- nual contribution from the state transportation fund. Sen. George Barker, D- Fairfax, said the North- ern Virginia plan would help the rest of the state by reducing competition for limited state trans- portation dollars distrib- uted through the Smart Scale rating system. “This would actually have some benefit to the rest of the state,” Barker said. ASSOCIATED PRESS House speaker Del. Eileen Filler-Corn (top right), D-Fairfax, meets with House majority leader Del. Charnicle Herring (left), D-Alexandria, and fellow delegates during the House session Thursday in Richmond.
Transcript of LOCAL & STATE A3 House,Senatesealdeal ontransportationfunding€¦ · Martinsville Bulletin •...
Martinsville Bulletin • martinsvillebulletin.com Friday, March 6, 2020 • A3
Patrick Henry Mall
Martinsville, VA
FALL &WINTERLadies Clothing 70% OFF SALE
HOLLYWOOD DIGITAL CINEMABeside Walmart • hollywoodmtn.com
276-656-3456
BRAHMS: THE BOY 2 1-3-5-7-9:15 P.M.
THE INVISIBLE MAN 1-3-5-7-9:15 P.M.
THE CALL OF THE WILD 1-3-5-7-9:15 P.M.
SONIC THE HEDGEHOG 1-3-5 P.M.
BAD BOYS FOR LIFE 7-9:15 P.M.
Fri-Sun Show Times
Movie Town 276-638-4040
*Mon-Thur call 638-4040 for showtimes
BAD BOYS FOR LIFE (R)1:00P • 4:30P • 7:00P • 9:20P
SONIC THE HEDGEHOG (PG)1:00P • 3:05P • 5:10P • 7:15P • 9:20P
ONWARD (PG)1:00P • 3:05P • 5:10P • 7:15P • 9:20P
FANTASY ISLAND (PG13)1:00P • 3:05P • 5:10P • 7:15P • 9:20P
THE INVISIBLE MAN (R)1:05P • 4:30P • 7:00P • 9:20P
SharingYour Real Estate
Dreams for 92Years
Beverley Coleman
(276)806-0791
Betty Sue Copenhaver
(276)252-7773
Rives Coleman
(276)732-2859
Terry Mason
(276)340-0340
TommyWright
(276)790-7720
Gina Ashbrook
(276)340-6659Marsha Adams
(276)732-4997
Melodie Hall
(276)340-1130Alice Elmore
(276)252-2121
Ramona Adams
(276)632-3463
92YEARS
92YEARSThank you for the privilege of helpingyou buy or sell your home!
324 East Church Street, Martinsville,VA | 276-632-3463 | www.rivessbrown.com
By Bill [email protected]
Martinsville Police are in-vestigating a robbery thatoccurred around midnightThursday at the Neighbor-hood Market, 707 Memo-rial Blvd. N.
Police Chief Eddie Cas-sidy confirmed Thursdaymorning that two maleswearing masks and darkclothing entered the con-venience store and de-manded cash from a ca-shier. One of the robbersindicated he had a gun inhis pocket.
After the cashier gave therobbers an undisclosedamount of money, the twomen fled on foot.
Investigators respondedand processed the scenefor evidence.
Cassidy said police areworking to identify thesuspects and are searchingfor them.
MPD asks that anyonewith information aboutthis case to please contact,Sgt. Durham at 276-403-5330 or Crime Stoppers at276-632-7463. Informationthat leads to the arrest andconviction of suspect(s) inthis case could receive a re-ward of up to $2,500.
Bill Wyatt is a reporter for the Mar-
tinsville Bulletin. He can be reachedat 276-638-8801, Ext. 236. Follow
him @billdwyatt
Police seek 2who robbed storeTwo robbers fled on foot with
an undetermined amount of cash.
MARTINSVILLE POLICE DEPARTMENT
These are closed-circuit video images of the two men beingsought by Martinsville Police for a robbery early Thursday.
BILL WYATT/MARTINSVILLE BULLETIN
Two male robbers wearing masks robbed this NeighborhoodMarket convenience store of an undisclosed amount of money.
LOCAL & STATE
God’s Pit Crew sendshelp to TennesseeSpecial to the Register & Bee
God’s Pit Crew is sendingtwo tractor-trailer loads ofBlessing Buckets, water andrelief supplies to Tennesseeafter devastating tornadoesripped through Nashvilleand other communities inthe state earlier this week.
Two additional tractor-trailers, one containing bot-tled water, and the secondcontaining Blessing Buck-ets, Gatorade and more,was scheduled to leave laterin the week. As of Wednes-day afternoon, a fifth loadwas being planned as well.
“After these tractor-trailerloads leave our distributioncenter, our entire Bless-ing Bucket inventory willbe depleted,” said NathanBurnett, God’s Pit Crew’svice president of ministryoperations. God’s Pit Crewis a Danville-based disasterrelief organization.
God’s Pit Crew had al-ready scheduled a pop-upBlessing Bucket collectiondrive for this weekend tohelp replenish the inven-
tory of supplies required toassemble thousands moreBlessing Buckets.
The Blessing Bucket Drivewill be from 10 a.m. to6 p.m. today and Saturdayat the Danville Walmart onMount Cross Road and theWalmart NeighborhoodMarket in NorDan.
