Dan Casey is The Roanoke Times' metro columnist. His column appears three times a week, on Sundays, Tuesdays and Thursdays.

• Teachers give columnist an A for effort
• Food or films? It's not a hard choice

What's on your mind? with Kevin Kittredge: The former Roanoke Times reporter answers your questions.

• Roanoke says it does not trash recyclables
• : Plans for former library still up in the air

Kevin Myatt's Weather Journal: Weather on Wednesdays and Saturdays -- and a weather blog for the rest of the week

• 2012's balmy start could turn out to be record-setting
• Virginia Tech study: Supercells can amp up crossing ridges

From the newsroom with Michael Stowe: Read the twice monthly column by Managing Editor Michael Stowe and Editor Carole Tarrant

• Feeling mixed emotions as Current ends but The Burgs begins
• Ben Beagle says farewell after more than 50 years

From the newsroom with Carole Tarrant: Read the twice monthly column by Managing Editor Michael Stowe and Editor Carole Tarrant

• Local stories highlight community, provide news you can't find elsewhere
• Roanoke Times' policy is not to 'unpublish' online content

Spanish@roanoke.com: Ricardo Valdivieso covers the issues important to Spanish speakers in Southwest Virginia. | Valdivieso se escribe sobre las temas importantes para los Hispanos en el suroeste de Virginia.

• El monoxido de carbon puede matar
• Se anuncia clinica de vacunacion contra la rabia

Doug Doughty's Notebook Plus is all Hokies and 'Hoos, inside and out.

• Redshirt for UVa’s Watford recommended by ex-coach
• Sims release list included Hokies

Aaron McFarling's Sports

• Outlook hazy for Hokies hoops
• Tough time to talk tough

Lindsey Nair's Front Burner is all about food in the Roanoke Valley: On your table, in your kitchen and on the town -- plus a blog and recipes for everything in between

• Now they;re cooking
• Kitchen treasures

Gordon Kendall's Good Libations takes you from the history of gin to decoding winespeak to finding an affordable Champagne

• Cheers to grilling season
• Deciphering a Virginia wine label

Ralph Berrier Jr. writes The Dadline for The Roanoke Times every other Monday.

• Raising kids in a high-tech age
• Training wheels? Who needs 'em?

Nona Nelson writes The Happy Wag for The Roanoke Times twice monthly.

• The facts about Flopsy
• It's hip to snip

Starshine Roshell, an award-winning journalist and overwhelmed mother of two, waxes sassy on parenting, kids, fashion — and everything else a modern gal loves to dish about — in her twice-monthly column.

• Indecent exposure: Today's kids born to porn
• Never been skinny-dipping? Do it now

Age matters with Dr. Michael Camardi. The Roanoke geriatrician at Carilion's Center for Healthy Aging answers your questions about caring for the elderly.

• Depression need not win over us
• Clinical trials offer hope, but they're not for everyone

Bill Cochran's outdoors is field reports, hunting, fishing and wildlife in Southwest Virginia

• Elk advocate finally gets his day
• Turkeys are plentiful, so why are hunting regulations so tight fisted?

Jill Bowen has practiced veterinary medicine in England and Texas and has taught at Texas A&M. She answers all your pet questions in her weekly Paws & Claws column.

• Bacteria can cause ear infections in cats
• Chiari is a malformation of the back for some spaniels

• Love motivates them to protect outdoors
• In a Salem back yard, diverse species make a joyful communion

John Goss' Astronomy from the chairman of the Mid-East Region of the Astronomical League and a former president of the Roanoke Valley Astronomical Society.

• You can imagine, but not see, rare annular eclipse
• Shedding some light on stars' brightness

John Long is director of the Salem Museum and a history teacher at Roanoke College.

• Advice for this year's graduates
• Thank you, Taubmans