School Budget Finalized
John Stevens over at Our Loudoun Schools has posted his assessment of last night's decisions regarding the school budget. "I commend the LCPS headquarters staff, who worked very hard all through the budget season and balanced this budget by keeping the impact out of the classroom as best they could. They do an excellent job throughout the year," he wrote. LoudounExtra.com has a story about last night's meeting, which you can find by clicking this link.

School board member Tom Reed (At-Large) has some thoughts on the potential addition of an ombudsman to Loudoun schools, and has posted a sample job description. "The Ombudsperson has primary responsibility for serving parents and staff by offering a confidential, informal, and neutral dispute resolution service. The Ombudsperson is neither an advocate neither for any individual nor for LCPS, but rather an advocate for fairness who provides information, advice, intervention, mediation and referrals to ensure that parents and LCPS employees receive fair and equitable treatment," he wrote.

NVTA Refunds
The Examiner has a story about the Northern Virginia Transportation Authority's refund process. The NVTA will be sending money to area clerks, who will manage the refund distributions. Read more about the refund plan in this story from LoudounExtra.com.

Detailing the Proffer System
Blogger Paradox13VA has posted a breakdown of how the proffer system works. He compares the system to the impact fee system and relates it to the impending opening of Wegmans in Leesburg.

Real Estate Market
Local real estate bloggers Danilo and Tony have posted some uplifting news about the housing market on their blog, Loudoun Stats. One point made was that, "Multiple offers are being submitted on homes priced aggressively. I have written contracts for my clients on 3 properties that had more than 1 offer. I have also received 8 contracts on a townhouse in Ashburn Village that was priced just below similar properties in the neighborhood."

National Conference Center Ballroom
If you want to see what the ballroom at the National Conference Center looks like, BizBash Washington has posted photos and a brief overview of the facility.

Yarn and More in Loudoun
Textiles and Bicycles has a post extolling the Loudoun County Sheep Producer Association for its Web site, which contains information about locally available yarn.