Morning Buzz – Jan. 27, 2011

A daily digest of what’s going on in Fredericksburg, and what news from elsewhere is relevant here. Send suggestions to ebattle@freelancestar.com.

Smithfield’s town council joins a few other Hampton Roads localities in purchasing iPads to cut down on the amount of paper used for council agenda packets. The Daily Press reports that the town ordered 12 iPads for $499 apiece. Fredericksburg City Council members voted last year to purchase iPads in an effort to go paperless. City Manager Beverly Cameron said staff hope to distribute the devices to the council in two months or so, but it could be a little longer, as city IT staff and management evaluate whether to wait for the iPad 2 to be released in April. Cameron said the city plans to order 14 of the devices — one for each council member, plus one for the city attorney, clerk of council, information technology and city manager’s office staff.

Fredericksburg has begun the process of trying to get out of the requirement, first set by the 1965 Voting Rights Act, that all of its voting changes be pre-cleared by the U.S. Department of Justice. Read more about this in Sunday’s paper, but the city will hold a community meeting about this on Monday at 6 p.m. at City Hall. Bedford County and city are also going through this process right now. You can read about those efforts here.