I launched a new website this morning that’s worth mentioning here: Virginia Decoded. It’s like Richmond Sunlight, but instead of making it easier to understand legislation, it makes it easier to understand all of the laws of Virginia. To see how this is an improvement, compare § 2.2-3705.1 on the official state website to the same section on Virginia Decoded. Note that glossary terms are underlined, with pop-up definitions, the listing of legislation and cross-references in the sidebar, and the general lack of horribleness. The site also incorporates relevant court decisions and a handful of other niceties. I hope you find it as useful as I have!
News and meta-news about Charlottesville, VA, since 2001.
Sideblog
Police announced this afternoon that their investigation into what was initially believed to be a fatal fire on Rugby Avenue is now a homicide investigation. #
The Virginia Supreme Court has denied George Huguely’s appeal. His second-degree murder conviction will stand, WRIC reports. #
In a carefully worded story, and not citing specific sources, WTVR reports that forensic evidence belonging to Jesse Matthew Jr., the main suspect in the disappearance of Hannah Graham, matches forensic evidence collected during the investigation of Morgan Harrington’s 2009 murder. #
In the wake of Hannah Graham’s disappearance, and the evidence that came from private security footage, city officials are revisiting the question of installing security cameras on the downtown mall. #
Both Charlottesville Registrar Sheri Iachetta and former Electoral Board member Stephanie Commander have turned themselves in to the police on
foursix and four felony counts of embezzlement, respectively. #Ten years ago, the National Institutes of Health budget doubled and schools like the University of Virginia built massive new research facilities. A decade later, those buildings remain largely underutilized. NPR visits UVA in this story on the effect of federal binge and spurge spending in the sciences. #
In 2012, Council approved a new student housing complex on West Main—now some council members are questioning whether what they were shown matches what was built. #
The Architectural Review Board has approved a bike-themed mural on West Market, below the McGuffey Art Center, although at least one member expressed concerns that it might look like the bicyclists were riding away from Charlottesville’s downtown. #
City Police Chief Tim Longo is meeting with city leaders to work on protocols regarding the use of military surplus police weapons in Charlottesville. #
A 100-year-old Colonnades resident received military honors for her service in the WWII Women’s Army Corps #
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My new favorite is http://vacode.org/46.2-811/
Nice work, Master Jaquith.
nice work, as usual, Waldo. you have a knack for this. thanks for applying it to important topics.
Wow, thanks. Back when I was homeschooling, it was a headache to decipher Virginia’s education laws. You’ve created a very useful resource.
Waldo you keep this up we are going to have to elect you to help clean up other parts of government as well.
JMRL – I had no idea that my coasting down Afton Mountain was illegal-I feel like such a scofflaw now!
I have been lurking on your blog for years, and have always enjoyed the content. This is a great idea too, but I find the formatting and visual design of the Decoded site problematic to the point that I can’t read it. Vast blocks of text running right to the edge of the screen with little or no differentiation between paragraphs.
Then clearly something’s not working right! :) Would you tell me what web browser you’re using?
Looks fine in Chrome, Safari and Firefox for the Mac (under Mac OS X 10.7.3).
Great job, Waldo! I especially like how common terms (like “street”) can be instantly expanded to show their complete meaning. The search facility works really well and in only a few minutes I learned a lot of interesting stuff about Virginia’s laws.
I’ve bookmarked the site as my first “go to” when I need to know anything about Virginia Code.
Awesome Waldo. Thanks.
Waldo, this looks great. Has anything like this been done for the budget? I’d really like to see something like this for local/state/federal budgets. There’d probably have to be a wiki component because of the sheer volume of data.
I’m using Explorer 8.
Looking great, now. Thanks for the resource.