Virginia Politics Blog Archive: Derek Kravitz
Virginia computer problems continue to affect DMV
Derek Kravitz reports on the Dr. Gridlock blog that all of Virginia Department of Motor Vehicles offices are still unable to issue new or replacement driver's licenses, a day after a computer outage caused the state's largest digital malfunction since 2007. The computer troubles were caused by hardware issues at the state's data center late Wednesday, when 228 servers went offline. Workers tried to repair the malfunctioning servers overnight, bringing 60 percent of those attached to the state's storage system back online. But the state's 74 DMV locations are still facing problems, with customers unable to obtain new, replacement or duplicate driver's licenses, said Melanie Stokes, a Virginia DMV spokeswoman. "Managers are standing outside, telling folks that they're sorry but we can't process driver's license requests," said Stokes, who estimated that about 40 percent of DMV's customers, about 6,500 people daily, seek licenses in person. August is traditionally a busy...
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Anita Kumar
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August 27, 2010; 1:50 PM ET |
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Fairfax moves to ban smoking at bus shelters
Fairfax County officials are pushing to ban smoking at all public bus shelters, eight months after Virginia's restaurant-and-bar smoking ban went into effect. The ban would address the "health implications of breathing secondhand smoke," said Fairfax Supervisor Jeff C. McKay (D-Lee), the board's transportation committee chairman. Virginia's no-smoking law was approved by the General Assembly in February 2009 and went into effect last December. The District and Maryland have similar state laws regarding smoking in restaurants and bars. The Virginia Clean Air Act allows localities to institute "reasonable no-smoking areas" at publicly-owned or leased facilities and bus shelters qualify as buildings under Virginia's building code. The Board of Supervisors voted unanimously late Tuesday to draft an ordinance for final adoption. In December, Virginia joined the District, Maryland and dozens of other cities and states by effectively outlawing smoking inside restaurants and bars. Under the law, owners could allow smokers to...
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Derek Kravitz
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July 28, 2010; 12:08 PM ET |
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New working group, same issues with Defense base closure in '11
Northern Virginia officials are starting their own working group to tackle the bevy of funding and traffic concerns connected with the upcoming Defense Department base closure and realignment. Problem is, the so-called Northern Virginia BRAC (Base Realignment and Closure) Working Group sounds very similar to a group that has been formed -- one started by former Virginia Gov. Mark Warner (D) in 2005 and which handed down a series of overarching recommendations several months later (PDF). Funding issues and traffic concerns over the planned realignment of Defense jobs along the Interstate 95 corridor in Northern Virginia have lingered for years, and officials are still unsure where more than $400 million in needed ramps, widened roads and soundwalls will come from. But Alexandria officials have been particularly worried about the loss of thousands of jobs to Fairfax County areas because of the move....
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Derek Kravitz
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July 27, 2010; 5:22 PM ET |
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Embattled nonprofit finds new property manager
The Washington affordable housing nonprofit facing financial ruin in the wake of fraud allegations involving a former executive director has found a new property management firm to oversee its 430 residential units in Northern Virginia.
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Derek Kravitz
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July 22, 2010; 8:42 AM ET |
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Metro's Silver Line possibly delayed?
The construction of the first part of Metrorail's Silver Line into Northern Virginia has been unofficially delayed by three months but officials say their schedule is not falling off the tracks -- yet. December 2013 has been the target date for when passengers would be able to ride Metro an additional 11.5 miles into Fairfax County, to Tysons Corner and the eastern edge of Reston....
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Derek Kravitz
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July 20, 2010; 5:44 PM ET |
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Fairfax: No money for traffic calming projects
Fairfax County's traffic calming program, designed to ease congestion in residential subdivisions in Washington's still-growing suburbs, will soon be broke and dozens of projects will likely be suspended, officials said Tuesday.
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Derek Kravitz
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July 20, 2010; 1:35 PM ET |
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| Tags: Fairfax County, Virginia Department of Transportation, transportation
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