The Virginia Department of Taxation introduced a new website this week designed to give taxpayers a quicker, more intuitive path to the information they need.

The site – http://www.tax.virginia.gov – features a menu-based design that guides users to what they need with a minimum of mouse clicks. Forms have been organized in a more navigable layout with additional information about each one. Improvements have been made to the search function, and important announcements and other information are now featured in a large slideshow in the center of the home page.

The average weekly wage in Henrico County rose 6.3 percent from the first quarter of 2010 to the first quarter of 2011 – the steepest increase among Virginia’s 12 largest counties.

Among Virginia localities with at least 75,000 workers, Virginia Beach City ranked second in the rate of wage growth at 5.8 percent, followed by Richmond City at 4.9 percent.

In a race that pitted Henrico County's Republican Party against itself, a Democrat walked away with the victory.

Democrat Shannon Taylor surprised Republican nominee Matt Geary and Republican-turned-independent favorite Bill Janis to claim the Commonwealth's Attorney's seat tonight, winning a race that she didn't enter until the candidate filing deadline in August.

Taylor earned 45 percent of the vote to defeat Janis (38 percent) and Geary (16 percent).

Taylor's win was one of two impressive victories for Democrats in the county; Tyrone Nelson also won a three-way race, unseating five-term incumbent Republican Jim Donati in the race for Varina District Supervisor. Nelson (55 percent of the vote) defeated Donati (33 percent) and independent Reese Haller (10 percent). Nelson will join fellow Democrat Frank Thornton of the Fairfield District on the board. The two men also are the only two African-Americans ever elected to the board.

Voter turnout in Henrico County was sluggish as of 2 p.m., but voters in the Varina District were turning out in slightly higher numbers than their counterparts elsewhere in the county.

Turnout varied between 12 percent and 22 percent in the county's five magisterial districts as of mid-afternoon, Henrico Registrar Mark Coakley told the Citizen.

"It's been heavier in Varina, which we figured it would be," Coakley said. Varina District voters are choosing a supervisor from a three-candidate field – Republican incumbent Jim Donati, Democrat Tyrone Nelson and independent Reese Haller.

A small number of voters at 19 Henrico County precincts are being asked to cast provisional ballots today due to technical difficulties with electronic poll books. The provisional ballots will be counted as regular ballots, said General Registrar Mark Coakley.

When polls opened this morning, officials with Henrico’s Voter Registration and Elections Office identified 954 voters that had been assigned mistakenly to a precinct adjacent to their actual precinct. These voters are going to the correct location to cast their ballot, Coakley said, but are not listed in the poll book. Virginia State Board of Elections policy requires these voters to cast a provisional ballot.

Henrico County will be participating in a test of the National Emergency Alert System at 2 p.m. on Wednesday, Nov. 9. The FCC, along with other federal departments including FEMA, NOAA, National Weather Service and DHS, will be conducting the test. Although the Nationwide EAS Test may resemble the periodic, monthly EAS tests that most Americans are already familiar with, there will be some differences in what viewers will see and hear, which is one reason for conducting a nationwide EAS test.

Republican incumbent Riley Ingram, who is running unopposed in the 62nd House of Delegates District Distric, responds to the Henrico Citizen's Q&A.

Republican Manoli Loupassi, who is running unopposed for the 68th District House of Delegates seat, responds to the Henrico Citizen's Q&A.