VIRGINIA BEACH A water sample taken during routine testing found E. coli bacteria in a single sample taken near the intersection of Rosemont Road and South Plaza Trail, the city announced in a news release this morning.

Currituck County's operating budget would fall for the third consecutive year, to $64.9 million, and maintain the same real estate tax rate of 32 cents per $100 of value under a proposed spending plan for 2012-13.

JAMES CITY COUNTY Police escorted a vocal county critic out of the Board of Supervisors meeting Tuesday night after he refused to stop speaking during a public comment period.

NORFOLK The city is working on new scaffolding for the troubled downtown Bankers Trust Building because of an engineering report that found the structure "unsafe to the public." In the March 5 report for the city, engineers cited loose bricks and masonry as a safety concern because pieces could fall onto pedestrians.

NEWPORT NEWS Residents of Norfolk's East Beach community apparently will have to live with an apartment complex nearby. The Virginia Marine Resources Commission voted 3-2 on Tuesday to overturn a decision by the Norfolk Wetlands Board last month to deny developers a permit to build the East Beach Marina Apartments, which would be built next to the more fashionable East Beach community.

NORFOLK The City Council passed a proposed $1.1 billion budget Tuesday night, but several council members were not quite as keen on it as they were a month ago.

VIRGINIA BEACH A sliver of land that stood in the way of a potential light-rail station at Town Center now belongs to the Beach. The cost? $300,000. The City Council voted 8-3 Tuesday to purchase the 30-foot-wide strip of property that sat between two prized pieces of land the city already owns, the former Norfolk Southern right-of-way and the old Circuit City building.

CHESAPEAKE Motorists using E-ZPass would pay a one-way toll of $1 to use a new four-lane high-rise bridge along a widened stretch of Dominion Boulevard starting in 2017 if City Council approves a consultant's recommendation unveiled Tuesday.

VIRGINIA BEACH Lax financial procedures at the city's farmers market over several years have led to nearly $17,000 going missing and the firing of an employee, according to a recently released city auditor's report. The market operated largely outside of normal city fiscal policies, according to the report, which outlines problems in collecting, depositing and accounting for revenue.

NORFOLK Half the School Board and some members of the City Council think the city should pony up more for education, but City Manager Marcus Jones says that can't happen unless cuts are made elsewhere. The council is set to vote on a $1.1 billion budget proposal at tonight's meeting. It includes a $7.5 million increase in school funding from last year.