Volunteers will be at thestores passing out “shop-ping lists” with items thatare needed to fill a BlessingBucket. For a complete listof the items, visit godspit-crew.org/blessingbuckets.
God’s Pit Crew also hasrepresentatives traveling toNashville to see the damagefirsthand and will deter-mine if a team of volunteersare needed to assist in de-bris clean-up.
For those who can’t makeit to this weekend’s driveand would like to help sup-port God’s Pit Crew’s disas-ter responses or BlessingBucket program, visit god-spitcrew.org/ donate andselect “Disaster Response”or “Blessing Buckets” as agift designation.
CHATTANOOgA TIMES FREE PRESS VIA THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Carli Williams (left) looks around Debra Maxwell’s front yardin Cookeville, Tenn., on Wednesday after a tornado wentthrough the area Tuesday.
House, Senate seal dealon transportation fundingBy Michael MartzRichmond Times-Dispatch
RICHMOND — Virginiawould raise the state gaso-line tax by 10 cents a gallonover two years as part of atentative agreement by ne-gotiators for the House ofDelegates and Senate ona sweeping transportationfunding package that alsoincludes regional gas taxesto pay for projects outsideof major urban areas thatalready have a way to payfor their priorities.
The compromise, offeredby House Speaker EileenFiller-Corn, D-Fairfax, alsowould maintain Virginia’srequirement for annualvehicle safety inspections,but reduce the annual ve-hicle registration fee by $10and eliminate a $5 “walk-in” fee for people who goto Department of MotorVehicle offices instead oftransacting business on-line or by phone.
“I felt strongly from thebeginning that we oughtto, and should and could,show savings for Virgin-ians,” Filler-Corn said afterthe conference committeeblessed the deal Thursdaymorning.
The compromise would“meet in the middle” ofcompeting proposals bythe House and Senate onstate and regional gas tax-es, restoration of money forcritical Northern Virginiaprojects that was lost in a2018 deal to send $154 mil-lion a year to the Washing-ton Metro transit system,and tighten enforcementof highway safety require-ments. It also would adoptthe Senate’s position on al-locating additional moneyto transit and rail projects.
The agreement doesnot include highway safe-ty measures Gov. Ralph
Northam proposed, but aseparate conference com-mittee was discussingthose proposals, includingone to let law enforcementpull drivers over solely forfailing to wear seat beltsand to expand the require-ment to passengers.
Northam had proposedto increase the state gas taxby 12 cents a gallon overthree years and then tie thetax to the consumer priceindex to reverse the de-cline of revenues that hadbeen linked to the whole-sale price of fuel, whichhas fallen along with gaso-line consumption sincethe state adopted a majortransportation fundingpackage in 2013.
The House adopted thegovernor’s proposal but theSenate cut the third year,so in its plan the state taxwould have gone up by a to-tal of 8 cents over two years.The Senate also proposedto extend a regional gas taxof 7.6 cents a gallon — al-ready in place in NorthernVirginia, Hampton Roadsand along Interstate 81 inwestern Virginia — to paysolely for transportationprojects in rural localitiesand small urban areas.
The compromise, sub-ject to final approval bythe conference commit-tee and ratification bythe full assembly, wouldraise the state gas tax by5 cents a gallon each yearfor two years and extendthe regional tax to the restof Virginia. The plan is ex-pected to raise more than$370 million a year in statetaxes and $96.5 million inregional taxes by 2024.
Senate Majority LeaderDick Saslaw, D-Fairfax, alongtime gasoline dealerand service station owner,predicted that Virginiamotorists would see littleeffect at the pump becauseretail gas prices dependmore on the stock market,the season and big oil-producing nations such asSaudi Arabia.
“It’s not like any othermarket,” Saslaw said dur-ing the initial confer-ence committee meetingWednesday morning.
Del. Vivian Watts, D-Fairfax, a former statetransportation secretary,said the regional tax wouldmove decision-makingover transportation proj-ects to the areas that col-lect the revenues. “Too
much is controlled outof Richmond,” Wattssaid. “Localities withsome funding are in amuch better position toknow ... how to use therevenue.”
The assembly alreadyhas approved legisla-tion, proposed by HouseTransportation Chair-woman Delores Mc-Quinn, D-Richmond,to create the CentralVirginia Transporta-tion Authority and im-pose both the regionalgas tax and a 0.7% salestax to raise money fortransportation projectsin Richmond and eightsurrounding localities.House Bill 1541, on itsway to Northam’s desk, isexpected to raise about$168 million a year forthe region.
The compromisealso would restore $50million a year to theNorthern Virginia Trans-portation Authority topartially compensate forthe loss of money for lo-cal transportation proj-ects to help repair thedeteriorated Metro sys-tem. The money wouldcome from increasesin the grantor’s tax ondeeds and the lodgingtax in Northern Virginia,and a $20 million an-nual contribution fromthe state transportationfund.
Sen. George Barker, D-Fairfax, said the North-ern Virginia plan wouldhelp the rest of the stateby reducing competitionfor limited state trans-portation dollars distrib-uted through the SmartScale rating system.
“This would actuallyhave some benefit to therest of the state,” Barkersaid.
ASSOCIATED PRESS
House speaker Del. Eileen Filler-Corn (top right), D-Fairfax,meets with House majority leader Del. Charnicle Herring (left),D-Alexandria, and fellow delegates during the House sessionThursday in Richmond.
